Posted: 4:43 PM A Nebraska lawmaker is proposing a constitutional amendment that would make it more difficult for the Legislature to approve tax increases.

Posted: 4:39 PM Lawmakers have begun to debate a bill that would pour new firefighting resources into central and western Nebraska, areas that experienced massive summer wildfires last year.

Posted: 4:37 PM Lawmakers have given first-round approval to a bill that's intended to reduce the number of incarcerated juveniles in Nebraska and shift the state's focus to treatment.

Updated: 2:17 PM Lawmakers ended a filibuster and voted to advance a measure that would launch a study on Nebraska's tax system.

Posted: 6:57 AM The Nebraska Legislature has crossed the halfway point of its 90-day session.

Updated: 6:48 AM A Nebraska lawmaker wants to extend the timeframe in which residents can file a lawsuit to argue that a tax is unconstitutional.

Posted: 8:59 PM A bill to expand Nebraska Medicaid coverage has advanced for debate in the Legislature, and supporters are building their case in anticipation that Gov. Dave Heineman will veto.

Updated: 5:23 AM Nebraska lawmakers will get a chance this year to debate a death-penalty repeal measure.

Posted: 5:13 AM A Nebraska lawmaker says he wants to overturn a State Board of Education policy that requires schools to allow students time to recite the Pledge of Allegiance daily.

Updated: 4:42 AM Lawmakers are continuing to debate a measure that would create a state tax modernization commission.

Posted: 4:48 AM Several conservative Nebraska lawmakers are initiating a new gun debate in the Legislature with a series of measures modeled after proposals in other states.

Posted: 8:01 AM President Barack Obama has hosted dinners and lunches and visited Capitol Hill over three days in his outreach effort with Congress.

Posted: 7:46 AM Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio says he now supports gay marriage because one of his sons is gay.

Updated: 10:41 PM Death-penalty opponents are pleading with lawmakers to end capital punishment in Nebraska, appealing to their religious and financial sensibilities and arguing that the state has applied it unfairly.

Posted: 5:21 PM A measure to allow gamblers to bet on old horse races has moved one step closer to voters.

Posted: 5:19 PM Activists are pouncing on a Nebraska bill that would impose a 24-hour reporting requirement for witnesses of animal abuse, and former television icon Bob Barker is jumping into the debate.

Posted: 8:12 AM President Barack Obama is rejecting the notion that an American pope would be too closely aligned with the U.S. government.

Posted: 7:35 AM Nebraska lawmakers listened to a heated debate on whether to mandate sexual education classes.

Posted: 3:01 PM Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman says he will likely take a month or more to decide whether to jump into the 2014 U.S. Senate race.

Posted: 6:54 AM Nebraska lawmakers are set to resume debate this week on a measure that would ask voters to approve wagering on prerecorded horse races that are replayed on video terminals.

Posted: 6:39 AM A Nebraska lawmaker who took aim at Omaha's new tobacco tax is working on a deal that would allow the city to continue collecting it, at least until the tax fulfills its purpose of helping finance a University of Nebraska cancer research center.

Posted: 6:31 AM Nebraska Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry has helped write a bill that would let those with conscience and religious objections opt out of some requirements in the federal health care overhaul -- such as covering the cost of birth control.

Posted: 7:33 AM Nebraska lawmakers are returning gay rights issues to the forefront.

Posted: 6:46 PM A lawmaker who introduced a wind-energy tax-credit bill says criticism of his measure is "puzzling," because it was designed to help rural Nebraska.

Posted: 6:44 PM A state lawmaker who wants to abolish Nebraska's death penalty will present his repeal proposal to a state panel next week.