LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s preliminary December unemployment rate matched the 2.7 percent rate of November and October, the state said in a report released Tuesday.

The Nebraska Labor Department said the rate is down six-tenths of a point from the December 2016 rate of 3.3 percent and remained well below the U.S. rate, which was unchanged at 4.1 percent.

“2017 has been a strong year for our nonfarm jobs sector of the economy,” state Labor Commissioner John Albin said. “This is the first time that Nebraska had more than 1 million jobs in each month of the year.”

Also, he said, Nebraska ended the year with the fourth-lowest preliminary unemployment rate in the nation.

Nebraska’s nonfarm employment was 1,037,248, up 10,378 over the year and up 2,245 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were leisure and hospitality, up 4,998; professional and business services, up 3,448; and education and health services, up 1,781. Month to month, the largest gains were seen in financial activities, up 642; trade, transportation and utilities, up 579; and leisure and hospitality, up 556.

The preliminary Omaha-area rate rose to 2.8 percent last month from 2.5 percent in November. The new figure was four-tenths of a point lower than the revised December 2016 rate of 3.2 percent. Lincoln’s preliminary rate rose three-tenths of a point to hit 2.4 percent, compared with 2.1 percent in November. The December 2016 figure was 2.8 percent. Grand Island’s preliminary rate rose six-tenths of a point to 3.1 percent in December. The December 2016 rate was 3.5 percent.

The unemployment rates for Grand Island, Lincoln and Omaha have not been seasonally adjusted, so they cannot be directly compared with the state unemployment rate.

Here are preliminary area labor market unemployment rates for December, followed by the revised November rates:

— Beatrice: 3.3, 2.6

— Columbus: 2.7, 2.3

— Fremont: 2.9, 2.3

— Hastings: 3.2, 2.4

— Kearney: 2.3, 1.9

— Lexington: 2.8, 2.5

— Norfolk: 2.6, 2.2

— North Platte: 3.0, 2.5

— Red Willow: 2.6, 2.1

— Scottsbluff: 3.3, 3.0

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are making an aggressive push this year to prevent prescription opioid abuse, a problem that plagues much of the country and accounts for a large number of the state’s overdose deaths.

Senators have introduced four bills designed to reduce opioid deaths and prevent the situation from becoming as serious in Nebraska as in other, harder-hit states.

“I would hope that families who are struggling with this issue recognize that there are champions in the Legislature who are listening to them and trying to help with the very real struggles they are going through,” said Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha, whose sister, Carrie, died of a prescription drug overdose in 2009.

Nebraska had 38 confirmed deaths from opioid overdoses in 2016 out of 128 total drug overdose fatalities, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The number could be higher, though, because death certificates often don’t specify which drugs are used, and many smaller counties can’t afford toxicology tests.

One bill by Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell would require customers to show a driver’s license or other identification before getting certain prescription drugs. Kuehn said having to produce identification could force some potential abusers to think twice.

“If you’re a pharmacist and something doesn’t look right, you’d have the law on your side to say, ‘I need to see an ID,'” he said.

Kuehn said the bill could also help pharmacies that want to keep their own internal customer databases to prevent drug abuse.

“I think we need to give health care providers as many tools as possible to address the epidemic in whatever way they think works best for them,” he said. “Nebraska’s numbers don’t indicate that we have the problem that we see in other states, but we don’t want to wait until it gets to that point to start looking at solutions.”

Howard introduced a measure that would prevent doctors from prescribing more than a seven-day supply of opiates to anyone who is younger than 19 if the treatment is intended for a sudden injury. Doctors also would have to discuss the risks with young patients’ parents or guardians if they haven’t previously prescribed such a drug to them.

Howard said children are more susceptible to prescription drug addiction because their brains are still developing. She said she worked on the legislation with Nebraska medical groups, which support the idea.

A third proposal by Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha would require doctors to discuss the dangers of opiates with patients before prescribing them such a drug for the first time. Lindstrom said warnings could steer patients toward alternatives or help them recognize that they’re becoming addicted.

“This is an issue that is not going away,” said Lindstrom, who saw the risks of opiates firsthand through a close relative who was addicted for about a decade. “We’re trying to do what we can at the state level, but it is unfortunately an epidemic that is continuing to grow.”

The fourth bill by Sen. Merv Riepe of Omaha would require doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, veterinarians and others who can write prescriptions to log at least five hours of continuing education on opiates every two years.

“We want the people who are prescribing or might be prescribing to be keenly aware” of the dangers, he said. “People learn a lot of things in medical school, but sometimes that was 20 or 30 years ago.”

Riepe, a former hospital administrator, said lawmakers are approaching the issue incrementally without overregulating medical professionals.

Nebraska was the second-to-last state to adopt a prescription drug monitoring program when lawmakers approved it in 2016. The program gives health care providers a way to check what prescriptions patients have recently filled. Missouri became the last state to create such a program when Gov. Eric Greitens announced it last year.

However, Nebraska was the first state to require that all prescription drugs get reported to the program once they’re dispensed, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Nebraska has also received a $2 million federal grant for training, treatment and prevention efforts.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new app from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln could help with land management efforts.

The Pheasant Habitat Simulator was created to help the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission research game birds while managing land for the species. It was built as an open-source app.

The app gives researchers flexibility to examine a variety of issues, such as links between cropping practices and nitrates or the emerald ash borer and its spread among urban trees.

Research associate Lyndsie Wszola says she and her university colleagues are eager to interested to see people use the app in different ways.

The app was developed in response to Game and Parks Commission request to create an easy-to-use tool to help manage pheasants.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A jury has found a Kearney man liable for groping a woman at the funeral home where they both worked in 2015 and awarded her $10,000.

The jury sided with Leola Ward in her civil lawsuit against Stephen O’Brien.

Ward didn’t report the incident to police and O’Brien was never charged criminally.

Ward says O’Brien put his hand on her thigh and between her legs while they were working at a visitation on Dec. 2, 2015. O’Brien said at trial he grabbed Ward’s butt, but denied the other allegations.

Ward’s attorney, Nathan Bruner, says Ward wanted to confront O’Brien.

Tom Stewart, who represented O’Brien, says it was bad timing the trial happened right after all the publicity nationally about sexual misconduct.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have advanced a bill that would give prisoners a chance to get a state identification card or renew their driver’s license before their release.

The measure won first-round approval Monday on a 35-0 vote.

Supporters say the measure would help inmates return to life outside of prison. They note that people generally need identification to cash a check, open a bank account, rent an apartment, find a job and gain access to a federal building to get a Social Security card.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln, says the bill would lift some of the barriers inmates face in getting an ID.