LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is looking to help residents beat the heat this summer.

The department offers two programs: One that provides electric fans through local organizations and another that helps in paying summer cooling bills.

Thirty-two organizations in 24 Nebraska counties work with the agency to distribute fans to needy citizens and distributed more than 5,600 fans statewide last year.

The cooling bill payment program uses federal money left over from the winter heating program. To qualify, a person in the household must be 70 or older, be receiving Aid to Dependent Children with a child 5 or younger, or be more susceptible to heat because of a medical condition. Income limits apply.

More information on the programs can be found at https://dhhs.ne.gov/EnergyAssistance.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Bee hives at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are destined for research that could help Nebraska’s beekeepers better understand bees, their benefits and how to tailor habitat to protect them.

Honeybee populations have been hard hit in the North American wild, leaving cultivated bees and less-populous wild critters like butterflies and bumblebees to spread pollen.

A recent survey by the Center for Biological Diversity found that 40 percent of the continent’s native insect pollinators are at risk of extinction, even though 90 percent of wild plants rely on insects for pollination.

All but about a dozen of the white boxes at the university’s East Campus pollinator garden will eventually be moved throughout the county to urban and rural locations for research.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska attorney general’s office has hired a staffer to coordinate a new state program designed to help sexual assault victims.

Anne Boatright will serve as the state’s forensic nursing coordinator. Attorney General Doug Peterson announced the new position Friday.

Boatright, a nurse, will manage a program created by lawmakers last year to improve sexual assault examinations and help pay for them. The program was designed to ensure that sex assault victims and law enforcement won’t have to pay the cost of an exam.

State officials have said the previous system prompted questions about who pays for the exams and when. The law shifts the onus off of law enforcement. The cost would instead be covered with private, state and federal money.

JUNE 9, 2017 (LINCOLN, NEB.)  — The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) has released the names of two people killed in a crash on I-80 west of Ogallala Thursday evening.

The crash occurred just after 8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 8, 2017, at mile marker 121, when an eastbound Toyota Tacoma pick-up crossed the median and collided head-on with a westbound Dodge pick-up.

The driver of the Dodge has been identified as Aaron James Davis, 38, of Greeley, Colorado. Davis was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Toyota pick-up was Kent T. Brakken, 71, of Cedaredge, Colorado. Brakken was transported to Ogallala Community Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Investigators have determined that seat belts were used in both vehicles. The specific cause of the accident is still under investigation, but medical issues have been ruled out.

OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two people have been killed in a collision on Interstate 80 in western Nebraska.

The collision occurred just after 8:30 p.m. Thursday, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) west of Ogallala. The Nebraska State Patrol says an eastbound pickup truck crossed the median and rammed into a westbound pickup.

The patrol says the driver of the westbound truck died at the scene. The other driver was pronounced dead at Ogallala Community Hospital. Their names won’t be released until relatives have been notified about the deaths.