Paws-itive Partners, along with P.A.L.s (Prevent-A-Litter), is hosting Love My Cat in February 2014. The event is an all-out effort to help low to moderate income cat owners spay and neuter their pets. Love My Cat is a month long project with the goal of stopping over population.

Veterinary clinics in North Platte and Sutherland will reduce the price of spaying and neutering cats beginning February 1, 2014, and continuing through the end of the month. Low to moderate income cat owners will pay only $25 for their cat’s spay and neuter. The $25 fee is payable to the clinic at the time of the appointment. Paws-itive Partners and P.A.L.s is paying the balance of the fees. Pet owners can call veterinary clinics to schedule their cat’s appointment and they don’t have to contact Paws-itive Partners or P.A.L.s in order to use Love My Cat.

“Love My Cat helps people help cats,” said Levaun Beyer from Paws-itive Partners. “Spaying and neutering cats is the most effective way to stop pet overpopulation. It reduces the number of unwanted pets and pet deaths,” said Beyer. “Our Love My Cat program makes spaying and neutering especially affordable.” This is the fourth time Paws-itive Partners has hosted Love My Cat since the fall of 2011 and through the program, 1,046 cats and kittens in the Lincoln County area have been spayed and neutered. Love My Cat has been a great success in the past and we’re hoping this time will be just as successful,” Beyer said.

Long-time P.A.L.s member Velma Carlson is especially concerned about homeless and feral cats. “Homeless and feral cats have a harder time than most and they need extra help to stop overpopulation. Love My Cat is for domestic cats but it’s also for homeless and feral cats,” Carlson said. P.A.L.s and Paws-itive Partners encourages people to get involved with their community’s homeless and feral cats by humanely trapping them and taking them to be spayed and neutered. Carlson hopes for as many cats and kittens as possible to be spayed and neutered during February. “House cats are wonderful animals and so are homeless and feral cats.”

No cat will be turned away, but the non-profit organizations and veterinary clinics stress that Love My Cat’s focus is low to moderate income pet owners and homeless and feral cats. If pet owners have the financial means to spay and neuter please do so and allow Love My Cat to use resources for the people and cats that need them most. Beyer said Love My Cat appointments fill up fast so people are urged to schedule their pet’s appointment right away.

If pet owners have questions about Love My Cat they can call their veterinary clinic or Jo Mayber at 308-532-8814.

(AP) — Nebraska tourism officials are clarifying their efforts to change the state’s official slogan and symbol.

The Nebraska Tourism Commission said a bill introduced Wednesday in the Legislature is aimed at giving officials the power to rebrand. The current slogan, “Welcome to NEBRASKAland — where the West begins,” includes the image of a covered wagon. It was approved in 1963.

The tourism office has received complaints from the public over the misconception that officials are trying to get rid of an unofficial “The Good Life” slogan on many state highway signs.

Nebraska Tourism Commission Executive Director Kathy McKillip says the bill is not about taking away a specific slogan or symbol, but about creating a brand for state tourism. They plan to unveil a new slogan and symbol this spring.

• Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 56. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 15 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph.
• Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. Blustery, with a northwest wind 14 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.
• Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. Northwest wind 11 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
• Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 27. West wind 11 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
• Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 46. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 15 to 20 mph increasing to 23 to 28 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 37 mph.
• Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 10. Blustery.
• Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 18.

(AP) — A Nebraska senator who once sued God is joining this year’s tax-reform debate with an idea of his own: a tax on church property.

The Legislature’s Revenue Committee will review a bill Friday that would eliminate a state property-tax exemption for religious organizations.

Sen. Ernie Chambers will argue that his bill carries out what Jesus urged his followers to do. Chambers says Jesus encouraged his followers to “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” when asked whether taxes should be paid.

Chambers, an atheist, famously sued in God in 2007 to make the point that anybody can file a lawsuit against anybody. The measure is unlikely to advance out of committee. But Chambers says he may attach it as an amendment to other bills he opposes.

(AP) — Assaulting a firefighter, paramedic or social worker could carry a stiffer penalty in Nebraska under a bill presented to a legislative panel.

Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha said Thursday that his proposal would impose the same potential penalties as the crime of assault on a police officer. Lathrop says the bill seeks to protect professionals who are sometimes attacked by people they’re trying to help.

The bill was partly inspired by a woman who pulled a gun on a firefighter-paramedic in Omaha while riding in the back of an ambulance. Justine Dobois was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha criticized the bill, saying lawmakers shouldn’t create harsher punishments for attacking people in specific professions.

Two transients have been charged with meth possession by North Platte Police.

At around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, NPPD officers made contact with 19-year-old Payton Zambito and 28-year old Elaine Moyers, both homeless, in the 1600 block of West 10th Street.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, police had probable cause to arrest Zambito for possession of meth stemming from an incident on September 23, 2013, when officers were dispatched to a disturbance in the 500 block of East 2nd and identified Zambito as a suspect.  A subsequent search of his person produced several small baggies which contained  a powdery white substance.  The substance later tested positive for meth.

After placing Zambito under arrest, officers searched Moyers and found her to be in possession of drug paraphernalia which field tested positive for meth.

She too was place under arrest and charged with possession of methamphetamine.

Both were transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center.

(AP) — Union Pacific’s CEO says the railroad industry has agreed to begin treating crude oil like a toxic chemical and carefully plan out the safest routes possible.

UP’s Jack Koraleski said Thursday the railroad industry will start using existing rules for hazardous chemicals like anhydrous ammonia to determine the best route for crude oil shipments.

Railroads hauled more than 400,000 carloads of crude oil last year because production in North Dakota has outpaced pipeline capacity.

Several fiery accidents involving crude oil, including one that killed 47 in Canada last summer, have increased concerns about the shipments. Federal accident investigators recommended several new safety measures Thursday.

Koraleski says railroads are working hard to make crude oil shipments safer than they already are.

(AP) — Whoever bought a Powerball ticket in Kearney that’s worth $1 million has decided to remain anonymous, behind a legal cloak.

The winner has worked with a Kearney attorney to create a legal entity called Carpe Diem LLC.

Nebraska Lottery spokesman Neil Watson says an electronic transfer for $700,000 will be sent in about two weeks. The remaining $300,000 is being withheld for state and federal taxes.

The ticket was bought Dec. 21 and matched five of the six numbers drawn that night. They were 25, 36, 40, 45, 51 and Powerball 8.

(AP) — The lack of snow cover and high winds have imperiled much of Nebraska’s winter wheat crop.

The Nebraska Wheat Board said in a report Wednesday that wind erosion in 30 to 40 percent of the northern Panhandle has exposed plant crowns, subjecting them to possible winter kill.

The board says the crop looks fair in the southern Panhandle and that wind erosion is moderately severe.

The southwest corner has had little moisture since fall. The board says that without snowmelt or rain, farmers expect 25 to 35 percent winter kill in the area.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says farmers planted 1.5 million Nebraska acres of wheat for harvest this year.

(AP) — Subzero cold and chilling winds have forced many Iowa and Nebraska schools to cancel classes or delay opening by a couple of hours.

The National Weather Service says temperatures across Iowa on Thursday morning were as low as minus 12 in Mason City, with a wind chill of minus 37. In Davenport the wind chill was minus 29. In Sioux City the wind chill was minus 26 around 6 a.m. A wind chill of minus 25 was reported for Des Moines.

Valentine in north-central Nebraska was reporting minus 8 at 6 a.m. Omaha was reporting minus 5, with a wind chill of minus 24.

In the far western Nebraska Panhandle, Scottsbluff was reporting a temperature of 10, with a wind chill of minus 1.