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Articles written by Demetria Stephens


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  • Committee focuses on guns, drugs, flying lanterns

    Demetria Stephens, Nebraska News Service|Mar 9, 2013

    LINCOLN – Guns, drugs and flying lanterns were among legislative bills debated during the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee hearings, Thursday, Feb. 28. LB390, sponsored by Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial would remove the Nebraska governor’s powers to take guns and ammunition under the Emergency Management Act. “It’s the times of emergency that you need (guns) the most to protect your own self,” he said. He said he got the idea for the bill from the National Rifle Association that reacted to gun seizures during the aftermath o...

  • Nebraska Legislative bill addresses ‘mega fire’ trend

    Demetria Stephens, Nebraska News Service|Feb 27, 2013

    LINCOLN – Hot, dry, windy weather and too many eastern red cedar trees made 2012 the worst year for wildfires in Nebraska, said Sen. Al Davis of Hyannis during a Natural Resources Committee hearing Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Davis sponsored Legislative Bill 634, the Wildfire Control Act of 2013, to address a trend toward “mega fires” in Nebraska. Fires increased in frequency and size starting after 1989, said Nebraska State Forester Scott Josiah. “We have to keep the fires smaller and hit them harder early on,” he said. LB634 would contract...

  • Climate change town hall centers on water, state plans

    Shelby Friesz and Demetria Stephens, Nebraska News Service|Feb 19, 2013

    LINCOLN – More droughts in the Southern plains and floods in the Northern plains are among the scenarios described in new a national climate change draft report. After record high water flowing from the Colorado Rockies to the Missouri River in 2011, the U.S. experienced a significant decline in water flow in 2012, with nearly 65 percent affected by drought, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln. “We’ve never seen that sort of a drastic change,” Svoboda said. Svoboda was one of about 145 peo...