MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) – A police standoff that began with a single gunshot has ended peacefully in the southwestern Nebraska town of McCook. Police say they surrounded the house after 10:30 Thursday morning after a man fired on officers who were attempting to check on his welfare. Nearby schools were locked down as a precaution, and a SWAT team was deployed. The standoff ended around 6 p.m. when the man gave up and was taken away in an ambulance. His name and other information about the incident have not been released.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Gov. Dave Heineman and state Agriculture Director Greg Ibach say new U.S. trade agreements will likely benefit Nebraska farmers and ranchers. Heineman and Ibach said the free trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama will help the state reach more than $5 billion in expected agricultural exports each year. Heineman has urged Congress to approve the agreements, and sent President Barack Obama a letter in April voicing support for the pacts. State officials say the agreements create new export opportunities for Nebraska corn, wheat, beef and other commodities. Congress passed the pacts on Wednesday. They’re expected to boost exports by about $13 billion annually and support tens of thousands of American jobs, but have drawn opposition from labor groups who say they ignore labor rights problems in partner countries.

WASHINGTON (AP) – An outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe is now linked to 23 deaths in the U.S., making it the deadliest known outbreak of food-borne illness in more than 25 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that 116 people have been sickened in the outbreak, including those who died. The number of deaths has now surpassed a 1998 outbreak of listeria in processed meats that was linked to 21 deaths. A 1985 listeria outbreak in Mexican-style soft cheeses killed 52 people. The CDC confirmed two more deaths in Louisiana that the state had said it was investigating last week. Other deaths were reported in Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. Colorado’s Jensen Farms recalled the tainted cantaloupe last month.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A representative for a Canadian pipeline operator that wants to run a crude oil line through Nebraska says the concerns now being raised might have been addressed if state senators had spoken earlier. Alex Pourbaix, president of TransCanada Corp.’s energy and oil pipelines, says changing the route now would seriously jeopardize the project. The issue was one of several discussed during a four-hour, closed-door meeting in Norfolk with several state lawmakers. The meeting was organized by Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood, amid pressure to convene a special session. The pipeline has drawn opposition from those who fear it will leak and contaminate the Ogallala aquifer, which supplies drinking and irrigation water to eight states.