Governor Pete Ricketts is defending his donation to the group seeking to reinstate the death penalty in Nebraska. Ricketts was asked during a news conference about his 100-thousand dollar donation to the group leading the petition drive…

Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty in May when they overrode the governor’s veto of a repeal measure. The ballot measure could reverse the Legislature’s action…

Ricketts and his father have each donated 100-thousand dollars to the petition drive. The effort must gather around 57-thousand signatures by the end of August to put the issue on the ballot in 2016.