KEYSTONE COPS

WASHINGTON - The Alberta government is weighing whether it should intervene in an ongoing U.S. court case involving the Keystone XL pipeline, according to James Rajotte, the province’s senior representative in Washington. "There’s a dialogue going on internally," Rajotte told Lauren. "That’s something the government of Alberta will decide going forward."

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has sweetened the deal for Keystone builder TC Energy to continue with the project despite a decade of delays and cross-border legal hang-ups. Kenney’s government has provided $1 billion for construction and promised billions more in credit. President Donald Trump supports the pipeline, while presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden opposes it.

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WILL MIDLANDS HOSPITALS HAVE TO RETURN SOME OF THEIR COVID RELATED STIMULUS MONEY?

LINCOLN - As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country, federal relief efforts directed billions toward hospitals and health clinics. But providers are now worried they might be asked to return some of that money. At the time, lawmakers and administration officials were trying to get money out the door as quickly as possible. They wanted to ensure hospitals kept operating with full staffing in the face of the outbreak.

But as time went on, the Department of Health and Human Services adjusted the formula it was using to allocate the money. In some cases that has meant providers receiving less than they expected — and it has left others wondering whether the overpayments from previous allocations will have to be returned.

Reps. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, recently sent a letter to officials at the Department of Health and Human Services laying out the problem. They wrote that providers had been assured the money was for immediate financial relief and are now in limbo wondering how much they will owe and when they will owe it.

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STATE OF NEBRASKA IGNORED DRUG MANUFACTURERS DEMANDS TO RETURN EXECUTION DRUGS

LINCOLN - Less than three weeks before the fentanyl made by a company based in London was used to carry out an execution in Nebraska in 2018, its top executive fired off a letter to Gov. Pete Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson and Corrections Director Scott Frakes.

The letter was to "remind you again" on Hikma's position on the misuse of their products.

"We object in the strongest possible terms to the use of any of our products for the purpose of capital punishment," said Daniel Motto, executive vice president of Hikma/West-Ward Pharmaceuticals.

He asked for the immediate return of the drugs "unless the State of Nebraska is prepared to provide to us an original raised-seal copy of an affidavit signed by the governor or attorney general certifying it would only be used for patient care.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Friday at a news conference his administration will continue to carry out the sentences the court ordered and the people of Nebraska support using the current execution protocol.

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NEBRASKA FIRST LADY SUSANNE SHORE CRITICIZES ERNIE CHAMBERS FOR COMMENTS ABOUT SEN. JULIE SLAMA

LINCOLN - Nebraska first lady Susanne Shore criticized State Sen. Ernie Chambers on Saturday for comments he made about fellow Sen. Julie Slama.

On the floor of the Legislature on Monday, Chambers criticized Slama and Gov. Pete Ricketts for a campaign mailer that former Gov. Dave Heineman and Bob Kerrey, a former governor and U.S. senator, have called racist. The mailer juxtaposed a photo of Slama’s opponent, Janet Palmtag of Nebraska City, with a photo of Chambers.

He said if Slama wanted to engage in dirty politics, she should not be surprised if people repeat rumors about why Slama, whom he called a young woman with little life experience, was appointed by Ricketts.

“How are the young women of Nebraska to receive Mr. Chambers’ message and the lack of response by most of the leaders of our state?” Shore wrote.

“I wonder how I can ask my daughters to make their home and build their careers in a state where that type of comment goes unchallenged? This comment isn’t hurled at one woman — it’s hurled at us all. But it is especially insulting to the smart, talented and amazing young women of our state.”

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‘SUPER SEVEN’ WORKING TO FIND 11TH HOUR COMPROMISE ON THREE KEY BILLS IN NEBRASKA LEGISLATURE

LINCOLN - State Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk, the speaker, pulled together a group of seven leading state senators this week in hopes of striking an 11th hour Plan B compromise. The goal: Pass the top priorities of the 2020 session — property tax relief and tax incentives for business growth.

Those two measures stalled during debate last week, and with only eight days left in the 60-day session that was suspended because of the coronavirus, there are worries. Will the perennial debate about lowering property taxes be put off another year? Could the state be left without an incentive program to help businesses expand or locate in Nebraska? The Advantage Act, the state’s current incentive program, expires at the end of the year.

Besides the speaker, the state senators involved are: John Stinner of Gering, chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee; Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, who heads the Revenue Committee; Mark Kolterman of Seward, the main sponsor of the ImagiNE Act, the stalled replacement for the Advantage Act; Mike McDonnell, a former Omaha fire chief; Tom Briese of Albion, a leading rural senator on tax issues; and Steve Lathrop of Omaha, who helped work out several big compromises in his previous service in the Legislature.

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BAN ON CERTAIN SECOND-TRIMESTER ABORTIONS STALLS IN LEGISLATURE

LINCOLN - State senators spent three hours Wednesday afternoon debating Lincoln Sen. Suzanne Geist's "dismemberment abortion" bill to ban the second-trimester procedure that tears "a baby limb from limb."

Most doctors call the procedure dilation and evacuation, a surgical procedure that uses suction to remove the fetus, forceps, and a curette to scrape the lining of the uterus and remove tissue.

Early last week, Geist succeeded in a motion to pull the bill from committee to the floor for debate, which was guaranteed Wednesday when Speaker Jim Scheer designated a specific time for it on the agenda.

"LB814 would end the practice of killing a live baby in the second trimester of pregnancy by pulling off its arms and legs piece by piece until it either bleeds to death, its spinal cord is cut or its skull is crushed," she said. "It's an unthinkable way to dispose of a child."

Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt moved to kill the bill, saying there is much more important business for the Legislature during a pandemic.

"Here we are at the hallowed hour of 1:30 (p.m.), as foretold by the speaker of the Legislature, who in the midst of a pandemic, a public health crisis ... thought we'd better get this bill ... into its own hallowed and sanctified time slot," Hunt said.

The bill was filibustered and got three hours of debate but no vote was taken. Geist can bring the bill back if there's time and she can show she had 33 votes to break the filibuster.

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EDITORIAL: LAWMAKERS’ DITHERING ON TAXES, INCENTIVES RISKS GREAT HARM TO NEBRASKA

LINCOLN - When the Nebraska Legislature recently resumed its session, property tax relief and business incentives towered as two of the lawmakers’ central obligations. Yet, this week the Legislature is staring failure in the face on those very issues. This needless stalemate risks enormous harm to Nebraska.

The cries for property tax relief from many quarters in the state are unmistakable and legitimate. Additionally, the Legislature’s dithering on business incentives issues risks putting a dunce cap on Nebraska economic development, making ours the only state next year without an incentives program.

To get beyond the current deadlock, the Legislature must show leadership, be willing to negotiate, be and flexible. Nebraska lawmakers stand at the brink of a terrible failure for themselves and the state. Senators mustn’t let that happen. They have an all-important duty to find the final compromises for tax relief and a sound business incentives strategy. Get it done now.

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MEATPACKING WORKERS WIN LEGISLATIVE HEARING NEXT WEEK

LINCOLN - Meatpacking workers and their advocates will get a legislative hearing to air their workplace concerns related to COVID-19 next week despite the Legislature's decision on Wednesday denying Sen. Tony Vargas an opportunity to introduce a new bill. The hearing will be focused on an amendment, introduced by Sen. Vargas, to an existing bill. 

Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln said he has scheduled a hearing for next Thursday before his Business and Labor Committee that will provide a forum for consideration of measures that might be taken to provide safeguards in Nebraska meat processing plants, where nearly 5,000 workers have been infected by the virus.

The amendment prepared by Vargas would require 6 feet of distancing between workers, conforming to the norm of 6 feet of social distancing expected outside those plants as a protection against the virus.

Although the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has authority over standards in meat processing plants, states are empowered to add their own requirements.

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NO VOTE THIS YEAR, BUT EFFORTS TO REPEAL NEBRASKA’S AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BAN WILL CONTINUE

LINCOLN - Leaders of an effort to repeal Nebraska’s ban on affirmative action will keep pushing to remove it from the state constitution, even though they were unable to put the issue before voters this fall.

Omaha City Councilman Ben Gray and Douglas County Board member Chris Rodgers had launched a hurried effort to get a repeal of the ban onto the November ballot. They were hoping that an urgency to address racism would help reverse Nebraskans’ overwhelming vote — 58% to 42% — to adopt the measure, Initiative 424, in 2008.

State Sen. Justin Wayne was willing to try to introduce a bill in the Legislature this month, but decided not to when it became clear it was too late. He said he would focus instead on Legislative Bill 1218, which seeks to make minority-owned businesses more likely to obtain state contracts.

Governor Ricketts opposes the idea. “Governor Ricketts is opposed to racial discrimination, and especially state-sponsored discrimination, which is why he continues to support the amendment which the people of Nebraska passed in 2008,” said his spokesman, Taylor Gage.

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RURAL SENATOR SAYS PROPERTY TAX RELIEF MORE IMPORTANT THAN TAX CUTS FOR BUSINESSES

LINCOLN – Senator Tom Briese stated that he’s “reasonably confident” he has the votes to pass a bill allowing Nebraska to not implement some federal tax cuts aimed at helping distressed businesses impacted by COVID-19. Briese, a farmer, said that “decoupling,” or declining the federal tax changes, would free up nearly $250 million in revenue over three years that could be used for a higher tax priority for Nebraskans — property tax relief.

Decoupling is seen as a key negotiating chip in discussions underway about a “grand compromise” this legislative session to permit passage of a property tax relief/school aid reform bill — highly sought by farmers and ranchers — as well as a new state business incentive program — the top priority of the State Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.

Decoupling, however, was opposed Monday by every major business group in the state, including the groups that represent the state’s banking, accounting, auto dealers and small-business industries. They argued that the CARES Act tax cuts were aimed at the businesses that have struggled most in recent years, and are at the highest risk of closing unless they get an infusion of cash via the tax breaks.

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OWNER OF PAYCHECK ADVANCE SEEKS CHANGE TO BALLOT LANGUAGE ON PROPOSED CAP OF PAYDAY LOAN INTEREST RATES

LINCOLN- The owner of Paycheck Advance has filed a lawsuit seeking to keep a ballot initiative, which would cap the rate cash advance businesses such as hers can charge, off the ballot as currently worded.

If put on November's general election ballot and approved, the measure would cap payday loan rates at 36%, rather than up to 400% as currently allowed under state law. In a complaint filed this week in Lancaster County District Court, Trina Thomas says the ballot title and explanatory statement prepared by the Nebraska Attorney General's Office is "insufficient and unfair." 

As sent, it would say: A vote "FOR" will amend Nebraska statutes to: (1) reduce the amount that delayed deposit services licensees, also known as payday lenders, can charge to a maximum annual percentage rate of thirty-six percent; (2) prohibit payday lenders from evading this rate cap; and (3) deem void and uncollectable any delayed deposit transaction made in violation of this rate cap.

Thomas' attorneys, J.L. Spray and Stephen Mossman, say she proposes dropping payday lenders from the language.

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NO VOTE THIS YEAR, BUT EFFORTS TO REPEAL NEBRASKAN'S AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BAN WILL CONTINUE

OMAHA-  Leaders of an effort to repeal Nebraska’s ban on affirmative action will keep pushing to remove it from the state constitution, even though they were unable to put the issue before voters this fall.

Omaha City Councilman Ben Gray and Douglas County Board member Chris Rodgers had launched a hurried effort to get a repeal of the ban onto the November ballot. They were hoping that an urgency to address racism would help reverse Nebraskans’ overwhelming vote — 58% to 42% — to adopt the measure, Initiative 424, in 2008.

The City Council and County Board both passed resolutions in mid-July asking the Nebraska Legislature to put an initiative on the November ballot to repeal the amendment. But it was too late, even if legislation could have cleared a steep uphill climb during a pandemic-shortened session. The language needed to have been submitted by July 2, Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen said.

Now the soonest that the issue could be put before voters would be November 2022, the next general election in Nebraska. Rodgers said it may be better to wait even longer, until the next presidential election in 2024, and in the meantime make greater use of measures currently available.

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TRUMP FLOATS NOVEMBER ELECTION DELAY-- BUT WOULD NEED CONGRESS ON BOARD.

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump is for the first time floating a “delay” to the Nov. 3 presidential election, as he makes unsubstantiated allegations that increased mail-in voting will result in fraud. 

Trump tweeted Thursday: “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

The dates of presidential elections — the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in every fourth year — are enshrined in federal law and would require an act of Congress to change. The Constitution makes no provisions for a delay to the Jan. 20, 2021 presidential inauguration There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud through mail-in voting, even in states with all-mail votes. Five states already rely exclusively on mail-in ballots, and they say they have necessary safeguards in place to ensure that a hostile foreign actor doesn’t disrupt the vote. Election security experts say that all forms of voter fraud are rare, including absentee balloting. 

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PALMTAG MOVES TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT IN DISTRICT 1 ELECTION

LINCOLN - Palmtag, who is running for the Southeast Nebraska legislative seat against Sen. Julie Slama, is firing back about the mailer, which went out in the spring but is still a hot topic. The mailer sent by the Nebraska Republican Party said she sided with Lincoln liberals, atheists and radical extremists, which she says is not true and a character assassination.

That flyer has come up numerous times in his speeches on the floor of the Legislature this week, along with comments he's made about Slama that she has called disgusting and vile. "The Slama campaign mailed this flyer to people in legislative District 1 and it basically attacked my faith and my conservative values," Palmtag said. "They called me an atheist. I am a Catholic."

When asked about that Wednesday, Slama said only that she remained focused on the real issues facing her district, including property tax relief, broadband expansion and COVID-19 and flood recovery, and would not talk about the flyer.

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INSIDE THE GOP BILL (SORT OF)

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans started unveiling pieces of their new coronavirus relief bill today, but negotiators remain undecided on several key issues. Republican leadership briefed Senate GOP aides on the proposed legislation this afternoon, Marianne LeVine and John Bresnahan write. The Republican initiative is expected to include a temporary flat payment for unemployment insurance for two months, although the exact amount of the federal contribution wasn’t finalized, according to sources on the call. Beefed-up $600 federal unemployment payments begin expiring at the end of this week, a deadline that has spurred GOP leaders into action.

But Republican leaders also didn't reveal whether their proposal will include a payroll tax cut, a top priority for President Donald Trump. Several GOP sources said the payroll tax cut "was out," but Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to confirm that as he walked out of the Capitol tonight.

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ARE THE KIDS ALRIGHT?

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump suggested that science was on the side of in-person schooling this fall, because children are less likely to get sick and die from Covid-19. “They don’t catch it easily,” he said. “They don’t bring it home easily. And if they do catch it, they get better fast.”

That did appear to be one tiny blessing in March as Covid-19 sprawled across the globe. Early reports suggested kids were virtually untouched by the pandemic.

Now it’s July, and some school districts are just weeks away away from opening up classrooms. Like the president, some politicians — and parents — are arguing the risk is low for kids. Is it?

Kids still appear to be less likely to catch and transmit the virus. The leading explanation is that kids make fewer receptors, a protein called ACE2, making it more difficult for the virus to latch on, said Mark R. Schleiss, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota Medical School. As children move into adolescence and become adults, they make more of these receptors, theoretically increasing their chance of contracting the virus. The evidence for this hypothesis is limited, and would require more research.

Other theories suggest children’s smaller lungs, or even their shorter height, play a role in the likelihood of transmission, Schleiss said.

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CHI HEALTH SUSPENDS SOME COVID-19 TESTS

KEARNEY — A problem in the supply chain is causing delays with COVID-19 testing at CHI Health’s Core Lab.

For that reason, CHI Health Good Samaritan has suspended tests for COVID-19 it gives prior to many medical procedures. This does not affect surgeries.

Abbott, the manufacturer that supplies the reagents essential for testing, will be unable to meet the current demand for the next four or five weeks. This affects all 13 hospitals in the CHI Health system.

Since resuming elective procedures, CHI Health was one of the only health care systems in the area requiring a COVID-19 test before surgery.

Fewer than 1% of presurgical patients tested came back positive.

Surgeons and staff members will continue to wear proper N95 masks and other essential personal protective equipment at all times. CHI Health does not have a PPE shortage.

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HY-VEE WILL OFFER 3 MILLION FREE MASKS, BUT WON’T REQUIRE THEM IN STORES

KEARNEY - Hy-Vee remains off the growing list of grocery stores requiring customers to wear masks while shopping.

But in a press release Tuesday, the company announced that it will begin distributing more than 3 million free masks to customers starting Monday. The mask-giving but not mask-requiring initiative is called “Mask It Up To Shut COVID Down. It’s Your Choice.”

The list of grocery stores soon requiring masks includes Walmart, Bakers, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walgreens and Publix.

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STATE’S INITIAL UNEMPLOYMENT CLAIMS PLUNGED LAST WEEK

LINCOLN - Nebraska's initial unemployment claims plummeted last week, falling to their lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic began.

According to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor, Nebraskans filed 3,989 initial claims in the week that ended this past Saturday. That was slightly more than half as many as the adjusted number of 7,911 for the previous week.

It's also the lowest weekly total since there were about 800 claims the week ending March 14, right before businesses started shutting their doors and events were canceled due to COVID-19.

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NU PRESIDENT SAYS CAMPUS LIFE – AND SPORTS – CAN BE DONE SAFELY

OMAHA - Higher education officials in the University of Nebraska system are preparing for about 51,000 students to return to the Lincoln, Omaha and Kearney campuses in five weeks while also focusing on preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“This will not be a normal year,” University of Nebraska President Ted Carter said. “We have to learn how to live in a COVID-19 world. And do this with mitigation.” Carter said he wants to see fall sports happen.

Carter predicted that the number of tuition hours would stay about the same while tuition revenue would decrease because fewer out-of-state and international students will enroll. Since the April announcement of Nebraska Promise, which will provide free tuition for undergraduate Nebraska students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year, applications have been up 21%, Carter said.

He expects that about 10,000 or more students might ask for and need a test — and TestNebraska, the state’s testing initiative, could help in that effort.

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