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OMAHA, Neb. The three states crossed by the Republican River have agreed on a new approach to managing water in the disputed basin.

Officials in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas say the agreements on how the river's water will be managed this year and next year show they are taking a more cooperative approach.

"We are moving in the right direction to arrive at a workable solution that protects Kansas water users, but is balanced and fair to all parties and reflects good water management," Kansas Agriculture Secretary Jackie McClaskey said.

Disputes over the 1943 compact that spells out how much water each state is entitled to have wound up before the U.S. Supreme Court numerous times. Nebraska is entitled to 49 percent of the water, Kansas gets 40 percent and Colorado gets 11 percent.

In October, Nebraska and Kansas were arguing before the Supreme Court about how much Nebraska should pay Kansas for using more than its legal share of the river's water in 2005 and 2006.

These new agreements won't affect those past disputes, but they may help the states avoid future ones. The new terms will allow some of the water owed to Kansas farmers this year to be kept in the Harlan County Reservoir in Nebraska until Kansas officials request it.

Previously, the water would have been released this fall when farmers couldn't use it.

The new agreements also ensure Nebraska natural resource districts along the river will receive full credit for all the water being pumped into the river to help ensure enough water flows downstream to Kansas.

Over the past several years, the natural resource districts have bought thousands of acres of land along the Republican River and ended irrigation there. The water that had been used for irrigation is being pumped into the river to boost its flow.

Jasper Fanning, general manager of the Upper Republican Natural Resources District, said it's encouraging that the recent talks have been focused on making the best use of the river's water, not on old arguments and litigation.

The rest is here:
Republican River states pledge to cooperate more

Rising Republican hostility toward President Obama's impending immigration plan is as intense as has ever existed between the White House and the GOP.

House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio says the president's executive action expected to be announced Thursday will "poison the well" for cooperation with the upcoming Republican-controlled Congress. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky compared it to "waving a red flag in front of a bull." Tea party conservatives have renewed talk of censuring or impeaching the president.

But the strong reaction by Republican leaders has less to do with opposition to the nuts and bolts of the president's immigration policy and more to do with fear and anger that the issue will derail the agenda of the new Republican majority before the next Congress even convenes.

Republican leaders who had hoped to focus on corporate tax reform, fast-track trade pacts, repealing the president's healthcare law and loosening environmental restrictions on coal are instead being dragged into an immigration skirmish that they've tried studiously to avoid for most of the last year.

That's largely because the question of how to handle the estimated 11 million immigrants living illegally in the U.S. bitterly divides Republicans, and the party has been unable to agree on an alternative to the president's plan.

To many, stark warnings from Boehner and McConnell sound more like pleas to the president to avoid reenergizing the GOP's conservative wing, whose leaders are already threatening to link the president's immigration plan to upcoming budget talks.

Another government shutdown is not what McConnell and Boehner had in mind when their party won control of Congress this month.

In fact, McConnell said flatly a day after the election that another shutdown would not happen. But calls by firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to use "all procedural means necessary" during Congress' lame-duck session to block the White House's immigration plans have left leaders scrambling to tame their rebellious ranks.

Republican leaders are increasingly concerned that if Obama follows through, the anti-immigrant fervor in their party will rise to an unappealing crescendo and the rank-and-file's desire to confront the president will overtake other party priorities.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) one of the harshest critics of Obama's program that defers deportation for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children said he canceled plans to return to his district Thursday night as soon as he heard the president would be making an announcement.

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Obama's plan of action on immigration may derail Republican agenda

U.S. Republican Governor meets India #39;s foreign minister
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U.S. Republican Governor meets India's foreign minister - Video

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Newsmax deputy health editor talks about the Affordable Care Act and the Republican alternative. He also talks about what people can expect from Obamacare 2.0, including increased premiums...

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Republican Paul Ryan to Chair House Tax Committee
Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan has been tapped by Republican leaders to chair the tax-writing Committee on Ways and Means in the U.S. House of Representatives during the next congressional ...

By: WochitGeneralNews

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