UPLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says a Minden resident has died in a two-vehicle crash on Nebraska Highway 10 near Upland in south-central Nebraska.

The crash happened Tuesday afternoon, and the drivers of both vehicles were taken to a Minden hospital. The patrol says 82-year-old Delna Wempen died at the hospital.

The Franklin Fire Department and Kearney County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash scene. The Nebraska State Patrol has taken over the investigation into the crash.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An attempt to overturn Nebraska’s prairie dog management law could surface again in this year’s legislative session after an earlier effort failed.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha designated the repeal bill as his priority on Wednesday, increasing the odds it will get debated again.

Chambers is trying to undo a law that allows county officials to kill black-tailed prairie dogs on private property if a neighbor complains. Senators voted 21-17 in favor of the bill last month, four votes short of what was needed to advance it.

Chambers says the law doesn’t provide adequate due-process rights to landowners who don’t mind the animals on their property because it lets county officials venture onto land without a warrant or property notification.

The North Platte Public Schools Foundation in conjunction with North Platte Public Schools is excited to announce that Dale Hall is being honored as the NPPS Big Award Staff member of the month for February.

Hall is a physical education teacher at Adams Middle School.  He also is the head wrestling coach and assistant girls and boy’s tennis coach.   He has been with the North Platte Public School district since 2009.  He has a passion for coaching and displays exemplary leadership skills.

“Dale’s reputation for building positive relationships and being a successful coach is well recognized by his colleagues. Dale is someone that wants to do what is best for his athletes on and off the mat!” says Dan Helberg and Marc Mroczek.

In conjunction with his duties at the schools, Hall is involved in the community.   He was a participant in the 2017 Dancing with the Stars fundraiser and he is active with the youth wrestling program.

The North Platte Public Schools and North Platte Public Schools foundation developed the BIG Staff recognition promotion to provide incentives for deserving teachers and support staff. The program is designed to recognize outstanding teachers and support staff for their contributions to NPPS. The nomination symbolizes the esteem and appreciation that everyone has for our school district employees.

Teachers are rewarded with a gift basket, balloons and a gift card to the Bulldog store at NPHS.  The North Platte Public Schools Foundation is facilitating the program and takes nominations from principals and administration.  Staff members are awarded monthly throughout the school year and will be recognized at the end of the year Education After Hours in the spring.

MINDEN, Neb. (AP) — Growing financial pressure has caused officials to shut down a nursing home and assisted living facility in south-central Nebraska.

Kearney County Health Services will close its Hinterlong Living assisted living and Countryside Living nursing home facilities at the end of April. The move will displace 32 people and affect about 50 employees.

The facilities have been struggling financially because their services aren’t covered by Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement policies, officials said. Declining resident occupancy and increasing contract labor costs also contributed to the facilities’ operating losses last year.

“From an operations perspective we run in the red on those two departments substantially to the point where in the last five years they’ve been continually, gradually worse losses,” said KCHS CEO Luke Poore.

The KCHS Board of Trustees voted to close the facilities last month after being alerted by auditors in August that they needed to review the facilities’ long-term viability.

Bethany Home is another Minden nursing home facility that is helping find housing options for displaced residents.

“Luke called and said, ‘What beds do you have available?’ We told him how many beds we had, and so we’ve been working closely with the hospital as far as transferring residents,” said Bob Tank, Bethany Home’s administrator. “We’ll be able to take most of them; probably 95 percent of the residents that were over there we’ll be able to take by the end of April.”

The church-affiliated private nonprofit has also been working with KCHS employees looking to remain local. The nursing home has about a dozen positions to fill.

KCHS also operates a hospital and medical clinic, which will remain open.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has revoked an honorary admiralship from a University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor and lecturer who were involved in a protest against a conservative student group.

The Republican governor withdrew the “Nebraska Navy” admiralships for Amanda Gailey and Courtney Lawton on Jan. 31, less than a month after granting them at the request of one of their allies.

Lawton, a university lecturer, was told her contract wouldn’t be renewed after she was filmed protesting a campus recruiting event for Turning Point USA, a conservative group that maintains a public “watchlist” of professors that it alleges are biased.

In the Aug. 25 video, Lawton referred to second-year student Kaitlyn Mullen as a “neo-fascist” and accused her of advocating for the destruction of public schools and universities. Mullen, who was trying to recruit students to the group’s local chapter, began to cry, and campus police eventually took her home.

An accompanying photo of the incident shows Lawton making an obscene hand gesture while holding a sign that said, “Just say NO! to Neo-Fascism.” Lawton was fired in November. Gailey, an associate English professor, was photographed with a sign that said, “Turning Point: Please put me on your watchlist.”

Admiralships to the Nebraska Navy are a lighthearted award often granted to people who are retiring, changing jobs, or have reached a milestone in their lives.

The honor is a joking reference to the fact that Nebraska is the nation’s only triply landlocked state and has no navy or seas to defend. Admiralships are granted at the governor’s discretion and can only be given when the nominee or nominator is a Nebraska resident.

Ricketts spokesman Taylor Gage said Lawton and Gailey were disqualified because of the recent controversy and Lawton’s behavior. In a letter to Jay Grabow, an Omaha man who nominated Gailey and Lawton, Ricketts said the admiralships are issued as a courtesy for special occasions and that the women received them due to a “clerical error.”

In his nomination letters, Grabow said Gailey and Lawton both deserve the honor because of their advocacy for free speech.

Gage said the governor’s office routinely fulfills requests for admiralships for residents of all political stripes, including those made by state senators from both parties.

“Courtney Lawton’s behavior does not embody ‘Nebraska values,’ which the original request represented,” he said.

The awards were rescinded one day after a legislative hearing on a campus free speech bill that was inspired by the university incident. Gailey and Grabow testified against the measure, which would require Nebraska’s universities and colleges to develop campus free-speech guidelines.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska chiropractor is running for an open seat in the state Legislature.

Dr. Ben Hansen of Blair announced his candidacy Tuesday to represent Legislative District 16, which includes Burt, Cuming and Washington counties.

Hansen is looking to replace state Sen. Lydia Brasch of Bancroft, who is ineligible to run again this year because of term limits.

Hansen, a registered Republican, owns Hansen Chiropractic Wellness Center in Blair, Blair Rent-It Center and Heritage Barnwood Company. He was appointed to the Blair city council in 2015 and elected the following year.

Hansen and his wife, Jill, were married in 2002 and have a 15-year-old daughter.

Former University of Nebraska Regent and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chuck Hassebrook is also running for the seat.

Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) have arrested one man and seized thousands of vape pen cartridges of hash oil and a firearm at a rest area on Interstate 80.

The seizure occurred Friday, February 2, at the eastbound rest area on I-80 near Brady. A trooper was engaging in conversation with a man at the rest area when he became suspicious of criminal activity. The driver then granted consent to search his vehicle, a 2018 Nissan Rogue.

During the search, the trooper discovered four large boxes containing hash oil vape pen cartridges. In total, NSP found 9,550 hash oil cartridges in the vehicle with an estimated street value of $238,000. The search also revealed a loaded, concealed handgun.

The driver, David Poarch, 58, of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, was arrested on multiple charges, including possession with intent to deliver, no drug tax stamp, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm during a felony drug violation, and carrying a concealed weapon. Poarch was lodged in the Lincoln County Jail.

A North Platte man is facing charges following a pursuit on Monday.

On February 5, 2018, around 8:50 p.m., Deputies were asked to assist with a pursuit involving a stolen car. The North Platte Police Department was chasing a stolen car north of North Platte, NE. As Deputies responded to the area the pursuit was called off as speeds reached in excess of 95 miles per hour. The vehicle was last seen in the area of Suburban Road and U.S. Highway 83.

While searching for the vehicle Deputies received a call of a rollover accident on North Sandhills Road. They responded and found a lone male driver drinking an alcoholic beverage in the vehicle. The vehicle was the same stolen car from the North Platte Police Pursuit. The driver was injured and transported to Great Plains Health.