(AP) — The University of Nebraska continues to significantly expand its online education options.

Mary Niemiec, who leads NU’s distance education program, says the number of credit hours generated by students only in the distance program grew 12 percent to 57,000 last school year.

About two-thirds of those credit hours are generated by Nebraskans.

Niemiec says many students attending one of the university’s campuses also take an online course at some point to take advantage of the flexibility.

NU’s online high school program is also expanding to include more students and offer more courses.

NU President J.B. Milliken says distance education is part of the university’s mission to serve a wide range of students.

(AP) — Many Midwest farmers are beginning to worry that last year’s drought could return.

The concern is inching closer to reality for a large part of the corn growing region as many states have experienced only spotty rain, with some areas far too dry.

The National Drought Monitor released Thursday says abnormally dry conditions have spread eastward farther into southern Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Portions of Nebraska including the southeast that had May rain are now drying out again.

Rain also seems to have missed southeastern Indiana, which is now listed as abnormally dry after the state had been lifted out of drought.

Corn is in the pollination stage, which determines how much grain it will produce, and needs moisture now to fully develop

(AP) — Activists pushing for new climate change standards are set to hold a weekend rally at the Nebraska Capitol.

The “I Will Act on Climate” event on Saturday is part of a 27-state bus tour to highlight local support for action on the issue. Supporters will gather at 10:30 a.m. to hear from Nebraska state Sens. Ken Haar and Annette Dubas, advocates from the Nebraska Farmers Union, and the CEO of Behlen Manufacturing Company, a metal fabricator based in Columbus.

Participants also plan to form the words, “I Will,” for an aerial photo.

(AP) — Higher electric rates are still expected for Nebraska Public Power District customers next year, but the increases could well be lower than originally forecast.

NPPD now says wholesale and retail rates likely will rise an average of 2 percent in 2014, compared with an earlier forecast of 3.5 percent. The 2013 hike of 3.75 percent was the district’s seventh general rate increase in seven years.

The utility has about 600,000 wholesale or retail customers.

NPPD Vice President of Customer Services Ken Curry says NPPD is focused on reducing expenses that won’t affect safety or reliability.

 

• Zachary Andrew Pringle, 19, North Platte and Alyssa Nicole McMullen, 19, North Platte

 

• Derek Allen Pursley, 22, North Platte and Dehjin Lynn Richardson, 21, North Platte

 

• Joshuwa Allen Perkins, 28, North Platte and Tiffany Nichole Pfannkuch, 31, North Platte

 

• Tyler Joel Stumf, 24, North Platte and Lanelle Denae Janicek, 24, North Platte

 

• Matthew Adam Nelson, 33, North Platte and Breanna Rae Bluhm, 20, North Platte

 

• Joshua Thomas Gesinski, 28, North Platte and Amariah Faith Hodgen, 21, North Platte

 

• James Allen McDaniel, 33, North Platte and Misty Jo Reynolds, 25, North Platte

(AP) — The Oglala Sioux Tribe Election Commission has scheduled a vote on legalizing alcohol on the dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The special election is set for Tuesday, Aug. 13.

The Tribal Council in June approved a public referendum on whether to legalize alcohol on the southern South Dakota reservation, where residents sneak in beer and liquor from nearby towns such as Whiteclay, Neb., and alcoholism is rampant.

Federal law bans the sale of alcohol on American Indian reservations unless a tribal council allows it. Previous efforts to legalize alcohol on the Pine Ridge reservation have failed.

(AP) — State Auditor Mike Foley is apologizing for his recent comment about low-income people and their money-management skills.

Foley, a Republican, had been criticized by Nebraska Democratic Party leaders for his statement at a speech last week. They said his statement that low-income people lack money-management skills showed he didn’t understand that people sometimes have to live paycheck to paycheck.

Foley said earlier this week that his comment was taken out of context from a speech in which he criticized the state’s way of managing an energy assistance project for poor residents.

On Friday Foley said he’d failed to choose his words carefully in a sweeping generalization and that his remark had been misinterpreted as disparaging hardworking Nebraskans.

He apologized to anyone who may have found his comment hurtful.

Two Pennsylvania men are jailed in Cheyenne County for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver after a trooper seized 127 lbs. of marijuana from their vehicle.

Around 5:00 p.m., Thursday, July 25, a trooper made contact with a 2013 Chevy Traverse improperly parked, with the driver relieving himself, just off the MM 48 Exit, eastbound I-80 in Cheyenne County.  When the trooper approached the vehicle he smelled the odor of marijuana.  A probable cause search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 127 lbs. of marijuana, one pound of hashish and a small amount of cocaine. The marijuana was located in three large bags in the cargo area of the SUV.

The driver of the vehicle, Kenneth R. Turner, 23, Pittsburgh, PA., was lodged in the Cheyenne County Jail on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and public urination. A passenger, Gabriel T. Nowak, 30, Finleyville, PA., was lodged in the Cheyenne County Jail on a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

(AP) — A proposed beef processing plant likely won’t be going to Scottsbluff.

Mayor Randy Meininger said Thursday at a City Council budget workshop that the Future Food Energy plant developers are looking to locate elsewhere, including nearby Gering.

Questions about financing, doubts raised by some city residents and negative reactions from the city Planning Commission and the area’s economic development agency were cited for the plant developers’ decision.

The nonprofit Twin Cities Development Corporation opposes the plant. The corporation board president, Steve Reisig, says Future Food Energy’s business plan to focus on the South Korean market is unrealistic.

Future Food Energy had offered to buy 43 acres of city land for $10,000 an acre.

• Today: Patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 79. North northeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
• Tonight: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. East northeast wind 6 to 8 mph.
• Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 7am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. East southeast wind 8 to 13 mph.
• Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 56. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph.
• Sunday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 78. South southeast wind 9 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.
• Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63