LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska’s 4.2 percent unemployment rate for September marks the third straight month without a change in the state’s jobless estimate. The preliminary figure released Friday shows Nebraska’s seasonally adjusted rate is about half the national rate, which was 9.1 percent in September. The Nebraska Labor Department says the September 2010 figure for the state was 4.5 percent. The labor report shows two industry sectors experienced job growth during September. Professional and business services added 2,138 jobs, while education and health services added 920 jobs. The unemployment rate in Omaha dropped to 4.4 percent in September from August’s 4.6 percent. In Lincoln, the rate dropped to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent. The unemployment rates for Omaha and Lincoln are not seasonally adjusted and cannot be compared to the state rate.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Three people charged in the shooting death of a 25-year-old Omaha man have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the case. 21-year-old Marqus Patton, 20-year-old Nicholas Ely and 22-year-old Drake Northrop entered pleas Monday in a Douglas County court. The three are among five people accused in the July 6 shooting death of Christopher Winters in Winters’ apartment. Nineteen-year-old Ryan Elseman also faces a murder charge, as does a 15-year-old girl, who is seeking to have her case transferred to juvenile court. In court documents, police say they believe the five were looking to rob Winters of marijuana and money when he was shot to death.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) – Hastings police are investigating the death of a 58-year-old Hastings man whose body was found in a Hastings house. The body was found Thursday afternoon by an acquaintance of the man. Police say evidence found at the scene led officers to believe the man did not die of natural causes. Adams County Attorney Donna Fegler Daiss, who also serves as coroner for the county, says an autopsy has been ordered. The man’s name has not been released pending notification of his family.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A federal appeals court has struck down a state law that keeps picketers several hundred feet away from a funeral or memorial service. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed a U.S. District Court ruling against members of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. The appeals court relied on its 2008 ruling in a Missouri case that said peaceful protests near funerals are protected by the First Amendment’s right to free speech. The opinion came on the appeal of a lawsuit filed by Shirley Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church that regularly protests at the funerals of fallen soldiers. Phelps-Roper had asked for a preliminary injunction to stop enforcement of the law, saying it’s constitutional.