Timeline of Nebraska
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1848 Fort Kearny
was built in Nebraska. It was named after Stephen Watts Kearny, a US
Army hero of the Mexican War.
(SFC, 8/11/98, p.A7)
1854 May 30, The Kansas-Nebraska
Act, designed by Sen. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, was passed by the
US Congress. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery
within their borders. The governor of the Kansas Territory was James
William Denver. Pres. Pierce kept appointing proslavery governors. The
Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened the
north to slavery. This period of Kansas history was incorporated into
the 1998 novel "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton,"
by Jane Smiley.
(AP, 5/30/97)(WSJ, 2/11/03,
p.A10)(www.historyplace.com/lincoln/kansas.htm)(ON, 4/08, p.1)
1855 Sep 3, General William Harney
defeated Little Thunder's Brule Sioux at the Battle of Blue Water in
Nebraska.
(HN, 9/3/98)
1861 Mar 2, US Congress created
the Dakota & Nevada Territories out of the Nebraska & Utah
territories
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.1B)(SFEC, 7/9/00, DB p.67)(SC,
3/2/02)
1862 The Homestead Act officially
opened the Nebraska territory for settlement, leading to statehood in
1867. The US government passed the Homestead Act to stop the spread of
slavery to the Western territories. Public land was awarded to any head
of a family on condition that the settlers improve the land and live
there for 5 years.
(Hem., 5/97, p.20)(HNQ, 12/3/00)
1862-1906 Bitters bottles were manufactured in
Tiffin, Ohio and Omaha, Neb. to hold “American Life Bitters,” an
alcoholic concoction of herbs and gin that was marketed as medicine.
(SFC, 6/3/98, Z1 p.6)
1867 Mar 1, Most of Nebraska
became the 37th state. It was expanded later.
(AP, 3/1/98)(SC, 3/1/02)
1869 A greater influx of settlers
came to Nebraska with the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad.
(HNQ, 12/3/00)
1870 Feb 17, Nebraska, the last
state needed to secure ratification, approved the 15th Amendment to the
US Constitution, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race.
(AH, 2/05, p.17)
1873 Kearney, Neb., was founded. A
typographical error kept the name misspelled. It was named after
Stephen Watts Kearny, a US Army hero of the Mexican War.
(SFC, 8/11/98, p.A7)
1874 Sep 18, The Nebraska Relief
and Aid Society was formed to help farmers whose crops were destroyed
by grasshoppers swarming throughout the American West. [see 1875]
(HN, 9/18/98)
1875 A Nebraskan estimated a
grasshopper swarm to be 1,800 miles long and 110 miles wide. In 2004
Jeffrey A. Lockwood authored “Locust: The Devastating Rise and
Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American
Frontier.”
(SSFC, 5/16/04, p.M3)
1876 May 17, The 7th US Cavalry
under Custer left Ft. Lincoln.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1876 Jul 17, At Warbonnet Creek,
Nebraska, Buffalo Bill Cody took the scalp of Cheyenne Chief Yellow
Hair (Yellow Hand) following a duel.
(http://tinyurl.com/a4ja2)(WSJ, 12/13/05, p.D8)
1877 May 6, Chief Crazy Horse
surrendered to U.S. troops in Nebraska. Crazy Horse brought General
Custer to his end.
(HN, 5/6/99)
1877 Sep 5, The great Sioux
warrior Crazy Horse, a cousin of Kicking Bear, was fatally bayoneted at
age 36 by a soldier at Fort Robinson, Nebraska. In 1975 Stephen Ambrose
authored "Crazy Horse and Custer." In 2002 Ambrose was accused of
plagiarizing from the 1955 book "Custer" by Jay Monaghan (d.1980). In
1999 Larry McMurtry authored the biography "Crazy Horse" for the
Penguin Lives series. In 2004 Joseph M. Marshall III authored “The
Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History.” In 2006 Kingsley M. Bray
authored “Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life.”
(SFEC, 2/7/99, Par p.14)(HN, 12/24/99)(SFC, 1/9/02,
p.A2)(SSFC, 12/5/04, p.E5)(AH, 10/07, p.62)
1883 May 17, Buffalo Bill Cody's
1st wild west show premiered in Omaha.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1883 Jul 4, One of the first Wild
West shows was performed in North Platte, Nebraska, and was organized
by Buffalo Bill (William F. Cody), who took the show on the road the
following year.
(IB, Internet, 12/7/98)
1891 Apr 7, Nebraska introduced an
8 hour work day.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1892 Jul 4, The Omaha Platform was
adopted at the formative convention of the Populist (or People's) Party
held in Omaha, Nebraska. The People's party, more commonly known as the
Populist party, was organized in St. Louis to represent the common
folk, especially farmers, against the entrenched interests of
railroads, bankers, processors, corporations, and the politicians in
league with such interests. At its first national convention in Omaha
in July 1892, the party nominated James K. Weaver for president and
ratified the so-called Omaha Platform, drafted by Ignatius Donnelly of
Minnesota.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Platform)
1892 Bankers Manifesto: “At the
coming Omaha Convention to be held July 4th (1892), our men must attend
and direct its movement, or else there will be set on foot such
antagonism to our designs as may require force to overcome. This at the
present time would be premature. We are not yet ready for such a
crisis. Capital must protect itself in every possible manner through
combination (conspiracy) and legislation.” Congressman Charles A.
Lindbergh, Sr. revealed the Bankers Manifesto of 1892 to the US
Congress somewhere between 1907 and 1917.
(www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/2005/07jul/bankersmanifesto.html)
1896 Oct 28, Howard Hansen,
composer, was born in Wahoo, Nebraska. He became the director of the
Eastman School of music.
(HN, 10/28/00)(MC, 10/28/01)
1899 May 10, Fred Astaire
(d.1987), movie musical star, was born in Omaha, Neb. His films
included “Easter Parade” (1948).
(AP, 5/10/99)(HN, 5/10/99)
1900 Willa Cather published “Eric
Hermannson’s Soul” in Cosmopolitan. In 1998 an opera based on the story
was composed by Libby Larson with libretto by Chas Rader-Shieber. It
was commissioned to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Omaha Opera.
(WSJ, 11/30/98, p.A20)
1904 Aug 16, Roman Hruska (d.1999
at 94), later Senator, was born in David City.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A17)
1905 May 16, Henry Fonda (d.1982),
actor, was born in Grand Island, Nebraska. He starred in "Grapes of
Wrath" and "On Golden Pond."
(HN, 5/16/99)(AP, 5/16/07)
1907 Sep 3, Loren Eiseley,
professor of Anthropology (Animal Secrets), was born in Lincoln,
Nebraska.
(www.american-buddha.com)
1910 Jan 6, Wright Morris
(d.1998 at 88), author, was born in Central City. In 1981 he won an
American Book Award for his novel “Plains Song.” He wrote 33 books over
his career.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.D7)
1911 Aug 5, Robert Taylor, actor
(Death Valley Days), was born in Filley, Neb.
(MC, 8/5/02)
1913 Mar 23, A strong tornado
swept through Omaha, Neb., on Easter Sunday leaving over 100 fatalities
and millions of dollars in damage.
(SFC, 3/23/09, p.D8)
1913 Jul 14, Gerald Ford (d.2006),
41st vice-president and 38th president of the United States, was born
as Leslie King, Jr. in Omaha, Nebraska, and achieved his highest
prominence as the 38th president of the Untied States. He became
president upon Richard Nixon's resignation from office. Gerald Rudolph
Ford was age two when his mother divorced his father and moved to Grand
Rapids, Michigan. She remarried Gerald Ford, Sr., who adopted the young
boy and gave him his name. Ford assumed the presidency on August 9,
1974, upon the resignation of Richard M. Nixon.
(HN, 7/14/99)(HNQ, 11/24/99)(AP, 12/27/06)
1915 Willa Cather published her
novel “The Song of the Lark.” It was about an opera singer and the
birth and development of the artistic spirit.
(WSJ, 11/30/98, p.A20)
1917 Dec 1, Boys Town founded by
Father Edward Flanagan west of Omaha Neb. [see Dec 12]
(MC, 12/1/01)
1917 Dec 12, Father Edward J.
Flanagan (31) founded Boys Town outside Omaha, Neb. A half-dozen boys
entered to seek a better life. [see Dec 1]
(AP, 12/12/97)(MC, 12/12/01)
1919 Jan 16, Nebraska, Wyoming and
Missouri became the 36th, 37th and 38th states to ratify Prohibition,
which went into effect a year later. Prohibition became law in the US
with the passage of the Volstead Act on Oct 28, which enforced and
defined the 18th Amendment. It was passed over President Wilson's veto
with the necessary two-thirds majority of state ratification.
(WSJ, 8/22/96, p.A14)(AP, 1/16/98)
1920 Oct 17, Montgomery Clift,
actor (From Here to Eternity), was born in Omaha, Neb.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1924 Apr 3, Marlon Brando, actor
(On the Waterfront, The Godfather), was born in Omaha, Neb.
(HN, 4/3/01)(MC, 4/3/02)
1925 May 19, Malcolm X, (Malcolm
Little) militant black Muslim leader, was born in Omaha, Neb. He spoke
of racial pride and black nationalism and was assassinated in 1965.
"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace
unless he has his freedom."
(AP, 2/21/99)(HN, 5/19/99)(SFC, 9/8/99, p.A7)
1928 Aug 31, James Coburn
(d.2002), actor (Our Man Flint, Magnificent Seven), was born in Laurel,
Nebraska.
(YN, 8/31/99)(SFC, 11/19/02, p.A2)
1931 Mar 27, David Janssen
(d.1980), later TV star ("Fugitive," "Harry O"), was born as
(David Harold Meyer) in Naponee, Nebraska.
(Internet)
1931 Jul 27, Grasshoppers in Iowa,
Nebraska and South Dakota destroyed thousands of acres of crops.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1934 Mar 2, Union Pacific tested a
light-weight high-speed passenger train in Omaha.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1934 Jul 17, Donald Sutherland,
actor (M*A*S*H, Body Snatchers), was born in St John, NB.
(MC, 7/17/02)
1934 Stephen Edward Epler
(1909-1997) invented six-man football at Chester High School in
Chester, Nebraska.
(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A18)
1936 Nov 19, Dick Cavett, talk
show host, was born Kearney, Neb.
(MC, 11/19/01)
1937 Apr 27, Sandy Dennis, actress
(Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), was born in Nebraska.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1941 The people of the small town
of Lemoyne, Nebraska, were told to move ahead of the damming of the
Platte River, which created Lake McConaughy. In 2004 a drought left 75%
of the lake empty.
(USAT, 11/5/04, p.8A)
1941 Jan 30, Dick Cheney was born
in Lincoln, Neb. He served as chief of staff for Pres. Ford from
1975-1977. He was a US Rep. From 1979-1989 and served as the Sec. of
Defense for pres. George H.W. Bush from 1989-1993. From 1995 to 2000 he
served as the CEO of Halliburton Corp. and in 2000 was chosen by Gov.
George W. Bush as a running mate.
(WSJ, 7/26/00, p.A28)
1942 Jul 12, Richard Stoltzman,
clarinetist (Tashi), was born in Omaha, Nebraska.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1948 Wright Morris (d.1998
at 88), author, published his photo-text: “The Home Place,” a work of
90 photographs taken at a family member’s farm in rural Nebraska.
(SFC, 5/1/98, p.D7)
1951 Jul 19, In Omaha a trenching
machine sliced through the main transcontinental telephone cable and
disrupted coast-to-coast communication.
(SFC, 7/13/01, WBb p.6)
1952 Roman Hruska was elected to
the House of Representatives from Omaha.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A17)
1954 Dec, Swanson and Sons
introduced the TV Dinner. The turkey, sweet potatoes and peas package
was priced at 98 cents and could be cooked in 25 minutes. It was
invented by Gerry Thomas (d.2005), a salesman for Nebraska based C.A.
Swanson, following an oversupply of turkey from the 1953 Thanksgiving
holiday season. Campbell Soup acquired control of Swanson’s in 1955.
(PC, 1992 ed, p.943,952)(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.B1)(SFC,
7/21/05, p.B7)
1954 Roman Hruska (d.1999 at 94)
resigned his House seat to serve the remaining 4 years of Senator Hugh
Butler. Hruska was re-elected in 1958, 1964 and 1970.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A17)
1956 A Univ. of Nebraska
researcher proposed that “free radicals” caused aging, indicating that
antioxidants may slow the process.
(WSJ, 10/30/06, p.A11)
1958 Jan 21, Charles Starkweather,
19, killed the mother, stepfather and half-sister of his 14-year-old
girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, at her family's home in Lincoln, Neb.
Starkweather, who had also killed a gas station attendant the previous
November, and Fugate went on a road trip which resulted in seven more
slayings. Starkweather was executed in 1959; Fugate, who maintained she
had been Starkweather's hostage, was convicted of murder and sentenced
to life; she was paroled in 1976. His slaying spree inspired the 1973
film “Badlands” starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek.
(SFEM, 2/8/98, p.8)(AP, 1/21/08)
1958 Cliff Hillegass (d.2001 at
age 83) began publishing Cliffs Notes, condensed studies of literary
works, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
(WSJ, 7/5/00, p.B1)(SSFC, 5/6/01, p.A27)
1961-1967 Frank Morrison (d.2004) served as the
Democratic governor of Nebraska. He opposed the war in Vietnam and
capital punishment.
(SFC, 4/20/04, p.B7)
1965 May 10, Warren Buffett of
Omaha, Nebraska, took control of Berkshire-Hathaway. The textile
company closed at $18 per share. In 2006 shares of Berkshire-Hathaway
passed $100,000 per share.
(WSJ, 10/24/06, p.C1)
1966 Jul 5, National Guard was
mobilized in Omaha after a 3rd night of rioting.
(MC, 7/5/02)
1969 Feb 25, In Vietnam Navy Lt.
Bob Kerry (25) took part in a SEAL raid in the Mekong Delta where over
a dozen women, children and old men were killed in the village of Thanh
Phong. Kerry received a Bronze Star for the raid and later strongly
regretted his actions. Soon after the raid Kerry lost a leg at Hon Tam
Island and was later awarded a Congressional medal of Honor. In 2001
Kerry, former Gov. and Senator from Nebraska, made public his
participation in the raid. In 2001 Bui Thi Luom of Thanh Phong, the
only survivor from her hut of 16, said 20 people were killed "Only
civilians, women and children." Kerry described the event in his 2002
memoir "When I Was a Young Man." In 2002 Gregory L. Vistica authored:
"The Education of Lieutenant Kerry."
(SFC, 4/26/01, p.A1)(SFC, 4/27/01, p.A3)(SSFC,
4/29/01, p.A12)(SFC, 6/1/02, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/23/03, p.D14)
1970 Jim Exon was elected governor
of Nebraska. He served 2 terms and was then elected to the US Senate.
(SFC, 6/11/05, p.B4)
1972 Exxon Corp. was registered in
Nebraska after it paid an undisclosed amount to Gov. Exon in order get
a license.
(SFC, 6/11/05, p.B4)
1975 May 6, A tornado swept
through Omaha, Nebraska, along 72nd St. the site of many motels on a
weekday noon,. All sorts of folks had to explain just how they wound up
in a state of dishabille in a roofless motel room.
(Nat. Hist., 3/96,
p.65)(www.crh.noaa.gov/oax/archive/may1975/may675.php)
1978 Jim Exon (1922-2005), former
Nebraska governor, was elected to the US Senate. He served through 1996.
(SFC, 6/11/05, p.B4)
1993 Dec 24, In Nebraska Brandon
Teena (21), a female (born as Teena Brandon) passing as a male, was
raped and beaten by John Lotter and Tom Nissen. A week later they shot
and killed Teena for pressing charges. In 1996 the book "All She
Wanted" was based on Brandon. The 1997 novel ""The Illusionist" was
also based on Brandon. A 1999 documentary film, "The Brandon Teena
Story," was made by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir. Kimberly Pierce
made her 1999 film "Boys Don't Cry" based on Brandon Teena. In 2001 the
state supreme Court ruled that the sheriff was negligent in protecting
Brandon and awarded her family $80,000 plus damages for emotional
suffering.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.D3)(SFC, 10/20/99, p.D1)(SFC,
4/21/01, p.A3)
1994 The Winnebago nation gave
Lance Morgan $9.7 million from its Iowa casino to start a new venture.
Morgan formed Nebraska-based Ho-Chunk Inc.
(Econ, 4/5/08, p.71)
1996 In Nebraska Bishop Fabian
Bruskewitz ruled that membership in Call To Action and 10 other
organizations was "perilous to the Catholic faith and most often is
totally incompatible with the Catholic faith." Other groups cited
include the abortion-rights groups Planned Parenthood and Catholics for
a Free Choice, the Hemlock Society, which supports physician-assisted
suicide, and several Masonic organizations. In 2006 a Vatican official
upheld the mass excommunication in the Lincoln Diocese.
(AP, 12/9/06)
1997 Rev. Jimmy Creech, a United
Methodist pastor, performed a union ceremony for a lesbian couple in
Omaha. Creech was defrocked in 1999 for marrying 2 men in North
Carolina in violation of Church law.
(SFC, 11/18/99, p.A6)
1997 In Nebraska a state trooper
pulled over William Arthur Kirkpatrick for doing 7 mph over the limit
and found evidence of bank robbery and $1.8 million in cash.
Kirkpatrick and his partner Ray Lewis Bowman were tried in 1998. The
FBI suspected them for some 28 robberies that netted $8 million dating
back to 1982.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.C18)
1998 Sep 2, The Univ. of Nebraska
promised to return the bones of 1,702 Indians to tribes for reburial.
It also agreed to build a memorial on a campus field where bones were
burned over 30 years ago in an incinerator used to dispose diseased
animal parts.
(SFC, 9/3/98, p.A10)
1999 Mar 16, The Nebraska
Cornhuskers beat Chicago State 50-3 in an NCAA baseball game.
(AP, 3/16/00)
1999 Mar 17, In Nebraska a large
prairie fire around Thedford burned tens of thousands of acres and
killed one volunteer firefighter.
(SFC, 3/18/99, p.A2)
1999 Apr 26, Roman Hruska, former
US Senator (1954-1976), died at age 94.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A17)
1999 May 20, The Legislature
passed a measure to impose a 2-year moratorium on the death penalty
27-21. Gov. Mike Johanns (R) was expected to veto it and did.
(SFC, 5/21/99, p.A10)(SFC, 5/27/99, p.A4)
2000 Jan 24, Ralph Quador, a
disliked rich rancher in Taylor, was found shot to death. His money was
suspected to have been siphoned from the steel business of A.H. Voss in
Northern California. His murder remained unsolved in 2001.
(WSJ, 6/13/01, p.A1)
2000 Jul 16, The Great Platte
River Road Archway over I-80 was dedicated near Kearney. It was here
that the pioneer Oregon, Mormon and California trails converged to form
the Great Platte River Road.
(SFEC, 7/23/00, p.T3)
2000 Jul 19, George Bibins (35),
an African American suspected of car stealing, was shot and killed by
Jerad Kruse, (31) a white police officer, following a high speed chase.
Kruse was charged with manslaughter on July 26.
(SFC, 7/27/00, p.A5)
2000 Nov 5, In Scottsbluff 15
Burlington Northern Santa Fe train cars derailed and spilled some
80,000 gallons of benzene. 15,000 residents were ordered to evacuate
the area.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A3)
2000 Some 70% of Nebraska voters
approved an amendment limiting the state-recognized institution of
marriage to heterosexual couples.
(AP, 7/14/06)
2001 Jan 2, Former state governor
and Sen. Bob Kerrey (1992-2000) began working as president of the New
School in NYC.
(SFC, 1/2/01, p.B2)
2001 Oct 10, Tornadoes hit the US
plains and caused heavy damage in Oklahoma and Nebraska.
(SFC, 10/11/01, p.C16)
2001 Oct 13, In Nebraska a school
bus carrying a high school band in Douglas County overturned and 3
people were killed.
(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.A17)
2002 May 4, Five pipe bombs were
found in rural Nebraska mailboxes.
(SSFC, 5/5/02, p.A6)
2002 May 6, Two mailbox pipe bombs
were found in Colorado and another one in Nebraska.
(SFC, 5/7/02, p.A3)
2002 May 22, Dust bowl conditions,
the worst since the 1930s, caused a 10-vehicle pileup that killed 2
men.
(WSJ, 5/24/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 18, It was reported that
drought in western US states was causing the biggest grasshopper
invasion in 50 years. Nebraska was among the hardest hit.
(SFC, 7/18/02, p.A2)
2002 Sep 26, In Norfolk, Nebraska,
3 men shot and killed 4 bank employees and a customer at a US Bank
branch. Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Erick Fernando Vela were
arrested after a few hours 75 miles away. A 4th suspect was arrested
later. 3 were convicted of first-degree murder while a fourth pleaded
guilty.
(SFC, 9/27/02, p.A4)(AP, 9/26/07)
2003 Nov 5, President Bush signed
a bill outlawing the procedure known by its critics as ''partial-birth
abortion.'' Less than an hour later, a federal judge in Nebraska issued
a temporary restraining order against the ban. In 2007 the US Supreme
Court upheld the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.
(WSJ, 11/6/03, p.A1)(AP, 11/5/08)
2004 May 11, A drought in western
Nebraska continued and threatened the fishery at Lake McConaughy.
(USAT, 5/11/04, p.10A)
2004 Aug 12, Ted Kooser of
Lincoln, Nebraska, replaced Louise Gluck as US poet laureate.
(SFC, 8/13/04, p.E20)
2005 May 12, A US federal judge
struck down a Nebraska gay-marriage ban that barred benefit sharing and
same-sex foster parents.
(WSJ, 5/13/05, p.A1)
2005 Jun 10, Jim Exon (83), former
governor of Nebraska (1971-1979) and US Senator (1979-1996), died.
(SFC, 6/11/05, p.B4)
2005 Aug 16, Nebraska Gov. Dave
Heineman secured a deal for his state to export $17 million in
agricultural goods to communist Cuba. The first US shipment of great
northern beans to the island since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959.
(AP, 8/16/05)
2005 Nebraska gave all its
ex-prisoners the right to vote.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.23)
2006 Feb 18, Eight workers at a
meat processing plant in Nebraska won a record $365 million Powerball
jackpot.
(AP, 2/18/07)
2006 Feb 22, In Lincoln, Nebraska,
8 workers at a meat processing plant claimed the record $365 million
Powerball jackpot.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2006 Apr 19, Cuba agreed to buy
another $30 million in food from Nebraska, strengthening trade
relations with the US farm state already selling corn, wheat, soybeans
and other products to the communist island.
(AP, 4/19/06)
2006 Jul 14, A US federal appeals
court reversed a ruling that struck down Nebraska's same-sex marriage
ban, which was approved by voters in 2000.
(AP, 7/14/06)
2007 Nov 19, California Sec. of
State Debra Bowen sued Election Systems and Software, a Nebraska voting
machine company, for allegedly selling nearly 1,000 uncertified
machines to San Francisco and 4 other counties. Bowen sought
reimbursements of nearly $15 million.
(SFC, 11/20/07, p.D1)
2007 Dec 5, In Omaha, Nebraska,
Robert A. Hawkins (19) sprayed the third floor of the Von Maur
department store in Westroads Mall with gunfire. When the shooting was
over, Hawkins killed himself. His victims included six store employees
and two customers. An autopsy report later indicated that only some
Valium in his system.
(AP, 12/6/07)(SFC, 1/2/08, p.A3)
2008 Feb 8, The Nebraska Supreme
Court declared the electric chair unconstitutional.
(Econ, 2/16/08, p.39)
2008 Feb 9, Sen. Barack Obama
swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington
state, slicing into Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's slender delegate lead
in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Obama also won almost 90% in the Virgin Islands. McCain narrowly won
Washington while Huckabee took Kansas along with a narrow win in
Louisiana.
(AP, 2/10/08)(SSFC, 2/10/08, p.A1)
2008 Jul 18, Nebraska’s new
safe-haven law went into effect allowing parents to abandon unwanted
children, under age 19, at state-licensed hospitals with no questions
asked. The law was later amended after parents and guardians, some from
out of state, dropped off children as old as 17.
(SFC, 8/23/08, p.A4)(SFC, 10/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Aug 8, Nebraska Beef, an
Omaha meat packer, recalled 1.2 million pounds of beef after products
were linked to illnesses in 12 states. In July the company had recalled
over 5 million pounds of beef due to an outbreak of E. coli in 7 states.
(SSFC, 8/10/08, p.A4)
2008 Sep 19, In Nebraska at least
86 workers were fired at the JBS Swift & Co. Grand Island meat
packing plant after they walked off their jobs amid a dispute over
Ramadan prayers.
(SFC, 9/20/08, p.A4)
2008 Sep 29, Kelsey Peterson (26),
a former 6th grade math teacher in Nebraska, was sentenced to 6 years
in federal prison for having sex with a 13-year-old boy student
beginning in Nov, 2006. In 2009 Peterson was sentenced to 8-10 years
after pleading guilty to 2 state counts of 1st-degree sexual assault of
a minor.
(SFC, 10/2/08, p.A6)(SFC, 4/24/09, p.A5)
2008 Oct 20, Nebraska’s Gov. Dave
Heineman and state lawmakers agreed to amend the new safe-haven law so
as to protect only parents of new-born children from prosecution.
(SFC, 10/21/08, p.A3)
2008 Nov 4, President-elect Barack
Obama won one of Nebraska's electoral votes, the first time in history
that the state has split its votes and the first time in 44 years that
it had given a vote to a Democrat. The result was not known until Nov
14. Nebraska voters did away with racial preferences.
(AP, 11/15/08)(Econ, 12/6/08, p.37)
2008 Nov 21, The Nebraska
Legislature voted 43-5 to make abandonment of children legal only for
infants up to 30 days old. Gov. Dave Heinemen signed the emergency bill
effective after midnight.
(SFC, 11/22/08, p.A2)
2009 May 20, Nebraska Gov. Dave
Heinemen signed a bill to prevent registered sex offenders from using
social networking sites such as Facebook.
(SFC, 5/21/09, p.A4)
2009 May 28, Nebraska Gov. Dave
Heineman signed a bill to change the state’s method of execution from
electrocution to lethal injection. In February the state Supreme Court
ruled the electric chair was unconstitutional.
(SFC, 5/29/09, p.A4)
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Subject = Nebraska
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