By MARGERY A. BECK

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska officials missed a deadline this week granting licenses to marijuana growers as part of a voter-approved measure that legalized medical marijuana, offering the latest example of pushback in Republican-led states against efforts to legalize the drug.

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“How many times do we have to go down this road of fighting for our lives?” Lia Post asked through sobs Tuesday to the newly formed Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission as it became clear the body would not meet the Wednesday deadline.

Post lives in eastern Nebraska and suffers from a condition that causes chronic pain in her extremities. Marijuana provides relief from the condition and allows her to avoid addictive opiates.

“There’s no begging left in me,” Post cried during the commission meeting, where three members hand-picked by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen said they had to postpone licensing.

Nebraska Republican leaders from the governor to the state’s attorney general and conservative lawmakers are working to weaken or even kill the new law, despite its overwhelming support at the ballot box.

Most states have legalized some marijuana use

Twenty-four states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana for adults, although some efforts in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota recently failed at the ballot box. The medical use of marijuana is more accepted and allowed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, including 17 states where voters approved it.

But some Republicans in those states have continued to fight against medical marijuana approved by voters. In South Dakota, a Republican state lawmaker unsuccessfully pushed a bill this year to repeal voter-approved medical marijuana. In Idaho, lawmakers proposed a constitutional amendment that would forbid citizen initiatives to legalize marijuana and instead leave such decisions to the Legislature.

And in Mississippi, the effort to undo a 2020 voter-backed medical marijuana law seems to have gutted that state’s citizen initiative process after the Mississippi Supreme Court voided it, ruling the state’s initiative process is outdated.

Reasons for the pushback appear rooted in the belief that marijuana is a dangerous drug.

Law enforcement has long opposed it as a gateway to other drug use and as a driving-while-intoxicated hazard that can’t be measured in the field by a Breathalyzer. Many cite the federal government’s continued classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug on par with heroin and LSD.

Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, said polling has shown a majority of Republicans support legalized medical marijuana.

“It’s like a small part of the Republican Party, but some of them are vehemently opposed,” O’Keefe said. “It’s people that bought into reefer madness.”

Unlike marijuana, O’Keefe noted thousands of Americans die annually from prescription opiates and adverse incidents from other drugs.

Nebraska pushback on medical marijuana ‘unique’

The medical marijuana law passed by Nebraska voters in November required that licenses be issued by Wednesday. The reason for the delay? Days earlier, Pillen forced the resignation of the two commission members he hadn’t appointed. They had been tasked with checking the qualifications of cultivator applications.

Pillen has insisted he is not opposed to medical marijuana, but has made several moves that critics say are designed to keep people from accessing it. That includes appointing members to the commission who have publicly opposed legalizing marijuana, even for medical use. Pillen also asked the commission to limit the number of marijuana plants to be licensed for medical use to 1,250 — a number the industry argued is too low to accommodate the number of state residents seeking prescription marijuana.

“The purpose in doing so was to ensure that an overabundance of plants would not saturate the market and lead to the creation of unregulated and potentially illegal sales,” Pillen spokesperson Laura Strimple said.

The new Nebraska commission has so far flouted provisions of the voter initiative — including passing emergency rules that ban smoking, vaping or marijuana edibles for medical use, which are specifically allowed under the law voters passed. The commission has also forbidden flavorings to improve the taste of bitter tinctures and pills that are allowed, has drastically limited the number of growers and dispensaries to be licensed, placed burdensome and expensive continuing education requirements on doctors and restricted the amount and strength of medical marijuana that can be prescribed.

FILE – This photo combination shows Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen taking part in a panel discussion, Nov. 16, 2022, in Orlando, Fla., left, and State Sen. Mike Hilgers, of Lincoln, speaking during a debate in Lincoln, Neb., April 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, Nati Harnik, file)

State Attorney General Mike Hilgers has turned to the courts to try to invalidate the ballot initiative, approved by more than 70% of voters.

“I would say Nebraska is unique in the level of hostility of trying to overturn the will of the people,” said O’Keefe with the Marijuana Policy Project.

Attorney general says he’s following the rule of law

Hilgers lost a court battle last year in which he called into question the validity of thousands of signatures gathered to place the question on the November ballot. A former Republican state lawmaker also sued to void the new law, arguing that it violates federal prohibitions against marijuana. He lost that challenge in district court but has appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Hilgers said his legal fights are solely about protecting the rule of law, accusing the petition process of “unprecedented levels of fraud.” So far, the only success Hilgers has had in court is the misdemeanor conviction of a petition circulator accused of forging signatures on petitions.

“Someone cannot justify this wrongdoing by simply pointing to the favorable results on the ballot; if you could, it would create a dangerous precedent for future petition initiatives,” Hilgers said.

But Hilgers has made no secret of his opposition to even limited legalization of marijuana. In a March editorial, he said “marijuana is easily abused and is not safe to consume even under medical supervision.”

Advocates defend will of the people

Crista Eggers, who led the medical marijuana ballot initiative, argued a “black market” thrives when marijuana for medical use is too severely restricted.

Crista Eggers speaks to reporters, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, following the latest meeting of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission, which missed a Wednesday deadline to issue marijuana grower licenses as part of a new medical marijuana law overwhelmingly passed by voters in November, in Lincoln, Neb. Eggers led the effort to get the initiative measure on the ballot. (AP Photo/Margery Beck)

“If you are one of the 71% that voted in support of medical cannabis, you should be angry, because the system and the regulatory framework that is coming down from this commission is not at all what voters intended,” she said.

Paul Armentano, of the marijuana advocacy organization NORML, said elected officials in states dominated by one political party count on voter partisanship.

“I can only presume that lawmakers are emboldened to take these steps because, generally, they don’t fear there will be repercussions from the voters at the ballot box,” he said.

A 22-year-old Forest Lake man who attended classes at White Bear Area High School last month skirted around the enrollment process by claiming he was a homeless youth and by using a birth certificate from another country that indicated he was 18, the school district said Thursday.

White Bear Lake Area Schools Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak said in an email to families that the man certified on district forms that he was a homeless unaccompanied youth, a  designation that requires school districts to follow the McKinney Vento Act. The federal law mandates the immediate enrollment of eligible students even if they cannot provide standard documentation such as academic records, immunization or proof of residency.

The birth certificate, which listed a fake name of Kelvin C. Perry Jr., included an authentic watermarking and official stamps/seals, Kazmierczak said, adding there “was no indication that the document was anything less than authentic.”

The man was enrolled in the district from Sept. 3 to 29, when he was arrested on warrants in connection with unrelated cases, including violating probation in a 2023 case in which he was convicted of gross-misdemeanor indecent exposure for sending a 15-year-old girl a nude picture of himself through Snapchat.

On Thursday, he admitted in court to the probation violation, according to court records, which do not disclose what the violation entailed.

The man also registered for football on Sept. 8 and participated in three practices, according to Kazmierczak. “He did not play in games or travel with the team to any away games,” he said.

He remains jailed but not charged in the school enrollment case. White Bear Lake Police Chief Dale Hager said Thursday investigators are pursuing possible crimes related to fraud, forgery and unlawful conduct involving interaction with minors.

Dennis Gerhardstein, a spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said Thursday a case has been presented against the man and is under review for possible charges.

The Pioneer Press generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

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Kazmierczak’s email to families comes two days after State Rep. Elliott Engen pinned the blame on the superintendent, calling into question the district’s enrollment verification protocols, student safety measures and administrative oversight.

Engen, R-Lino Lakes, whose district includes communities served by the White Bear Lake school district, also called for Kazmierczak’s immediate resignation.

Kazmierczak said the district will review its enrollment “procedures to determine whether additional safeguards can be implemented without violating the McKinney-Vento Act or guidance from the U.S. and Minnesota Departments of Education.”

Kazmierczak acknowledged the “staff, families and students who came forward with information that led to our investigation and swift action to revoke this individual’s enrollment.”

By JONATHAN MATTISE

Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to be sentenced Friday for violating the federal Mann Act, an anti-prostitution law with a century-old history.

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Although he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges, Combs was convicted in July of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, to engage in paid sexual encounters.

The Mann Act makes it illegal to transport someone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution or other illegal sex acts.

Over the years, the law has been used to prosecute R&B superstar R. Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein companion Ghislaine Maxwell, musician Chuck Berry and, more than a century ago, boxer Jack Johnson.

Its broad wording and a subsequent Supreme Court interpretation once allowed prosecutors to bring cases against interracial couples, and eventually many others in consensual relationships, according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute.

The law was amended in the 1980s and today a lot of Mann Act prosecutions involve people accused of taking children across state lines for sexual purposes.

Here’s what to know about the law.

Why it’s called the Mann Act

In 1910, Congress passed the bill, which was named after Republican U.S. Rep. James Robert Mann of Illinois.

It’s also known as the “White-Slave Traffic Act” of 1910.

How it applies to Combs’ case

Combs was convicted of counts involving two former girlfriends: the R&B singer Cassie and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane.

Both women said at trial that Combs had pressured them into degrading sex marathons with strangers, who were paid for the sexual performances. Jane said she was once beaten by Combs for declining to participate. Cassie said that when she tried to walk out of one such event, Combs beat her and dragged her down a hotel hallway.

Combs was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges but convicted of transporting people to engage in prostitution.

The history behind the law

The 1910 law originally prohibited the interstate or foreign transport of “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” It followed a 1907 congressionally appointed commission to look into the issue of immigrant sex workers, with the view that a girl would only enter prostitution if drugged or held captive, according to Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute.

The law was used to secure a conviction against Jack Johnson, who became the first Black boxer to win a world heavyweight title in 1910. Johnson was convicted in 1913 by an all-white jury for traveling with his white girlfriend, who worked as a sex worker, in violation of the Mann Act.

President Donald Trump posthumously pardoned Johnson in 2018, saying Johnson had served 10 months in prison “for what many view as a racially motivated injustice.”

How the law has changed since 1910

In a 1917 Supreme Court case, the justices ruled that “illicit fornication,” even when consensual, amounted to an “immoral purpose,” according to Cornell’s Legal Information Institute.

A 1986 update made the law gender-neutral and effectively ended the act’s role in trying to legislate morality by changing “debauchery” and “immoral purpose” to “any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.”

The act received additional amendments in 1978 and 1994 to address issues of sexual exploitation of children.

How much prison time could Combs get?

Prosecutors have asked the judge to sentence Combs to more than 11 years in prison. Combs’ lawyers have said he should be sentenced to no more than a year, arguing that testimony during the trial about alleged violent acts against women and others wasn’t part of the conviction.

By HANNAH FINGERHUT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district, who was detained last week by immigration agents, was charged Thursday in federal court with possessing firearms while in the U.S. illegally, prosecutors said.

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Ian Roberts resigned this week as Des Moines’ superintendent of schools, just days after he was pulled over and fled from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who ultimately arrested him with the help of officers from the Iowa State Patrol. When he was arrested, federal agents found a handgun that was wrapped in a towel inside the Jeep Cherokee he was driving, according to court papers.

Roberts, who is originally from Guyana, had been jailed in Sioux City, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Des Moines, since late Friday afternoon. Officials said he was taken into custody on a federal arrest warrant for the weapons charge and appeared by video before a federal magistrate judge.

Roberts’ attorney, Alfredo Parrish, said his client will plead not guilty.

“Our position at this time — he has a presumption of innocence,” Parrish said. “He will exercise his right to indicate to the court, if he is indicted, that he’s not guilty,” Parrish said, adding that there has not been an indictment returned by the grand jury.

Roberts, 54, is alleged to have been in possession of four firearms, according to court documents. Authorities said Roberts had been authorized to work in the U.S. between December 2018 and 2020 but has since “not had lawful employment authorization,” according to the complaint.

Federal authorities said Roberts had a final removal order that was issued last year, and an immigration judge denied a motion to reopen Roberts’ immigration case in April this year. The complaint released Tuesday alleged that Roberts had that final removal order in a different car at his residence.

Roberts had been under the impression from a prior attorney that his immigration case was “resolved successfully,” his attorney has said.

“It has been my pleasure to represent you throughout this process, and I am pleased to report that your case has reached a successful resolution,” Texas attorney Jackeline Gonzalez wrote on March 27.

An aide to Gonzalez confirmed to The Associated Press Tuesday that the law firm had represented Roberts but gave no immediate comment.

Gonzalez spoke earlier this week to federal officials and said the letter she sent had informed Roberts “that the immigration case with Gonzalez’s office was being closed,” according to court papers. Roberts had an unpaid legal bill with her office.

“Gonzalez added that the letter was not intended to convey” that his case with the court had been completed, the court documents said.

Gonzalez declined to tell authorities, however, about her communication with Roberts about the immigration judge’s denial of the motion to reopen his case, which was sent to her office.

This photo provided by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows a loaded handgun found in the vehicle of Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (ICE via AP)

One firearm, the one found under the driver’s seat of his school-issued vehicle when he was arrested, was a pistol believed to have been purchased by Roberts’ wife, authorities said. The other three — a pistol, a rifle and a shotgun — were found during a search of Roberts’ home, the complaint said, and all were allegedly loaded.