LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Bee hives at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are destined for research that could help Nebraska’s beekeepers better understand bees, their benefits and how to tailor habitat to protect them.

Honeybee populations have been hard hit in the North American wild, leaving cultivated bees and less-populous wild critters like butterflies and bumblebees to spread pollen.

A recent survey by the Center for Biological Diversity found that 40 percent of the continent’s native insect pollinators are at risk of extinction, even though 90 percent of wild plants rely on insects for pollination.

All but about a dozen of the white boxes at the university’s East Campus pollinator garden will eventually be moved throughout the county to urban and rural locations for research.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska attorney general’s office has hired a staffer to coordinate a new state program designed to help sexual assault victims.

Anne Boatright will serve as the state’s forensic nursing coordinator. Attorney General Doug Peterson announced the new position Friday.

Boatright, a nurse, will manage a program created by lawmakers last year to improve sexual assault examinations and help pay for them. The program was designed to ensure that sex assault victims and law enforcement won’t have to pay the cost of an exam.

State officials have said the previous system prompted questions about who pays for the exams and when. The law shifts the onus off of law enforcement. The cost would instead be covered with private, state and federal money.

JUNE 9, 2017 (LINCOLN, NEB.)  — The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) has released the names of two people killed in a crash on I-80 west of Ogallala Thursday evening.

The crash occurred just after 8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 8, 2017, at mile marker 121, when an eastbound Toyota Tacoma pick-up crossed the median and collided head-on with a westbound Dodge pick-up.

The driver of the Dodge has been identified as Aaron James Davis, 38, of Greeley, Colorado. Davis was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Toyota pick-up was Kent T. Brakken, 71, of Cedaredge, Colorado. Brakken was transported to Ogallala Community Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Investigators have determined that seat belts were used in both vehicles. The specific cause of the accident is still under investigation, but medical issues have been ruled out.

OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two people have been killed in a collision on Interstate 80 in western Nebraska.

The collision occurred just after 8:30 p.m. Thursday, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) west of Ogallala. The Nebraska State Patrol says an eastbound pickup truck crossed the median and rammed into a westbound pickup.

The patrol says the driver of the westbound truck died at the scene. The other driver was pronounced dead at Ogallala Community Hospital. Their names won’t be released until relatives have been notified about the deaths.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A former Shelton school superintendent accused of attacking his wife has been sentenced to 18 months’ probation and fined $500.

46-year-old Brian Redinger was sentenced Thursday in Hall County District Court. He pleaded no contest in April to two misdemeanors: domestic assault and reckless driving after originally pleading not guilty to making terroristic threats, strangulation, domestic assault and criminal attempt at assault.

Sheriff’s investigators say Redinger attacked his wife last year, hitting her head on a car dashboard and later driving at her before she escaped to safety at a Hall County truck stop.

He resigned his position as superintendent of Shelton Public Schools some weeks after his arrest.

U.S. regulators want a narcotic painkiller involved in the opioid epidemic off the market.

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it has asked Endo Pharmaceuticals to stop selling its reformulated, extended-release painkiller, Opana ER.

It’s the first time the FDA has asked for the removal of an opioid painkiller.

Endo had touted the new formulation as abuse-resistant, though the FDA did not allow the company to market it as such when granting approval for sales several years ago.

The FDA says it has seen a “significant shift” from people crushing and snorting Opana ER to get high to injecting it.

Abuse of Opana ER was blamed for a 2015 outbreak of HIV and hepatitis C in southern Indiana linked to sharing needles.

Endo officials did not immediately respond.

A two-car crash on Interstate 80 one-half mile west of Cozad in Dawson County has claimed one life and sent another person to the hospital. The crash occurred just before 1:00 a.m. Thursday, June 8, 2017.

A car driven by Deloyce Robinson, 89, of North Platte, entered the westbound lanes of I-80 traveling the wrong direction when it collided with a pickup driven by Nicholas Yonce, 28, of Garner, North Carolina.

Robinson was killed in the accident. Nebraska State Patrol investigators determined that Robinson had not been wearing his seat belt.

Yonce was treated at the Cozad Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Yonce was wearing his seat belt at the time of the crash.

“This is a tragic crash, but an important reminder that all motorists should wear their seat belt,” said Major Mike
Gaudreault, Nebraska State Patrol Field Services Division Commander. “Of the 79 fatalities on Nebraska roadways in 2017, 80 percent have not been wearing seat belts. Properly wearing your seat belt dramatically increases your chances of surviving an accident.”

All lanes of I-80 at Mile Marker 222 have reopened after a two-hour closure of the westbound lanes to complete the investigation.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have recovered the body of a man from a creek on the south side of Kearney.

The body was spotted Tuesday in debris about three-quarters a mile (1 kilometer) east from where the man was last seen Monday afternoon. Officers had found a bicycle and clothing on the embankment near where he was originally seen. The search was called off Monday night and resumed around 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The man’s name hasn’t been released yet. Kearney police Sgt. Dennis Byrne says it’s unclear what circumstances led to the man’s death.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Senior U.S. District Court Judge Lyle Strom says he’ll transition to inactive senior status in December.

The Nebraska District Court announced Strom’s decision Tuesday.

The 92-year-old Strom has served as a district judge in Nebraska for 32 years. He was chief judge from 1987 to 1994.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska prisoner serving time for robbery and weapons convictions has died at a Lincoln hospital.

Officials say 22-year-old Daelan Lamere died Tuesday. Authorities have not confirmed the cause of his death, but prison officials say he tested positive for methamphetamine and ecstasy.

Prison officials say Lamere was found unresponsive in his cell at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution on May 27. He was taken to a nearby hospital in Johnson County and later transferred to Bryan West in Lincoln, where he died.

Lamere was sentenced to 6 to 11 years in prison for four counts of robbery and one count of use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony in Douglas County. He was scheduled for release in September 2020.

The Nebraska State Patrol will investigate Lamere’s death.