LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say four prison workers were briefly hospitalized after inmate attacks at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.

Nebraska Correctional Services Department spokeswoman Cara Wilwerding said Monday the first attack occurred Saturday around 7:20 p.m. when a prisoner refused to return to his cell and hit a staffer. Another staffer was soon struck.

Later Saturday two more staffers were attacked when they responded to an inmate who needed medical attention.

Wilwerding says all four staffers were released soon after treatment at a Lincoln hospital.

Saturday’s disturbance was at least the sixth reported serious assault of Nebraska prison staffers this year. Authorities also say three inmates have died this year at the hands of other prisoners, including two during the March 2 uprising at the Tecumseh prison.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Officials say work is expected to begin soon on reopening Saddle Rock Trail at Scotts Bluff National Monument.

A landslide on the lower trail portion in December 2015 blocked access to the southwest-facing side of the monument.

Experts had advised letting the trail repairs wait at least a year so the soil could stabilize. Monument Superintendent Dan Morford says there’s no sign of weather-induced weakness on the ledge above the trail, where the landslide occurred.

Morford says the goal is have the landslide debris removed and the trail repaired for reopening by July 4.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Lt. Gov. Mike Foley have formally announced their bids for re-election.

The Republican duo launched their campaign Sunday at events in Omaha and Lincoln. Ricketts and Foley were elected in 2014 and are seeking a second four-year term in office.

Ricketts has previously said he planned to run for re-election. He has promised to advocate for lower taxes every year he’s in office.

Republican state Sen. Bob Krist has said he may also run for governor.

Nebraska Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb says Ricketts has failed to protect working class families on issues that affect their finances.

Ricketts defeated Democrat Chuck Hassebrook in the 2014 general election. The gubernatorial primary is set for May 15, 2018. The general election is scheduled for Nov. 6, 2018.

CHICAGO (AP) — Doctors are reporting unprecedented success from a new kind of cell and gene therapy for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that’s on the rise. Although it’s early and the study is small, 35 people, every patient responded to treatment and all but two were in some level of remission within two months.

In a second study of nearly two dozen patients, everyone above a certain dose responded.

Experts at an American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, where the results were announced on Monday, say it’s rare for any treatment to have such success.

It’s called CAR-T (kar-T) therapy, and involves altering some of a patient’s own blood cells in the lab to contain a gene that targets cancer, and giving them back intravenously.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is shuffling his staff as an aide switches to a new role on his re-election campaign.

Jessica Flanagain has left her position as the governor’s special adviser to external affairs so she could manage the Republican governor’s re-election campaign. Taylor Gage, the governor’s public relations director, has been promoted to director of strategic communications. Ricketts announced the transitions on Monday.

Before serving as public relations director, Gage worked as Ricketts’ deputy campaign manager. He previously served as political director for U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer’s successful campaign in 2012.

Flanagain worked with Ricketts on messaging, strategic planning and coalition building. She transitioned to the campaign on Friday.

A 46-year-old North Platte woman has died after the vehicle she was riding in struck several horses that had wandered onto the highway.

According to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, on June 4 at around 3:53 a.m., deputies were advised that five horses were loose on U.S. Highway 83 near Echo School Road.

Upon arrival, the deputy found approximately 30 horses running all over the highway.

As the deputy was attempting to remove the horses from the roadway, a 2006 Chevrolet Aveo, driven by 49-year-old Shawn Tallmon, was traveling northbound, crested a hill and struck three of the animals near mile marker 65.

Also in the vehicle were Shawn’s wife, Dawn Tallmon, 19-year-old Randy Tallmon and 18-year-old Emily Pellegrin, all of North Platte.

Dawn was transported to Great Plains Health where she was pronounced dead.

The other passengers were also transported to GPH, but their injuries are believed to non-life threatening.

Chief Deputy Roland Kramer says it does not appear that drugs or alcohol were involved.

The crash remains under investigation.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials say the April Rural Mail Carrier Survey number came in higher than last year for pheasant, cottontail rabbits and wild turkeys in Nebraska.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says that if spring and early summer weather proves out moderate, production of young should be good this year.

The increase in pheasant numbers was highest in the Southwest region. The increase in wild turkey numbers was highest in Panhandle and Southeast regions. The Central and Southeast regions saw the greatest increase in cottontail numbers.

The survey was conducted April 3-6 as 424 rural mail carriers observed species while traveling nearly 177,000 miles of rural roads in 87 of Nebraska’s 93 counties.

Go online at outdoornebraska.gov/upland to view the entire survey report.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is accepting Recreational Trail Program grant applications.

The grant program is made available through the Federal Highway Administration that reimburses political subdivisions — such as communities, counties and natural resources districts — up to 80 percent of project costs for trail acquisition, development, renovation and support facilities. Applicants must have the financial means to undertake and maintain the project, and all funding should be on hand.

The program funds are divided among three categories: motorized trails, non-motorized trails and diversified or shared-use trails.

Application materials can be downloaded at http://outdoornebraska.gov/grants/. Applications must be submitted to Game and Parks and postmarked by Sept. 1, 2017.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — When Nebraska lawmakers sought to ease prison crowding two years ago, they expanded probation services in hopes that more supervision and treatment would reduce the number of low-level felons behind bars.

But now, in the wake of this year’s budget crisis, some lawmakers fear cuts to probation services could undermine the work they’ve done so far.

Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete says the cuts are concerning, and she worries that judges will send low-level offenders to prison if they don’t believe probation services are adequate to handle the caseloads.

The cuts came as lawmakers and Gov. Pete Ricketts sought to fill a projected $900 million revenue shortfall in the upcoming two-year budget.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Farm groups and some members of Congress from farm states are decrying proposed cuts to crop insurance and other safety net programs for farmers included in President Donald Trump’s budget.

The proposed cuts come as farmers are facing their fourth straight year of falling income. They could particularly affect farm states such as Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska that helped Trump win the November election.

One proposal would cut the federal crop insurance program by $28 billion over 10 years. Programs that provide crop subsidies would lose $9 billion.

But Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa farmer, says the crop insurance cuts won’t make it through Congress.

The Trump administration says the proposed cuts help fulfill a campaign promise to balance the federal budget.