Missouri River

By The Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The federal government must pay some landowners along the lower Missouri River for flooding damage caused by changes the Army Corps of Engineers made to the river to protect endangered species, a judge has ruled. The ruling this week by Senior Judge Nancy Firestone, with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, could cost the government millions of dollars and increase the cost of protecting endangered species, The Omaha World-Herald reported. “This is a big deal,” said Anthony Schutz, an associate law professor at the University of Nebraska. “The potential liability could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars depending upon how many people are included.”