LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The commission that oversees Nebraska’s state tourism agency has scheduled a meeting to discuss the job of its embattled director in the wake of a blistering state audit.

Commission members on Friday will hear the initial recommendations of a subcommittee that was formed to review the audit’s findings. The recommendations could include actions against Kathy McKillip, the commission’s executive director.

The audit revealed that Nebraska tourism officials used state money to reimburse a marketing firm for alcohol and cigarettes, went $4.4 million over budget on advertising contracts over three years and paid $44,000 in speaking fees for a 90-minute speech by a corporate executive.

Commission Chairman John Chapo called the audit “alarming” when members met last week.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court won’t reinstate a Nebraska businessman’s lawsuit against state banking regulators, but the judges said the regulators were wrong to target the financial adviser partly because of his criticism of President Barack Obama.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn an earlier decision that Bob Bennie Jr.’s rights weren’t violated.

Bennie, a Lincoln financial adviser and tea party activist, called Obama a “communist” and an “evil man” in a 2010 interview with the Lincoln Journal Star. Regulators cited those comments in emails to Bennie’s employer about his conduct.

The appeals court says it was “wholly inappropriate” for regulators to allow their views of Bennie’s political comments to influence how they treated him.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts and the Nebraska State Historical Society are seeking nominations for the state’s Hall of Fame, whose members are honored with a bust at the Capitol.

The announcement on Wednesday coincides with the 120th birthday of renowned Nebraska writer Mari Sandoz, whose sculpture has been on display since 1980.

Hall of Fame members are chosen every five years, based on public nominations. Nominees must have been dead for at least 35 years and meet other criteria to qualify. Hall of Fame Commission Chairman Ron Naugle says public input is a critical part of the process.

Other Hall of Fame members include Buffalo Bill Cody, General John J. Pershing and the Ponca Indian Chief Standing Bear.

The submission deadline is Dec. 31. More information is available at https://bit.ly/1T6ypGo.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — Forty counts have been filed against a 16-year-old boy accused of secretly recording activity in the girls locker room at Gering High School.

Court records say the boy faces 20 misdemeanor counts of unlawful intrusion and 20 felony counts of unlawful intrusion via photograph. A document says the recordings show the girls “in a state of undress.”

The Associated Press generally doesn’t name juveniles accused of crimes. The Scotts Bluff County attorney has filed a motion to transfer the case to adult court.

Schools Superintendent Bob Hastings says parents of the girls seen in the recordings have been notified, and counselors are being made available to any student affected by the incident.