OMAHA — Business and nonprofit consultant Denise Powell beat two elected officials who had been on Omaha-area ballots for years, surviving a heated, six-person primary that Democratic voters in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District hadn’t seen in years.

Powell won partly because her campaign and outside groups aligned with her outraised and outspent her competitors on television, digital, direct mail and handbill advertising.

OMAHA — Nebraska Democratic Party-backed U.S. Senate candidate Cindy Burbank appears to have won the Democratic nomination for Senate, which, with help from the likely Legal Marijuana NOW Party nominee, could give registered nonpartisan Dan Osborn a one-on-one race with Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in November, who easily won his GOP primary. 

Burbank, a self-employed pharmacy financial counselor, significantly led anti-abortion pastor William Forbes as of 8:54 p.m., showing 80% of the vote, according to the latest election results.  

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ship anchored off the United Arab Emirates was seized and taken toward Iran and another — a cargo ship near Oman — sank after being attacked, authorities said Thursday, as tensions escalated near the Strait of Hormuz.

It wasn't immediately clear who was behind these incidents, but they happened as a senior Iranian official reiterated his country’s claim of control over the waterway and another said it had a right to seize oil tankers connected to the U.S.

OMAHA — The cost of living, making health care more affordable and other economic issues are top of mind for voters likely to participate in Nebraska’s midterm elections, showing up in polling and at voter’s doors. 

Six Democratic candidates in the state’s most politically divided and diverse congressional district in the Omaha area are fighting to persuade voters they can help address those issues as the primary season pushes toward its end.