OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The surging business conditions in nine Midwest and Plains states will be tested by trade conflicts and other factors that could slow growth, an economist said in a survey report issued Friday.

The Mid-America Business Conditions Index recorded its highest mark in 14 years last month, hitting 67.3 in May, compared with 64.5 in April, according to the report. The March figure was 62.1.

This is the 18th straight month the index has remained above growth neutral 50.0, pointing to strong growth for the region over the next three to six months.

“The Goldilocks economy — not too hot, not too cold — will be tested in the months ahead as trade skirmishes and potential wars slow growth and contribute to higher prices for inputs such as steel and aluminum,” said Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey. “These higher prices will slow growth and push the Federal Reserve to be more aggressive in raising interest rates in the weeks and months ahead.”

The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth in that factor. A score below that suggests decline. The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The wholesale inflation index hit 88.9 in May, the highest figure since April 2011, and up from 85.7 in April.

“Both our regional wholesale inflation index and the U.S. inflation gauge are elevated. I expect this elevated inflation to begin to show up at the consumer level,” said Goss, who added that he consequently expects the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point later this month.

Economic optimism, as reflected by May’s business confidence index, decreased to 66.3 from April’s 70.2.

Healthy profit growth, still low interest rates, and lower tax rates, kept business confidence into a range indicating robust confidence, Goss said. However, he said, the May survey was conducted before the announcement of higher U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — A three-judge panel has sentenced to death a Nebraska prisoner who killed his cellmate.

District Judge Vicky Johnson of Wilber, the presiding judge, announced the panel’s decision Friday in the murder case against 40-year-old Patrick Schroeder.

Schroeder has freely admitted strangling 22-year-old Terry Berry in April 2017 in their cell at Tecumseh State Prison in southeast Nebraska. Schroeder told investigators that he killed Berry for being too talkative and said he had warned Berry several times that he needed to “shut up.”

Schroeder offered no rebuttal to prosecutors’ assertions that he should be sentenced to death. He’s said he believes in the death penalty.

At the time of Berry’s killing, Schroeder was already serving a life sentence for killing a 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer in 2006.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The agency monitoring Nebraska children in foster care says there’s a disproportionate number of minority youth in out-of-home care.

The Nebraska Foster Care Review Office found on March 31 that African-American, Native-American, biracial and Latino children were overrepresented in the population of youth in foster care and other forms of out-of-home care.

Nearly 15 percent of wards of the state are African-American, though black children represent only 6 percent of the overall population of Nebraska children, according to a special study in the office’s quarterly report. Nearly 6 percent of children in out-of-home care or trial home visit are Native-American, but Native-

American children comprise about 2 percent of the state’s children. About 20 percent of wards of the state are Latino, compared to their 17 percent makeup in the general population of children.

The study also found lopsided percentages for black children when considering youth who have been in out-of-home placements for two or more years.

Minority children are more likely to be separated from siblings while in foster care, the report said. Siblings can provide a source of stability and improve resiliency in these unstable conditions, according to the study.

The report also identified a greater overrepresentation of black youth in the juvenile justice system. About 25 percent of residents at the Geneva Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center are young black women, and 28 percent of those in the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center at Kearney are young black men.

The report didn’t identify why disproportionate placements are occurring but said state providers must evaluate where and how the disparity is happening.

The following students qualified for the President’s List at Mid-Plains Community College during the 2018 Spring Term. To make the list, each student had to complete 12 or more applicable credit hours in college-level courses and maintain a grade point average (GPA) of 3.9 or greater on a 4.0 scale.

Nebraska

Bartley – Erin Greenlee

Beaver City – Daniel Dringman

Bellevue – Allison Tichy

Benkelman – FayeLee Sanford

Broken Bow – Preston Sanchez, Briana Taylor

Curtis – Karmen Brush, Colleen Mortensen

Dunning – Renee Daniel

Gothenburg – Jaime Burkink, Dillon Higgins, Bryce Larson

Grand Island – Chance Boersen

Grant – Whitney Spencer, Bailey Wood

Hershey – Madison Hoatson

Imperial – Abigail Almanza, Jadin Bussell, Charlie Carter, Eric Chavira, Wayne Musick

Indianola – Drew Hofman, Genna Vogel

Kennard – Cheyanne Herzog

Lewellen – Ramona Steward, Brady Tophoj

Lexington – Luis Esquivel Saldana

McCook – David Brewster, Taye Collicott, Kyle Geisler, Ahria Golden, Brandon Molcyk, Tanner O’Neill, Kacee Samway, Kyli Scott, James Slaten

North Platte – Emily Ady, Brayden Aufrecht, Michael Bergmeier, Cristina Bravo, Emily Cady, Kayla Douglas, Isabelle Eisenrich, Remingten Elsen, Kathryn Greene, Colleen Griffin, Kaitlyn Hansen, Cody Harrison, Bryan Higgins, Colton Houser, Kaile Jacobson, Leela Keck, Zachary Kring, Zane Leibhart, Jaedyn Leisy, Cole Lewis, Ashley Linke, Charles Martin, Brandon McElwee, Jayden Miles, Brian Mixer, Lauren Pell, Madelyn Peters, Mirabella Pigati, Ethan Ramsey, Camron Sheets, Shawn Simpson, Jessica Slattery, Nathan Snider, Ryan Sorenson, Kamrin Stacy, Shayla Tallmon, Patricia Tofilau, Brandon Tolle, Taylor Wiese

Ogallala – Justine Gall, Jade Max, Amanda Most

Ord – Ashley Carson

Scottsbluff – Alysianna Camacho

Sidney – Mikenna Curlee

Sutherland – Alexandra Baker, Josiah Barmore, Shelly Compton, Katelyn Hecht

Tryon – Michaela Schultis

Wallace – Juan Gomez

Walton – Austin Jensen

Wauneta – Zachary Thompson

California

San Diego – Guillermo Gutierrez

Wasco – Christopher Brown

Colorado

Colorado Springs – Gabrielle Enloe, Cregan McCulloch

Fleming – Shaylee Johnson

Golden – Erin Renwick

Lakewood – Chanel Siebenthal

Nucla – Carlie Wytulka

Thornton – Rylee Younger

Windsor – Jacob Lombardelli

Iowa

Hubbard – Ricks Polk

Missouri

Rolla – Preston Parry

Texas

San Antonio – Loren Lealiiee

Utah

Moab – Adrianna Duehrssen

Washington

Raymond – Cameron Cogdill

CANADA

Parksville, British Columbia – Rebecca Carpenter

Saint-Charles-de-Bourget, Quebec – Mathieu Tremblay

CROATIA

Zagreb – Toni Kumanovic

MOZAMBIQUE

Maputo – Nelo Nducuia

SPAIN

Badalona – Laura Mata Garcia

 

The following students qualified for the Dean’s List during the 2018 Spring Term at Mid-Plains Community College. To be eligible, they had to complete 12 or more applicable credit hours of college-level courses and maintain an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 – 3.89 on a 4.0 scale.

Nebraska

Ansley – Jodi Dethlefs

Arcadia – Clay Bauer

Ashby – Brook Jamison

Bartley – Jaydenn Miller

Blair – Mark Starks

Brady – Jared Most

Broken Bow – Jesse Gabriel, Elise Montgomery

Champion – Richard Stolz

Culbertson – Courtney Searcey, Grant Wilkinson

Curtis – Rylie Brown

Elwood – Heidi Button

Gothenburg – Kendra Bihlmaier, Ty Clement, Madison Gilg, Tanis Sack

Grant – Heather Cockerill, Crystal Jones, Kaden Kammerer, Caden Picquet

Hayes Center – Alex Lawson

Hershey – William Schillinger

Holdrege – Brooke Kuehn, Tatiana Young

Imperial – Cheyanne Kuhlmann, Taylin McNair, Alyssa Moreno

Indianola – Michaela Holdcroft

Kearney – Nikolas Malleck, Brylle Morgan

Lewellen – Katlin Dikeman

Lexington – Isabel Arredondo, Cristian Prado

Litchfield – Justine Pickar

Maxwell – Jesse Carlyle

Maywood – Dayne Littell, Devon Littell

McCook – Andrew Eschliman, Lindi Johnson, Mary Kain, Abby Kalinski, Jadyn Reynolds, Madison Riemenschneider, Emmerie Roth, Masen Sis, Caleb Suda, Owen Wais, Erin Werkmeister, Cailee Zwickle

North Platte – Rylee Brott, Kayla Bush, Angelica Diones, Troy Dye, Marleine Emanuel, Trevor Entz, Carl Epley, Kelsey Epp, Joshua Golden, Bobbi Gustason, Angelena Harrison, Jonathan Hastings, George Haws, Jennifer Howell, Megan Johnson, Zachary Karre, Tacie Lucas, Stephanie Manka, Jessica Martin, Kathleen McIntyre, Jaedyn Michaels, Heath Monie, Mercedes Nolda, Robert Park, Dylan Petersen, Samantha Robins, Aubri Rose, Jared Schaefer, Lindi Simmons, Ian Smith, Jonathan Spradlin, Alisha Starner, Sabrina Stineman, Wendi Stover, Anders Swanson, Selena Venezie, Erin White, Hallie Wilson, Emma Young

Ogallala – Cole Beckius, Tara Doughty, Austin Johnson, Amanda Kroeger, Nasencio Rivas, Avery Unrein, Camile Unrein, Aaron Wright

Oxford – Jacinda Vollmer

Papillion – Emily Marsden

Paxton – William Babbitt, Ashley Lugar, Justin Neilsen

Riverdale – Regan Rasmussen

Scottsbluff – Hever Morales

Smithfield – Samuel Siekman

Stapleton – John Main

Stratton – David White

Sutherland – Kelsey Folchert

Valentine – Kyle Osnes, Seth Pearson

Wallace – Abbey Rohde

Wauneta – David Thompson

Whitman – Breanna Daly

Colorado

Aurora – Makayla Jones

Breckenridge – Graham Gaspard

Centennial – Ryan Marstiller

Colorado Springs – Dylann Bylund

Evans – Ryan Maddera

Holyoke – Johnathan Rodriguez

Littleton – Ashlynn Krueger

Northglenn – Sidney Kizer

Sterling – Lacey Weigel

Thornton- Alicia Romo

Wray – Kedric Tufton

Yoder – Kylia Johnson

Hawaii

Lahaina – Dianarey Talaroc-Kaniho

Iowa

Hamburg – Bryce Moran, Masen Nelson-Maher

Malad City – Taya Thorpe

Illinois

Chicago – Erin Dziubski

Kansas

Belvue – Reed Murray

McLouth – Brody Troupe

Louisiana

Princeton – Moneshya Green

Massachusetts

Wareham – Andrew White

Nevada

Spring Creek – Katherine MacDiarmid

Washoe Valley – Bodie Golla

Oregon

Hermiston – Christopher Gonzales Rice

Salem – Brian Cashman

Texas

San Antonio – Lexa Lealiiee

Silsbee – Trajan Harris

Utah

Elsinore – Kenlee Wanlass

Gunnison – Jerusha Miner

Ogden – Brooklyn Evans

Syracuse – Alyiah Franco

Taylorsville – Kaylee Wengren

Washington

Spokane – Jack Busch

CANADA

Richmond, British Columbia – Kayla Harrison

Victoria, British Columbia – Emily Charchuk

Sainte-Ursule, Quebec – Christopher Bellemare

Stayner, Ontario – Tanner Zeggil

Summerville, New Brunswick – Shaun Hickey

NIGERIA

Samaru – Chinedu Okonkwo

PERU

Santa Rosa – Alejandra Vivar Aguilar

SERBIA

Pančevo – Antonije Petrovic

SPAIN

Reus – Anna Sanjuan