CAIRO, Neb. (AP) – A boil order has ended for the central Nebraska town of Cairo. Harmful bacteria had been found in the town’s water supply, but the latest water test showed the water is OK now. The town of about 700 people is just northwest of Grand Island. Village Board chairman Bill Heger said that a test done Monday afternoon “came back clear.” He says it wasn’t E. coli in the system but didn’t know for sure what kind of bacteria it was. The system has been flushed and chlorinated.
FREMONT, Neb. (AP) – Midland University in Fremont will soon guarantee a four-year path to graduation, starting with the 2012 freshman class. The guarantee comes with certain conditions, including that students declare a major by the start of their sophomore year. They must also maintain a typical course load as a full-time student and earn passing credit. If a student meeting the conditions doesn’t graduate in four years, Midland will cover tuition and fees for as long as it takes the student to complete the degree. The initiative is intended to combat a trend of declining four-year degree-completion rates in the U.S. Midland is not the first to address the trend. A handful of U.S. colleges have begun offering three-year programs, the norm for undergraduate degrees in Europe.
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.
MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) – The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has awarded SEMA Construction of Centennial, Colo., a $15.3 million contract to repair and modify Red Willow Dam in southwest Nebraska. The bureau discovered tension cracks in the dam’s embankment and a sinkhole on the downstream side of the dam in October 2009. Water in Hugh Butler Lake was drained to ensure downstream safety. The dam sits about 10 miles northwest of McCook. Red Willow Dam is an earthfill embankment that is 126 feet tall. The reservoir lake can hold more than 86,600 acre-feet of water. An acre-foot is almost 326,000 gallons of water, or enough to cover an acre of ground with a foot of water.
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.”
GERING, Neb. (AP) – The Gering City Council has rejected efforts to cut in half the number of days fireworks can be shot off in the Panhandle city around the July 4th holiday. A motion to cut the number to five days from 10 died for lack of a second at Monday night’s meeting. Supporters of keeping it at 10 days say cutting it to five days would cost fireworks vendors money, compress noise problems into fewer days, raise enforcement problems for police and violate a person’s right to use fireworks.
Those wanting to reduce the number of days to five say fireworks cause problems for shift workers, veterans and animals.
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.
