OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) — An Offutt Air Force Base judge advocate general has set a court-martial hearing on April 3 for an airman accused of killing another airman in an Offutt dormitory last year.

Airman 1st Class Timothy Wilsey faces life without parole if he’s found guilty of strangling 20-year-old Airman 1st Class Rhianda Dillard on Aug. 1, 2016.

Offutt officials say surveillance footage recorded three days before Dillard’s body was found showed Wilsey walking into Turner Hall with Dillard and walking out alone a short time later. He then went absent from the base without leave.

Wilsey was arrested 11 days later in Emporia, Virginia. An investigator says a journal written by Wilsey found on him at the time of his arrest described the killing in lurid detail.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A coolant leak in one of Cooper nuclear power plant’s turbines in southeast Nebraska has been repaired.

Nebraska Public Power District spokesman Mark Becker said the hydrogen leak was repaired before 6 p.m. Tuesday. The leak was discovered earlier that day by maintenance workers.

The utility says the leak didn’t represent a safety threat, and it wasn’t in the power plant’s nuclear systems. The hydrogen is used to help cool the turbine.

The plant near Brownville, Nebraska, continued operating after the leak was found Tuesday morning.

The utility notified regulators about the problem, and issued what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls a notice of unusual event.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln-based keno operator convicted of illegally extending credit for bets has begun closing or divesting from operations in 27 Nebraska communities.

Zeilinger Keno will continue to operate in Hickman, Roca and Sprague as part of a tentative deal with state regulators.

An attorney representing the state’s charitable gaming division says the consent agreement should be finalized in the next two weeks.

Todd Zeilinger also will still offer keno under a different business at the Daily Double Steak House in Denton. His other locations are expected to change hands or close by Dec. 31.

Zeilinger was initially accused of concealing $1.28 million in illegal bets. In September, he pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor count of extending credit for lottery tickets and was sentenced to probation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Critics say a Nebraska law that requires licenses for nearly 200 types of work is burdensome and unfair.

Speakers at a meeting Tuesday said the law is holding back Nebraska’s workforce by putting up barriers to work.

The event was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska and the Platte Institute.

The Platte Institute says the rules limit entrepreneurship. The Nebraska ACLU says the rules disproportionately impact minorities, military families who frequently relocate, low-income individuals and people with a criminal history.

Both groups are supporting legislation that would create a review process for state licensing rules and boards.

Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete is the bill’s sponsor. She says her goal is to remove unreasonable barriers that stop people from working.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Volunteers from Iowa and Nebraska are rushing to send 30,000 cookies overseas to deployed U.S. service members for the holiday season.

The group is called the Iowa Cookie Crumbs. Members bake, package and mail cookies every year to boost the morale of deployed individuals.

The group usually mails about 7,000 cookies to U.S. troops every month. But they’re increasing their efforts this November to send 30,000 for the holidays.

Volunteers rely on donations from the community in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska to cover delivery and baking costs. One box costs around $17.35 to mail. Postage fees topped $20,000 last year.

One of the bakers, 70-year-old Deann Over, says that support for the project is outstanding and shows the Midwestern spirit of helping others.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has appointed a central Nebraska economic development official to lead the state’s Department of Economic Development.

Ricketts announced Tuesday that he has chosen David Rippe, executive director of the Hastings Economic Development Corporation.

The governor’s office says Rippe helped businesses expand in his area and worked on the city of Hastings’ downtown revitalization efforts. He also helped with recruitment and job-creation efforts and several small business startups.

Rippe previously worked as a business recruiting consultant for the Department of Economic Development and an analyst for the Legislative Fiscal Office.

Rippe holds a bachelor of science degree in accounting from Nebraska Wesleyan University and a master of business administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Rippe is scheduled to start Dec. 18, with an annual salary of $142,000.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A development proposed would bring commercial office space and multifamily and single-family lots to north-central Kearney.

Developers will ask the Kearney City Council’s approval for the plan on Tuesday.

The nearly 8-acre proposal, by two Lexington investors, would be called Loyd Glen Estates and would abut the Brandt and Fountain Hills subdivisions. The area has been a vacant pasture for years.

Assistant City Manager Paul Briseno says the Kearney Planning Commission recently voted in favor of the development. City staff also recommends approval.

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COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska lawmaker says the state is struggling to offer mental health services as it moves from state-run regional centers to locally run operations.

The state made the decision to switch from institution care to local programs more than a decade ago.

Sen. Paul Schumacher says that while the state has saved money by closing regional centers, local programs haven’t received enough funding. Schumacher says that’s led to a “real deficiency” in mental health services, particularly in rural communities.

Sen. John Stinner says there isn’t money in the budget to fund the programs. The state is projected to have a $195 million revenue shortfall for the 2017-19 budget.

Deputy Platte County Attorney Elizabeth Lay says the state needs to rethink its mental health care system and focus on individual care.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Tourism Commission has entrusted the state’s message to new writers and merchants from outside the state to get the attention of tourists who haven’t paid attention to Nebraska.

12 marketing and advertising agencies competed over the summer, including five from Nebraska. The three that were chosen are all based in Colorado or have an office there.

At least one Lincoln businessman has questioned why all the chosen agencies have Colorado connections, and no Nebraska agency was ever given the chance to deliver an oral presentation as a proposal.

An official of one of the chosen agencies says she and her crew are looking for an emotional connection for Nebraska to tell the story of a state and what it can stand for.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Officials have purchased new software that will help police officers in the Nebraska Panhandle share information on cases, but it likely won’t be ready to use for more than a year.

KNEB reports that Scotts Bluff County Commissioners recently approved the $560,000 contract with a firm based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, called Zuercher Technologies.

Scottsbluff Police Chief Kevin Spencer says it will take time to determine what information to transfer over to the new system and to do that work at every law enforcement agency.

But Spencer says once the new system is in place it will make area law enforcement agencies more efficient.

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