OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prison officials have allowed 73 inmates to avoid submitting samples of their DNA for more than two decades just because the inmates refused.

Prison officials have done little to force inmates to provide DNA that might link them to other crimes except write them up for rules violations.

State law requires all felons to submit a sample of their DNA.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says he believes the law and subsequent court orders are clear that felons should provide DNA.

Corrections officials seem to be relying on a 1997 opinion from Nebraska’s Attorney General that suggested the law didn’t allow for forced DNA collection.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An attempt to slash funding for abortion providers could force health centers throughout Nebraska to cut services or close.

Language in the state’s budget would allow officials to prioritize certain health care providers over others when awarding federal Title X family planning money. Critics say it could strip funding from Planned Parenthood and from health centers that specialize in reproductive health but don’t provide abortions.

Providers say the change would result in higher rates of unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer because the low-income women they serve would no longer have access to reproductive health care.

Supporters of the proposal say any facilities can apply for funding but money should go first to health care facilities that offer a wider range of services.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials with Creighton University say they are investigating to try to learn who taped a profane, threatening letter targeting gays on a student’s dorm room door.

The hand-scrawled note found Tuesday opens with an expletive and a gay slur, then urges the targeted student to kill himself.

It goes on to say “gays are not welcome in Nebraska or Creighton!”

Creighton University’s president, the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, said in a statement that the note violated Creighton’s policy on student, staff and faculty conduct and, “more crucially, is not at all representative of the environment we desire as a university.”

Creighton’s Office of Equity and Inclusion is investigating.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The state of Nebraska has made a goal to keep monarch butterflies and other pollinators off the federal endangered species list by planting 125 million milkweed plants by 2020 and providing incentives for farmers to incorporate pollinator habitat into their land.

The plan was created by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, with input from dozens of organizations and business, some which attended a summit on monarch butterflies in Lincoln last year.

World Wildlife Fund data says that the eastern monarch population has dropped an estimated 90 percent in the past 20 years, mostly because of habitat loss.

Commission biologist Melissa Panella says the federal government will wait until at least 2019 to decide whether to list monarchs as threatened or endangered.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Nebraska mayor is pushing for changes in Kansas’ oversight of prairie and ranchland burning after smoke from the Flint Hills spurred health warnings in Nebraska’s capital city.

Lincoln, Nebraska, Mayor Chris Beutler sent a letter Friday to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment pressing for action.

KDHE environmental division director John Mitchell says Kansas’ prairie-burning protocol will get an annual review this spring. Mitchell was responding to the Nebraska mayor’s complaints about the smoke.

Kansas farmers and ranchers burn land to help control undergrowth that can fuel wildfires. Burning also helps grow nutritious grass for grazing cattle.

But farmers and officials say the burn season was cut short this year by heavy rain, so simultaneous burns by many farmers created more concentrated smoke.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has overturned a decision to bar four Nebraska beer stores from selling next to an American Indian reservation in South Dakota that struggles with alcohol-related problems.

The ruling on Thursday was a setback for advocates who want to close the stores in Whiteclay, an unincorporated village with nine residents that sells millions of cans each year next to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Lancaster County District Court Judge Andrew Jacobsen agreed with the stores’ arguments that the decision by state regulators was arbitrary and unreasonable.

The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission ruled last week that it would not renew the stores’ licenses, citing a lack of adequate law enforcement in the area. Whiteclay is known as a spot where people drink, sleep and sometimes fight in public.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has vetoed a bill that would have eliminated a two-year waiting period for people convicted of felonies to vote.

Ricketts said Thursday in a letter to lawmakers that he believed allowing felons to vote immediately after finishing their sentences would violate the Nebraska constitution. He says passing the bill would create the equivalent of a legislative pardon.

Sen. Justin Wayne, who sponsored the bill, says that part of the state constitution was written shortly after the Civil War to keep black people from voting.

Ricketts says he’s seen no proof for Wayne’s contention that the bill will help felons become more engaged and avoid committing additional crime.

Overturning a veto requires 30 votes. The bill received 28, 32 and 27 votes during its three readings.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has signed a bill intended to streamline road projects and address a housing shortage.

Ricketts approved the three measures Thursday at a bill-signing ceremony.

One seeks to streamline the process state officials use when working with the federal government on road projects. Another would merge the state roads and aeronautics departments into a Department of Transportation. The merger isn’t expected to save money but could allow state officials to put more money into runways and roads without sacrificing jobs.

A third measure is expected to give developers who build or rehabilitate homes in rural Nebraska more funding options, creating a state rural workforce housing investment fund.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The search for a new chancellor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha has been paused in favor of a temporary appointment.

University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds announced Thursday that University of Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor Jeffrey Gold will lead both campuses for the foreseeable future. Gold will take over May 8 for Chancellor John Christensen, pending approval by the university Board of Regents. Christensen intends to retire at the end of this school year.

Theresa Barron-McKeagney is an associate dean who was a member of the search committee. She says none of the candidates was the “right mutual fit.”

Bounds says he and Gold will continually evaluate the new leadership structure and later determine the right time and approach for resuming the chancellor search.

SCOTTBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Public Power District says power will be cut off for about three hours Thursday afternoon in some parts of the northern Nebraska Panhandle.

The utility says it must cut power around 3:30 p.m. to perform maintenance on a switch. That will leave customers in Crawford, Whitney, Fort Robinson State Park and rural areas around those communities without electrical service until around 6:30 p.m.

Questions? Call 1-877-ASK-NPPD.