KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) – Police say they aren’t giving up on a 10-year-old central Nebraska homicide case and are still actively pursuing leads despite having no suspects.

Kearney Police Department Captain Mike Kirkwood says officers work on the Kelcey Fike murder investigation on almost a daily basis. He says police remain confident they’ll find Fike’s killer, particularly once technology advances to test and decipher the DNA found on the victim’s body.

Kirkwood has shared more details about Fike’s death at her trailer in Kearney in June 2008. He says police believe there’s a high probability the killer knew Fike and that an attempted sexual assault may have occurred.

An autopsy found that Fike died of a ligature strangulation and blunt force trauma to the torso and head.

The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) is seeking the public’s help in locating a person wanted on multiple charges.

An arrest warrant has been issued in Chase County for Kody G. Huff, 30, for the following offenses: first-degree assault, kidnapping, terroristic threats, use of a weapon to commit a felony, possession of a weapon by a prohibited person.

If you have any information on the whereabouts of Kody Huff, please call the NSP tip line at (308) 535-8137.

One of the feature events of Nebraskaland Days, Family Night, will go on as planned but will be moved under cover.

NLD Executive Director David Fudge said recent moisture has left the arena floor at the Wild West Arena “soft and muddy.”

Fudge says the event will go on as planned but will take place in the Wild West Arena Pavilion.

By GRANT SCHULTE, Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers may have cleared the way for companies to test self-driving vehicles with a law passed earlier this year, but don’t expect a large number to hit the streets anytime soon.

Although industry officials say Nebraska has positioned itself well to embrace the technology, getting it fully launched will likely take longer than the public expects even in states with friendly laws.

“Motorists headed out to visit Grand Island from Lincoln aren’t going to be sharing the road with driverless trucks anytime soon,” said Kent Grisham, president of the Nebraska Trucking Association. “They are coming someday, but there’s still a lot to be worked out.”

Lawmakers and Gov. Pete Ricketts approved a measure in April that allows autonomous vehicles to operate on public roads as long as the vehicle includes safety features, follows state road rules and is properly insured. Supporters said the law would place Nebraska among the leading contenders to serve as a testing ground for such vehicles.

Grisham said many industry officials believe it will take “several years, if not decades” before fully automated trucks are cruising down public roads. Most of the problems are technological, such as getting trucks to navigate a road where lane markers are covered by snow or steer through congested Omaha traffic.

It’s also unclear how driverless trucks will interact with local law enforcement or inspectors who try to stop them to ensure they’re safe, Grisham said. He said he wasn’t aware of any efforts to lure companies to Nebraska and hasn’t heard from any that are interested in using the state as a testing ground. Nebraska would be a good testing site because of its long, flat stretches of road and variable weather, he said.

“There are 1,000 questions we have to answer, things we take for granted with drivers,” he said.

Officials in Lincoln had initially planned to launch a driverless shuttle service to carry passengers between downtown Lincoln, the Haymarket District and the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s main campus, but a city spokeswoman said the project was delayed and won’t arrive in Lincoln for at least another few weeks.

City officials now expect to run smaller-scale tests on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Innovation Campus to work out any possible kinks. Mayor Chris Beutler said the project places Lincoln and the state “at the forefront of innovation that could serve as a national model for the future of transportation in America.”

The shift toward self-driving cars and trucks is likely to happen gradually as more of their functions become automated, said John Lindsay, a lobbyist for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Lindsay said the new Nebraska law is broad enough to allow the technology to adapt.

“People might have to change their mindset,” he said. “Autonomous vehicles aren’t just this thing where you have a prototype and then, all of a sudden, you have a product hit the market.”

Some semi-autonomous vehicles are already on Nebraska roads, albeit on a smaller scale.

Brevan Jorgenson, of Omaha, converted his 2016 Honda Civic into a self-driving car over the course of about six weeks. Jorgenson, an information technology consultant, can operate his car in self-driving mode. He said he would prefer to see the technology remain unregulated.

Although technology has advanced dramatically in the two years since he upgraded his car, Jorgenson said the public may have unrealistic expectations.

“People seem to think that if we went to 100 percent self-driving cars, there would be no more accidents,” he said. “But there will still be tires that pop, wheels that fall off, and deer. Accidents are a fact of life.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Some Nebraska schools may have students play a game next year that officials say help disruptive students behave and can potentially prevent violence, drug abuse and suicide.

The Nebraska Board of Education has approved spending $2.5 million of U.S. Justice Department grant money to implement the Good Behavior Game in 30 schools.

Supporters of the game have said it’s proven to improve the classroom environment. But many are skeptical, calling it wishful thinking.

The Good Behavior Game requires teachers to divide students into competing teams. The best-behaving team will be rewarded with prizes and privileges. Teams will be penalized for violating class rules.

“The Good Behavior Game has a long research and evidence base behind it that affects violent behavior,” said Jolene Palmer, the state Department of Education’s school security director. “It also decreases suicide, it increases school attendance and a plethora of other outcomes.”

Palmer said the state piloted the game at three elementary schools five years ago. Students were more focused on tasks and more tolerant of others, she said.

The game may work for some students, but the ones that don’t respect authority aren’t easily converted, said Max Eden, a fellow with the Manhattan Institute.

Lisa Fricke, a retired teacher who serves on the state board, said the game teaches basic good behavior, particularly for students who aren’t receiving those lessons at home.

“As a public school, we need to fill in those voids that aren’t available to at-risk kids,” she said.

The state is partnering with the Rand Corporation to implement the game and sustain it on a large scale. Officials will recruit schools to introduce the game next year.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is considering opening up a season for mountain lion hunting.

A public hearing will be held at 9 a.m. June 22 at the Mid-Plains Community College in Ogallala.

The proposed season would allow eight mountain lions to be killed in portions of Pine Ridge in northwestern Nebraska. A news release from the commission says opening a hunting season will allow the population to stay healthy while halting growth or reducing population size.

The meeting will also discuss fees for park activities at Louisville State Recreation Area and Platte River State Park, reports on environmental issues in Lake McConaughy and input regarding state threatened or endangered species lists.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — State and local officials have announced an effort to combat sex trafficking in Omaha during the NCAA Men’s College World Series this month.

A panel of officials — including Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert, Gov. Pete Ricketts and state Attorney General Doug Peterson — introduced Thursday the Not On My Watch effort.

Volunteers will pass out informational cards around TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, where the series is played. A message is already being regularly displayed on a large electronic billboard in the area listing indicators of someone trafficking a victim.

According to the Women’s Fund of Omaha, which is leading the effort, 900 people are sold for sex online in Nebraska every month. The group says about 75 percent show signs of being trafficked.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new report says Nebraska state tax collections came in lower than expected in May.

The Department of Revenue reported Friday that the state received net taxes of $392 million, which is more than 4 percent below the state’s official certified forecast.

The report says net sales-and-use and individual income tax receipts were lower than expected, while net corporate and miscellaneous taxes came in higher.

Nebraska is still more than 1 percent above projections for the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30.

The projections were set by the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board in October.

Lower-than-expected revenue forced lawmakers to tighten the state budget earlier this year.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The state’s preliminary May unemployment rate matched the April, March and February rate of 2.8 percent, the Nebraska Labor Department said in a report released Friday.

The rate is down a tenth of a point from the 2.9 percent of May 2017, the department said, and remained well below the U.S. figure, which dropped to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent in April.

“Total nonfarm employment for May 2018 marks an all-time high for Nebraska,” said state Labor Commissioner John Albin. “Contributing to this growth were the

Lincoln and Omaha metropolitan areas, which also reached historical highs.”

State nonfarm employment for May was 1,039,557, up 12,760 over the year and up 13,162 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were manufacturing, up 3,539; leisure and hospitality, up 3,442; and professional and business services, up 2,857.

Month to month, the largest gains were seen in mining and construction, up 3,525; trade, transportation and utilities, up 3,378; and leisure and hospitality, up 2,736.

The preliminary Omaha-area rate dropped to 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent in April. The new rate is a tenth of a point lower than that of May 2017. Lincoln’s preliminary rate remained unchanged at 2.6 percent in May, matching the year-ago figure. Grand Island’s preliminary rate for May dropped to 2.9 percent from 3 percent in April. The new figure was a tenth of a point higher than May 2017.

The unemployment rates for Grand Island, Lincoln and Omaha have not been seasonally adjusted, so they cannot be directly compared with the state unemployment rate.
Here are preliminary area labor market unemployment rates for May, followed by the April rates:

— Beatrice: 3.0, 3.1
— Columbus: 2.8, 2.8
— Fremont: 2.8, 2.8
— Hastings: 2.8, 2.9
— Kearney: 2.5, 2.3
— Lexington: 2.7, 2.9
— Norfolk: 2.5, 2.6
— North Platte: 2.9, 2.9
— Red Willow: 2.6, 2.5
— Scottsbluff: 3.2, 3.3

By TESS WILLIAMS, Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A law that made it more difficult for Nebraska’s nonpartisan candidates to seek higher office was overturned and ruled unconstitutional Thursday as part of an agreement with the secretary of state.

Secretary of State John Gale settled a lawsuit that was brought by Omaha businessman Kent Bernbeck and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska. As part of the agreement, a federal judge declared the law unconstitutional and ordered Gale not to enforce it.

The 2016 law increased the number of signatures candidates need to collect to gain ballot access from 4,000 to over 120,000, which is 10 percent of registered voters. The law made Nebraska’s signature requirement one of the highest in the nation. Thirty-seven states require fewer than 10,000 signatures for candidates to gain ballot access.

Bernebeck launched an independent bid for state treasurer partially to bring attention to the restrictions on nonpartisan candidates. He said the 3,000 percent increase was unconstitutional because it prevented nonpartisan candidates from running and took options away from voters.

To qualify for the November election, Bernbeck will now need to collect 4,000 signatures. He declined to comment on if he has begun the process. If Bernbeck’s name appears on the ballot, he will challenge the Republican-backed state Sen. John Murante of Gretna, who introduced the law. Murante will otherwise be unopposed.

“I got the law overturned and I exposed a politician who was maybe doing this for impure motives,” Bernbeck said. “At this point it’s up to the people of Nebraska to decide if they support my candidacy.”

Bernbeck filed the lawsuit at the end of May and said he did not expect the law to be repealed so quickly.

Murante said he respects the opinions of the secretary of state and court, but argued the Legislature “passed the measure with bipartisan support and in a transparent fashion.”

Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha attempted to challenge the law earlier this year when he planned to run for governor as an independent candidate. He initially planned to start his own party to avoid the high signature requirement, but instead joined the Democratic Party to launch his campaign. Krist dropped his lawsuit after switching his party affiliation.

“This law was a slap in the face to 21 percent of registered Nebraska voters who are non-partisans,” he said in a statement Thursday.