LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor’s proposed budget cuts include eliminating at least 18 positions, a degree program and a research center for the design and evaluation of educational practices in the nation’s schools.

Chancellor Ronnie Green’s plan went Wednesday to the Academic Planning Committee, and it will be reviewed at a public hearing scheduled for May 2.

Green said Thursday afternoon that the proposed cuts would have “a significant impact upon the university’s operations and our students, faculty and staff.”

“Even though they are more manageable than what we would have faced, they still represent lost opportunities for the state’s premier land-grant research institution,” he said.

The proposals would amount to $2.9 million less state support in the 2018-19 school year than the state’s largest university campus received for the 2017-18 year — a reduction of about 1 percent.

Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts had sought 4 percent cuts for the 2018-19 school year for the NU and state college systems, but the Legislature decided instead on the 1 percent in reductions. The governor and legislators were galvanized by state revenue streams that fell short of projections.

All but three of the 18 positions in jeopardy are currently vacant, university spokeswoman Leslie Reed said Friday. Those three include two people who plan to retire.

The university employs around 6,500 people, including nearly 1,900 full-time teachers, Reed said, and has been filling only “our most critical positions” since a hiring freeze was imposed in January 2017.

Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) troopers will be weeding out drugged drivers in a special enforcement operation planned for this Friday, April 20.

The operation will include troopers and dispatchers from Troop A – Omaha and Troop H – Lincoln working overtime to reduce the potential for crashes related to marijuana impairment.

“Drugged driving is extremely dangerous,” said Colonel John Bolduc, Superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol. “Our troopers have done tremendous work to pull marijuana and other drugs off the street this year. This operation is another step to keep Nebraska’s roads safe.”

So far in 2018, NSP troopers have seized more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana during traffic stops. That figure outpaces the amount seized in the each of the last several years.

Friday’s drugged driving operation is made possible thanks in part to a grant for $4,200 from the Nebraska Department of Transportation – Highway Safety Office (NDOT-HSO).

A nine-year-old North Platte girl suffered minor injuries when she was struck by a vehicle while riding her bicycle on Wednesday morning.

According to North Platte police, the girl was riding her bicycle eastbound on B Street.  Investigator John Deal says the girl was riding on the sidewalk and when she crossed the intersection of B and Silber Streets, she collided with a vehicle driven by Amanda Nekuda that was turning to go north on Silber.

Deal says the girl was transported to Great Plains Health.  The extent of her injuries is unknown, but Deal says they weren’t reported as being serious.

No citations were issued.

Today, Governor Pete Ricketts announced that all U.S. and Nebraska flags are to be flown at half-staff in honor of former First Lady Barbara Bush, who passed away at the age of 92.

Earlier, Governor Ricketts issued a statement following Barbara Bush’s passing:

“With First Lady Barbara Bush’s passing, America has lost an icon who will be remembered for her grace, her dignity, and her work championing literacy.  She leaves behind a remarkable legacy in her family and their public service.  Susanne and I send our prayers to the entire Bush family as they celebrate her life and grieve her passing.”

Flags will be flown at half-staff until sunset on her day of interment.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prison officials are keeping an eye on new technology being used to smuggle contraband into state prisons, including drones.

A crashed drone attached with bags of marijuana and tobacco was found at the Lincoln Correctional Center two months ago, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. The Justice Department reported last year an increasing number of attempts to use drones to smuggle contraband into federal prisons over the past five years.

The state prisons’ Centralized Intelligence Unit formed last year identifies and stays ahead of technology trends, said Christopher Connelly, agency intelligence administrator at the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services.

“Really, there are so many ways that contraband can come in, whether it comes in through the front entrance or a laundry cart or delivery truck,” said prisons spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith.

“Or dropped in by a drone,” Connelly said.

Prisons are refocusing efforts to locate and recover contraband, particularly cellphones, which has become a growing issue, said Smith. Inmates can use cellphones to track prison staff’s home addresses or transact business, Connelly said.

More than 165 cellphones were seized last year in the state’s 10 prison facilities, according to a Corrections Department report. Nearly 65 were found in 2016 and almost 80 in 2015.

Prisons are using new detection technology, Cellsense, to find cellphones that have been smuggled inside, said Smith. Trained dogs are also used.

While prisons have seen a spike in cellphones found within prison walls, drugs and alcohol still top the list of contraband found in Nebraska’s prisons.

In nearly 5 percent of cases in 2016, amphetamines, alcohol, cocaine and marijuana were detected in inmates’ systems across the penal system, according to the latest available department data.

Connelly said the growing number of ways that inmates can smuggle in contraband means that staff must be hyper-vigilant.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say no injuries or damage have been reported following a brief disturbance at a prison in southeast Nebraska.

The Nebraska Correctional Services Department reports that 36 inmates had refused to return to their cells Saturday evening at the Tecumseh State Prison. It’s unclear what led to the rebellious acts.

But the department says the prisoners were back in their cells by the time a prison riot response team entered the maximum security housing unit.

The prison’s had a troubled history. Inmates took control of a portion of the prison and killed two fellow inmates in March 2015. In March last year, two more inmates were slain by other prisoners during rioting.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s longest-serving death-row inmate has been denied a pardon hearing after he claimed officials are too “lazy or incompetent” to execute him.

The Nebraska Board of Pardons voted 3-0 on Tuesday to reject Carey Dean Moore’s request. Moore was sentenced to death in 1980 for murdering two cab drivers in Omaha.

Secretary of State John Gale, who serves on the board, says petitions from convicted murderers are routinely denied.

Moore unsuccessfully appealed his sentence several times but has made no new attempts in over 10 years. He says he doesn’t believe state officials actually want to execute him.

Nebraska hasn’t executed anyone in 21 years. Attorney General Doug Peterson recently petitioned the state Supreme Court to issue a death warrant for Moore.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A vow of poverty by more than 20 elderly nuns isn’t enough to qualify for Medicaid in Nebraska.

The state cut Medicaid benefits earlier this year for the Sisters of Mercy, one of the oldest Roman Catholic religious orders in Nebraska, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

The nuns are appealing the decision through the state Department of Health and Human Services, which administers the federal health care program to low-income and disabled residents. Some of the 21 affected nuns have received restored benefits.

The Sisters of Mercy manage a shrinking, aging population and growing retirement obligations. The group applied for Medicaid for elderly nuns in 2016 after selling property, reducing staff and making other cuts.

Some state senators backed a bill guaranteeing the sisters’ benefits, but the legislation never made it out of committee.

Some state officials suggested the sisters tap into currently restricted patrimony funds. Patrimony is an individual fund often distributed charitably according to a sister’s wishes after her death. Neither a sister nor the organization can access the fund because of the vow of poverty.

A nun would have to appeal to the Vatican and renounce her sacred vows to use patrimony funds for health care.

The state fears that expanding Medicaid to cover the Sisters of Mercy could prove costly if other people also qualify. Ignoring the sisters’ patrimony requires accounting for tithing in income qualification reviews of Medicaid recipients of all faiths, state officials said. Doing so could cost Nebraska $3 million annually by adding more than 300 Medicaid recipients by 2020.

Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha disagreed, saying that relatively few people besides the sisters would qualify under the proposed bill’s terms.

The sisters are hopeful they can make their case because the group in other states has received Medicaid.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed three tax measures Tuesday designed to shield residents from state tax increases triggered by inflation and the new federal tax law.

Ricketts touted the measures as important accomplishments in this year’s session, but expressed disappointment that lawmakers didn’t approve his property and corporate tax package.

“It really was disappointing to see the Legislature not be able to pass a property tax bill,” Ricketts said, adding that he would continue to work on the legislation for next year’s session.

The governor’s proposal sank in part because some senators offered competing bills. One measure would have lowered property taxes by raising the state’s sales tax, increasing cigarette taxes and eliminating sales-tax exemptions. Another would have cost the state more than $1 billion a year — roughly one-fourth of Nebraska’s annual budget — which the governor argued was unsustainable.

Critics of Ricketts’ plan said it would have taken too long to provide major benefits for farmers, who have seen their property taxes soar in tandem with land values. Others objected to using the state’s emergency cash reserve to pay for the first year of tax cuts, and noted that supporters hadn’t specified how they would pay for it in the future.

Ricketts approved the new measures as lawmakers prepare to convene Wednesday for the last day of this year’s session.

One measure will adjust the state’s Social Security income tax limits automatically to keep pace with inflation, starting in 2020.

The law by Sen. Brett Lindstrom, of Omaha, seeks to address cost-of-living increases that can bump taxpayers into a higher bracket, where they end up paying more in taxes. It won’t go into effect until 2020, and would cost the state an estimated $1.3 million in lost revenue by fiscal year 2021.

Lawmakers passed a similar law for individual income taxes in 2014. Lindstrom said it would make it easier for seniors to remain in Nebraska after retirement.

Another law by Sen. Jim Smith, of Papillion, will prevent the new U.S. tax law from triggering an automatic tax increase in Nebraska. The bill seeks to neutralize most of the effects of the law approved by congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump.

Nebraska’s tax system is changing because lawmakers have connected many parts of it to the federal tax code, leading to automatic state-level shifts when federal policy changes.

The third new law, also by Smith, will adjust Nebraska’s personal property tax so that farmers and businesses are held harmless on taxes they owe for business equipment. Under the federal tax law, many would have had to pay more to the state.

Both bills “are absolutely critical to keeping Nebraskans whole,” Smith said.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A candidate for attorney general of Nebraska has been accused of choking his father during an attack at the home he and his parents shared in Omaha.

Court records say 51-year-old Evangelos “Van” Argyrakis is charged with felony strangulation. He told the Omaha World-Herald that he’s innocent.

Argyrakis is a lawyer and the sole Democrat seeking the post held by Republican Doug Peterson, who’s seeking re-election.

The records say Argyrakis’ 82-year-old father, Andreas, told police his son accused him April 8 of taking money from Andreas’ wife and repeatedly punched his face. Andreas says he kept his son from grabbing a knife but couldn’t stop him from choking him with both hands.

Andreas Argyrakis told officers he ran to a neighbor’s home when his son let go of his neck.