The Canadian company that wants to build another oil pipeline to carry crude oil to Gulf Coast refineries remains optimistic about the project after President Barack Obama won re-election.

TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard says the company believes Obama will eventually approve the Keystone XL project once it reaches his desk next year because it will deliver oil from a friendly country.

But Howard says TransCanada is focused on finalizing the pipeline’s new route through Nebraska. State regulators will hold a public hearing on it Dec. 4.

Pipeline opponent Jane Kleeb of Bold Nebraska says her group continues to oppose the project and plans to try to persuade Obama and Nebraska officials to reject it.

Environmental groups worry the pipeline could contaminate underground water supplies and increase air pollution around refineries.

Gov. Dave Heineman today proclaimed November as Adoption Awareness Month for the state of Nebraska. Adoption Awareness Month spotlights children in foster care who are waiting to find permanent, loving families.

“Many Nebraskans look forward to spending the upcoming holidays renewing traditions with their family,” said Gov. Heineman. “Meanwhile, children across our state in foster care won’t share these special days with a permanent, stable, loving family. I’m asking Nebraskans to consider adopting foster children and I want to thank the parents who have opened their hearts and homes to the children who are in the child welfare system. Adoptive parents are making a positive impact every day in the lives of the most vulnerable children in our state.”

In 2012, more than 200 foster children have been adopted. Another 130 are expected to be adopted in ceremonies during the coming weeks.

“Not only are foster children positively changed through adoption, but so are the lives of the adopting parents,” said Thomas Pristow, director of Children and Family Services in the Department of Health and Human Services. “Statistics show that without a permanent family, children in foster care are at increased risk for homelessness, substance abuse and crime as young adults. On the other hand, adopted children are more likely to grow up as healthy, functioning and productive members of society. These children have experienced so much in their young lives. Many of them are over six years old and find it difficult to become adopted.”

“Not only are foster children positively changed through adoption, but so are the lives of the adopting parents,” said Thomas Pristow, director of Children and Family Services in the Department of Health and Human Services. “Statistics show that without a permanent family, children in foster care are at increased risk for homelessness, substance abuse and crime as young adults. On the other hand, adopted children are more likely to grow up as healthy, functioning and productive members of society. These children have experienced so much in their young lives. Many of them are over six years old and find it difficult to become adopted.”

Jack and Cathy Taff of Omaha joined the Governor for the news conference. They have adopted two young men, served as guardians of another and as foster parents for several others. Their two sons, Lukas, 18, and Paul, 15, joined them at the announcement of Adoption Awareness Month.

“My wife and I both like kids and we want to have an effect on young men’s lives,” Jack Taff said. “We have adopted older boys because they need somewhere to go and they need permanency and stability. We don’t stand on the sidelines and watch.”

Taff said they’ve found that positive reinforcement makes a difference to the young men. “We tell them they can be successful and they can accomplish something. We try to explain where they’re doing things right and wrong. Once one or two are headed in a positive direction, you add one more and they usually go in the right direction, too. It takes patience and you need to be able to sit with them and talk to them.

“I would encourage others to get consider adopting foster children,” Taff said. “Take the chance and it will help you as much as you help them.”

In a loving and caring environment, foster children develop networks of support through friends, relatives, neighbors and the organizations they join. More information about the foster children available for adoption can be found on the DHHS website at:  https://dhhs.ne.gov/AdoptionKids. Or, call 1-800-7-PARENT(1-800-772-7368).

A trial has been scheduled for early next year in the lawsuit filed against an upstate New York church by a man whose leg had to be amputated after a 600-pound crucifix fell on him.

Attorney Kevin Kitson of White Plains tells The Associated Press that the case of his client, David Jimenez, is scheduled for trial in January in an Orange County court.

Kitson says Jimenez prayed to the crucifix outside St. Patrick’s Church in Newburgh after his wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. When she recovered, he showed his thanks by volunteering to clean the cross.

In May 2010, the crucifix fell on him, crushing his right leg. It was later amputated.

He’s suing the church for $3 million.

The church says it’s not liable for the accident.

Police have cited the mother of a little girl who wandered away from home and was found outside a Lincoln grocery store.

A couple driving by the Russ’s Market south of downtown Lincoln around 3 a.m. Monday saw the 2-year-old walking alone along a street.

The couple walked with the girl to the store and turned her over to an employee. A store worker called police.

The little girl’s mother called police around 7 a.m., saying she couldn’t find her daughter.

The child was turned over to protective services.

The mother, 21-year-old Danielle McNally, was cited on suspicion of child neglect.

A phone listing for McNally couldn’t be found. Online court records don’t yet list the case.

A teenage girl charged in a deadly hit-and-run in Omaha has had her case moved to juvenile court.

The 17-year-old is accused of hitting 64-year-old Frank Huerta and fleeing the scene on Sept. 8. She faces a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident causing death.

KETV-TV  says the teen’s attorney asked for the case to be moved to juvenile court. A Douglas County judge approved the request on Tuesday.

 

Lincoln and Lancaster County officials have decided to explore further consolidation of departments.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that there already are 43 agreements and six joint departments operating between the two entities.

But Lancaster County Commissioner Jane Raybould said at a joint meeting of city and county officials Tuesday that “we can find other ways to be more efficient.

The officials agreed to form a task force that will study streamlining and consolidation.

A man involved in a fatal Lincoln shootout has pleaded no contest to a related case.

The Lincoln Journal Star says Robert Robinson was convicted after his plea Monday to a charge of willful reckless driving. Prosecutors reduced an earlier felony charge in exchange for Robinson’s plea.

Prosecutors say Robinson admitted to driving over a firework on July 4 but told investigators that he didn’t realize his car had struck the boy who lit the firework. The boy suffered only minor injuries.

Later that night four men drove up to Robinson’s house, apparently intent on confronting Robinson because of the accident.

Witnesses told police that one of the men fired first. During the ensuing firefight, Robinson wounded one man and fatally shot the boy’s father, Orlando Sifuentez.

selection of Nebraska voter reactions at the polls Tuesday.

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“I’m a deficit guy. That’s my No. 1 thing. People don’t understand how much money $16 trillion is. It scares me. We have to do something to bring the debt down,” said 36-year-old Chris Sullivan, of Omaha, a Republican and a financial adviser who said he voted for Mitt Romney.

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“(Romney’s) not exactly my favorite, but at least he’s run a business, he’s got some experience. (President Barack) Obama is just in over his head. Obama has been insulting and divisive,” said Tammy Janzen, 47, a Republican computer software specialist and part-time macroeconomics teacher at College of St. Mary in Omaha.

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“To me, Obama seems like he’s putting a legitimate and unbiased thought process into his policies,” said Travis Davis, 28, who works for a community learning program in Lincoln. “I just get the sense that Romney will say anything to get elected and that he’s more partisan.”

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“The middle class, we’re dwindling away,” said Kathy Spruill, a case coordinator for a Lincoln insurance company who said she voted for Obama. “I’m a 50-year-old woman. I work hard. I get up every day to go to work. And I just think it’s important that our voices be heard.”

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“”It concerns me that we allow ourselves to build this kind of indebtedness,” said Rich Stites, 70, of Lincoln, who said he voted for Romney and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Deb Fischer. “It’s not that they will make (the debt) all go away. I just have a sense that they’ll be more prone to limit any increases in the cost of government.”

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“Elections have been negative since Lincoln’s time. It’s not a new concept. We’ve always had people try to point out the bad side of their opponents. It’s just the way it is,” said 61-year-old Pat Dougherty, of Omaha, an information technology specialist who declined to say who he voted for but acknowledged being a registered Republican.

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“I just don’t feel that President Obama has done what he could have and should have, and Obamacare is the biggest one for me. I almost defy any member of Congress to tell me they had read that entire bill before they voted on it. And that angers me, because they have put us into a position where we don’t even know what is all in that,” said 75-year-old Jan Paulson, of Omaha.

A woman caught on camera driving on a sidewalk to avoid a Cleveland school bus that was unloading children will have to stand at an intersection wearing a sign warning about idiots.

Court records show a Cleveland Municipal Court judge on Monday ordered 32-year-old Shena Hardin to stand at an intersection for two days next week. She will have to wear a sign saying: “Only an idiot drives on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus.”

The judge ordered her to wear the sign from 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. both days.

Hardin’s license was suspended for 30 days and she was ordered to pay $250 in court costs.

Messages seeking comment were left at a telephone listing for Hardin and at her attorney’s office.

Firefighters have found the body of a man inside a blazing building on the north side of downtown Omaha.

Authorities say the fire started a little before 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Arson investigators are looking for clues in the rubble of the abandoned building, which had housed a bar.

It took firefighters about an hour to control the flames.

It’s unclear whether the man died as a result of the fire. His name hasn’t been released.