RALSTON, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman has been given five years of probation for stealing more than $41,000 when she worked for an Omaha suburb’s chamber of commerce.

Douglas County District Court records say 43-year-old Michelle McElligott was sentenced Tuesday. She’d pleaded guilty to felony theft. Her lawyer told the judge that McElligott had paid restitution to the Ralston Chamber of Commerce and its insurer.

A court document says that, without permission, McElligott wrote more than 60 three-figure checks to herself on an account belonging to the commerce. The court document says the last check was written on July 12 for $745.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal trial in Nebraska has been pushed to March for a man suspected of being the “AK-47 bandit,” who investigators believe robbed banks in five states.

A federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion by Richard Gathercole for a new court-appointed attorney and set trial for March 25.

Gathercole has pleaded not guilty to robbery and other charges. He’s accused of stealing more than $90,000 in August 2014 from a bank in Nebraska City, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Omaha.

Officials believe Gathercole carried an AK-47 while robbing banks in California, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska and Washington.

Gathercole, of Roundup, Montana, was arrested in June 2017 near Lexington, Nebraska, after a sheriff’s deputy spotted a pickup truck that Kansas authorities had reported stolen by a man who fired at a state trooper.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska state government collected less tax revenue than expected in December.

The Nebraska Department of Revenue reported Tuesday that net receipts for the month totaled $387 million, which is nearly 9 percent below official state estimates of $425 million.

The monthly report says net sales-and-use, individual income and miscellaneous taxes were all below projections. Net corporate income taxes were higher than expected for the month.

The projections were set in February by the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board and adjusted for new legislation that passed last year.

Nebraska State Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton says December’s tax collections were low in part because the department issued a large number of refunds that month. He says the state is still close to projections in the current fiscal year.

ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — A 6-year-old girl has died in a two-vehicle crash in northwestern Nebraska crash.

The crash happened Monday evening on state Highway 385. Investigators say 6-year-old Alyssa Mazanec, of Hemingford, died after the vehicle her mother was driving attempted to turn left and was hit by a semitrailer that that tried to pass the girl’s vehicle.

Investigators say Alyssa was thrown from the vehicle and died.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Online brokerage TD Ameritrade has found a way to let customers instantly fund their brokerage accounts by using Apple Pay and their debit cards.

The Omaha-Nebraska-based company says the new service will eliminate delays investors usually encounter while funds are verified for a new account.

TD Ameritrade’s Sunayna Tuteja says using technology can help streamline the process for investors.

TD Ameritrade clients will be able to deposit up to $10,000 a day in their brokerage accounts using their debit cards and Apple Pay. Credit cards aren’t allowed.

TD Ameritrade officials say the delays when funding a new account are a common complaint.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts called on lawmakers Tuesday to approve a new property tax package and boost funding for Nebraska’s prison system in the face of a looming state deadline to reduce overcrowding.

Ricketts unveiled the plans in his annual State of the State address that focused heavily on taxes while highlighting his new college scholarship initiative and a proposed tax exemption for military retirees.

Ricketts is seeking a constitutional amendment to prevent local property tax revenues from growing by more than 3 percent annually. Lawmakers would have to place the issue on the 2020 ballot for voters to approve.

The Republican governor’s plan would provide $550 million in state dollars over two years to the property tax credit fund, a 23 percent increase over the previous budget cycle. The fund provides money to local governments to reduce what property owners would otherwise have to pay.

Ricketts also backed a bill that would require the state to guarantee at least $275 million a year for the property tax credit fund and prevent lawmakers from withdrawing the money for other purposes.

“Property tax relief is the number one priority Nebraskans want as I travel the state, and many of you have shared similar stories with me from your districts,” Ricketts said in his remarks.

Ricketts said his combined proposals would deliver “immediate relief and structural reform” for property owners who frequently complain about their tax bills. But he said he was open to other ideas, including measures that would change the way agricultural land is valued so it more closely aligns with farm incomes.

“As we work on property tax relief, any proposal should help control spending, fit in the budget and cannot raise taxes on one group of people to raise taxes on another group,” he said.

The governor’s proposed budget recommends an additional $49 million to build two new high-security units at the Lincoln Correctional Center and $6.6 million to increase staffing and rehabilitative programs for inmates. The new housing units would allow for an additional 384 beds, while the rehabilitative programs are intended to cut recidivism rates.

Nebraska’s corrections department faces a July 1, 2020, deadline imposed by the Legislature to lower its inmate population to 140 percent of what its facilities were designed to hold. If the department falls short of that target , the prisons will fall into an automatic “overcrowding emergency” that will force state officials to consider paroling all eligible inmates right away.

Ricketts said his funding proposal “will help assist in bringing our prison population below the emergency level set by the Legislature”

Ricketts also called for increased state funding to K-12 public schools and the University of Nebraska, as well as a scholarship program for students in high-demand areas such as engineering and information technology.

State spending would increase at an average rate of 3.1 percent annually under the governor’s budget proposal. Ricketts said much of the increase is driven by the funding boost for K-12 schools and the voter-approved measure to expand Medicaid under the federal health care law.

“We have a responsibility to the people we care for and the people who pay the bills, the taxpayers,” he said. “Let’s put Nebraskans first as we work on this budget.”

Mid-Plains Community College announces President’s List

The following students qualified for the President’s List at Mid-Plains Community College during the 2018 Fall 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

Anselmo – Luke Christen

Brady – Madison Christophersen, Colton Lovitt, Jessica Most, Daniel Wardyn

Cambridge – Cole Nickerson

Cozad – Ashley Linke, Steven Walker

Culbertson – Brittany Williams

Curtis – Colleen Mortensen

Gothenburg – Keisha Blake, Dillon Higgins, Dillon Wilkerson

Grant – Kaden Kammerer

Holdrege – Tatiana Young

Imperial – Mikaela O’Brien

Indianola – Rhonda Tryon, Jack Vogel

Kearney – Ronald Foutch

Lewellen – Ramona Steward, Shaun Swoboda

Lexington – Hana Brock, Bianca Gomez, Cesar Venegas-Villezcas

Louisville – Nicholas Snodgrass

Maxwell – Natalie Miller

McCook – David Brewster, Mary Kain, Brittanie Nolan, Emmerie Roth, Elise Stevens, Sydney Thompson, William Watts

North Platte – Larry Allen, Emily Bagley, Alyssa Bergeron, Larissa Berol, Jack Carlson, Kayla Douglas, Troy Dye, Danny Fourtner, Lucas Friedrich, Jonathan Hastings, Alexandria Hatch, Matthew Haynes, Dawson Heinzen, Ashley Husemoller, Haley Jackson, Gary Koch, Haiden Kreber, Rebecca Lindley, Gabrielle Menghini, Jayden Miles, Brian Mixer, Angel Murphy, Mercedes Nolda, Lindsi Orr, Kaitlyn Ostrander, Nathan Ostrander, Sarah Phares, Mirabella Pigati, Vanessa Rodriguez-Sanchez, Bailey Roeder, Jessica Slattery, Keifer Smith, Nathan Snider, Ryan Sorenson, Jonathan Spradlin, Patricia Tofilau, Jade Vak

Ogallala – Justine Gall

Ord – Ashley Carson

Paxton – Ashley Lugar, Justin Neilsen

Stapleton – Dylan DiGiovanni

Sutherland – Angela Evans, Scott Taylor, Alyssa Weber

Tryon – Caleb Goosey

Venango – Valerie Perez

Wauneta – Zachary Thompson, Roseanna Vapenik

California

Carlsbad – Michael Trunfio

Pleasant Hill – Liliana Belton

Colorado

Colorado Springs – Makenna Bodette

Fleming – Shaylee Johnson

Granby – Kiera Barr

Nucla – Carlie Wytulka

Wheat Ridge – Emily Anderson, Aurora Storrer

Iowa

Hubbard – Ricks Polk

Richmond – Candice Biltz

Oregon

Bend – Nickolas Gylling, Travis Martin

Virginia

Fort Belvoir – Preston Parry

Washington

Seattle – Valerie Schaeffer

Spokane Valley – Travis Oliver

Wyoming

Laramie – Luke James

AUSTRALIA

Willetton, Western Australia – Emma McLean

CANADA

Summerville, New Brunswick – Shaun Hickey

MOZAMBIQUE

Maputo – Nelo Nducuia

SPAIN

Badalona, Barcelona – Laura Mata Garcia

Mid-Plains Community College releases Dean’s List

The following students qualified for the Dean’s List during the 2018 Fall 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

Arcadia – Clay Bauer

Arthur – MacKenna Turner

Big Springs – Caprice Brown

Blair – Mark Starks

Brady – Jared Most, Jerry Mull

Broken Bow – Ina Bradley, Laurissa Epley

Callaway – Grady Lashley, Jessie Parshley

Cambridge – Aubri Ross, Kristian Roth

Cozad – Karleigh Kleinknecht

Culbertson – Beth Hoyt, Emma Matson, Courtney Searcey, Matthew Searcey

Curtis – Rylie Brown, Payton Kahler

Eddyville – Zachery Jones

Enders – Cydney Spady

Gering – Kaylee Bohnsack

Gothenburg – Tanis Sack, Olivia Williams

Grand Island – Vann Stevenson

Grant – Logan Cunningham, Whitney Spencer

Hastings – Ty Neill

Hershey – William Schillinger, Konner Sonneman

Imperial – Diana Benitez Aguilar, Taylin McNair, Rogelio Vargas

Indianola – Drew Hofman, Alec May, Wyatt McConville, Kayela Parker, Patrick Sughroue, Bethany Vogel

Lexington – Katy Esquivel Cruz

Loomis – Ethan McKenna

Maxwell – Emily Breinig, Jeremy Ochsner

McCook – Bradley Ackermann, Jaden Bryant, Zachary Burkey, Taye Collicott, Kyle Geisler, Easton Gillen, Allison Johnson, Steven Keenportz, Halie Lindquist, Nicholas Macfee, Alyson Marin, Trevor Oberg, Mary Osborne, Casey Quagliano, Madison Riemenschneider, Ian Shepherd, Danielle Slaby, Brandon Smith, Ethan Wilcox

Memphis – Cody Magness

North Platte – Britni Bandy, Rylee Brott, Kayla Bush, Nicholas Bussard, Jamon Davis, Evan DeKok, Taitiana Ditch, Jed Dizmang, Nicholas Doucet, Kelsey Epp, Tyler Floro, Amanda Hanson, Samuel Hergenrader, Makenzi Humphrey, Megan Johnson, Madison Kleewein, Jennifer Lantis, Dasia Lively, Elijah Malsbury, J’Naea Matlock, Kathleen McIntyre, Megan Morash, Brooke Orr, Jade Osborn, Dalton Prokop, Shawn Simpson, Amanda Smith, Seth Smith, Kathryn Smitherman, Samantha Sonneman, Lyndell St. Clair, Brandon Tolle, Eric Travis, Gary White, Ryan White, Kade Wroot

Ogallala – John Diaz, Ethan LeGrande

Omaha – Tanner Cissell, Ashley Ellingson, Connor McGonigal

Paxton – William Babbitt
Stapleton – Brady Baumgartner, Kaylie Beierman, Ashley Houser, John Main

Sutherland – Alexandra Baker, Shelly Compton, Ashley Hanneman

Thedford – Danya Mintle, Seth Pearson

Valentine – Luke Hockenbary, Michelle Witt Moore

Wallace – Austin Hanson, Abbey Rohde

Walton – Austin Jensen

Colorado

Aurora – Hannah Jensen

Breckenridge – Graham Gaspard

Brighton – Makayla Harris

Delta – KC Carlson

Fleming – Bailey Chintala

Greeley – Levi Dart, Hannah Emerson, Isaac Vargas

Lakewood – Chanel Siebenthal

Littleton – Ashlynn Krueger

Windsor – Kali Kelley

Wray – Kedric Tufton

Florida

New Port Richey – Katie Cox

Hawaii

Makawao – Maysen Medeiros

Iowa

Council Bluffs – Alea Binkly

Kansas

Belvue – Reed Murray

Effingham – Jade Hollands

North Carolina

Charlotte – Ngoye Bobmanuel

New York

Henrietta – Kailee White

South Dakota

Aberdeen – Karley Martin

Texas

Houston – Da’May Jones

League City – Donta Smith

Wyoming

Dayton – Angel Richards

CANADA

Richmond, British Columbia – Kayla Harrison

Victoria, British Columbia – Emily Charchuk

Brampton, Ontario – Samuel Lebel

Gatineau, Quebec – Anthony Kingsbury

FINLAND

Helsinki – Iftin Mao

GERMANY

Hamburg – Lena Goerke

ITALY

Rome – Tommaso Mostarda

LATVIA

Valmiera – Edgars Kaufmanis

NIGERIA

Akoka – Chidi Okwarabizie

SPAIN

Reus – Anna Sanjuan

UKRAINE

Kiev – Ilya Tyrtyshnik

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Tourism Office has launched its first campaign of 2019 by promoting the hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes that migrate to the Platte River Valley, with the hope of expanding on tourism success they saw after promoting the event last year.

The print and television ads began running Monday, The Lincoln Journal Star reported . The crane ads note that while many people view Nebraska as a place to fly over and not a place to visit, more than half a million cranes come to the state every March.

The ads will run until March in cities in Colorado, South Dakota and Kansas. Tourism office staff and animal experts will also travel to Denver this week to promote the cranes.

Tourism Commission Executive Director John Ricks said the migration draws tourists from around the world.

“It’s truly one of the most outstanding migrations in the world,” he said.

The state first promoted the event to out-of-state markets last year, and saw increases to traffic to the tourism website and lodging tax that was collected, Ricks said.

The ads are part of the state’s new tourism campaign , “Nebraska. Honestly, it’s not for everyone,” which will launch fully in April.

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A woman accused of trying to conceal a man’s slaying in Dawson County has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

Dawson County District Court records say 36-year-old Melissa Callahan had pleaded not guilty to a felony accessory charge in the October 2016 slaying of Jose Hernandez by Jose Regalado-Mendez. Authorities say she helped move the body and conceal the slaying. Hernandez’s remains were found weeks later near a farmhouse north of Lexington.

The records say Callahan, of Lexington, pleaded guilty Friday to attempted tampering with physical evidence — a misdemeanor. Her sentencing is scheduled for March 4.

Regalado-Mendez was sentenced Jan. 7 to 40 to 45 years in prison.