GERING, Neb. (AP) — A Scottsbluff man has been sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

Thirty-year-old Kyle McDonald was sentenced Thursday to 20 to 30 years in prison. He’d pleaded no contest and was convicted on two counts of sexual assault of a child.

A court document says McDonald had contacted the girl through Facebook and later bought her a cellphone. She told investigators she sent nude pictures of herself to McDonald and had sex with him at least three times.

The affidavit says her mother called police after she found the phone and the photos.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s new rules for unemployment benefits are generally earning praise, but some people have been tripped up by one of the requirements.

Last fall, Nebraska increased the number of job contacts people must make each week to qualify for unemployment benefits to five from two. But some applicants are missing a requirement that one of those contacts must be made through the state’s jobs site.

Maddy Hager says she was surprised to receive a warning letter from the Labor Department saying she hadn’t met the requirements even though she contacted five employers.

The unemployment rules require applicants to make at least one job contact through the NEworks.Nebraska.gov website. That requirement is explained in the middle of a 34-page handbook and in a letter applicants receive.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An animal rights group is criticizing a Nebraska sheriff in online videos after authorities stopped members of the group near a USDA research lab in Clay County.

The group from Geneva, Illinois that calls itself SHARK has posted three videos on YouTube criticizing Clay County Sheriff Jeff Franklin. The group’s name stands for Showing Animals Respect & Kindness.

The group’s president Steve Hindi says Franklin and his deputies stopped members of the group who were trying to take video of the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center.

The federal research lab has been under scrutiny since last year when a New York Times story raised questions about how animals are cared for.

Franklin denies any wrongdoing and says the online videos are a smear campaign.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The governor has named a Ceresco man and reappointed an Omaha man to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The commission says Gov. Pete Ricketts named Dan Kreitman, of Ceresco, to replace Mark Pinkerton as the representative for southeastern Nebraska’s District 1. The governor reappointed Dick Bell to represent District 2, which covers Douglas County. Bell was first appointed in December 2013.

Both men are to serve four-year terms, starting Jan. 16.

• Steven Richard Henninger, 53, Gibbon NE and Jennah Marie Raffaeli, 40, Grand Island NE

 

• Craig Alan Malsbury, 56, North Platte and Melissa Ann Wagner, 40, North Platte

 

• Monte Daniel Jeffres, 32, Dickinson ND and Shelly Faith Talks Different, 44, Frazer MT

 

• Darin Douglas Stearley, 33, North Platte and Cassandra Kay Kubes, 32, North Platte

 

• Mark Steven Kechely, 53, Lincoln NE and Sali Sue Lindenberger, 47, North Platte

 

• Jerry Ray Peterson, 68, Gothenburg NE and Sherryl Lynn Lehman, 68, North Platte

 

• Steven Andrew Stone, 22, Stapleton NE and Tiffany Nicole Lupton, Stapleton NE

 

• Larry John Rivera, 67, North Platte and Ginger Dianne Foust, 55, North Platte