OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific railroad is planning a number of events over the next two years to celebrate the effort to build the first transcontinental railroad.

The events will lead up to the 150th anniversary of when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were joined together on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit in Utah.

The railroad will hold numerous events in communities all along the route between Omaha, Nebraska, and Sacramento, California.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad also put together a special website with history and details of the events at www.up.com/goldenspike.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A legume that is generally considered a fringe crop in Nebraska has taken root in the state.

The yellow field pea has been growing in popularity with dry-land farmers who practice no-till farming in the semiarid region west of North Platte.

In recent years, peas have gone from being planted on only a few Nebraska farms to covering about 55,000 acres in 2016. Last year was the first year the crop got popular enough in Nebraska to be included in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reports

New Alliance farmer Mark Watson says one downside to peas is how much yields can vary due to adverse weather.

USDA figures show Nebraska farmers planned to plant 45,000 acres of peas this year.

BAYARD, Neb. (AP) — The installation of four new LED lights at Nebraska’s Chimney Rock will have nighttime drivers along Highways 92 or 26 noticing an even brighter landmark in the distance.

Finishing touches and focusing of the lights were completed on May 8. Travelers report they could see the outline of Chimney Rock 10 miles to the west on Highway 92.

Drivers could see the illuminated spire passing along the route that was originally the Oregon Trail since floodlights were first installed in the early 1980s.

The project to improve the lighting started in November when Bayard City Clerk Nate Heffron began rallying support to complete the work. The more than $12,000 cost was covered within 60 days.

Colored lenses can also be used for the holidays.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — State officials report that the new veterans home being built at Kearney is nearly half finished.

Construction on the 225-bed, 330,000-square-foot Central Nebraska Veterans’ Home began April 1, 2016.

Fred Zarate, an architect with the State Building Division, says 45 percent of the work is done and that the $89.7 million project remains on schedule to open in the fall of 2018.

Zarate says half of the homes on the campus are up and have roofs.

The campus will have six neighborhoods, each with three homes with 12 to 15 veterans per home living in private rooms. There will be a special-care unit, a skilled-care unit and an independent living area.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal appellate judges questioned Nebraska prosecutors’ push to place a teenage boy on the state’s sex offender registry during arguments this week.

Arguments in the appeal by Nebraska prosecutors were held Wednesday in Omaha’s federal courthouse before a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office appealed last year after a federal judge blocked the state from putting a then-13-year-old boy who moved to Nebraska from Minnesota on its public list of sex offenders.

State officials determined the boy had to register when he moved to Nebraska, because state law says all sex offenders who move to Nebraska must register.

The investigation continues into a crash that left a 73-year-old North Platte man dead.

According to Investigator John Deal, officers responded to the accident on Newberry Access, near the Flying J truck stop, at around 3:10 p.m. on Thursday.

Deal says officers observed a Ford pickup that was in the median and on its top.

It was determined that the pickup was traveling northbound and was south of the Walker Road intersection.  Deal says a semi was stopped at the stop sign on Walker Road facing east and turned north onto Newberry Access.  The semi had completed its turn when it was struck in the rear by the pickup, driven by 40-year-old Emmett Wood, of North Platte.

Deal says the pickup rolled several times, and witnesses reported that it was traveling at a high rate of speed before it struck the semi’s trailer.

A passenger in the pickup, 73-year-odl Michael B. Torres, Sr, also of North Platte, was transported to Great Plains Health where he died a short time later.

Wood was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.  The semi driver, 30-year-old Jeffry Owens of Arlington, Tx, was not transported by EMS, and Deal said he does not know if he was injured.

Neither Wood nor Torres were wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash.

Deal says both drivers submitted to a legal blood draw, per state law, but the results of those tests will not be available for several days.

The Nebraska State Patrol and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office assisted with the investigation.

The investigation is ongoing.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says the state is positioning itself to export beef to China.

Ricketts on Friday applauded news that China would allow American beef into the country for the first time since 2003. Ricketts has visited China in each of the past two years to urge the Chinese government to reopen its market.

Nebraska Department of Agriculture International Trade Director Stan Garbacz will visit China next week to lobby for Nebraska beef.

Nebraska is the leading exporter of red meat in the U.S. Farmers exported more than $1.1 billion worth of beef last year.

China imports about $2.5 billion in beef from other countries.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a pickup truck passenger has died after a collision with a semitrailer in North Platte.

The accident occurred around 3:15 p.m. Thursday. Police Sgt. Kendall Allison says the pickup clipped the back of the semi and rolled several times, coming to rest on its top.

Police identified the passenger as 73-year-old Mike Torres Sr., who lived in North Platte. The pickup driver’s injuries and name haven’t been released. The semi driver was not injured.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Aetna Health says it will be leaving the individual health plan market in Nebraska.

Aetna had sold policies in only four states this year after quitting 11 states last year, and last month it announced it was pulling out of Iowa and Virginia.

Aetna’s decision leaves only Medica Health in Nebraska’s Affordable Care Act market, and Medica officials said Wednesday that the company had not yet decided whether to remain in the Nebraska market.

Nebraska Insurance Department director Bruce Ramge has said that if no companies participate in the Nebraska exchange next year, it could mean that people who qualify for tax credits don’t get them, although they would still have to find insurance to fulfill the individual mandate should it still be in effect.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man convicted of sexual assault on children in two Nebraska Panhandle counties has died while serving a prison sentence of 40 to 60 years.

The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says 77-year-old Larry Holladay died late last month at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln. The cause of his death hasn’t yet been determined, but he’d been treated for a long-term medical problem.

State law requires a grand jury investigation any time a person dies in custody or while being arrested.

The department says Holladay was convicted of sexual assault and sexual assault on a child in Box Butte and Sheridan counties. He’d been imprisoned since January 2006.