NE Lawmaker Under Investigation After Seemingly Targeting Fellow Senator During Speech

A Nebraska lawmaker is now the subject of a sexual harassment investigation. The announcement from the body's Executive Board comes two days after Republican state Sen. Steve Halloran name-checked a fellow senator while reading a graphic account of rape on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature. Halloran read out loud an excerpt Monday night from the memoir “Lucky” by Alice Sebold. The book recounts Sebold’s experience of sexual violence when she was 18. In his reading, Halloran repeated “Sen. Cavanaugh.” Halloran has since said he was simply trying to get the attention of Democratic state Sen. John Cavanaugh. Machaela Cavanaugh and her brother John Cavanaugh both serve as senators, but Machaela Cavanaugh says Halloran suggested before his speech that he'd be targeting her.