SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — REAL ID requirements for those flying within the United States begin Wednesday after nearly 20 years of delays.

Carie Scoggan remembers how a Dawes County district judge loomed over her like a holy figure, as her shaking hands grasped a stack of overdue paperwork she couldn’t make sense of.

Legal document after legal document had landed in her mailbox over the previous two and a half months as part of her divorce proceedings. She cried every time.

LINCOLN — A legislative proposal to crack down on “synthetic” consumable hemp or other THC products advanced Monday over some opponents’ preference for regulations and not a “de facto ban.”

While a city the size of Omaha can have a law department with dozens of attorneys specializing in areas such as taxation and prosecution, smaller communities in the Metro can't afford that luxury.

Turning to outside law firms to represent them in civil matters and to provide legal counsel on ordinances and such, communities like Valley and Waterloo have learned to lean on their attorneys' expertise.