Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer says she will not support the nomination of  former senator and fellow Republican Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense.

Fischer says she says appreciate’s Hagel’s service as an infantryman in Vietnam and as a United States senator, but that after meeting with him privately and witnessing what she calls his “confusing and contradictory testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee” confirmation hearing, she can’t support his nomination.

Citing what she calls some of his “controversial views” on Iran and Israel, she says Hagel changed changed these positions and argued before the committee that he now supports U.S. efforts to actively prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities.

Fischer says she’s even more troubled by Hagel’s insistence on holding positions that history has proven wrong, saying that “leadership requires the humility to admit being wrong.

She also says the Secretary of Defense needs organizational and budgetary expertise to effectively manage the world’s largest bureaucracy, which she says Hagel lacks.

Although he is a Republican, Hagel campaigned against Fischer and for Democrat Bob Kerrey during the closing weeks of last November’s election…where Fischer easily defeated Kerrey.

          A central Nebraska woman who pleaded no contest to charges in 3 counties for prostituting her 7- and 14-year-old daughters has been given up to 20 more years in prison.

The Associated Press is not using her name to protect the identity of the girls. The AP does not usually identify the victims of sex crimes.

The Hastings Tribune says the 36-year-old woman was sentenced earlier this week in Furnas County District Court to 12 to 20 years for conspiracy to commit a felony.

She had already had been sentenced in Buffalo County to 80 to 90 years in prison after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit child sexual assault and of two felony counts of child pornography possession. No contest pleas are treated as guilty pleas for sentencing.

The woman is still awaiting sentencing in Franklin County, where she has pleaded no contest to nine more similar felony counts

     A Hot Springs man has pleaded guilty to a counterfeiting charge after being caught trying to pass phony $20 bills in Rapid City.

35-year-old Jeffrey Walsh was accused of using the bogus bills at four stores last August.  U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson says Walsh faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on June 7.

        Rapid City police say they have busted a major local drug trafficking and money counterfeiting operation. Four people have been arrested on drug charges, with charges related to the alleged counterfeiting operation pending.

The investigation began with the search of vehicle that was pulled over early Monday and ended with the searches of two homes, a motel room and a tattoo parlor.

Authorities say they found traces of cocaine during the search of the vehicle, which led to search warrants that led to more search warrants.

Officers confiscated $56,000 in cash, more than a dozen rifles and handguns, counterfeit money and the equipment used to make it, and illegal drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — The Rapid City Council has voted to draft a policy regarding prayer after a nonprofit group asked the council to end its practice of beginning meetings with an invocation.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation advocates the separation of church and state and says a compromise would be for the council to hold a moment of silence before meetings rather than a prayer. City leaders say they don’t have any plans to change their tradition.

The council on Monday night decided to have staff draft a policy on the matter that would help the city defend itself in court. The Freedom From Religion Foundation has said it plans to become involved in lawsuits on the issue of prayer at public meetings, though it has not said it will sue Rapid City.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Four Rapid City Council members and several city residents are calling for Councilman Bill Clayton to step down after remarks some said were racist.

Clayton was accused of making racist comments to a black TV reporter last August. He publicly apologized last month for the controversy.

The Rapid City Journal reports the council heard Clayton’s full testimony behind closed doors in December and took no action against him. The calls during Monday night’s council meeting for Clayton to resign came after former council member Malcolm Chapman criticized the council for not taking action against Clayton.

Clayton defended himself, saying news coverage of the incident has been inaccurate and that “this is the ugly side of politics.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says Chuck Hagel “seems clueless” on U.S. policy toward Iran and he’s urging the Obama administration to reconsider its defense secretary nominee.

In a statement Tuesday, the South Carolina lawmaker stopped short of saying he would filibuster the choice if the president pushes forward as expected. No Democrat has come out in opposition to Hagel, two Republican senators back him and several others, including Sen. John McCain, say they wouldn’t support a filibuster.

Graham is a member of the Armed Services Committee, which could vote as early as Thursday on the nomination of Hagel, the former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska.

Hagel stumbled last week at his confirmation hearing on whether the U.S. policy toward Iran is containment, then corrected himself.

Nebraska senior Senator Mike Johanns  says he will back former Nebraska senator Chuck Hagel as the next Secretary of Defense. Johanns told the Lincoln Journal-Star and the Omaha World-Herald over the weekend that Hagel earned his endorsement after last week’s confirmation hearing and after meeting with him.

Some Republican senators have said they will vote against confirming Hagel because he’s not tough enough on Iran or sufficiently supportive of Israel, but Johanns says he believes Hagel will be a strong supporter of Israel and other allies of the U.S. and will be firm with America’s enemies.

Johanns and Hagel are long-time political colleagues. Hagel was already a senator when he campaigned with Hagel on his successful run for governor in 1998, and Johanns took Hagel’s when he didn’t seek reelection in 2008.

Johanns joins Thad Cochran of Mississippi as the only Republicans to publicly endorse Hagel’s nomination to run the Pentagon.  Democrats hold the majority in the Senate, and none has voiced opposition to Hagel’s appointment.