LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline are claiming new allies in their push to keep the project away from the Ogallala Aquifer: the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who.

The group Bold Nebraska says the two fictional Dr. Seuss characters will visit Gov. Dave Heineman’s residence at noon on Christmas Eve day. The group says the Grinch will deliver gifts that symbolize landowner rights.

Pipeline opponents are imploring Heineman to deny state approval for the project, which would carry oil from Canada to Texas refineries. Heineman has said he expects a recommendation from Nebraska’s environmental-quality agency by early January at the latest.

Pipeline developer TransCanada has agreed to move the proposed route out of the Nebraska Sandhills, but opponents say it still cuts through the aquifer, a massive groundwater supply.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska state senator says he wants tax exemptions for military retirement pay and Social Security income.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Omaha Sen. Bob Krist will introduce a bill next year that would exempt military retirement pay, military civilian retirement pay and Social Security benefits from the state’s income tax.

Paul Cohen, a former assistant adjutant general in the Nebraska Air National Guard, says the tax on military retirement pay is driving many retired personnel out of the state.

More than 9,000 people are stationed at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. An estimated 20,000 retired military personnel and their dependents were reported to live in the Omaha area in 2009.

OLD BRIDGE, N.J. (AP) — For more than a month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that the recent superstorm didn’t cause significant problems at any of the 247 toxic waste sites it’s monitoring in New York and New Jersey.

But in many cases, no actual tests of soil or water are being conducted, just visual inspections.

The EPA conducted a handful of tests right after the storm, but couldn’t provide details or locations of any recent testing when asked this week. New Jersey officials point out that the Superfund sites are the EPA’s responsibility, not the states.

Environmental groups and some residents who live near the sites are worried about the lack of testing.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A fight between two female blackjack dealers at a Las Vegas Strip resort sent one to the hospital and the other to jail.

KSNV-TV reports  50-year-old Brenda Wilson is accused of stabbing the other dealer Friday night in a blackjack pit at the Bellagio hotel-casino.

The incident comes a week after an Illinois man shot and fatally wounded an ex-girlfriend in the hotel lobby at the Excalibur resort on the Strip, then killed himself there.

Wilson was booked into jail on charges of battery with a deadly weapon and mayhem with substantial bodily harm.

Authorities say the victim, whose name wasn’t immediately released, was taken to the hospital with deep facial cuts. Her condition was unknown.

Police couldn’t confirm whether the two dealers were working at the time.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha police detective is accused in a federal indictment of selling information from a law enforcement database to a car dealership seeking to repossess cars.

The Omaha-World Herald reports  36-year-old Kevin L. Cave of Bellevue is charged with exceeding authorized access to a protected computer for private financial gain.

The indictment, made public Friday, says he was paid more than $11,000 for the information.

The indictment says he provided addresses and other information nearly 60 times over two years from unauthorized searches of the Nebraska Criminal Justice Information System.

Cave resigned or was fired in September. A police spokeswoman declines to characterize the nature of his departure.

An attorney was not listed in court documents. An initial court appearance is set for Jan. 18.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The New York founder of a video game website says he believes tens of thousands of players of online shooter games are participating in a 24-hour cease-fire to show love and respect to last week’s Connecticut school shooting victims.

Bronx resident Antwand Pearman says he’s gotten mostly positive messages. The GamerFitNation founder says some player groups with thousands of members have told him they’re participating in the cease-fire.

A gunman killed 20 children and six adults at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school last week.

The 29-year-old Pearman has three children. He has a Facebook page and a Twitter account promoting the shooter game cease-fire, which started at noon Friday.

He says video games don’t cause violence, as some critics have suggested. He says the cease-fire is meant to show gamers care.