Mid-Plains Community College received a check for $15,600 from the Nebraska Public Power District on Wednesday night.

The money will be split equally between McCook Community College and North Platte Community College and used for scholarships for students pursuing careers in the engineering and electrical fields.

Larry Linstrom, first vice chairman of the NPPD Board of Directors, made the presentation during a MPCC Board of Governors meeting.

The funds were raised during the Wells Fargo Nebraska Open golf tournament in September. It was the 25th year NPPD coordinated the tournament.

The event has raised a cumulative total of just over $1.4 million for community college students in NPPD’s service area through the years. The total received by MPCC over the life of the tournament has been $282,510.

“Hundreds of students have had their tuition paid as a result of this tournament,” said Linstrom. “Nebraska’s economy is stronger because of the education provided by the community college system, and NPPD is stronger for having hired many of these graduates. The tournament is a great way to pair business and education to get results.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prison officials say a prison staff member has been assaulted by an inmate.

A news release from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says the assaulted occurred Wednesday afternoon at the maximum security prison in Tecumseh.

The release says the inmate hit the staff member in the head and face while the two were in a staff office in a housing unit. The staff member was able to get out of the office and call for help. The staff member was treated for minor injuries. Neither the inmate nor the staff member were named.

Officials have reported several attacks on corrections staff at various Nebraska prisons over several months, including one in August at the Lincoln Correctional Center that left nine officers injured.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale is pulling a set of public service announcements off the air amid criticism that they could mislead voters about a death penalty ballot measure.

Gale said Wednesday that the 30- and 60-second radio spots were intended to ensure voters understand the potentially confusing ballot language. Voting “repeal” in the election is a show of support for the punishment, while voting “retain” is a declaration that the death penalty should not be reinstated.

The death penalty opposition group Retain a Just Nebraska argued that radio ads failed to mention that the state will still have life imprisonment if the death penalty stays repealed.

Gale says he pulled the ad so the debate will remain focused on “substantive issues.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An investigator says an inmate helped two others escape a Lincoln prison in a laundry truck.

Nebraska State Patrol investigator Cory Townsend testified at a hearing Tuesday that the inmate piled clothes atop Timothy Clausen and Armon Dixon, who’d climbed into a laundry cart on June 10. The cart was then loaded into a truck used to haul laundry from the Lincoln Correctional Center to another state prison.

Authorities have said the two ripped a hole in the truck’s roof, climbed out and jumped off for a brief span of freedom. Clausen and Dixon were recaptured within a week.

The third inmate hasn’t been charged. A judge decided Tuesday that Clausen and Dixon will be tried on escape charges.