AUBURN, Neb. (AP) — Federal officials have scheduled a public meeting to discuss the process involved in a safety exercise that’s being conducted at the Cooper Nuclear Station in southeast Nebraska.

The exercise is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at the Nebraska Public Power District plant near Brownville. The exercise involves state and county agencies and officials from Nebraska and some across the Missouri River in the state of Missouri.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be observing the exercise. But their conclusions and reports about what they observe won’t be discussed at the public meeting.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Friday at the NPPD emergency operations facility auditorium in Auburn.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The condition of Nebraska’s crops continues to deteriorate because of this summer’s hot and dry weather

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday in its weekly report on Nebraska’s crops that some damaged corn fields are being cut for hay because of the drought.

Little precipitation fell in the state last week, and temperatures averaged 4 degrees above normal.

About 35 percent of the corn crop is in good or excellent condition. That’s well behind the 78 percent average.

The USDA says 24 percent of the soybean crop is in good or excellent shape. That’s behind the 75 percent average.

About 3 percent of the state’s pastures are in good or excellent shape. And livestock producers who are short on feed are culling their herds.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police say a 19-year-old man died after he was shot in the chest during an argument between his friends and another group in a neighborhood.

Police say Naif Al-Kazahy was shot late Sunday. Police say he and some friends walked by a house and got into an argument with some people who were sitting on a porch. Police say a man then pulled out a shotgun and shot Al-Kazahy. He was taken to a hospital, where he died Monday morning.

No arrests have been reported.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Republican Senate candidate Deb Fischer says Social Security is on the road to bankruptcy, but she is committed to needed reforms.

The rancher from Valentine discussed Social Security on Monday after her Democratic opponent, Bob Kerrey, released a detailed reform proposal for the program.

Fischer’s campaign spokesman Daniel Keylin says the state senator has proposed increasing the retirement age for people younger than 40 and adding a means test for benefits.

And Fischer wants to prevent Congress from being able to use money from the Social Security trust fund for other purposes. But Fischer has signed a pledge not to support any tax increases.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

26-year-old Josue Isaias Martinez Umana pleaded no contest in June to attempted first-degree sexual assault of a child and child abuse. A judge last week sentenced him to the 20-year maximum on the attempted sex assault charge and two to five years on the child abuse charge, to be served concurrently.

Umana was arrested last year. Police says the child told family members that Umana assaulted her several times in 2011.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha school board has named an interim superintendent during a nationwide search for a permanent leader.

The board named Virginia Moon to the post during a special meeting on Monday. Moon, previously superintendent of Ralston schools, was selected on an 8-4 vote following heated discussion and calls for board President Freddie Gray to step down.

The board hired Nancy Sebring, the superintendent of the Des Moines, Iowa, school district, in April to replace John Mackiel, who’s retiring. Sebring abruptly left her Iowa job in May. She lost the Omaha job after emails to a lover on her district computer were made public.

The question of whether Gray should remain as president was put on the agenda for next week’s regular meeting.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has delayed a vote on 2012 waterfowl and crow hunting seasons.

The vote had been scheduled for Friday’s meeting. But staff members were notified on Thursday, after submitting recommendations, that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife allows a daily bag limit of six scaup ducks. The recommendations had included a bag limit of only three scaup.The dates for the various hunting seasons have been rescheduled for a vote at the commissioners’ next meeting, which is set for Aug. 31 in Broken Bow.