LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Gov. Dave Heineman says he’s concerned the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route through Nebraska is a “done deal,” but pointed to the Obama administration as the final decision-maker. Heineman said Wednesday that the Obama administration could effectively force pipeline operator TransCanada to reroute the line if it denied the permit. Heineman said the company would likely rather move the pipe than lose the project altogether. Farmers, ranchers and other Nebraskans who oppose the project are urging the U.S. State Department to deny the permit during hearings this week. The Republican governor has said he opposes the proposed pipeline route through the Ogallala aquifer, a massive underground U.S. water supply, but would support the project if it was moved somewhere else.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – A North Platte man who shot someone else during an argument over firewood is headed to prison for violating the terms of his probation. 39-year-old James Wilson was sentenced recently to three years in prison for the probation violation. In February, Wilson was sentenced to probation for shooting a man twice in 2009 with a .22-caliber pistol during an argument over firewood. Then in March Wilson was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance. And in June he was charged with assaulting another inmate at the jail. Wilson made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to the DUI and controlled substance charges. In exchange, the assault charge was dropped.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – State regulators in North Dakota say they support a controversial pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. TransCanada Corp.’s proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline has drawn opposition from people who fear it will harm the environment. The U.S. State Department is considering whether to approve the project. Hearings are being held this week in the six states the pipeline route would cross. North Dakota is not one of them, but Montana is. North Dakota’s Industrial Commission says the pipeline could carry Williston Basin oil to downstream markets. The group also says in its letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that it’s important the pipeline “be constructed and operated in a manner that will protect the citizens of the United States.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Business Forecast Council expects the state will have record farm income this year and continued employment growth.  In a report released Wednesday, the council says it expects job growth will slow this fall and early next year, but it should accelerate in the second half of 2012 and in 2013.  The 2011 farm income is forecast to reach a record $5.4 billion. That’s 35 percent higher than last year. Eric Thompson directs the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bureau of Business Research, which publishes the report. He says that “as long as the nation stays out of a recession, the state should be all right.”

WASHINGTON (AP) – Health officials say as many as 16 people have died from possible listeria illnesses traced to Colorado cantaloupes, the deadliest food outbreak in more than a decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that 72 illnesses and 13 deaths are linked to the tainted fruit. State and local officials say they are investigating three additional deaths that may be connected. The death toll released by the CDC Tuesday – including newly confirmed deaths in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas – surpassed the number of deaths linked to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts almost three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak. Last week the CDC reported deaths in Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Maryland.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Critics of a proposed Canadian oil pipeline worry it could foul a source of drinking water for about 2 million people. But pipeline supporters accuse environmental groups of fear-mongering. Many of the speakers who signed up at Tuesday’s hearing in Lincoln fell into one of two camps: Business and union representatives who say the Keystone XL project will create thousands of jobs and environmentalists, landowners and others concerned it will leak. Pipeline opponent Dan Rudnick of Lincoln said he’d like to see a new route around the Ogallala Aquifer. John Blasingame believes the pipeline will reduce the nation’s dependence on oil from the Middle East. As he put it, “None of these people who are against the pipeline are willing to give up their automobile.” The State Department must approve the pipeline and is expected to decide by the end of the year.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Recent dry weather is helping Nebraska farmers move forward with this fall’s harvest.  But the U.S. Department of Agriculture says moisture levels in grain remain high across most of the state, so the amount of progress farmers can make is limited right now. The USDA says in its weekly report the dry bean harvest is about 49 percent done, but the harvest of soybeans and sugar beets is just getting started. And only about 6 percent of Nebraska’s corn crop has been harvested. About 76 percent of the corn rates in good or excellent condition. That’s close to the average at this time of year of 75 percent. About 79 percent of the soybean crop is in good or excellent shape. That’s better than the 74 percent average.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A 24-year- old North Platte man has been given 5-to-10 years in prison for using a hammer to beat a man and steal his prescription medications. Court records say Ryan Houghtaling had pleaded no contest to the assault charge and guilty to two felony drug charges. In return, prosecutors dropped robbery and weapons charges. He was sentenced on Monday by Lincoln County District Judge Donald Rowlands. Rowlands gave Houghtaling the prison time for the assault and 231 days for each drug charge, then credited Houghtaling for 231 days already served while awaiting disposition of his case. Houghtaling had been arrested Feb. 8 after assaulting another resident of his apartment complex.

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) – After a largely amicable first round of public hearings into a proposed Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, U.S. State Department officials could encounter fierce resistance during a listening session in Nebraska.  Environmentalists and some landowners are planning to rally outside the Pershing Center near the state Capitol in Lincoln. They argue the Keystone XL pipeline would carry dirty oil. The proposed $7 billion pipeline would move tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, through six U.S. states. During the opening round of hearings Monday, Texans praised the project while Kansas residents were concerned about its potential dangers. But the opposition could be stronger Tuesday in Nebraska. There’s growing concern about the pipeline’s effect on a vast subterranean reservoir that provides water across a large swath of the Great Plains.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (North Platte Post)- A 64 year old North Platte man has been arrested for assaulting a fellow resident at Buffalo Bill Manor. Steven C. Van Horn was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with attempted second degree murder, first degree false imprisonment, strangulation and other felonies after accosting a 61 year old woman in the elevator at the apartment complex. The victim reported having been choked by Van Horn and having a firearm thrust into her neck and abdomen while being threatened with her life. When approached by police, Van Horn had a loaded .32 caliber firearm in his front pants pocket. Van Horn remains in custody at the Lincoln County Jail.