OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are investigating vandalism at the Nebraska U.S. senators’ offices in Lincoln and Omaha.

Police say someone tossed a reddish-brown liquid Tuesday night or Wednesday morning on the doorway of Sen. Deb Fischer’s Omaha office. Someone also placed stickers touting protest group Betsy Riot. The protest group has described itself as a “decentralized neo-suffragette, punk-patriot resistance movement.”

Lincoln police say what officers described as “fake blood syrup” was splattered Tuesday night or Wednesday morning on doors and windows at Sen. Ben Sasse’s Lincoln office. A Betsy Riot sticker was placed there as well.

The two Republicans voted Tuesday to begin debate on repealing sections of the Obama administration’s Affordable Care Act. It’s unclear whether the vandalism was done in protest.

No arrests have been reported.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A report from a federal commerce bureau says the economies of Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota logged the worst performance in the U.S. in the beginning of 2017, with economic output declining in all three states.

Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that from January through March this year, Nebraska’s economic output declined by 4 percent when compared to the final quarter of the previous year, making it the worst of any state. South Dakota ranked second-worst with a 3.8 percent decline, followed by Iowa with a 3.2 percent decline.

The bureau is a federal agency from the U.S. Department of Commerce. It measures a state’s “real” gross domestic product, which is the market value of goods and services produced in-state.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drought conditions are getting worse in several states, and extreme heat and weeks with little rain have begun to stress corn, soybeans, wheat and livestock in some areas.

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln says nearly 11 percent of the continental United States is in moderate drought or worse.

The most severe drought area is centered on portions of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The United States Department of Agriculture has designated several counties in those states as areas of natural disaster, paving the way for emergency loans for producers.

Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas also are seeing stressed crops and farm animals.

About half of U.S. spring wheat, 15 percent of corn and 14 percent of soybeans are in drought.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s largest state agency has unveiled an initiative to improve services for children, low-income families and residents with mental health problems and developmental disabilities.

Gov. Pete Ricketts announced a new “business plan” Thursday for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The plan includes a variety of goals intended to provide faster and more efficient services for the state’s most vulnerable residents.

The list calls for an expansion of “alternative response” programs designed to keep more children with their families, shortening the time in which people with developmental disabilities have to wait for benefits, and reducing the number of questionable costs identified by state auditors.

Department of Health and Human Services CEO Courtney Phillips thanked her staff for meeting 93 percent of their goals under last year’s plan.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — Another trial date has been scheduled for a 24-year-old Nebraska Panhandle man charged with the crash death of a passenger in his pickup truck.

Joshua Bolzer’s new trial starting date is Sept. 4. It’s his fourth since being charged with vehicular homicide, driving under the influence and willful reckless driving.

Authorities say Bolzer, of Mitchell, was speeding in his pickup truck on Aug. 20 last year when it went out of control on U.S. Highway 26 on the west edge of Mitchell and hit a utility pole, a tractor and a liquor store.

A passenger in the truck, 19-year-old Dereon Betancur, was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other 19-year-old passengers were taken to a Scottsbluff hospital.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts plans to watch next month’s solar eclipse from one of Nebraska’s quirkiest roadside attractions.

Ricketts said Thursday he will travel to Carhenge in Alliance to view the eclipse on Aug. 21.

Alliance is one of several Nebraska communities hosting viewing events because of its location. Viewers in the area will experience a total solar eclipse, in which the moon completely obscures the sun’s light for a few minutes.

Ricketts says he chose the site because eclipses are mystical events, and he thinks of Carhenge as one of the state’s most mystical sites. Carhenge is a replica of England’s Stonehenge, formed out of vintage American automobiles.