(AP) — Nebraska’s new license plate honoring Union Pacific railroad’s history in the state has been named the best new license plate in the country.

The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association picked the special Nebraska license plate that was issued last year when the railroad celebrated its 150th anniversary.

Nebraska’s Union Pacific plate beat out designs from 12 other states because of its attractiveness and its legibility.

The specialty license plate raises money for the nonprofit Friends of the Union Pacific Museum group. The museum is in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Rhonda Lahm, who leads Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, says the license plate honors UP’s contributions to the state and highlights the urban and rural areas of Nebraska.

• Today: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 8am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 91. South southeast wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
• Tonight: Isolated showers and thunderstorms before 11pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Partly cloudy, with a low around 64. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
• Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 93. Light and variable wind becoming west northwest 12 to 17 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph.
• Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 61. West northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable.

• Michael Joe Guerra, Jr., 21, North Platte and Estella Anna Vieyra, 22, North Platte

 

• Ethan John Budke, 23, North Platte and Macey Jo Story, 22, North Platte

 

• David Milton Mowers, 38, Englewood, CO and Kelly Nicole Cross, 32, Englewood, CO

 

• Brett Christopher Schmidt, 22, North Platte and Nichole Lynn Radke, 22, North Platte

 

• Mitchell Douglas Murphy III, 20, North Platte and Samantha Michelle Tallmon, 21, North Platte

 

• Joshua Rane Wilburn, 26, North Platte and Sheri Dawn Hatch, 23, North Platte

 

• Alex Layne Hansen, 20, North Platte and Charity DeAn Reckard, 22, North Platte

 

• Michael Alan Randle, 39, North Platte and Rhea Michelle Gregg, 28, North Platte

 

• Matthew Thomas Neal, 33, North Platte and Amanda Jane Bringwatt, 33, North Platte

(AP) — Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data shows that Nebraska is outpacing the national average in Internet connectivity.

About 30.4 percent of Nebraskans have Internet connectivity on multiple devices at home and out of the home, such as smartphones or tablets.

Nebraska is one of a dozen states that had higher connectivity than the national average. Twenty-seven percent of Americans had connection on more than one device.

Meanwhile, 14.3 percent of 1,694 Nebraskans interviewed reported having no computer or Internet connection at all, lower than the national average of 15.9 percent.

The findings are part of a 54,000-person survey conducted by the Census Bureau in July 2011.

(AP) — Two years after Nebraska lawmakers approved a controversial road funding bill, state officials are starting work on long-delayed projects around Omaha, Kearney and Blair.

The state Department of Roads has six projects that are either underway or scheduled to start within the next year, and nearly a dozen more through the year 2023. Department spokeswoman Mary Jo Oie (OY) says officials had delayed work on several of the projects because they lacked funding.

The 2011 law by then-state Sen. Deb Fischer adds about $70 million a year for state highway construction projects. It dedicates one-quarter of a cent out of Nebraska’s 5½-cent sales tax for state road upgrades, as well as maintenance for counties and cities.

The department has 17 projects planned around Nebraska cities over the next decade.

(AP) — Just a year after its centennial celebrations, the Girl Scouts of the USA is grappling with an array of interconnected problems.

It faces declining membership and revenues, a shortage of volunteers, rifts between leadership and grassroots members, and a pension plan with a $347 million deficit.

Compounding the problems are tensions at the Girl Scouts headquarters in New York, where several senior executives have quit or been ousted in the past two year. Last week, some of the roughly 300 employees there were invited to take early retirement, and layoffs are expected in August to offset the revenue losses.

Yet Girl Scout leaders insist they are on the right track, while acknowledging that sweeping changes over the past 10 years have been difficult for many in the Scouts’ extended family.

Severe weather once again showed it’s ugly face in western and central Nebraska Saturday night, leaving power outages and wind damage in its wake.

According to the National Storm Prediction Center, tornadoes touched down in Banner and Kimball counties in western Nebraska, including one on Interstate 80 near Dix.  Officials say the twisters were short-lived, and no damage reports have been received.

Wind was the big story with these storms.  Gusts of over 70 mph were reported in Hooker and Lincoln Counties, causing damage to trees and downing power lines.

In the city of North Platte, winds knocked out power to a large portion of the city shortly before 11:00 pm, and tree limbs laying on top of parked vehicles were prevalent throughout the city.  Power was restored around midnight.

Wind damage and power outages were also reported in Gosper, Dawson, Holt, Hooker and Custer Counties.

Softball sized hail was reported near Hayes Center, however, most areas impacted by these storms saw quarter sized hail.

Storms remain in the forecast for this evening, with the chance for more severe weather.  The National Weather Service says most storms will occur after 9:00 pm tonight, with large hail and damaging winds being the primary threat.

(AP) — Nebraska authorities say a 1-year-old girl who was abducted in Chadron on Saturday has been found safe in South Dakota.

So police cancelled the statewide alert that had been issued for the girl named Mystery BringsPlenty.

Authorities say the girl was taken Saturday afternoon from 317 Main Street in Chadron.

The alert said the girl might have been with a couple driving to South Dakota, and she was found safe there a few hours later.

Police did not immediately say whether the couple that took the girl will face criminal charges.

(AP) — Two processions of cars are setting out this weekend from New York and San Francisco to the midpoint of Kearney, Neb., to celebrate one of the nation’s first transcontinental highways.

History buffs, road-trippers and auto-lovers alike are marking the 100th year of the coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway.

The two-day Centennial Celebration in Kearney begins June 30 with the arrival of the antique cars in downtown Kearney. On July 1 — the day the Lincoln Highway was incorporated in 1913 — the celebration moves to the Great Platte River Road Archway at Kearney that spans Interstate 80.

Lincoln Highway Centennial co-chairwoman Sarah Focke says organizers are expecting some 300 cars and more than 5,000 people — some from Russia, Germany and England — for the celebration.

(AP) — A formal ceremony will mark the transfer of ownership of Champion Mill State Historical Park and State Recreation Area from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to Chase County in southwest Nebraska.

State Sen. Mark Christensen, of Imperial, and officials from Chase County and Game and Parks will speak at the ceremony. It is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on July 1 at the park.

The park is adjacent to the town of Champion, which sits 72 miles southwest of North Platte.

The mill was built in the late 1800s and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

Following flooding and a hailstorm, Game and Parks refurbished the dam, raceways and shoreline, and the mill was repainted and reroofed.