OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An economist says a business conditions index for nine Midwest and Plains states rose over the past month, pointing to continuing improvement in regional economic conditions.

A report released Tuesday says the Mid-America Business Conditions Index climbed to 59.0 from 57.2 in November. The October figure was 58.8.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says profit growth, low interest rates and the recently passed tax package pushed business confidence last month to its highest level since January 2011.

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.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Racing Commission has approved agreements to continue simulcast horse racing at all four tracks in the state.

Commission Director Tom Sage announced the decision in a news release early Monday.

A dispute between Grand Island’s Fonner Park and the Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association had threatened to shut down simulcasting at all Nebraska tracks.

The possibility that Horsemen’s Park would be forced to suspend simulcasting starting Monday led to a lawsuit being filed in federal court asking for an injunction against the commission.

Simulcast wagering, in which someone in Lincoln or Omaha can bet on races at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York or Santa Anita Park in California, for instance, has been legal in Nebraska since 1988.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Education is questioning Nebraska’s system for gauging school performance and whether it’ll comply with the new federal education law.

Nebraska submitted plans in September under the federal education law called the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The state’s plan is based on its new accountability system that classifies schools in four categories.

The Department of Education has questioned how the state will meet annual reporting requirements under the new education law since it hasn’t classified schools since 2015.

Nebraska Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt says changes to testing and how it’s measured makes it difficult to reclassify annually.

Nebraska has until Jan. 5 to respond to the Department of Education. But Blomstedt expects the state will ask for an extension.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts will revive his push for tax cuts in the 2018 session with a package intended to win support from rural lawmakers who want to focus on agricultural property taxes and city-dwelling conservatives who are clamoring to lower income taxes.

The Republican governor who is up for re-election in November said the state budget and taxes are his two top priorities for the session that begins Wednesday.

Ricketts tells The Associated Press he hopes to balance the desires of rural and urban groups that fought one another for tax benefits in the 2017 session. The governor’s previous tax plan stalled in May, in part because farm groups opposed it.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts’ administration will ask lawmakers to pass a series of measures it says would increase accountability within the Nebraska State Patrol following a series of agency scandals.

The governor’s office released a memo Friday that outlines a series of changes that have already been made in response to revelations that the patrol mishandled internal investigations of trooper misconduct.

Nebraska Chief Human Resources Officer Jason Jackson says the administration will ask lawmakers to increase the oversight powers of the Nebraska Crime Commission. Another proposal would require patrol administrators to disclose to the commission why officers were fired.

The administration also wants to remove internal investigations from the list of items that are subject to collective bargaining. It also plans to request that sergeants be removed from the bargaining unit.

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