LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has named a four-member committee to help him select a new Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent.

The committee unveiled Friday is comprised of Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer, who will serve as chairman; retired FBI executive Weysan Dun; former U.S. attorney Deb Gilg; and Hall County Public Defender Gerry Piccolo.

Committee members will seek and vet candidates to replace former Col. Brad Rice, who was fired last month in the midst of an internal review that found “inappropriate conduct” among the patrol’s senior staff. Six other employees were placed on paid administrative leave.

Officials have not disclosed everything from the ongoing review. It began after officers were accused of changing their story about a crash that killed a South Dakota driver during a high-speed chase.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Lottery recently distributed more than $11 million to education, environmental and other causes in the state.

The $11,236,782 distributed at the end of June covered a three-month period of sales of lottery tickets.

Most of the money from lottery games in Nebraska is split between an education fund and an environmental trust fund. Each of those received $5 million.

The Nebraska State Fair received more than $1.1 million, and programs to help compulsive gamblers received more than $122,000.

The Nebraska Lottery says more than $648.6 million has been distributed since the state lottery began operating in 1993.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska officials are working to redesign the state’s rumble strips to give highway cyclists a smoother and safer ride.

The new plan calls for regular breaks in rumble strips to help cyclists, and the design of rumble strips will be altered so they’re not the same as center line strips. The state also will add uniformity to where it puts rumble strips, giving cyclists more predictable shoulders.

State Sen. Robert Hilkemann of Omaha contacted the Department of Transportation about the issue after experiencing discomfort due to rumble strips on a biking trip in Wyoming.

The Nebraska Bicycling Alliance and Susan Larson Rodenburg, whose annual Tour de Nebraska takes hundreds of cyclists on five-day rides through the state, joined Hilkemann’s efforts to refurbish the roads.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are looking for ways to increase mental health services in areas that lack psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors, but that could prove difficult amid a tight state budget.

Sen. John Stinner of Gering says he plans to convene different groups at hearing on Sept. 8 to see how the state might pay for such an incentive.

Stinner says the solution may lie in a state-funded internship program to attract more behavioral and mental health students who are working toward advanced degrees.

Lawmakers this year delay spending on some state expenses and cut funding available for services aimed at people with developmental disabilities. Stinner says new funding may have to wait until state tax collections recover.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The former top U.S. agricultural trade negotiator is taking on a new role at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Ambassador Darci Vetter will become UNL’s diplomat in residence and will help create the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance.

The new institute will focus on teaching students about international markets and trade.

Vetter will work with UNL experts in business, law and agriculture on the project. She was chief agricultural negotiator from 2014 to 2017.

Yeutter, who died earlier this year at 86, served in several cabinet-level roles for President George H.W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan. Yeutter donated $2.5 million to the university to establish the institute.