MINDEN, Neb. (AP) – Federal labor officials want to impose nearly $170,000 in fines on a Nebraska fiberglass company for violations of safety and health standards. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration says Wednesday that America’s Fiberglass Animals was cited for eight repeat and seven serious violations found during an inspection at its plant in Minden. OSHA says the inspection was a follow-up after the company moved operations from Hastings. OSHA says the company was cited last year for exposing employees to serious chemical hazards and for other dangerous condition and failed to correct them. Company spokesman Patrick Keough told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was on the road and hasn’t seen the violations, but he anticipates he’ll turned the matter over to his attorney.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The Humane Society of the United States and the Nebraska Farmers Union have announced a partnership on farm-animal issues that is drawing criticism from some farm groups. The partnership, called the Nebraska Agriculture Council of the Humane Society of the United States, is intended as a way to find middle ground – and hopefully persuade the Humane Society from going to the ballot with a measure restricting cruelty to farm animals. In other states, the Humane Society has backed public votes to outlaw gestation crates for pregnant sows, cages for laying hens and other standard agricultural practices. The partnership comes weeks after the Nebraska Cattlemen, Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation and other agricultural groups unveiled efforts to lobby against such restrictions.

HARRISON, Neb. (AP) – Sioux County prosecutors have submitted the necessary filing to seek the death penalty against a western Nebraska man accused of killing his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Salvador Lopez, of Mitchell, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Kerra Wilson. Her body was found Sept. 22 on remote ranchland several miles north of their home. Online court records show prosecutors on Monday filed a notice of aggravated circumstances in the case. While the state is required by law to state its intentions to seek the death penalty from the beginning of a case, it could later determine not to seek the death penalty. Lopez said he dropped her off at school but she didn’t appear in any surveillance footage in the school or playground.