BROKEN BOW, Neb. (AP) — A 41-year-old Aurora man has been accused of child porn manufacture in Custer County.

Court records say Ross Carstensen is charged with five counts of visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct. Carstensen’s attorney, Clarence Mock III, said Thursday that Carstensen will plead not guilty because he was engaged in “legal, consensual adult activity.”

Earlier this month a Hamilton County sexual assault charge against Carstensen was dismissed. The records say that information from that case led investigators to the girl involved in the porn case.

She told investigators she’d exchanged messages with a man she knew as Brandon Thompson on Facebook but who investigators say was Carstensen. The records say he persuaded her to send him sexually explicit photos between March 1, 2015, and April 30, 2015, when she was 17.

VALENTINE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a South Dakota woman has been killed in a northern Nebraska collision.

The accident occurred early Monday morning on U.S. Highway 83, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of Valentine. Cherry County Attorney Eric Scott says 68-year-old Philomene Redbull, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was killed when her pickup truck collided head-on with another vehicle driven by a Texas man.

The other driver was identified as 35-year-old Jesus Rodriquez, of Houston. He was taken to Cherry County Hospital. A hospital spokesman said Thursday that there was no patient by that name at the hospital.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have created a new oversight committee to monitor the state’s prison system.

The seven-member panel formed on Thursday will continue to examine problems in the corrections department but will also look at other services, such as parole and probation. Lawmakers voted 28-11 in favor of the measure.

Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha says he introduced the proposal because of ongoing problems in the corrections department, including recent inmate deaths.

Opponents say they the department already has sufficient oversight and criticized a previous committee’s decision to hire former state Sen. Steve Lathrop as its attorney. Lathrop, who developed an expertise in prisons, was known for his intense questioning of prison administrators.

Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete, the chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee, is expected to lead the committee.

NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s says it removed artificial flavor from its vanilla soft-serve dessert.

The chain says it started switching to natural vanilla flavor last fall, and the rollout is nearly complete at its more than 14,000 U.S. locations. McDonald’s announced the change Wednesday. The soft-serve already had no artificial colors or preservatives.

McDonald’s says a regular size soft-serve cone is still 200 calories. The company has made tweaks before that have increased the calorie count, but did not detail them. The cone was listed at 170 calories as recently as 2015.

The chain also noted that it switched from high-fructose corn syrup to sugar for its chocolate and strawberry syrups.

Food companies have made many changes to their ingredients in recent years to address customer demand for more natural products.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts is traveling back to Japan for another trade mission to promote trade with Nebraska.

Ricketts announced Thursday that he will visit the country in September along with state agricultural and economic development officials. He also encouraged farm and business representatives to considering joining the trip.

Japan is Nebraska’s leading foreign investor and its third-largest trading partner.

Ricketts made the announcement at a Kawasaki plant in Lincoln that just opened a new aerospace division.

The trade mission delegation will stop in Tokyo for the annual conference of the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association. The association is comprised of eight states, including Nebraska.

Ricketts led a similar trade mission to Japan in 2015.

A North Platte woman is facing felony drug charges after police found items consistent with meth use and sales in her home during the service of a search warrant.

According to Investigator John Deal, officers executed a search warrant on a home in the 400 block of East H Street at around 1:10 p.m., on May 15.

Deal said the warrant was obtained due to suspected drug activity at the home involving 32-year-old Marisa Foster.

Officers entered the home and found it to be unoccupied.  But, Deal says officers located numerous items consistent with meth use in the home, including, pipes, spoons and syringes.

Also located in the home were plastic baggies with meth residue, unused plastic baggies and a digital scale, along with prescription dextroamphetamine pills.

Deal said it was determined that there was probable cause to arrest Foster for possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver, and felony possession of the pills.

On May 17, officers located Foster at a residence in the 500 block of West 11th Street and placed her under arrest.

She was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.