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.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – A federal relief center has been opened to help residents affected by flooding in North Platte. An estimated 78 families have been affected by the swollen Platte River. The relief center open in the Westfield Shopping Center is operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA can help flood victims find temporary housing and make repairs to their homes.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Environmentalists hoping to block a proposed underground pipeline that would funnel oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico have pinned their hopes on an unlikely ally: the conservative state of Nebraska. Few states are as red as Nebraska, which hasn’t supported a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. But opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline has risen steadily since the project was proposed three years ago. The reason is fear of contaminating the Ogallala Aquifer, a subterranean reservoir that spans a large swath of the Great Plains and provides water to much of Nebraska, as well as seven other states. Opponents have grown to include Nebraska’s conservative governor along with the state’s U.S. senators, a Republican and a conservative Democrat. Many in the public also are hostile to the idea.