Rep. Lee Terry has introduced a bill to allow the Keystone XL oil pipeline to be built sooner than later.

The Nebraska Republican has long supported construction of the 1,700-mile pipeline that would carry crude oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas. The pipeline would travel through Montana, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Terry’s bill would remove the need for a presidential permit for the pipeline to be built.

Earlier this week, Republicans who met with President Barack Obama said the president did not rule out a decision to approve the $7 billion pipeline.

But Terry says he and others are tired of waiting and that the project would create thousands of jobs.

Opponents say the jobs numbers are exaggerated and that the pipeline poses an environmental threat.

 

Authorities say a 24-year-old man wanted on an Illinois murder warrant has been arrested in Nebraska.

Members of the Metro Fugitive Task Force arrested John Harris on Thursday afternoon in Lincoln. He’s being held in Lancaster County Jail, awaiting extradition to Illinois.

Officials say Harris is suspected in a gang-related shooting in St. Clair County, Ill., earlier this year. U.S. marshals in East St. Louis, Ill., had contacted Nebraska authorities about Harris’ likely presence in Lincoln.

 

The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld a man’s 2011 conviction for the 1978 stabbing death of an Omaha man.

Jerry Watson was convicted of first-degree murder and a weapons count in the death of 61-year-old Carroll Bonnet and sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.

Bonnet’s body was found in his apartment in October 1978, and his car was later found in Illinois. DNA evidence and fingerprints led to Watson, who was in prison in Joliet, Ill., on burglary and drug charges.

Among other arguments, Watson’s appeal said that because 33 years had passed since the murder, he was denied his right at trial to confront witnesses, most of whom were dead or unavailable.

On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected those arguments.

A Bellevue man has been given two to three years in prison for vehicular homicide in Omaha.

Online court records say 21-year-old Vidal Becerra pleaded guilty after prosecutors lowered the felony charge. Becerra was sentenced earlier this week.

Authorities say Becerra had a blood alcohol level of three times the legal limit when he crashed his car on July 4 in western Omaha. A front-seat passenger, 21-year-old Nicholas Galas, of Omaha, was killed. A back-seat passenger refused medical treatment.

A man has been accused of attacking two police officers after his squirt gun was taken away at a college campus in Omaha.

The Omaha Police Department says an off-duty officer at Wright Career College approached 20-year-old DaVontia Henderson Thursday about a large squirt gun he was carrying. The officer took the gun after learning Henderson planned to shoot students with it.

The Associated Press reports Henderson began wrestling with the officer. Henderson also tried to bite the ear of a second officer after being placed in the back of a cruiser. Henderson kicked the police car door and spit on the second officer.

The station reports authorities arrested Henderson. He faces charges of trespassing after a request to leave, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

A South Dakota woman accused of binging on drugs while a 2-year-old girl lay dead in her closet for two days has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Laurie Cournoyer was sentenced Thursday to 10 years for possession of methamphetamine, five years for keeping a place for meth and 10 years with eight suspended for having drugs in jail. The 29-year-old woman was also sentenced to five years in prison for failing to report the death of a child.

Prosecutors say the toddler’s body was in a closet for nearly two days before Cournoyer and her husband, Taylor, reported her death.

Taylor Cournoyer pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and keeping a place for use or sale of drugs. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison in November.

A lawsuit against McDonald’s alleges a child ate a used condom he found in the play area of one of the chain’s Chicago restaurants.

The suit was filed Wednesday on behalf of Anishi Spencer and her two sons, who were 3 and 2 years old at the time of the alleged incident in February 2012.

The mother alleges the 2-year-old coughed up a piece of the condom and that both children required medical treatment.

The suit accuses McDonald’s of failing to remove harmful debris from an area used by children.

McDonald’s said Thursday it was investigating. It added in a statement that “providing a safe, clean environment is a top priority.”

The woman’s attorney, Jeffrey Deutschman, says he tried for months to reach a settlement but got no response.

A judge has blocked the federal government from requiring the founder of Domino’s Pizza to provide mandatory contraception coverage to his employees under the health care law.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Zatkoff on Thursday granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the contraception provision of the law against Tom Monaghan and Domino’s Farms Corp. near Ann Arbor, Mich.

Monaghan is a Roman Catholic who says he considers contraception a “gravely immoral” practice. He offers health insurance that excludes contraception and abortion for employees.

The new federal law requires employers to offer insurance including contraception coverage or risk fines.

Domino’s Pizza spokesman Chris Brandon says Monaghan sold his controlling stake in Domino’s in 1998 to private equity company Bain Capital and sold his remaining Domino’s stock in 2004.

A Nebraska petroleum company received a package on Thursday that contained surprising content, methamphetamine.

According to Lincoln Police, employees at Sapp Brothers Petroleum opened a package and found about a tablespoon of white powder inside.  They reported it to police, and health officials have said the the powder tested positive for meth.

An official at Sapp Brothers corporate office said that it is unclear why the package was delivered to the company.

According to their website, Sapp Brothers Petroleum operates 15 truck stops across Nebraska.

Investigators are still working to determine where the package came from.

 

 

Prosecutors say a Wisconsin father accused of starving and torturing his 16-year-old daughter clearly chose to hurt her.

Assistant Dane County District Attorney Matthew Moeser told jurors during closing arguments in the Madison man’s trial Thursday that the man hid his daughter in his basement so people wouldn’t ask questions. Moeser says the girl didn’t know what day or month it was.

The girl weighed less than 70 pounds when she finally ran away from the home in February 2012 and was discovered by a passing motorist.

The Associated Press isn’t naming the man to avoid identifying the girl who has alleged her stepbrother tried to sexually assault her.

The jury was expected to begin deliberations later Thursday.