Omaha

LINCOLN, Neb.-- Veterans' groups told lawmakers Thursday that Nebraska's tax on military retirement pay is driving people out of the state, while some lawmakers questioned whether the losses are influenced more by warmer climates and family connections elsewhere.

LINCOLN, Neb.-- Several Nebraska lawmakers shared proposals Wednesday to get rid of taxes on Social Security benefits aimed at making Nebraska a more appealing place to retire. Nebraska is among six states that tax Social Security benefits at the same rate as the federal government.

OMAHA, Neb.-- ConAgra Foods Inc. said Tuesday that it has completed its roughly $5 billion acquisition of private-label food maker Ralcorp Holdings Inc.. ConAgra, which sells brands like Chef Boyardee and Marie Callender's, paid $90 per share cash for Ralcorp's common stock. Kevin Hunt, former CEO of Ralcorp, will be a consultant to ConAgra Foods for the next year.

LINCOLN, Neb.-- Nebraska cities want lawmakers to reduce how long keno players must wait between games, a proposal that would increase the the maximum number of games a person could play in one hour.

*Honeywell, McDonald's profit despite shaky sales. McDonald's Corp was able to beat Wall Street's profit forecasts by keeping its locations open on Christmas and rolling out the cult favorite McRib sandwich in December.

Danielle Conrad of Lincoln proposed a measure Tuesday that would prohibit employers from considering orientation when hiring, firing, promoting or managing workers. She says she was inspired by recent conversations over gay-rights ordinances in Omaha, Lincoln and other parts of the country.

"The main issue in North America is the dryness in the southern Plains," said John Dee, a meteorologist for Global Weather Monitoring. "The coldest readings of zero or below were confined to north of a line from Omaha to Des Moines to Milwaukee," he said.

Jan 22- Warren Buffett, the famed investor and notorious lover of cheeseburgers and cherry-flavored sodas, a competitive runner? Buffett's conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, on Tuesday said it will add a 5- kilometer run to the festivities at its annual shareholder weekend this coming May.

The new issues revealed at recent public meetings could further delay the resumption of operations at Fort Calhoun that critics assert is already costing too much to fix and should remain shuttered forever.

WASHINGTON, Jan 15- States are not alone in racking up massive public pension bills: U.S. cities need hundreds of billions of dollars to make good on their promises of retirement healthcare and income to workers. Omaha, Nebraska, Portland, Oregon and Providence, Rhode Island were all at 50 percent or below.

*To stand down as CEO by May 10. HONG KONG, Jan 15- One of China's best known corporate leaders, billionaire Jack Ma, will step down as CEO of Alibaba Group, the e-commerce empire he founded to tap the nation's enormous online shopping potential, passing the reins to "a younger, better equipped" generation.

NEW YORK, Jan 3- TD Ameritrade Holding Corp awarded Chief Executive Fredric Tomczyk $6.52 million in the company's fiscal-year 2012, a 9.1 percent increase over his compensation the previous year, according to a regulatory filing.

*Army Corps meets with elected officials, industry members. CHICAGO, Dec 17- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects no "significant interruption in navigation" on the Mississippi River due to low water levels, U.S.

WASHINGTON, Dec 7- Fall rains and dredging will keep barge traffic moving on the middle Mississippi River through mid-December despite low water caused by a drought covering 60 percent of the continental United States, the government said on Friday.

WASHINGTON, Dec 5- Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, a flamboyant westerner, said he has the law and common sense on his side to prevent a draw-down of Missouri River reservoirs to benefit barge traffic half a continent away.

WASHINGTON, Dec 4- Nebraska's state government will soon announce a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, a milestone in a long approval process, but it is unclear when the Obama administration will decide, a U.S. oil industry lobby group said Tuesday.

*Manassas News& Messenger to shut on Dec. 30. Nov 14- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway plans to shutter the 143- year-old News& Messenger in Manassas, Virginia, just six months after it was scooped up from Media General.

NEW YORK, Nov 12- Lots of companies try to turn themselves into mini- Berkshire Hathaway- style conglomerates, but Leucadia National Corp has had more success than most at pulling it off.