LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Add Gov. Pete Ricketts to the list of fans rooting for a Lincoln teacher competing on the NBC show “The Voice.”

Ricketts said Thursday that he’s been watching Hannah Huston on YouTube and is amazed by her singing range. The 24-year-old Huston (HYOO’-stuhn) is one of 11 finalists who will advance to the next round of competition on the hit show.

Huston teaches at Arnold Elementary School in Lincoln, but she’s on a leave to participate in the show. The district says a TV crew was in Lincoln in November to record her with her class.

Huston graduated from Grand Island Senior High School in 2009 and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2013.

Ricketts says Huston is doing “awesome” on the show.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says cutting taxes will remain one of his top priorities for the rest of his time in office, but he’ll rely on lawmakers when it comes to specific plans.

The Republican governor said in an Associated Press interview Thursday that he will turn to committee leaders to help shape his proposals before every legislative session.

That could create a challenge for Ricketts next year. Because of term limits, the Legislature’s tax-focused Revenue Committee will have a new chairman who won’t be elected until senators reconvene in January.

Ricketts says he was happy with this year’s session, pointing to a $20 million funding increase for property tax credits, a new state budget, roads-funding legislation and the defeat of a Medicaid expansion bill.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A survey of rural bankers in 10 Western and Plains states suggests the region remains stifled by relatively low agriculture and energy commodity prices.

An April report released Thursday says the Rural Mainstreet Index fell to 38.2 from March’s 40.2. It had risen the past two months. Survey officials say any score below 50 on any of the survey’s indexes suggests that factor will decline.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the monthly survey, and he says that, compared to a year ago, prices for farm products are down 16 percent and energy products are down 8 percent.

Nonetheless, the confidence index rose to 34.8 from 30.1 in March.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers and Gov. Pete Ricketts are praising the progress made in this year’s legislative session.

Senators finished the short 60-day session Wednesday having passed a new property tax package that will provide $20 million in tax credits for farm and ranch land owners. They also created a new road-funding program intended to jump-start work on long-delayed highway projects.

The session was also marked by a record-high 24 filibusters, which were used to derail a Medicaid expansion proposal, a medical marijuana program and a bill that would have returned Nebraska to a winner-take-all system of awarding its electoral college votes.

The session is the last for 11 of the Legislature’s 49 senators, who are leaving office because of term limits. Senators are limited to two consecutive four-year terms.

THEDFORD, Neb. (AP) — A family ranch has sued Nebraska Public Power District in an effort to protect their ranchland in the state’s environmentally fragile Sandhills region.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Thomas County by Brush Creek Ranch LLC, which was started by Dan Welch and his wife, Barbara. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensation for damage done to the land when it was entered April 14 by a surveying team. The team is checking land for eventual construction of a transmission line.

The lawsuit says the Welches barred the surveyors on April 13. But the next day the Welches learned the surveyors had gone onto the land but couldn’t get out because they’d been locked inside the gates.

A utility spokesman didn’t immediately return a call Thursday from The Associated Press.