FRANKLIN, Neb. (AP) — The Franklin County Attorney’s Office has identified the man killed in a crash in south-central Nebraska this week.

County Attorney Patrick Duncan said 42-year-old David Nelson, of Wilcox, died in the early Wednesday morning crash about five miles north of Franklin on Highway 10.

Duncan says Nelson’s car that left the roadway around 3:30 a.m. and rolled several times, causing him to be thrown from the car.

Duncan says Nelson was not wearing a seat belt.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A late spring freeze in May damaged more than Nebraska’s mainstay corn crops. Growers say the freeze wiped out the state’s strawberries and hit vineyard grapes hard.

The May 16 freeze that sent temperatures as low as the upper 20s in some parts of southeast Nebraska wiped out most strawberry crops in the area.

Beverly Schaefer, who owns Roca Berry Farm with her husband, says their two-acre patch was destroyed.

Schaefer says not only did the freeze take away her strawberry revenue, it also means the loss of berry-picking jobs for about 30 local teens.

Area vineyards report 30 to 50 percent losses to their grape crops from the freeze.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — New research confirms that black walnut trees can be raised successfully in southeast Nebraska for their wood.

The Nebraska Forest Service recently published a technical report with observations from 25 to 45 years of growing walnut trees in the state.

Forester Dennis Adams says walnut trees’ success depends on climate, soil type and other factors. So anyone considering growing walnut trees should consult a local forester to determine whether the trees would thrive.

But Adams says the wood from black walnut trees is sought after for high-end furniture and expensive gun stocks.

NELIGH, Neb. (AP) — Opponents of a proposed pipeline that would carry Canadian oil south to the Gulf Coast hope to cultivate more resistance to the project by planting corn in the shape of a message.

About four acres of Ponka red corn will be planted this weekend in a field near Neligh, Nebraska, to fill out an anti-pipeline message carved into the ground earlier this spring.

The 80-acre artwork reads “Heartland#NoKXL.” It is one of the latest protests against TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline that needs presidential approval before it can be built.

TransCanada has said the pipeline will have upgraded safety measures and will offer the safest way to transport the oil across Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

Critics of the project fear it could contaminate groundwater and contribute to pollution.