Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • A1

00 1 BUSINESS A6 CLASSIFIED B7, B9 COMICS B11 CROSSWORDS B8, B10 OBITUARIES A4-5 OPINION A7 $2 Volume 156, Issue 331 A Lee Enterprises Newspaper Copyright 2017 Follow us online: facebook.com/LincolnJournalStar twitter.com/JournalStarNews instagram.com/JournalStarNews Lincoln restaurants that closed in 2017. DISCOVER DIGITAL 24 PAGES Packing the court Public defenders, judges buried in drug possession charges. LOCAL, A3 Frost deflects attention Says make decision the time is SPORTS, B1 ZACH HAMMACK Lincoln Journal Star EAGLE a story Suzanne Yelkin has seen before. A small town grocery store forced to close its doors after competition usually a spiffy, new supermarket moves in. Across Nebraska, Yelkin can recall numerous stores that have wound up with the same fate.

just a Yelkin said over the phone Saturday. Suzanne and her husband grocery store in Eagle is one of those stores. The Yelkins are closing Eagle Grocery, also known as Eagle General, at the end of the year, citing decreased sales and com- petition from stores in east Lin- coln and a new Dollar General in town. Those in the town of just over 1,000 people knew a change was imminent when the Yelkins placed the building up for sale in October. Offers soon followed and by early November the building was sold to Ty McIntosh and Natasha Hoyer, the owners of Lo- cal, a bar in Eagle.

There were two reasons for the sudden sale of the grocery store that the Yelkins have operated for nearly five years, Suzanne said. First, sales dropped as much as 20 percent in the past year following the opening of a new Dollar General in Eagle and in- creasing competition from su- permarkets like Walmart and Aldi in east Lincoln. just dropped said Suzanne, who cuts meat at the store. really have a scientific Bud and Suzanne Yelkin, both 66, also wanted to move on to something new, Suzanne said, even if unsure what do next. In a way, that thinking is what compelled the couple to open a grocery store in Eagle, a town just 15 miles east of Lincoln, back in 2013.

The Yelkins have lived near Walton, about 8 miles from Eagle, since the 1970s. Bud worked as a service man- ager for a copier company for over 30 years before retiring, while Suzanne was a nature teacher at Pioneers Park Nature Center. Wanting to try something different, they purchased the brick-and-mortar building at Fourth and streets and opened the store in April 2013. The building, constructed in 1929, had been a meat market and grocery store and was later a lawn ornament boutique. Before open- ing the current store, the building was home to Grocery.

Like any small town store, the day-to-day operations at Eagle Grocery are a modest affair. The Yelkins employs two clerks, a person to unload deliv- ery trucks and someone to help Suzanne cut the meat. Dana Petersen of Eagle has worked at the store since it opened and said the last of its kind. Closing shop KAYLA WOLF PHOTOS, JOURNAL STAR Bud and Suzanne Yelkin discuss how to consolidate the remaining meat, dairy and produce Monday. Their shelves and coolers are nearly empty.

CHRIS DUNKER Lincoln Journal Star In an open letter Monday, nearly 70 faculty at the University of Ne- braska-Lincoln accused Gov. Pete Ricketts and several state senators of using an Aug. 25 political inci- dent in a sustained attack to dam- age the university. Posted to the Nebraska chapter of the American Association of University website, the letter raised concerns that decisions involving the university being made without trans- parency or proper governance and under improper exertions of influence by the legislative and executive branches of the state believe it is imperative to express our alarm now, before ir- revocable damage is done to the mission of the university and the value it contributes to the state of the letter states. In an earlier statement Ricketts had said August incident has highlighted concerns about the liberal bent of University of Nebraska has an opportunity to set itself apart as a public university that fosters spirited debate and a sup- portive learning environment for students across the political spec- he said.

Following an Aug. 25 confron- tation between graduate student and lecturer Courtney Law- ton and Kaitlyn Mullen, a sec- ond-year student recruiting for a conservative group, state Sens. Steve Erdman, Tom Brewer and Steve Halloran said UNL is hos- tile to students with conservative viewpoints. UNL removed Lawton from the classroom in September af- ter a video surfaced of her calling the student a and making an inappropriate gesture toward her. Lawton said she was told she was removed for safety reasons and not for disciplinary reasons.

In October the three senators penned an editorial criticizing UNL for being unfriendly to con- servatives and they took aim at a list of posted on the English website, saying it did not reflect what they said should be taught in English courses. Top university administrators responded on Oct. 31, saying the criticism included and adding UNL was taking steps to make all students feel welcome on campus. Their responses drew further rebuke from the state senators, who demanded to meet with ad- ministrators to communicate their expectations to the university. On Nov.

16, UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green and NU President Hank Bounds met with the sen- ators at the Capitol. Brewer, of Faculty: Politicians using incident to damage university LORI PILGER Lincoln Journal Star Nebraska Appleseed has asked a judge to review the de- nial of extended foster care ben- efits to two 19-year-olds due to their immigration status. Both teens one in Omaha, the other in Schuyler aged out of the foster care system and have federal Special Immi- grant Juvenile Status. That status is granted to non- citizen young people who are removed from their homes in the U.S. because of abuse, aban- donment or neglect, and who the courts have found be returned to their home country because it in their best in- terest.

Special Immigrant Juveniles can apply for a green card to live and work permanently in the U.S. Robert McEwen, legal director for the Nebraska Appleseed Cen- ter for Law in the Public Interest, said the status means they have protections more similar to ref- ugees than Dreamers, who were brought to the country illegally as minors by their parents. pretty he said. The court cases filed in Lincoln focus on whether the two teen- agers are entitled to participate in the Bridge to Indepen- dence Program, which was cre- ated in 2014 and helps support young adults up to age 21 to be- come self-sufficient. McEwen said Monday one of the teenagers was accepted into the Bridge to Independence pro- gram and approved for Medicaid benefits, until she turned 19 ear- lier this year.

The other was denied ad- mission to the Bridge to Inde- pendence program altogether because he is a citizen or a qualified according an Oct. 17 order signed by Karen Heng, deputy director of the Division of Children and Family Services. There are at least two other cases in Nebraska courts raising the same issue. McEwen said the state has been helping youth regardless Lawsuits challenge decision on immigrants Extended foster care denied by state to immigrant youths Governor, senators the door to ideological last local grocery store shutting down Suzanne Yelkin rings up groceries for a customer Monday at the Eagle General. Online: Read the letter written by nearly 70 UNL faculty PARTLY CLOUDY 58 24 FORECAST, B12 TueSdAY, NOvember 28, 2017 journalstar.com Please see GrOCerY, Page A2 Please see uNL, Page A2 Please see mIGrANTS, Page A2.