LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The deadline is approaching for Nebraska meat processors to apply for participation in this year’s Hunters Helping the Hungry program.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says processors have until July 1 to apply. The program allows hunters to donate the deer they kill to Nebraska residents in need. The processors accept the meat and turn it into ground venison before it’s donated.

The application form and program guidelines are available at http://outdoornebraska.gov/hhh. The commission will contact eligible applicants by July 31.

GIBBON, Neb. (AP) — Officials from central to eastern Nebraska are warning the public to use caution around rain-swollen rivers.

The Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office is urging caution on the Platte River following two separate incidents on the river in recent days. Capt. Bob Anderson says two teenage girls were found clinging to a log in the middle of the river after trying to float down it Thursday. The girls were uninjured but had to be brought to shore.

On May 27, officials responded to reports of a person on an inner tube trapped in a man-made diversion on the river. No one was injured.

In eastern Nebraska, Elkhorn River access sites remained closed Saturday because of high water flows.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A medical services provider is ending its contract with a Nebraska prison, citing staff safety concerns.

Corrections officials announced Friday they will take over management of medical services at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution starting July 24. The change comes after Correct Care Solutions sent a 60-day notice that it was terminating its contract.

Dr. Harbans Deol, the department’s deputy director for health services, says the department is prepared to manage medical services in-house and has already begun to recruit staff.

Corrections officials say the contractor cited general safety concerns, but noted that none of the company’s employees have been harmed at the prison.

Correct Care Solutions has provided medical services for the prison since September 2005. The department already manages medical services at its other nine facilities.

• Jesse Ray Allen, 26, North Platte and Jessica Alice Montgomery, 29, North Platte

 

• Michael Robinson, 54, North Platte and Glenda Rene Nesslein, 47, North Platte

 

• Troy Isaac Bainter, 24, North Platte and Haley Nicole Placke, 22, North Platte

 

• Michael Jon Neiman, 22, North Platte and Katherine Elizabeth Williams, 22, North Platte

 

• Juan Francisco Orellana, 37, North Platte and Tawnia J Alloway, 36, North Platte

 

• Joshua Eugene Margritz, 20, Hershey and Chelsey Ann Nickolite, 26, Hershey

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The only potential choice for individual health insurance in Nebraska still hasn’t decided whether to offer plans next year that meet the Affordable Care Act’s standards.

The discussion about Medica Health’s plans for 2018 was triggered by an announcement Thursday that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska will drop its last two individual health plans that meet ACA standards, which include accepting all applicants and providing a wide range of health benefits.

Nebraska residents seeking insurance not connected to an employer or government-sponsored plan might not have options for ACA-compliant insurance if Medica pulls out of the individual health insurance market.

Geoff Bartsch of Medica says while the company is on track to continue next year, there’s always a possibility for Congress to “change the landscape.”

LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials have confirmed that a male mountain lion killed a calf near Hay Springs in Sheridan County.

The owner of the land where the calf was killed contacted Game and Parks officials on May 30 after finding the carcass. Game and Parks representatives examined the carcass and immediate vicinity the following day. The condition of the carcass suggested a high probability that a mountain lion was responsible.

The landowner and Game and Parks officials worked together to identify and euthanize the offending animal in accordance with the agency’s Mountain Lion Response Plan.

This is the second confirmed instance of livestock depredation in Nebraska by a mountain lion in modern times. The first took place in Blaine County in the spring of 2014.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Results from a monthly survey of business supply managers suggest a slight decline in the economic conditions for nine Midwest and Plains states.

The Mid-America Business Conditions Index report released Thursday says the overall regional economic index dropped to 55.5 in May from 61.4 in April.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says the index figures over the past six months point to healthy growth for regional manufacturing and nonmanufacturing through the third quarter of this year.

The survey results are compiled into a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth in that factor. A score below that suggests decline.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

2 Colorado men are in the Lincoln County Detention Center after deputies found nearly three pounds of marijuana in their car.

On May 31, at around 7:00 a.m., a deputy in an unmarked vehicle observed a vehicle driving on the shoulder and in the passing lane on Interstate 80.

The deputy radioed for assistance and a marked patrol car initiated a traffic stop at North Platte.

When deputies approached the vehicle, they reportedly smelled the odor of burnt marijuana and were given consent to search the vehicle.

Inside the vehicle, Chief Deputy Roland Kramer says the deputies located three pounds of marijuana.

The driver of the vehicle, 56-year-old Anthony Huff, of Denver, Colorado, and the passenger, 37-year-old Hyrum James, of Aurora, Colorado, were both placed under arrest.

Huff and James were transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and jailed on charges of possession of marijuana-more than one pound and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Tribe leaders and language instructors are gaining optimism after worrying about the uncertain future of their native language.

More than 70 people attended a five-day Umonhon course at the Nebraska Indian Community College’s inaugural Summer Language Institute last week in Macy, a city within the Omaha Reservation. Organizers say attendance was double what they expected.

Wil Meya is the executive director of the Language Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated on revitalizing indigenous languages. Meya says only about 150 of the 7,000 Omaha Tribe members can understand or speak parts of Umonhon.

Umonhon teacher Dwight Howe says today’s indigenous kids face a steeper challenge to learn the language because decades of forced assimilation.

The institute was funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Final autopsy results show a Scottsbluff man whose body was found in a ditch died of hypothermia.

Scottsbluff Police Capt. Brian Wasson says a pathologist concluded after toxicology test results were obtained that 45-year-old Billy LaDeaux died of his exposure to the elements. Wasson says nothing found by investigators suggests LaDeaux died as a result of a crime.

Two teenage boys found the body on April 29. LaDeaux was last seen by relatives on April 27, and Wasson says LaDeaux exchanged text messages with someone on April 28.