Nebraska’s Republican Governor Pete Ricketts is so incensed at state lawmakers’ decision to abolish the death penalty that he has vowed to execute the remaining death row inmates before the September ban goes into effect — even if he has to violate federal law to do so, the Atlantic’s Garrett Epps reports. Late in May, the Nebraska legislature voted to abolish the death penalty by passing LB268. Governor Ricketts vetoed the bill, but the legislature overrode the veto by a 32 to 15 margin, effectively ending the ability of Nebraska to execute its prisoners. The state can still sentence individual to death, but given that it is now illegal to sign a death warrant, all such sentences are de facto life.

The Nebraska legislature is preparing for a vote that could override Republican Gov. Pete Rickett’s veto of a bill to repeal the death penalty. The measure, which passed earlier this month with a bipartisan and veto-proof majority, would also mark the first time in more than 40 years that a deep red state has opted out of capital punishment.

A Nebraska woman filed a handwritten lawsuit against homosexuals — all of them — in the U.S. District Court of Omaha last week, the Lincoln Journal Star’s Lori Pilger reports. Sylvia Driskell — acting on behalf of her plaintiffs God, and His Son, Jesus Christ — listed as the defendants anyone who is a homosexual or goes by the alias of “gay.” While it is clear that Driskell considers homosexuals to be abominations who shouldn’t be allowed to marry, it’s not clear what she expects the Omaha district court to do about it.

Students at an Omaha, Nebraska Catholic school are protesting the administration’s refusal to renew their English teacher’s contract after he informed the school that he wasengaged to his boyfriend. In a letter to the community, Skutt Catholic High School President Jon McMahon defended the school’s decision not to renew Matthew Eledge’s contract, writing that “[i]f a staff member cannot commit to Catholic Church teachings and doctrines, he or she cannot continue to be on the staff at Skutt Catholic.”