NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — A man accused of causing a boating accident that severely injured his granddaughter at western Nebraska’s Lake Maloney has pleaded no contest to drunken boating and negligent child abuse.

The North Platte Telegraph reports that 53-year-old Doug Haney, of North Platte, changed his plea Monday as part of a deal with prosecutors.

He was sentenced to two years of probation, and he will spend two days in jail on his victims’ birthdays.

Prosecutors say Haney was pulling his 9-year-old granddaughter and another girl on a tube when the boat turned sharply and the girls were thrown on the rocky shoreline. The other girl suffered minor injuries.

Since the June 12 incident, Haney has completed alcohol rehabilitation, but he lost his job and remains unemployed.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two staffers have been injured in separate incidents involving inmates at the state prison in the southeast Nebraska city of Tecumseh.

A Nebraska Correctional Services Department news release said Monday that one staffer was removing an item from a port in a cell door when an inmate used a homemade weapon to cut one of the staffer’s hands. The wound required stitches.

The department says another staffer received a minor nose cut when responding to an incident Friday in which five inmates started small fires in their cells.

The names of the staffers and prisoners have not been released.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Latest on Nebraska regulators deciding whether to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline through the state (all times local):

10:15 a.m.

A Nebraska commission has approved an alternative Keystone XL route through the state, removing the last regulatory hurdle to the $8 billion oil pipeline project.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission voted on the long-delayed project Monday, though the decision could still be challenged in court. The commission was forbidden by law from considering a recent oil spill on the existing Keystone pipeline in its decision.

The alternative route would run farther north than the originally proposed route.

TransCanada Corp.’s plan to build a nearly 1,200-mile (1,931-kilometer) pipeline faces intense opposition from environmental groups, Native American tribes and some landowners.

Business groups and some unions support the project as a way to create jobs. President Donald Trump issued a federal permit allowing for the project in March, reversing President Barack Obama administration’s rejection of it.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — A former Scottsbluff High School golf coach has been imprisoned on charges that he sexually assaulted two girls he coached.

Court records say 62-year-old Michael Klein, of Mitchell, on Friday was sentenced to 24 to 32 years in prison. He’d pleaded no contest last month to four counts of sexual assault.

Prosecutors say assaults on the first girl occurred between November 2007 and November 2010. The second girl was assaulted between October 2015 and July 2016.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials say a graduate student and lecturer accused of harassing a conservative student will not return to teaching at the school.

A university official confirmed Friday that Courtney Lawton will no longer be employed when her contract ends at the end of the school year.

Lawton was among several people protesting recruiting efforts by the student for Turning Point USA, which advocates for conservative causes and maintains a “professor watch list” of faculty deemed radically liberal. Video of the Aug. 25 protest showed Lawton flipping off the student and referring to her as a “neo-fascist.”

Officials also on Friday confirmed that UNL’s chief communications officer and news director were no longer employed following the release of emails in which they discussed wanting to downplay the incident by having “surrogates” submit op-ed pieces to local media.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse says Republican leaders are overstating how much passing tax-cut legislation can protect their party in next year’s elections.

The Nebraska Republican, who addressed an evangelical conservative group Saturday night, told reporters after his speech that he likes the tax bill moving in the Senate.

Republicans, who control the House and the Senate, have failed so far this year to pass top agenda items, chiefly the long-promised dismantling of President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care bill. GOP leaders in Congress and around the country have suggested a tax cut bill could boost enthusiasm for Republicans when they campaign in 2018 to retain their control of Capitol Hill.

Sasse noted the Republican Party is struggling with sharp divisions these days.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — United Airlines will begin offering flights from Scottsbluff to Denver on Jan. 30, and local officials are looking forward to the return of regular flights.

Western Nebraska Regional Airport Manager Darwin Skelton says he expects fewer problems with the new flights from United and SkyWest Airlines.

The airline that served Scottsbluff previously, PenAir, had to cancel many flights because of a shortage of pilots and planes.

Skelton says United has hundreds of planes and pilots based in the region, so he doesn’t expect the airline to have the same problems PenAir did.

Starting this weekend, customers should be able to begin booking the new flights out of Scottsbluff on United’s website.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — More than 100 protesters gathered Sunday to speak out against the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline before Nebraska regulators issue their ruling on the project.

The protesters gathered on the steps of the state Capitol building in Lincoln on Sunday. The Nebraska Public Service Commission is scheduled to announce its decision on the pipeline’s route on Monday.

Karin Carlson of Omaha says she doesn’t think the pipeline would benefit the state much.

TransCanada proposed the 1,179-mile crude oil pipeline the transport crude oil from Canada south to connect to another pipeline in southern Nebraska.

TransCanada officials have said their preferred route is the most direct way to transport oil and crosses few major bodies of water.

As travelers hit the road for Thanksgiving, Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) will participate in a national campaign to promote seatbelt usage. The Click It or Ticket enforcement will run from Monday, November 20 through Sunday, November 26.

NSP’s Click It or Ticket campaign runs in conjunction with many local law enforcement agencies throughout Nebraska, the Nebraska Department of Transportation – Highway Safety Office (NDOT-HSO), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NSP’s participating is thanks in part to a grant for $18,000 from the NDOT-HSO.

“Thanksgiving week is a busy time for our roads in Nebraska,” said Colonel John Bolduc, Superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol. “We’ve seen record numbers of Nebraska motorists using seatbelts already this year. We urge all drivers and passengers to buckle-up and practice safe driving for their Thanksgiving travels.”

In 2017, 76% of the people killed in car crashes in Nebraska were not wearing seatbelts. Seatbelt usage is the most effective method of reducing fatalities and serious injuries in the event of a crash.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Nebraska State Patrol investigator charged earlier this year with stealing ammunition from the patrol’s facility in Omaha now faces federal charges, accused of stealing narcotics while on the job.

The Omaha World-Herald says 44-year-old Christopher Kober, of Bellevue, was fired in June following an internal investigation and after being charged by state prosecutors in May with theft for the missing ammunition.

Kober’s attorney, Clarence Mock, had said at the time that it was the regular practice of troopers to take ammunition for shooting practice.

The recent federal indictment charges Kober with acquiring drugs by fraud or diversion in 2016 and 2017, and intending to distribute those drugs. The indictment lists the drugs as painkillers and opioids stolen during drug take-back operations, overdose investigations and other means.

Mock says Kober will plead not guilty to the federal charges.