OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha utility officials say increased water usage is putting a strain on the system, and voluntary restrictions could be down the road as the worst drought in 25 years continues.

Mark Doyle of the Metropolitan Utilities District says the city is using about 184 million gallons of water a day. He says the water supply is not in danger, but voluntary water restrictions would ease the stress on the system.

He says there are no plans currently for voluntary restrictions, but his team is analyzing the situation daily.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska will loosen its sales tax limit on cities, allow counties to fight black-tailed prairie dogs, and restore prenatal care coverage to illegal immigrants with a series of new measures that are about to become law.

More than 160 new laws approved during this year’s legislative session are set to take effect Thursday, including Gov. Dave Heineman’s tax cut plan and measures designed to help local governments.

New laws generally take effect three months after the Legislature adjourns for the year, unless lawmakers specify a different date. State senators approved 246 new pieces of legislation during this year’s 60-day session. In 2011, they approved 269 bills.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Supporters and opponents of the federal health care law are squaring off in Nebraska in advance of a legislative briefing on the state’s efforts to comply.

The executive director of Americans for Prosperity-Nebraska cheered Republican Gov. Dave Heineman Wednesday for his promise to fight any effort to expand Medicaid coverage. Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson accused Heineman of stalling to delay implementation of the law.

The Legislature’s Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee is scheduled to meet Thursday for an update on the state’s progress in following the law’s requirements. Committee members are not expected to consider any bills, but Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad sent a letter to the panel’s two top lawmakers urging them to open the briefing for public testimony.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler has ordered an audit into the finances of the city’s golf program after two employees were suspended following an investigation.

The mayor says the investigation showed an employee might have benefited from a contract that was not approved by a city director with the authority to authorize such a contract. Beutler says employee’s supervisor might also have known of the arrangement.

The mayor says the amount in question is around $3,000.

Both employees, who were not identified, were suspended without pay for up to 30 days.

Beutler announced the audit during a news conference on Wednesday on his proposed budget.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 27-year-old man has died after striking his head when diving into an Omaha apartment pool.

Police say officers were in the area around 5:20 p.m. Wednesday, helping a person who had fallen on a sidewalk, when people approached them to report the accident at a nearby apartment complex.

When officers got to the pool, they saw that someone was trying to revive the man. Police say the man was taken to Creighton University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Witnesses told police the man had struck his head when he dove into the pool’s shallow end.

The man was identified as Kye Mickens, of Omaha.

The accident is being investigated.

WAVERLY, Neb. (AP) — A 14-year-old Nebraska girl has told authorities that her dad sexually assaulted her.

Lancaster County deputies found the runaway girl in Lincoln on Monday, and she reported that she left her Waverly home because of the assaults.

Sheriff Terry Wagner says the 39-year-old father has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, incest and generating child pornography.

The girl’s mother has been arrested on suspicion of child neglect. Wagner says investigators think she knew about the abuse but didn’t stop it.

The girl and two boys who lived in the home have been put in the care of state authorities.

The Associated Press is not using the names of those involved, to protect the privacy of the girl.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A former Nebraska prison guard finally admitted in court what he announced in a newspaper: he had sex and later a daughter with a parolee.

33-year-old Michael Huston pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor as part of a deal with prosecutors who dropped the more serious felony charge of sexual abuse of a parolee.

Huston initially denied having sex with the parolee, but admitted it after publishing a birth announcement in April.

State law bars corrections officers from having sex with parolees, because the parolees remain under the control of the prison system until they have completed parole.

Huston worked as a guard from 2006 until his arrest in 2011. He was ordered to pay a $250 fine and court costs.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A family is asking whoever burglarized a home in south-central Nebraska’s Adams County to return the ashes of the family patriarch.

A box of cremated remains was among items stolen during a daytime burglary on Friday.

Adams County sheriff’s investigator Glenn Kemp says the thief or thieves could take the box to a local clergy member or someone else who could keep the identity of the thief or thieves secret.

Kemp says “the family would like their dad back.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — TD Ameritrade executives don’t want the online brokerage linked to its founder’s political activities.

Ameritrade CEO Fred Tomczyk  said Tuesday the company lost some customers earlier this year when Joe Ricketts reportedly, considered and then dropped a proposal to revive controversy over the relationship between President Barack Obama and his former pastor.

But Tomczyk says the number of customers that left wasn’t significant compared to Ameritrade’s 5.74 million funded accounts.

Tomczyk says Ricketts’ conservative political views don’t reflect Ameritrade’s views because the company generally stays out of politics.

Ricketts retired from Ameritrade’s board last fall to focus on other interests, including his family’s ownership of the Chicago Cubs. Ricketts’ family still owns about 15 percent of Ameritrade’s stock, and two of his sons serve on the board.

HUMBOLDT, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a man who died when he apparently jumped from a pickup during a chase with officers in southeast Nebraska.

The Nebraska State Patrol on Wednesday identified the man as 19-year-old Justin Kanniard, of Pawnee City and Steinauer.

Kanniard died late Monday near Humboldt after leading officers on a chase in Richardson and Pawnee counties.

The patrol says a preliminary investigation shows the pickup left the road and went into a soybean field after the front tires were flattened by stop sticks deployed by officers.

Officials say the driver had a rope around his neck that was attached to the vehicle, and he apparently jumped out of the truck while it was moving. An autopsy is pending.