OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The lightning delays and eventual cancellation of the University of Nebraska-Akron football game demonstrates how schools can detect or respond to dangerous thunderstorms.Various versions of the detection system that alerted a Nebraska official at the season opener in Lincoln on Sept. 1 are being employed by schools nationwide. Some schools use weather-alert apps loaded onto smartphones

“Safety has become a much bigger issue over the years,” said John Jensenius, a Maine-based lightning expert with the National Weather Service. “(Schools) are taking action to try and keep people safe.”

Roughly 300 people are struck each year in the United States, experts say, and more than 30 don’t survive.

The university’s WeatherSentry system detected a strike within 8 miles (13 kilometers) of Memorial Stadium in Lincoln after Nebraska received the opening kickoff. The lightning required a 30-minute delay in play, and subsequent strikes restarted the 30-minute clock.

Athletic director Jeff Novotny at Abraham Lincoln High in Council Bluffs, Iowa, told the Omaha World-Herald that he sets his phone app to alert him when lightning is spotted within 30 miles (48 kilometers) of an event. That lets him tell game officials that play might have to be suspended. When the strikes get within about 10 miles (16 kilometers), play is suspended.

National guidelines for high schools call for suspending play for 30 minutes if lightning is seen or thunder is heard, said Nate Neuhaus, assistant director of the Nebraska School Activities Association. The 30-minute clock is restarted if lightning or thunder occurs again.

Steve Eubanks, supervisor of athletics for the Omaha Public Schools, said a phone app came in handy a couple football seasons ago during a game at Burke High. Lightning was detected, so play was suspended. But the storm soon passed and the game resumed about an hour later.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican who’s among President Donald Trump’s most vocal critics in the Senate says he “regularly” considers leaving his party and becoming an independent.

That’s what Nebraska’s Ben Sasse writes on Twitter in response to a commenter who said she believed changing her Democratic affiliation to “no-party” would be “part of the solution.” She then asked the first-term senator whether he might follow suit.

His response: “yep — regularly consider it (except the ‘from Dem’ part)”

Just before that, Sasse wrote of his fear that “we’re headed toward a place where hefty majorities of both sides of the electorate are going to regularly embrace unsupported and blatantly false assertions.”

Republicans hold a 51-49 edge in the Senate going into the November elections.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are hunting for new revenue sources to pay for a small-town revitalization program that restores historic buildings, recruits new business and promotes communities to ensure the effort survives amid cuts to much of the state budget.

The Nebraska Main Street Network relied for years on regular state funding to help spruce up small and midsized towns, but a tax revenue shortfall cost the nonprofit its share of that money in 2016.

Without the $100,000 in yearly state aid the group once received, leaders said they’re forced to rely more on membership dues from cities that can afford to pay them, which makes it harder to offer services to smaller towns that need them most.

Many states operate “Main Street” programs with multimillion-dollar budgets, and some are run by the state, said Elizabeth Chase, the group’s executive director.

“They’re really able to kick our butts,” Chase said. “It’s not that our folks aren’t doing good work. They’re doing awesome work. But they just don’t have the resources they need.”

Supporters say the program is particularly important for towns that have to compete with Omaha and Lincoln for state economic development aid, as well as those that don’t have a clear, realistic plan for attracting businesses. Nebraska already provides tax credits to developers who renovate historic properties, but projects in larger cities often get most of the money.

“We’d like to reach out to some of the smaller towns,” said Jerry Johnson, a former state senator and Wahoo mayor who serves on Main Street Nebraska’s governing board. But for now, because the group’s resources are limited, Johnson said Main Street Nebraska is focusing more on Nebraska’s mid-sized cities.

State Sen. Dan Quick, of Grand Island, said he plans to introduce a bill next year to provide permanent funding for the services but acknowledged that finding money could be challenging given state revenues have fallen short of expectations over the last several years. Even if tax collections improve next year, Quick said he expects state services that got cut in the past to clamor for more money.

“It’ll be a challenge,” he said. “But I think the state should still be responsible for some of that (cost). It benefits the state as well as the communities that participate.”

Supporters will make their pitch to the Legislature’s Urban Affairs Committee on Sept. 25 at a hearing in Grand Island.

The Main Street Nebraska Network provides technical support and training to help cities revitalize their downtowns. It helps city officials brainstorm ways to renovate old theaters, warehouses, railroad depots and commercial buildings, among others. It also connects city officials to grants and other funding sources to help pay for projects.

Chase said the state should contribute because restoring old buildings and attracting residents to once-blighted areas helps generate additional state tax and local tax revenue. When commercial property values fall, the property tax burden shifts to homeowners and farmland, she said.

Some of the group’s joint projects are simple, such as North Platte’s decision this year to remove decades-old concrete canopies from downtown buildings to reveal their classic architecture and give the area a more open feel.

The group also helped Beatrice officials and business leaders with their plans to revitalize the city’s downtown, said Michael Sothan, executive director of Main Street Beatrice, an organization that’s independent from but connected to Main Street Nebraska.

Sothan said the Main Street Nebraska Network helped put in place design guidelines for the buildings to preserve their historic character and worked with local officials to secure a $350,000 federal grant, which attracted $3 million in investments from the area’s business owners. The group even provided sketches to a few downtown property owners who needed more help, Sothan said.

“Their technical assistance helped business owners see the benefits of doing things a certain way,” he said.

Sothan said the renovations have resulted in a net gain of 16 new downtown businesses and more than 70 jobs since January 2016. Other businesses that started downtown have moved to other parts of the city.

“Without someone cheerleading and championing these causes, I don’t think we’d be seeing that type of new business,” he said.

Chase said many small towns are eager to attract any business they can, even if it’s not a good fit for their area, so the group also works with local officials to create a focused economic development plan.

“There are a lot of communities that want to be a champagne and caviar kind of place, but they’re really more burgers and beer,” she said.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Fall turkey season opens later this month in Nebraska.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says hunters may shoot turkeys with a fall turkey or youth fall turkey permit, which allows hunters to take two turkeys starting Sept. 15 through Jan. 31 with either archery equipment or a shotgun.

Fall turkey permits are $30 for residents, $109 for nonresidents and $8 for youth younger than 16, including issuing fee.

Nebraska’s turkey population has exploded over the last decade, and turkeys can be found in all of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Hunters will find good turkey-hunting opportunities with 300 wildlife management areas across the state and approximately 300,000 acres of walk-in public access to private land in the Open Fields and Waters Program.

Visit www.outdoornebraska.gov/wildturkey for more information.

0TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — The doors on 16 cells at a prison that has a history of riots unexpectedly opened Friday, leading to one inmate being attacked and seriously injured and a fire set inside the prison, Nebraska prison officials said.

The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said in a statement that the doors at Tecumseh State Correctional Institute are operated by a computerized system and that the cell doors were mistakenly opened around 10 a.m. Friday. Officials say the cause of the error is under investigation.

The inmates were ordered to stay in their cells, officials said, but they left the cells anyway, entered the gallery and refused to return. One inmate was assaulted by one or more of the others and was seriously injured. The injured inmate was removed from the gallery and was taken to a Lincoln hospital, where he was in stable condition Friday afternoon. Another inmate also received minor injuries, but the cause of his injuries hadn’t been determined by Friday afternoon. No prison employees were injured.

Prison staff used pepper spray to clear the gallery, but the inmates continued to resist and started a fire in one of the cells, the release said. The fire was contained to the one cell, and the prisoners were returned to their cells a short time later.

The prison has a troubled history. Last year, two of the prison’s inmates were killed and others were injured in a riot that included a prison courtyard fire. That riot happened in the same housing unit where two other inmates were killed during a May 2015 uprising that caused about $2 million in damage.

The riots and other incidents, such as attacks on prison staff, have led lawmakers and other officials to scrutinize Nebraska’s prison system. The Legislature this year passed a package of bills designed to address the state’s chronically overcrowded prison system and understaffing. That included a July 1, 2020, deadline to lower overcrowding from 160 percent to 140 percent of capacity.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to disqualify a Nebraska state senator from the November general-election ballot.

Judge John A. Colburn rejected allegations that state Sen. Matt Hansen, of Lincoln, didn’t properly fill out the paperwork necessary to appear on the ballot. Colburn also rejected assertions Tuesday that Secretary of State John Gale and Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission Director Frank Daley acted inappropriately in failing to declare Hansen ineligible.

The lawsuit was filed by Bob Van Valkenburg, who is trying to unseat Hansen. Hansen won 77 percent of the vote in the May 15, nonpartisan primary, while Van Valkenburg received 23 percent.

Hansen is a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan race. Van Valkenburg is a Republican.

They are competing to represent Legislative District 26 in northeast Lincoln.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — The Kearney Regional Airport renovation and runway work has been completed and flights to and from Denver have been resumed.

The yearlong wait for air service ended Wednesday afternoon as a United Express jet arrived.

A $12 million runway project to accommodate jets and terminal and security work had to be finished before passengers could once again fly in and out of Kearney.

The U.S. Department of Transportation approved local officials’ selection of SkyWest as the airport’s Essential Air Service contractor under federal subsidies.

SkyWest is operating as United Express and replaces PenAir, the Alaska-based airline that dropped the Kearney-to-Denver route citing difficulties maintaining an adequate number of pilots.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged a Las Vegas man after authorities say he threatened to harm people on an airplane earlier this week and caused the flight to be diverted to a Nebraska airport.

Prosecutors in Nebraska say 23-year-old Maurice Paola had an initial court appearance Thursday. Paola faces one count of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.

Investigators say Paola was threatening to harm other passengers and crew members on the charter flight Monday and was throwing things at people, forcing the plane to land at Lee Bird Field in North Platte. The plane was headed to New York when it was diverted.

If convicted, Paola faces up to 20 years in prison. His next court appearance has been set for Sept. 10.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Three Nebraska dioceses will cooperate with the state attorney general’s request to review records of allegations and investigations dating back decades, according to diocese representatives.

Attorney General Doug Peterson requested last week that Lincoln, Omaha and Grand Island Roman Catholic bishops provide investigative records since 1978, The Lincoln Journal Star reported. The records request includes reports of alleged sexual exploitation, such as child pornography.

The review comes less than a month after Peterson urged victims of priest sex abuse to file reports with law enforcement , regardless of when the abuse occurred.

Representatives for all three dioceses said their bishops intend to cooperate with the request.

“The truth is good for everyone,” Omaha Archbishop George Lucas said in a Wednesday news release . “I see this as a real moment of grace.”

The Lincoln Diocese said it also plans to create a hotline and website where reports can be filed anonymously, and will also hire a victim-assistance coordinator to provide support to victims of sex abuse.

Lincoln-area cases will go to the Lancaster County Attorney’s Office, which will forward them to police and the sheriff’s office, said County Attorney Pat Condon, who noted that his office has received one report so far.

“Then, depending on what any investigation turns up, that will determine whether there will be prosecution through our office,” Condon said.

The Lincoln Diocese recently removed three priests over misconduct accusations, including giving alcohol to an altar server, being alone with women despite warnings against such behavior and an allegation of sexual contact with an adult woman. Another priest resigned over an undisclosed allegation stemming from his time in the Nebraska Army National Guard.

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — Tyson Foods is investigating what caused an ammonia release that sent 20 workers to a south-central Nebraska hospital.

Firefighters were sent to the Tyson plant in Lexington around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday. The workers had been evacuated by the time firefighters arrived.

Officials say at least one worker was admitted to the Lexington Regional Health Center and one was later transferred to a Lincoln hospital. The rest of the injured workers were treated and released.

Tyson spokesman Worth Sparkman says the plant has been deemed safe, so normal plant operations are expected to resume Wednesday.

He says the ammonia is used for refrigeration.