The Nebraska Legislature convened for the 2013 session on Wednesday, January 9.     Since this year ends in an odd number, the legislature will meet for 90 working days.

Committee chairs and a new speaker were elected.

* (re-elected)

Speaker: Greg Adams of York

Chairman of the Executive Board: John Wightman of Lexington*

Agriculture Committee: Ken Schilz of Ogallala

Banking, Commerce and Insurance: Mike Gloor of Grand Island

Health and Human Services: Kathy Campbell of Lincoln*

Natural Resources: Tom Carlson of Holdrege

Revenue: Galen Hadley of Kearney

Appropriations: Heath Mello of Omaha

Business and Labor: Steve Lathrop of Omaha*

Education: Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids

General Affairs: Russ Karpisek of Wilber*

Government, Military and Veterans Affairs: Bill Avery of Lincoln*

Nebraska Retirement Systems: Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha*

Transportation and Telecommunications: Annette Dubas of Fullerton

Urban Affairs: Amanda McGill of Lincoln*

Judiciary: Brad Ashford of Omaha*

The mediator appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court for the dispute between Kansas and Nebraska over flows in the Republican River has issued a draft report that generally sides with Nebraska.

Kansas is asking for $80-million dollars in damages for Nebraska using more than its share of water under the 1943 Republican River Compact, but Special Master William Kayatta recommends that Nebraska pay just $5-million.

He also recommends that the request by Kansas for future water restrictions for Nebraska…including sharp reductions in irrigation wells…be denied.

The 100-plus page draft report is subject to additional changes. Lawyers for both states will have the chance to comment on the recommendations on later this month on the 24th. Kenyatta’s final recommendation will go to the Supreme Court.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning says he thinks the $5 million recommendation is still too high, but is generally encouraged by Kenyatta’s draft recommendations…calling them a “a positive step for our basin irrigators who have worked hard to keep Nebraska in compliance with the compact on an annual basis since 2007.”

Bruning also liked that Kayatta’s recommendation denial of all other requests for relief from Kansas…including that Nebraska to be found in contempt, sanctions, injunctive relief, sanctions and appointment of a special river master.

Kansas officials were not immediately available to offer their reaction to Kayatta’s draft report, and there was no statement posted on the Kansas attorney general’s website late Wednesday afternoon. The full report is available for viewing at http://www.pierceatwood.com/docketfiling.aspx

 

As expected, State Senator Greg Adams of York was elected Wednesday as the new Speaker of the Nebraska Legislature. The only announced candidate, he succeeds Mike Flood of Norfolk…who left the legislature under term limits after serving as speaker the past 6 session.

Adams told his colleagues he has no political agenda other than to help his colleagues be “the best senators they can be”

A retired high school teacher and former mayor of York, Adams has been chairman of the Education Committee the past 2 years…helping broker deals on the state’s K-12 school funding formula and working closely with the state’s colleges.

Ogallala senator Ken Schilz was voted the new Agriculture Committee Chair, while Heath Mello of Omaha is the new chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee…succeeding the term-limited Lavon Heideman.

Senator John Harms of Scottsbluff was encouraged by many of colleagues to put his hat into the contest for the Appropriations chairmanship, but says he turned them down because he was concerned about the stress of the job and the chance it might aggravate some existing health concerns.

 

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the shooting death of a 33-year-old man found in a motel parking lot in Rapid City as a homicide.

Rapid City police spokeswoman Tarah Heupel says Eustacio Marrufo was pronounced dead at the scene at the South Dakota Rose Inn shortly after 7 p.m. Monday. Officers were called to the scene for a report of shots fired.

Heupel says Marrufo was recently known to be living in Rapid City and in Kansas.

Police believe the shooting was an isolated incident and that Marrufo and the shooter were acquaintances.

Detectives from the police department and the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office are continuing their investigation.

An autopsy is scheduled for later Tuesday.

     A new report from the National Climatic Data Center shows 2012 set a record in the U-S for the highest average temperature for a year and for a month (July), with every state recording an above-average temperature, 19 setting yearly records, and two…Nebraska and Wyoming…setting records for the hottest and driest years on record.

The U.S. Climate Extremes Index…which evaluates extremes in temperature, precipitation, and landfalling tropical cyclones..showed 2012 was the second most extreme year on record…trailing only 1998…the previous hottest year…and coming in at nearly twice the average value.

There were 11 different weather disasters that caused more than $1 billion in damage, including Superstorm Sandy and the drought, while wildfires charred 9.2-million acres…the 3rd-highest on record.

Despite the drought, 2012 was only the 15th driest year nationally…coming in at just under 26.6″ of precipitation or about 2-1/2″ less than normal.

U.S. temperature records go back to 1895, with the yearly average based on reports from more than 1,200 weather stations across the Lower 48 states.

The average temperature in the U-S for last year was 55.32 degrees Fahrenheit…a full degree warmer than the old 1998 record and 3.2 degrees warmer than the average for the entire 20th century.

In Nebraska…Harrisburg, Sidney, McCook, Benkelman, Springview, and Trenton all set new records for their highest-ever recorded temperature with Harrisburg and Sidney doing it twice. Also setting new high records were Evanston, Wyo, and Edgemont and Hill City, SD.

 

 

SIDNEY, Nebraska (AP) — Officials in a western Nebraska city are crediting several city employees for saving two children from drowning in an icy park pond.

Sidney police say Park Cemetery Superintendent Tom Von Seggern  jumped into the freezing water Friday afternoon to save the two brothers at Legion Park. The first boy fell through while chasing after a pet dog and the second boy went through after trying to save his brother.

Four other city employees then helped pull Von Seggern and the boys to safety.

The elementary-aged children and two employees were transported to a local hospital as a safety precaution. They have since been released.

The dog is fine and never fell through the ice.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say 600 comic books have been stolen from a Lincoln apartment building.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Emily Hansen was keeping the comic books for a friend and had put them in a communal storage area of her apartment building.

When she went to do laundry last week, she discovered the comic books had been taken.

Hansen says all of the comic books were about the “X-Men” and included some dating back to the 1970s.

LINCOLN, Neb. – With the holidays now behind them, Nebraskans can buy themselves a gift good for 12 months of outdoor fun. The 2013 park entry permits, which are required for every vehicle entering a state park, recreation area and historical park, are available from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The fees are $25 for an annual permit, $12.50 for a duplicate annual permit and $5 for a daily permit. Permit holders must permanently affix the sticker to the inside, lower left-hand corner of the windshield (driver’s side).

Vendors may charge the following issue fees: $1 for annual permits, $1 for duplicate annual and 35 cents for a daily permit. A $1 issue fee is charged to online purchases of annual and duplicate annual permits.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — A woman’s path to giving birth to Rapid City’s first baby of 2013 began with her behind the wheel driving to the hospital.

Linda Black Bear wasn’t expecting to deliver for a few days when her contractions began coming quick at 3 a.m. Tuesday. She was in Box Elder and had no one to drive her to the hospital.

The Rapid City Journal reports that with desperation and determination, she drove the roughly 10 miles alone. She made it to the Rapid City Regional Hospital and gave birth to a baby boy.

Caden Blaze Black Bear was born at 6:48 a.m. January 1st.

His mother tells reporters that she’d tried to hold off his arrival, but Caden was apparently determined to make a grand entrance.

     About 10,000 Nebraska state government employees will see a 2-1/4% pay raise over each of the next two years under a newly-ratified union contract. State chief negotiator Bill Wood says the contract with employees covered under the Nebraska Association for Public Employees was ratified late last month.

The raises are an improvement from what the unionized employees have seen over the last two years. They went without pay raises in fiscal 2012 to help cover a $1 billion gap in the state’s budget and an even 2% raise for the current fiscal year…2013.

Offsetting some of the raise will be higher health care costs. Employee health insurance premiums will not rise the first year, but employees will be charged higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs.