TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — State prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty for a prison inmate charged with fatally attacking his cellmate at a troubled state prison.

Patrick Schroeder appeared Wednesday in Johnson County Court on first-degree murder and weapons-use charges in the April 15 death of 22-year-old Terry Berry Jr. Schroeder’s preliminary hearing has been set for June 12.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office said in a news release Wednesday that it will seek the death penalty in the case.

Investigators say Berry and Schroeder were the only occupants in the cell at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution where Berry was found unresponsive. He later died at a hospital. An autopsy said he had been strangled.

Schroeder is already serving a life for the 2006 killing of 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer Kenneth Albers.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Abortion concerns are dominating a legislative debate over the Nebraska state budget.

Lawmakers who support abortion rights argued Wednesday that senators should strip out a budget provision that could lead to funding cuts for abortion providers. Opponents say the proposal could force clinics throughout the state to cut services or close, leaving thousands of women without access to reproductive health care.

The proposal would allow state officials to reduce or eliminate federal funding for the state’s two Planned Parenthood Clinics that perform abortions. But it also could mean less funding for clinics that specialize in reproductive health but don’t provide abortions.

Lawmakers will have to come up with another $50 million to balance the state budget, based on the latest revenue projections.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Latest on Nebraska lawmakers debating bills (all times local):

2:50 p.m.

People who were sexually assaulted as children would have more time to sue their abusers under a bill passed by the Nebraska Legislature.

Lawmakers voted 46-0 Wednesday to approve a measure that removes a statute of limitations on civil lawsuits for childhood sexual assault. Current law requires victims of childhood sexual assault to sue their abuser by their 33rd birthday, and the change would allow victims to sue at any age.

Victims still would have until their 33rd birthday to sue people or entities that enabled the assault, such as a school with an abusive employee.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha, says the measure will help victims who need more time to come to terms with abuse.

The bill now heads to Gov. Pete Ricketts.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have advanced a bill that could let some appointed state senators serve close to two and a half years before they face an election.

Senators amended the measure Wednesday to say seats filled between Feb. 1 and May 1 of the second year of a term will be up in the November general election.

Lawmakers appointed before Feb. 1 would face a primary and general election, and senators appointed after May 1 would hold their seats until the end of the four-year term.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Murante of Gretna, says the changes will give county election commissioners more time to organize elections.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska lawmaker says he has enough support to overturn Gov. Pete Ricketts’ veto and pass a law allowing people convicted of felonies to vote two years earlier.

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha said Wednesday he was confident at least 30 senators will vote to allow felons to cast ballots immediately after finishing their sentences. He says the restriction only exists because the writers of Nebraska’s constitution wanted to keep black men from voting.

Ricketts says the bill would violate the state’s constitution and two years is a reasonable time to wait. Sen. John Murante of Gretna led the opposition to the bill on the floor and says enough senators will vote to sustain the governor’s veto.

Wayne expects a vote Friday or Monday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The family of an inmate killed in a 2015 riot at a prison in southeast Nebraska has sued the state.

The mother of Shon Collins says in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Lancaster County that the state failed to protect him and that the Tecumseh prison was not properly staffed on May 10, 2015, when the riot broke out. Authorities have said the 46-year-old Collins and fellow inmate Donald Peacock were killed by other prisoners, but none has been charged.

The lawsuit does not list a specific figure being sought, but the family had sought $1.2 million in damages when it filed a claim against the state in 2016.

A spokeswoman for the Nebraska Correctional Services Department said Wednesday the department doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts says Nebraska will take “swift action” to get prison inmates’ DNA samples after a report revealed that dozens of inmates have refused to comply with state law requiring felons to submit a DNA sample.

Over 70 inmates in Nebraska have refused to give their DNA over the past 20 years by simply declining. Law enforcement officials, such as Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine and Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer, are calling on the Corrections Department to forcefully obtain a refusing prisoner’s DNA sample.

Republican Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha says state officials have been trying to address “larger” issues of overcrowding and understaffing in prisons, but “it seems that Rome is burning right under our nose operationally.”

SARGENT, Neb. (AP) — A driver has been charged with manslaughter for the Custer County crash death of his passenger on Thanksgiving.

Court records say 48-year-old Virgil Ramsdell also is charged with being a habitual criminal. Jail records say he remained in custody Wednesday. Court records don’t list the name of Ramsdell’s attorney.

The accident occurred Nov. 24 on U.S. Highway 183, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of Sargent. The Nebraska State Patrol says Ramsdell reported that when he swerved to miss a deer, the car ran into a ditch and rolled.

The patrol says Ramsdell and his passenger, 56-year-old Becky Millard, of Sargent, were taken to a Broken Bow hospital. She was declared dead there.

Court records say Ramsdell, of Taylor, tested positive for marijuana and methamphetamine after the accident.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska state senator has moved to override Gov. Pete Ricketts’ veto of a bill that would allow people convicted of felonies to vote two years earlier.

Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, who sponsored the bill to allow felons to vote immediately after finishing their sentences, filed the motion Tuesday. He says Ricketts’ veto was an “overtly political action” that will continue to suppress voters.

Wayne says laws preventing felons from voting stem from attempts to disenfranchise black Americans after the Civil War.

Ricketts said in a letter to lawmakers that the bill could violate the Nebraska constitution by creating the equivalent of a legislative pardon.

Overturning a veto requires 30 votes, and the bill had between 27 and 32 votes during its three readings.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A tax cut package backed by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has stalled in the Legislature.

Supporters on Tuesday failed to overcome a filibuster led by opponents who argued it would have favored the wealthy and not done enough for agricultural land owners. Lawmakers voted 27-9 to end legislative debate, six short of what was needed.

The plan would have lowered Nebraska’s top personal and corporate income tax rates, adjusted the way agricultural land is valued for tax purposes, capped statewide property tax growth and expanded the earned income tax credit for low-income residents.

Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, who sponsored the bill, says he was extremely disappointed with the vote. Smith says it illustrates how difficult it is to pass income tax legislation in the Legislature.