LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Child welfare advocates say proposed budget cuts that would eliminate some state contracts with agencies that support foster families will put Nebraska’s most vulnerable children at risk.

They said Tuesday that Gov. Pete Ricketts’ plans to reduce funding and end contracts with outside agencies and shift responsibility to state caseworkers is a step backward. The governor’s proposal calls for adding 14 new Department of Health and Human Services caseworkers to handle additional cases.

The state’s independent child welfare watchdog’s 2016 report states DHHS caseworkers already have higher caseloads than required by state and federal law.

Ricketts also would eliminate a program that provides post-adoption services to help families stay together, but Appropriations Committee members are keeping the program in the budget they expect to send to the full Legislature soon.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two abandoned buildings are set to be demolished in a tiny Nebraska town known for violence, panhandling and alcohol sales on the border of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday that it has awarded a $100,000 grant to a regional development group to remove the buildings in Whiteclay.

The unincorporated town’s four beer stores sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer in 2015 despite having only nine full-time residents. Whiteclay is a regular hangout for Native Americans who drink, loiter around the stores and pass out in nearby fields.

State officials identified the buildings as places where people gather to consume alcohol. The department says demolishing the buildings will make way for future development.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are debating whether to join nine other states in calling for a constitutional convention to limit the federal government.

Senators began discussion on the resolution Monday. Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete, the bill’s sponsor, says amendments proposed at the convention would be limited to fiscal restraint, the size and scope of the federal government and term limits for U.S. senators and representatives.

Lawmakers who oppose the measure say there is no way to limit a constitutional convention. They say the Constitution’s creators gathered to amend the Articles of Confederation but instead drafted a completely new document, and delegates to a new constitutional convention could do the same.

Amendments can be proposed by 34 states or two-thirds of both houses of Congress and must be approved by 38 states.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — A 17-year-old boy has died after a rollover collision in the Nebraska Panhandle.

The accident occurred a little after 1 p.m. Saturday, around 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of Scottsbluff. The Scott Bluff County Sheriff’s Office says 16-year-old Cody Kissler lost control of the pickup truck he was driving and it rolled, coming to rest on its wheels on the edge of the roadway.

His passenger, 17-year-old Robert Kanniard III, of rural Scottsbluff, was ejected. Both boys were taken to a Scottsbluff hospital, and then Kanniard was flown to Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. The Sheriff’s Office says Kanniard died there Sunday evening.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Latest on a prison disturbance in Lincoln (all times local):

6:15 p.m.

A Nebraska prisons spokeswoman says two other staff members were assaulted during a Lincoln prison disturbance.

Dawn-Renee Smith of the Department of Correctional Services said in a release Saturday that the two staffers were assaulted when they came to the aid of aid of another staffer who was attacked by prisoners Friday evening at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln.

She says the first staffer who was attacked was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Of the two who came to his aid, one was treated for a minor injury and the other refused medical treatment.

Smith says there have been repairs to a housing unit that was set ablaze during the disturbance. About 32 inmates were expected to return to the unit Saturday evening.

11:45 a.m.

Nebraska prison officials say a staff member was assaulted and a housing unit at a Lincoln prison set ablaze — the third fire set during an inmate uprising at a Nebraska prison in the last two years.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Correctional Services says the incident happened Friday evening, when a fire was set and a male staff member attacked around 7:30 p.m. at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln. Officials say the staff member was not seriously hurt, and no other staff or inmates were injured.

Officials say Nebraska State Patrol troopers and prison emergency teams were able to quash the disturbance in less than two hours.

Officials have not detailed the extent of the damage to the housing unit where the fire occurred.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — City officials and developers in rural Nebraska are closely watching a measure being considered in the Legislature that would create housing grants, but they acknowledge it won’t solve the problem of a dearth of workforce housing in small towns.

Local officials say housing is a crucial concern when towns try to attract new business, and a bill sponsored by Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg would provide grants for nonprofit development corporations that build or rehabilitate homes in any county with fewer than 100,000 residents. Groups that receive the grants would have to match the funds.

The bill could pass this week.

Williams acknowledges the bill won’t solve the problem of a lack of affordable housing but says it would create opportunities for communities to encourage more residential construction.

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline rose 9 cents nationally over the past two weeks, to $2.43.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that increased oil prices and the U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base contributed to the rise.

She says that unless oil prices retreat quickly, consumers should expect gasoline prices to climb a few more cents.

The national average is up 33 cents per gallon over the price a year ago.

Gas in San Francisco was the highest in the contiguous United States at an average of $3.01 a gallon Friday. The lowest was in Jackson, Mississippi, at $2.09 per gallon.

The U.S. average diesel price is $2.58, up 1 cent from two weeks ago.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The application period will open April 17 for the 2017 bighorn sheep permit lottery.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says only Nebraska residents are eligible.

The application period ends Aug. 4 and the permit will be drawn Aug. 17. A $29 nonrefundable application fee must accompany each application.

People can apply at a Nebraska Game and Parks office or online at OutdoorNebraska.org.

The 2017 bighorn sheep season runs Nov. 28 through Dec. 22.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska Board of Regents is expected to approve a new dean for the system’s College of Law.

Executive Vice Chancellor Donde Plowman announced the appointment Tuesday of Richard Moberly as the new law college dean. Moberly has been the law college’s interim leader for more than a year.

Plowman says Moberly is an “experienced educator and recognized scholar who has forged a reputation of supporting and building excellence within the college.”

Moberly has taught at Nebraska Law since 2004. He was named associate dean in 2011 and had been the college’s interim dean since February 2016. He succeeds Susan Poser, who left the university in 2015 to become provost at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prison officials say a staff member was assaulted and a housing unit at a Lincoln prison set ablaze — the third fire set during an inmate uprising at a Nebraska prison in the last two years.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Correctional Services says the incident happened Friday evening, when a fire was set and a male staff member attacked around 7:30 p.m. at the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln. Officials say the staff member was not seriously hurt, and no other staff or inmates were injured.

Officials say Nebraska State Patrol troopers and prison emergency teams were able to quash the disturbance in less than two hours.

Officials have not detailed the extent of the damage to the housing unit where the fire occurred.