LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new federal report says the proportion of Nebraska residents without health insurance dropped below 10 percent last year.

The census report released Wednesday says 9.7 percent of residents were uninsured in 2014, down from 11.3 percent the previous year.

David Drozd of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Center for Public Affairs Research says the decline was small compared to the rest of the nation because the state’s uninsured rate was already low. The national uninsured rate declined from 13.3 percent in 2013 to 10.4 percent last year.

The U.S. Census Bureau says the rate dropped more in states that have expanded Medicaid coverage under the federal health care law. Nebraska has opted against the expansion.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts is headed to China for the next leg of his trade mission to meet with business and government leaders.

Ricketts began the trip in Japan, where he met with company officials who have opened production facilities in Nebraska.

The governor said Wednesday that he has met with Itochu, Japan’s second-largest trading company; Kewpie, a food product company with facilities in Norfolk, David City and Ravenna; and Kawasaki, which employs more than 2,000 people in Lincoln.

Ricketts says many of the talks have focused on vocational training. In China, Ricketts says he plans to talk about the center pivot industry.

Jack Schreiner, the president of the Hastings-based Bruckman Rubber Co., says the trip has helped his mid-sized business gain a foothold in international markets.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A band instructor at Kearney High School is recruiting students to help fill the need for buglers at military funerals.

Rick Mitchell discovered the shortage after performing at military funerals for several years. Often times a recorded version of taps is played at a funeral, but he believes veterans deserve better.

When Mitchell is unable to attend military funerals, he asks two of his students, Caleb Hardy and Bailey Premer, to step up to the task.

Mitchell says he’s impressed with the students because they play well under pressure and handle the duty with professionalism.

Both students say performing taps isn’t difficult, but sometimes it’s hard to manage the emotions that come with performing the funerals.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska husband and wife think he and their 2-year-old son were poisoned by methamphetamine-tainted coffee he made in an Omaha hotel room.

Travis and Amber Richard and their children spent Labor Day weekend in Omaha. He says he used the coffee maker in their room on Sept. 6 and a package of coffee. He says he began to feel weird within 20 minutes of drinking the coffee and that his son Daykin, who took a sip, got sick on their drive back home. Both sought medical treatment when they got home to Pleasanton and are awaiting confirmation from tests.

Omaha police are investigating but doubt the coffee maker was used to make meth. It’s unclear whether a trace was left by someone using the coffee maker to hide meth.