SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a fatal crash that ended a police chase in the Nebraska Panhandle.

The Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Monday that the chase started in Mitchell around 9:50 p.m. Sunday when a man in a pickup truck sped away from a Mitchell officer. The chase reached beyond 95 mph as the pickup raced southeast on U.S. Highway 26 toward Scottsbluff, about 9 miles (15 kilometers) to the southeast.

The Sheriff’s Office says the pickup went out of control soon after reaching Scottsbluff. The truck crashed into a tree, ejecting the driver. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Sheriff’s Office identified him as 37-year-old Joseph Beeler, who lived in Mitchell.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska state agencies would have to report the amount of federal money they receive each year as well as plans to deal with a loss of funding under a bill advanced by lawmakers.

Senators gave first-round approval to the measure Monday with a 28-11 vote. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Stinner of Gering, says it would promote transparency with the use of federal money, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of the state’s total budget. Stinner serves as chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee.

Supporters say the bill could help the state prepare for a sharp downturn in federal funding. Some senators question the need for it, saying much of the information is already available in state budget documents.

Two more votes are required before it passes in the Legislature.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather disasters: $306 billion.

The U.S. had 16 disasters last year with damage exceeding a billion dollars, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. That ties 2011 for the number of billion-dollar disasters, but the total cost blew past the previous record of $215 billion in 2005.

Costs are adjusted for inflation and NOAA keeps track of billion-dollar weather disasters going back to 1980.

Three of the five most expensive hurricanes in U.S. history hit last year.

Hurricane Harvey, which caused massive flooding in Texas, cost $125 billion, second only to 2005’s Katrina, while Maria’s damage in Puerto Rico cost $90 billion, ranking third, NOAA said. Irma was $50 billion, mainly in Florida, for the fifth most expensive hurricane.

Western wildfires fanned by heat racked up $18 billion in damage, triple the U.S. wildfire record, according to NOAA.

Besides Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina all had more than $1 billion in damage from the 16 weather disasters in 2017.

“While we have to be careful about knee-jerk cause-effect discussions, (many scientific studies) show that some of today’s extremes have climate change fingerprints on them,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd, a past president of the American Meteorological Society.

NOAA announced its figures at the society’s annual conference in Austin, Texas.

The U.S. averages six of the billion-dollar weather disasters each year, costing a bit more than $40 billion annually.

The increase in billion-dollar weather disasters is likely a combination of more flooding, heat and storm surge from climate change along with other non-climate changes, such as where buildings are put, where people move and how valuable their property is, said Deke Arndt, NOAA’s climate monitoring chief.

“Perhaps it is time to mandate urban development in a more resilient and sustainable manner given the increasing frequency of weather extremes, especially along the nation’s coasts,” Susan Cutter, director of the University of South Carolina’s Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute, said in an email.

The weather agency also said that 2017 was the third hottest year in U.S. records for the Lower 48 states with an annual temperature of 54.6 degrees (12.6 degrees Celsius) — 2.6 degrees warmer than the 20th century average . Only 2012 and 2016 were warmer. The five warmest years for the Lower 48 states have all happened since 2006.

Arndt said the U.S. — which has had above normal annual temperatures for 21 straight years — is showing the same warming effects as the rest of the world. The burning of coal, oil and gas emits heat-trapping gases that change Earth’s climate.

This was the third straight year that all 50 states had above average temperatures for the year.

Five states — Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and New Mexico — had their warmest year ever.

Temperature records go back to 1895.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lawmakers who oppose Nebraska’s motorcycle helmet law are once again trying to repeal the requirement after narrowly failing to do so last year.

Senators kicked off their annual debate Monday on legislation that would allow motorcyclists to ride through the state without a helmet if they’re at least 21 years old.

This year’s bill by Sen. John Lowe of Kearney would require riders to use eye protection, but would eliminate the helmet mandate for most riders. Passengers who are younger than 6 years old would not be allowed to ride.

Opponents of the repeal bill blocked it last year with a filibuster. The bill’s supporters fell one vote short of the support they needed to force an end to debate and bring the issue to a vote.