LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Local governments in Nebraska will have more flexibility to complete road and bridge repairs under new regulations approved by Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Ricketts said Tuesday that the changes are intended to modernize the state’s road and bridge standards and stretch tax dollars by encouraging local governments and the state to work together. The requirements apply to state highways, county roads and municipal streets.

One change will allow communities to replace bridge pilings on some rural roads with pilings of the same design, instead of having to pay for a new bridge built under current construction design standards.

Nebraska Department of Roads Director Kyle Schneweis says his agency is still looking for opportunities to reduce barriers for infrastructure projects.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Investigators are trying to figure out what caused train cars to derail west of Cheyenne.

Officials say 16 out of 166 cars along a Union Pacific line derailed Monday afternoon as they headed to North Platte, Nebraska, from Hinkle, Oregon.

Union Pacific Railroad workers responded along with Wyoming Highway Patrol, the Laramie County Sheriff’s Department, and Laramie County Fire District 1.

The derailed cars did not contain hazardous cargo.

No injuries were reported.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Calli Hite says the company is using different routes to get trains through the area.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Advocates who want to end beer sales in Whiteclay are once again urging Nebraska alcohol regulators to intervene, citing numerous reports of violence in the tiny village that borders South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The group on Tuesday presented the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission with a dispatch log from the Sheridan County sheriff’s office. The list from April alone includes reports of fires, assaults with cars and baseball bats, rocks thrown at a car and a van driving out of Whiteclay at 90 mph.

Former Oklahoma alcohol regulator John Maisch says some of the response times show that laws aren’t effectively enforced.

Whiteclay has a dozen full-time residents but sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer last year. The reservation officially bans alcohol.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Agriculture has released the first draft of new guidelines for a standardized approach to locating and approving large livestock operations.

The Nebraska Livestock Siting Assessment Matrix was released Monday, and that the guidelines’ designers intended for the draft to be a science-based tool to balance farm growth with protecting neighbors and natural resources.

The assessment matrix is only a suggested guideline and it will be up to local and county officials to determine whether they will follow it.

The department will accept comments on the matrix through July 31. An advisory committee will review and consider submitted comments before a final publication of the assessment matrix in August.