• Today: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8am, then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 94. Light and variable wind becoming east northeast 8 to 13 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
• Tonight: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 9pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 60. East wind 7 to 10 mph.
• Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
• Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 59. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light south southeast after midnight.

(AP) — An aerial tanker designed to fight wildfires has landed in Nebraska.

The Nebraska Forest Service says the single-engine airplane arrived in Valentine on Monday. The plane will remain in the area under a contract with the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.

The plane was part of the Wildfire Control Act, a state law that passed this year in the wake of massive wildfires in remote parts of Nebraska. The plane will mostly operate out of bases in Valentine, Alliance and Chadron.

State Forester Scott Josiah has said he expects Nebraska to have larger and more intense “mega-fires,” because heat, drought and climate change, as well as the spread of the highly flammable eastern red cedar tree.

(AP) — A Utah ranch expert is scheduled to address the Nebraska Grazing Conference in Kearney next month.

Burke Teichert, a former Rex Ranch manager from Orem, Utah, will discuss key indicators of ranch efficiencies and resource management and monitoring.

The conference is scheduled for Aug. 13-14 at the Holiday Inn in Kearney.

Registration costs $80 if postmarked by Aug. 1 and $95 afterward. One-day registrations also are available and walk-ins are welcome.

More information is available at https://nebraskagrazingconference.unl.edu, or from the UNL Center for Grassland Studies at 402-472-4101, email grassland@unl.edu, or your local UNL extension office.

(AP) — The state may lose the chance to buy an airplane from the University of Nebraska Foundation while officials study what kind of plane is needed.

The foundation recently put its Beechcraft Super King Air airplane up for sale on the open market. Earlier this year, state lawmakers objected to the governor’s plan to buy the plane.

Before spending more than $2 million on the foundation’s used plane lawmakers wanted to study what type of plane would be most cost-effective for the state.

Gov. Dave Heineman and agency officials had been using the Foundation’s plane through a lease agreement.

Omaha Sen. Bob Krist says the state owes it to taxpayers to demonstrate the Foundation’s plan is the best option.

(AP) — A federal judge has ordered the government to return more than $1 million seized in a traffic stop to a California woman — plus interest.

Tasha Mishra, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., sued earlier this year after Nebraska officials seized the $1,074,900 in cash that she says was her life savings earned over years as an exotic dancer.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon said in an opinion this week that government lawyers failed to prove the money was connected to illegal drugs, as it had claimed.

A Nebraska state trooper seized the money in a March 3 traffic stop. Two people in the car were released without charges, but officers kept the money, saying a police dog indicated drug residue on the cash.

(AP) — Michelin is voluntarily recalling 100,000 tires after a retailer discovered that some had holes and quickly deflated.

The recall affects certain sizes of Michelin’s LTX M/S 2, X Radial LT2 and Latitude Tour tires. The tires are typically used on light trucks and SUVs.

The puncture, in the sidewall, was caused by machines used to handle the finished tires. The tires were made in Michelin’s Lexington, S.C. plant.

There have been no reports of damage, death or injury. Michelin says about 2,500 of the recalled tires may have the defect.

Customers who may have purchased the tires will be notified by mail beginning next week. Customers who have already replaced the tires may be reimbursed.

Owners can contact Michelin at 1-855-851-4951 or

(AP) — Authorities say a pilot has made an emergency landing of a small plane in southern Nebraska.

The Phelps County Sheriff’s Office says the Piper Turbo Arrow landed Friday afternoon on a dirt road north of the town of Holdrege. No injuries were reported.

Pilot Mark Budde, of Leoti, Kan., told authorities he took off from the Holdrege airport at noon. He says the plane lost power shortly after take-off, and he determined he didn’t have enough power to return to the airport.

Budde landed on a dirt road. The plane’s right wing caught nearby corn, spinning it into a field.

The station says damage was reported on the plane, some corn and an irrigation pipe.

(AP) — Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a point in June, hitting 4 percent.

The Nebraska Labor Department said in a report released Friday that the rate was unchanged from the 4 percent in June 2012.

The national rate remained unchanged last month at 7.6 percent, the same rate as May.

(AP) — In a split decision, the Nebraska Supreme Court has vacated the convictions and sentence of a western Nebraska man accused of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old girl and beating her three brothers.

Last year, 36-year-old Eric Rocha, of Scottsbluff, was sentenced to 40 years to life for first-degree sexual assault of a child and three to five years on each of four counts of child abuse.

On Friday, a majority of the state’s high court agreed with Rocha that his trial attorney was ineffective for, among other things, not seeking to have separate trials on the sex abuse and child abuse charges.

But Supreme Court Judges Kenneth Stephan and William Cassel said such arguments should be addressed in postconviction relief action, not a direct appeal.

Rocha can still be retried.

(AP) — Authorities are investigating a Texas firm that has been accusing Nebraska businesses of infringing on patents.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning says Texas law firm Farney Daniels has sent multiple threatening letters to Nebraska businesses.

Bruning says he has ordered Farney Daniels to stop sending letters while his office investigates whether they are deceptive.

Bruning says the law firm appears to represent companies that bought up patents just so they could threaten lawsuits and collect settlements.

A spokesman for the law firm didn’t immediately return a call Friday from The Associated Press. The firm is based in Georgetown, Texas, a suburb north of Austin.