LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an inmate who tried to escape from the Nebraska State Penitentiary was caught before he could climb over an internal fence.

The Department of Correctional Services says the unidentified prisoner tried to escape around 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Officials say a tower officer fired a warning shot at the inmate. Corrections officers immediately responded to the fence and deployed chemical agents. The inmate continued to climb but staff members were able to remove him.

Corrections Director Scott Frakes says the inmate never breached the prison’s inner perimeter, and the public was never at risk. An investigation is under way, and the results will be forwarded to the county attorney.

The penitentiary is surrounded by two chain link fences topped with razor wire and a tower with armed officers.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The percentage of Nebraska students deemed proficient in a statewide writing test dipped from 72 percent to 70 percent in the last year the state administered the much-maligned exam.

The Nebraska Department of Education delayed the release of the writing test results until Friday after some districts questioned how the results were calculated.

Valorie Foy, the department’s director of assessment, says the only problem found was an error in how English Language Learners were calculated, which affected the scores of districts with large ELL populations.

Results of reading, math and science tests were released last month. The writing test is given to fourth-, eighth- and 11th-graders.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Voter disgust with the presidential election could give a boost to Nebraska’s Libertarian Party.

Although it’s still dwarfed by the Republican and Democratic parties, the Libertarian Party has seen a 28 percent increase in voter registrations since the May primary.

The number of registered Libertarians is on pace to top 10,000 before the Nov. 8 election, and a state senator who recently joined the party is using her experience as a former GOP political activist to teach its members how to campaign.

Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete says party leaders hope to pitch the party’s civil liberties platform to Democrats and its focus on fiscal conservatism to Republicans. Ebke is campaigning for Libertarian presidential hopeful Gary Johnson but also focusing on local city council and county commission races.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice has approved a statewide body-worn camera policy.

The policy was adopted Friday after three hours of testimony from law enforcement officials.

The policy doesn’t require agencies to buy or use body cameras, but creates minimum standards for their use. Among those is the requirement that most interactions of police with the public be recorded. Exceptions listed in the policy include interviews with domestic assault and rape victims and casual interactions at festivals and some policy-sponsored events, such as National Night Out.

OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — A Florida truck driver has pleaded not guilty to six vehicular homicide counts in Nebraska.

53-year-old Tony Weekly Jr. on Friday also pleaded not guilty in Keith County District Court to one count of reckless driving. His next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20.

The Nebraska State Patrol says Weekly, of Baker, Florida, was distracted and didn’t slow down in an Interstate 80 construction zone near Brule (brool), Nebraska, on July 31. His truck struck a van, and soon three more vehicles were involved in the fiery crash.

Authorities say a family of five from Minnesota died at the scene and another person died later. Five other people were injured, including Weekly.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has declared a hiring freeze and a moratorium on some travel in the wake of a revenue shortfall.

The Nebraska Department of Revenue announced Friday that gross tax receipts in September totaled $507 million, which is 1.6 percent below projections set in February of $515 million. After tax refunds, the September net receipts of $437 million was 5.3 percent below the forecast of $462 million.

The state has been preparing for a tight budget in the upcoming 2017 session. Ricketts had already directed state agency leaders to look carefully at whether new hires are necessary and to limit travel and delay some purchases.

Ricketts said Friday that he is not likely to call a special session of the Legislature to deal with the shortfall.

• Alfonso Hinojos Payan 45, North Platte and Maria del Carmen Meza Jurado, 46, North Platte

 

• Kaitlyn Christine Blaesi, 23, North Platte and Jasmin Marie Jared, 20, North Platte

 

• Jeffrey Paul Soula, 32, Lincoln NE and Sarah Renae Kugler, 28, Lincoln NE

 

• Ronald Dale Lynch 57, Omaha NE and Kathy Lynn Gartner, 57, North Platte