LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials say a tractor safety course will be taught at a dozen locations across Nebraska in May and June.

There will be extensive training on tractor and all-terrain vehicle safety, with a variety of hands-on activities.

Teens 14 or 15 years of age are encouraged to register for the two-day Nebraska Extension Tractor Safety & Hazardous Occupations Course. Younger youths are not eligible. The $60 fee includes lunch.

Locations are Ainsworth (June 5-6), Auburn (May 31-June 1), Geneva (May 22-23), Gering (June 14-15), Gordon (June 20-21), Hastings (May 24-25), Kearney (May 29-30), McCook (June 21-22), North Platte (June 12-13), O’Neill (June 7-8), Wayne (June 19-20) and Weeping Water (June 29-30).

More information is available at Extension offices near the locations.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — As surging numbers of women run for federal, state and local offices, some of those who have been elected in Nebraska say they have been facing worsening harassment that ranges from name-calling to pornographic emails.

The women largely blame the attacks on men they believe feel threatened by shifts in gender roles, and while acknowledging the comments are troubling, most say they won’t be intimidated.

“The part that’s hard to deal with is that in this day and age there should no longer be unfair targeting of women,” said state Sen. Theresa Thibodeau of Omaha.

No one tracks such cases of harassment in Nebraska or nationally, but women say the intensity of such attacks has increased, in part because social media makes such efforts so easy. The attacks come at a time when more than 300 women from the two major parties have filed to run for the U.S. House.

Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University, argued the situation worsened amid the divisive 2016 presidential election. The strong feelings triggered by the presidential campaign combined with growing use of social media to embolden and connect more people willing to attack female politicians, Walsh said.

Following the presidential election, the #MeToo movement prompted more women to speak up, which in turn led more opponents to lash out.

“You can do it in a way that you don’t have to leave home, you don’t have to have money, you don’t have to look anyone in the eye and you can easily reach a large audience to try to silence women,” Walsh said.

Leirion Gaylor Baird, who has served on the Lincoln City Council since 2013, said the harassment she faces is more aggressive than ever before. She believes it comes from men who aren’t accustomed to seeing women in positions of power.

Gaylor Baird introduced a city ordinance to ban bump stocks, which enables more rapid firing of semi-automatic firearms, and the City Council unanimously approved the action. But she said she then endured the most aggressive, hateful opposition she’d seen in her five years in politics.

She took to Facebook to post one letter that swore at her and said “you not so bright females” are attacking America by regulating guns.

“While I appreciate passionate advocacy, I also firmly believe in civil discourse,” she responded. “Please check your misogyny at the door. #LegislateLikeAGirl.”

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln and Thibodeau said they’ve faced harassment related to a bill they supported that would more strictly regulate so-called bottle clubs, where members pay a fee to join and can bring their own alcohol. Some of the clubs allow members to touch nude dancers, and Pansing Brooks and Thibodeau contend they are hubs for human trafficking.

Although several male senators spoke in support of the measure, Thibodeau said female senators have been the focus of criticism from bottle club owners and constituents who say the clubs have nothing to do with trafficking.

At one Waverly bottle club, the owner even posted a sign threatening court action against Pansing Brooks and used an expletive against Thibodeau.

Thibodeau also said she received profanity-laced emails and similar comments on her Facebook page.

The bottle club bill was later incorporated into another bill that was approved, but only after some requirements were removed.

Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue said she’s found that harassment is typically spurred by women supporting legislation about women’s health or rights.

This session, several radio show hosts criticized Blood as being vulgar after she used the word “vagina” during legislative debate about a budget bill that denies federal family-planning dollars to health clinics that offer abortion referrals. Blood said the comments were sexist and unnecessary.

Blood, who also said she’s been sent porn, encouraged senators to report harassment to the Nebraska State Patrol.

“Until we stand up to them in a way that’s on an equal or greater level, it’s going to continue,” she said.

Male politicians in Nebraska have also faced harassment, such as a sign placed in U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s yard last May berating him for his Republican political beliefs.

But Blood said there is a difference in the way women and men are harassed.

“With women it’s, ‘Oh, she’s having her period,’ but with men it’s ‘Oh, he’s just having a bad day,'” she said. “Women are always defined by their anatomy.”

Female legislators have spoken about their experiences with harassment during legislative debate, on social media or at press conferences. Gaylor Baird said it’s vital to speak up and support women campaigning for political positions.

“We have to get to a point where women leadership is expected and not disrespected,” she said.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has vetoed Sen. Ernie Chambers’ bill that would repeal a law allowing counties to eradicate black-tailed prairie dogs on private property.

Ricketts said Monday the bill fails to protect individual property rights from neighbors who don’t control prairie dogs on their property.

Chambers has tried for years to repeal the 2012 law that he says infringes on property rights and harms native animals.

Lawmakers cannot override the veto because the Legislature adjourned last week.

Ricketts also vetoed two other bills. One was intended to provide clarity about short-term rental properties, like Airbnb, and the other dealt with private foundations that could raise money to fund social workers in the state’s education service units.

A North Platte man is facing a felony charge after he allegedly tried to stop a dispute between two teenagers, and ended up assaulting them.

On April 22, at around 7:26 p.m., North Platte police responded to a disturbance on the playground at Washington Elementary School, 600 West Third Street.

Officers arrived and met with several people.  It was reported that a 15-year-old male and a 16-year-old male were playing basketball when they got into a verbal disagreement with some other youth on the playground.

Investigator John Deal says witnesses reported that 44-year-old Nathan Smith was across the street and decided to break up the argument, which led to an argument between Smith and the two ballers.

Witnesses say Smith grabbed of the males by the shirt and pushed him to the ground.  In the meantime, Deal says two adult females came from across the street and pulled Smith away.

During the melee, one of the females stated that she was kicked by one of the juveniles. This allegedly upset Smith who removed his belt and struck one of the teens in the chest with it.

Deal says one of the male juveniles had a visible bruise in the shape of a belt buckle on his chest, and officers recovered the belt and the buckle from the scene.

Smith was placed under arrest and charged with felony 2nd-degree assault.

According to Deal, both juveniles sustained cuts and scrapes but were not seriously injured.

Deal said there were several different accounts of what happened, and the investigation is ongoing.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal trial has been delayed for a man accused of stopping an Amtrak train in south-central Nebraska.

Court records say a judge has set a new trial date of June 11 in Lincoln for Taylor Wilson, of St. Charles, Missouri. The trial was scheduled to begin Monday.

Wilson has pleaded not guilty to attempting to disable a train and attempting to interfere with an engineer or conductor. The charges stem from an Oct. 22 incident as the train headed to Chicago. Authorities say Wilson entered a secure area of the locomotive and enabled an emergency brake. The train stopped in Oxford, Nebraska, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) southwest of Omaha.

Authorities say Wilson was armed with a revolver and a knife. No one aboard the train was injured.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska prison inmate who freely admits killing his cellmate last year because he talked to much is not contesting the death penalty sought against him by prosecutors.

Patrick Schroeder was in court Thursday before three judges who will decide whether he’s sentenced to death or life in prison for the strangulation of his cellmate, Terry Berry.

Schroeder, 40, is serving as his own attorney and offered no rebuttal to prosecutors’ case that he should be sentenced to death, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

Last July, Schroeder pleaded guilty to choking the 22-year-old Berry in April 2017 at the Tecumseh State Prison in southeast Nebraska. At the time, the two were sharing a 10-by-12 cell meant for solitary confinement. Schroeder already was serving a life sentence for the 2006 killing of 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer Kenneth Albers, for whom Schroeder briefly worked. Berry was imprisoned for passing bad checks and was set to be paroled in December of the year he was killed.

Schroeder has repeatedly said he does not plan to fight prosecutors’ plans to sentence him to death, recently telling NET News in an interview that he believes in the death penalty and that he feels no remorse for killing either Albers or Berry.

“I believe if you kill somebody, it’s kind of an eye for an eye,” Schroeder told NET.

Schroeder told investigators that he killed Berry for being too talkative and said he had warned Berry several times that he needed to “shut up.” Schroeder said he attacked Berry because Berry kept talking during a televised mixed martial arts match.

“From day one, when I knew that they were going to be charging me with the death penalty,” Schroeder said. “I knew what my choices were; I knew what I was going to do.”

PERU, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State College Board of Trustees has approved a 2.9 percent increase in tuition at the state’s three state colleges.

The trustees approved the increase Friday during a meeting at Peru State College. The move means tuition at Peru State, Wayne State and Chadron State will rise for resident students to $177 per credit hour, up from $172.

The board also approved increases in mandatory room and board rates at the colleges.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts isn’t giving up on his push to lower property taxes after his proposal to lawmakers stalled in this year’s legislative session.

Ricketts pledged in an Associated Press interview to keep trying to build a contingent of supporters that’s large enough to overcome senators who oppose it in next year’s session. The governor’s property and corporate income tax package was derailed by a filibuster during the 60-day session that ended Wednesday.

“We’ll continue to look for solutions in the future to build that broad coalition,” Ricketts said.

Supporters of the governor’s plan said it would have eased the tax burdens on farmers who have seen their property taxes spike in recent years and helped businesses by lowering the state’s top corporate income tax rate. Some rural senators said the benefits wouldn’t have come fast enough, while other lawmakers argued there wasn’t a specific way to pay for it in the future.

Additionally, the plan was forced to compete with other property tax bills. One major proposal would have paid for property tax cuts by raising Nebraska’s sales and cigarette taxes, while another would have used more than $1 billion a year in state revenue — roughly one-fourth of the state’s annual budget.

Ricketts, a Republican who is up for re-election in November, said he and the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jim Smith, of Papillion, tried repeatedly to find common ground with senators.

“It was changed throughout the entire process, and I believe we ended up with a very good bill,” Ricketts said. “We compromised all along the way, but we would not compromise on our principles of not raising taxes.”

He said he opposed the competing bills because one would raise taxes and the other would cause major disruptions in state services, possibly necessitating a tax increase. Because rural senators are now a minority in the Legislature, Ricketts said tax bills will need to provide benefits to rural and urban residents to have a chance at passing.

“If they insist on tax relief for just farmers and ranchers, that bill’s not going anywhere,” he said.

The governor’s proposal would have offered income tax credits to reimburse a portion of the property taxes paid by agricultural landowners and homeowners. Commercial property wouldn’t see any new benefit, but the bill would lower Nebraska’s top corporate income tax rate and pump $5 million a year into job training programs.

Ricketts praised lawmakers on other matters, including their success in balancing the state budget, eliminating some state regulations and raising the speed limit by 5 mph on state highways. He also touted their vote on a measure that will prevent health clinics from getting federal family-planning dollars if they provide abortion services or provide referrals to groups that do.

Sen. Bob Krist, of Omaha, a Democratic candidate for governor, said Ricketts failed to unite urban and rural senators behind major property tax legislation. Krist said Ricketts was trying to blame the Legislature for his inability to pass the bill.

“Frankly, he lacks the leadership skills necessary to move our state forward,” said Krist, a former Republican who frequently clashed with the party.

Ricketts dismissed the criticism as “a purely political attack,” and referred questions to his campaign.

Asked about Krist’s comment, Ricketts campaign spokesman Matthew Trail called them “empty rhetoric.”

“As a senator, Krist hasn’t introduced property tax relief, and the Legislature has failed two years in a row to pass property tax relief measures put forward by the governor,” Trail said.

One of the property tax measures that failed in the Legislature could end up on the November general-election ballot. Sen. Steve Erdman, of Bayard, a Republican who helped launch a citizen ballot drive, said he has seen a surge of voters who want to sign the petition.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” Erdman said. “The signature people say it’s one of the easiest signatures they’ve ever asked for.”

OVERTON, Neb. (AP) — Three family members have been charged with animal cruelty and neglect following the deaths of dozens of cattle on their Nebraska farm.

Acting under search warrants, deputies found at least 65 carcasses on the property near Overton, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Lincoln. No information has been released on the cause of death, but many of the animals were emaciated.

Fifty-nine-year-old Eugene Wempen Sr., his wife Diane, and their 33-year-old son, Eugene Wempen Jr., are charged with four felony and misdemeanor counts. Their next court hearing is set for May 1 in Lexington.

Eugene Wempen Sr.’s attorney hasn’t returned a call seeking comment Friday. A phone listed for his son’s attorney rang unanswered. Court records don’t list an attorney who can comment on behalf of Diane Wempen.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s preliminary March unemployment rate of 2.8 percent was unchanged from the February figure, according to a report released Friday from the state Labor Department.

The rate was down two-tenths of a point from the 3 percent of March 2017, the department said, and remained well below the U.S. figure — unchanged at 4.1 percent.

“The number of employed workers in the labor force climbed by nearly 1,800 from February to March, representing an over-the-year increase of nearly 5,800,” state Labor Commissioner John Albin said.

Nebraska’s nonfarm employment hit 1,016,336 last month, up 5,315 over the year and up 9,115 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were manufacturing, up 3,180; professional and business services, up 1,470; and leisure and hospitality, up 1,393.

The preliminary Omaha-area rate dropped to 3 percent from 3.1 percent in February. That’s down two-tenths of a point from March 2017. Lincoln’s preliminary rate remained unchanged at 2.6 percent last month and matched the year-ago figure. Grand Island’s preliminary rate dropped to 3 percent in March from 3.2 percent in February and was down three-tenths of a point from March 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 March, followed by the February rates:

— Beatrice: 3.3, 3.5

— Columbus: 2.7, 2.7

— Fremont: 2.9, 2.9

— Hastings: 3.0, 2.9

— Kearney: 2.3, 2.2

— Lexington: 3.0, 3.1

— Norfolk: 2.8, 2.8

— North Platte: 3.0, 3.2

— Red Willow: 2.3, 2.4

— Scottsbluff: 3.2, 3.2