LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s presidential electors have stuck to their commitment to support Republican Donald Trump.

All five electors cast their votes for the president-elect on Monday in a Capitol ceremony with Gov. Pete Ricketts and Secretary of State John Gale.

A 2014 law requires Nebraska’s at-large electors to support the statewide winner and district electors to vote for their district’s winner. Those who refuse are instantly removed from the position, and Gale is barred from accepting their ballot.

Trump won the popular vote statewide and claimed a majority in all three of Nebraska’s congressional districts. Democrat Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote but lost in the electoral college.

About 40 people convened beneath the Capitol rotunda Monday morning to show opposition to Trump and urge the electors to pick someone else.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska residents shouldn’t face as many obstacles when applying for certain public benefits under new reforms unveiled by Gov. Pete Ricketts.

State officials announced Monday that they have made a series of user-friendly changes to the Women, Infants, and Children food benefit program. They also have slashed the wait times to determine whether residents qualify for developmental disability services, from 69 days to an average of 14.

Some of the program changes to the Women, Infants and Children program including paperless processing, extended office hours and a greater focus on face-time with clients.

Ricketts says the changes will allow the Department of Health and Human Services to concentrate more on its core mission of helping residents.

CHICAGO (AP) — U.S. women are increasingly using pot during pregnancy, sometimes for morning sickness. That’s according to an analysis of annual U.S. government drug surveys.

Though the actual numbers are small, researchers and others say the trend raises concerns because of evidence linking the drug with low birth weights and other problems.

In 2014, almost 4 percent of pregnant women said they’d recently used marijuana. That’s up from 2.4 percent in 2002.

The study was published online Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A separate study in the same journal found that almost 10 percent of adult marijuana users in the United States have used it at least partly for medical reasons; 20 percent of these users live in states where medical marijuana isn’t legal.

OVERTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver has died in the crash of a vehicle on Interstate 80 in south-central Nebraska.

The crash occurred around 5:15 p.m. Friday near the Overton interchange in Dawson County. The Nebraska State Patrol says the eastbound vehicle went out of control, ran into the median and rolled, ending up in the westbound lanes.

The driver was identified as 65-year-old Jesse Gomez Jr., of Lyman. His passenger, 32-year-old Victor Rodriguez-Lira, was treated for minor injuries.

A 24-year-old Grand Island man was jailed on a felony charge after an apparent argument with a female ended with him driving through North Platte streets with the woman hanging from the side of his vehicle.

At around 12:42 a.m., on December 18, officers responded to a disturbance in the 900 block of South Bryan Avenue.

It was reported that a male and female were arguing when the male got into a pickup and drove off with the female hanging from the side.

Officers arrived in the area and followed a pickup that they believed was involved in the disturbance. When the vehicle pulled into a parking lot, a male subject, later identified as Richard Kumke, exited the vehicle and indicated that he had been involved in an argument with his girlfriend.

A short time later, the North Platte 911 Center received a call from the female, who told dispatchers that she had gotten into an argument with her boyfriend and was calling from a residence in the 1500 block of East Philip.  She stated that she had climbed onto the running board of the pickup in an attempt to prevent Kumke from driving because he had been drinking.

However, instead of stopping, Kumke allegedly continued to drive northbound on Bryan Avenue, then eastbound on Philip, with the female still clinging to the side.

At some point, the female fell off the vehicle, losing her phone.  Investigator John Deal says the woman ran to a stranger’s house and contacted the police.

According to Deal, officers investigated and found a disturbance in the snow near the intersection of Philip Avenue and Belmont Street. They also located the victim’s phone at this location and determined that this is the location where she had fallen off of the vehicle.

The victim was transported to Great Plains Health for the treatment of an injury to the back of her head.

Kumke, who reportedly failed a series of field sobriety tests, was transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and charged with driving under the influence of liquor-2nd offense and felony leaving the scene of an accident.

The extent of the woman’s injuries is unknown.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — All the questions about Cabela’s future in its Western Nebraska hometown after its planned merger with rival Bass Pro Shops next year are taking a toll on the local economy.

Business owners in Sidney are having a difficult time since the sale was announced this fall, and property values have plummeted because so many homes are on the market in the town of roughly 7,000.

Wendy Pemberton, who owns Della’s Cafe in Sidney says the town is on edge.

Bass Pro’s $4.5 billion deal to buy Cabela’s is expected to close sometime next year. The companies have said they plan to keep significant operations in Sidney, but it’s not clear how many of the roughly 2,000 jobs there will be lost.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Santa delivered an early Christmas present when he helped surprise two young girls in North Platte by delivering their dad home for the holidays.

Jacob and Alleasha Ross decided to surprise their girls with their dad’s holiday leave with a little help from Santa. Jacob Ross is an Air Force staff sergeant who has been stationed in South Korea since May.

After 5-year-old Rylinn Ross told Santa Friday that she wanted her daddy home, he told her the elves had put something special in his sleigh. Then Jacob Ross stepped out to surprise his daughters.

Jacob Ross will be home for 28 days before returning to finish his deployment.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Regional Poison Control Center says it’s important to keep kids away from holiday hazards like alcohol, disc batteries and visiting relatives’ medications.

When families gather for the holidays, there are plenty of hazards.

The Poison Control Center says families should make sure to store visiting relatives’ medications out of reach of children.

And parents should watch out for the disc batteries that are used in many toys and remote controls because they are a choking hazard for kids.

Also, keep small children away from poisonous seasonal plants like mistletoe, holly berries, yew plants and poinsettias.

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of regular-grade gasoline has jumped 6 cents nationally over the past two weeks, to $2.26 a gallon.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday the hike mostly results from an agreement Nov. 30 by major oil-producing countries to slash output.

Lundberg says the current price is 20 cents a gallon above what it was one year ago. But the 2016 average price is 31 cents below the 2015 average, and $1.21 a gallon below the 2014 average.

Gas in San Diego was the highest in the continental United States at $2.68 a gallon on average Friday. The low average was in El Paso, Texas, at $1.99 a gallon.

The U.S. average diesel price is $2.48, up 4 cents from two weeks ago.