Acting United States Attorney Robert C. Stuart announced that Gale Robert Gibbs, 67, formerly of North Platte, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 37 months in prison by Senior United States District Judge Richard G. Kopf, for possessing child pornography.  Gibbs was also ordered to pay $1,000.00 in restitution to the victims and will serve 10 years of supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender.

The North Platte Police Department was contacted by a technician at a computer shop in North Platte after Gibbs took his computer in for repairs.  While examining the computer the technician found a number of thumbnails of images depicting child erotica and child pornography.

On August 31, 2016, the North Platte Police Department obtained a search warrant for Gibbs’ residence and seized the laptop.  After forensic examination approximately 67 images were found on his computer, including 27 images identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as known victims from outside the State of Nebraska.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visitwww.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the North Platte Police Department.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — Two former prison guards have been accused of smuggling synthetic marijuana into a southeast Nebraska prison.

Court records say 53-year-old Richard Fries and 32-year-old Ryan Tokar are charged with felony counts related to the drugs, and Fries also is charged with unlawful acts by a corrections employee. Both men live in Lincoln and have resigned their positions. Court records don’t list the names of attorneys who could comment for them.

Prosecutors say Tokar took the K2 into the Tecumseh prison but couldn’t deliver because he no longer had access to the inmate customer’s housing unit. A court document says Fries and Tokar discussed the situation and later Fries, who had the necessary access, took the K2 and left it for the inmate in a trash can in the inmate’s unit.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska Medical Center is seeking subjects for an Alzheimer’s disease study.

The study will be headed by Dr. Daniel Murman, a professor in the medical school’s Department of Neurological Sciences.

Murman says he’s looking for adults between the ages of 60 and 75 who are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms because of a genetic subtype. The trial involves medication designed to decrease a protein called beta-amyloid in the brain, which is thought to be an important cause of the disease.

Additional information about participation in the clinical trial can be found at the school’s clinical trial database.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prison officials will continue offering $2,500 hiring bonuses to find new guards for prisons in Lincoln and Tecumseh.

The bonuses were scheduled to expire, but Corrections Director Scott Frakes announced they will be extended to Jan. 2.

The bonuses are paid out quarterly over a new employee’s first year of service.

Since the bonuses began on Oct. 2, Frakes said 50 new staff members have been hired at the two prisons.

Frakes says adding more guards should reduce the need for mandatory overtime at both prisons.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service is taking applications for over 900 temporary jobs that will be filled in the region next year.

The Forest Service plans to hire that many temporary workers to help at national forests and grasslands in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming next year.

The jobs include a variety of duties, including firefighting, wildlife, recreation, forestry and administrative support.

Applications can be submitted for firefighting and other early-season jobs from Dec. 15 to Dec. 21. Applications for the other jobs will be taken from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1.

The job listings are available online at www.fs.usda.gov/main/r2/jobs. Applications can be submitted at www.usajobs.gov.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — The Scottsbluff zoo is collecting Christmas presents for the animals.

The Riverside Discovery Center posted a list of items online that animals might enjoy for entertainment and enrichment.

The list includes paper lunch sacks, CD players, nuts, vanilla wafers and feather dusters.

The zoo says the items will be used throughout the year. The full list of requested items is online at www.RiversideDiscoveryCenter.org.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Game and Parks has scheduled three free Family Ice Fishing clinics in January.

The first, a classroom clinic, will be held Jan. 6 at Yanney Heritage Park’s Environmental Resource Center in Kearney from 5 to 9 p.m.

An on-ice clinic will be held Jan. 7 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fort Kearny State Recreation Area Lake No. 6. And the commission will hold another on-ice clinic Jan. 20 at Lake Wanahoo State Recreation Area north of Wahoo from 1 to 4 p.m.

Loaner equipment will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Bait and instruction will be provided. Participants are encouraged to bring their own equipment.

Park vehicle entry permits are at Fort Kearny and Lake Wanahoo.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska high school student has fabricated a metal bracket that lets police officers remove their body cameras and place them on their body shields.

Kearney High School senior Ryan Lundell created the device after the Kearney Police Department approached the school’s metals instructor about the project.

Cameras are typically worn on officer’s uniforms or on their helmets. Pat McLaughlin is the school’s resource officer and an officer at the police department. He says the camera’s view can sometimes be obstructed by other equipment.

Lundell’s bracket slides onto body shields and provides a place for officers to put the cameras for a clearer view.

Officers trained with the new device during a recent set of their monthly drills.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska system officials say the Omaha campus will benefit from the system’s redistribution of state funding.

The Omaha campus is expected to get $6 million more in state appropriations from 2018-19, while the Lincoln campus will receive $12.5 million less.

NU President Hank Bounds says the budget strategy previously relied heavily on salary costs. The new method will focus more on student credit hours and take into account expensive classes, such as engineering, doctoral programs and nursing.

Bounds says the strategy won’t be fully implemented until 2018-19 to give campuses time to prepare.

The system has been struggling to deal with a decline in state appropriations. It’s implemented other strategies to cut costs, such as realigning marketing and advertising efforts and reorganizing information technology services.