In the “season of giving,” there always seems to be people or groups of people who see it as the season of taking.

The North Platte Police Department says they have received numerous reports of a scam involving callers who claim to be representatives of Municipal Light and Water.

According to Investigator John Deal, citizens have reported receiving calls from different phone numbers.  But, in each case, the callers claim that the victims are behind on their utility bills. The callers then ask for payment, usually via prepaid credit card, wire transfer or a gift card.  The victims are told that their utilities will be shut off if they don’t pay, according to Deal.

The scammers are quite crafty too. Deal says when citizens call the number that called back, they hear the same automated greeting used by ML&W, and are eventually connected to a live person requesting payment.

Officials at ML&W say they do not contact customers by phone to request payment, and will only notify their customers about out of order accounts via US Mail.

Investigator Deal says it is not believed that ML&W’s customer database has been breached, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been notified of the matter.

The scammers are believed to be from a foreign country, which will make locating and prosecuting them difficult, Deal says.

He says anyone who has received a call of this nature and has given personal information should contact police immediately.

ML&W recommends that customers contact them directly if they believe their account is out of order so proper payment arrangements can be made.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — An Arkansas educator who graduated from high school in Omaha has been selected to lead Hastings College in Nebraska.

The college board of trustees says Travis Feezell will become president on June 1. He’ll replace Don Jackson, who will retire at the end of the 2016-17 school year after serving in the post for 4½ years.

Feezell is provost and chief academic officer at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas. He’s a graduate of Omaha Central High School and earned his bachelor’s in English at the University of Wyoming. Feezell holds a doctorate in education from the University of Idaho

Officials say his mother once taught at Hastings College and his brother and sister-in-law graduated from the school, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Officials say a suspicious bag that caused evacuation of three buildings at the University of Nebraska at Kearney contained no dangerous material.

A campus news release says a teacher spotted the bag Tuesday outside the Fine Arts Building. Around 3 p.m. officials evacuated about 400 people from that building, the Health and Sports Center and Cushing Coliseum.

Nebraska State Patrol officers sent to the campus determined by 6:30 p.m. that the bag didn’t pose a threat to public safety.

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government wants more people to complain about auto safety problems.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing a rule requiring automakers put labels on sun visors of all new vehicles with instructions on how to file safety complaints.

The labels would be glued to passenger visors and tell people that complaints could bring an investigation or a possible recall.

The agency uses consumer complaints to spot safety problems. In 2015, it didn’t have enough people to thoroughly analyze the 75,000 complaints that came in, and it hasn’t received additional funding since.

The labels were required by Congress in 2012.

Complaints can be filed by telephone, internet or mail.

The agency will take comments on the proposal until Jan. 27. It could be years before labels are required.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Law enforcement officials have arrested a man they say stole American flags around western Nebraska because he objected to the way they were being flown.

Flags have been reported stolen from schools, libraries, veterans’ group centers, cemeteries and even fire and police departments. The towns hit include North Platte, Paxton, Stapleton, Thedford, Ogallala and Big Springs.

Logan County Sheriff Sean Carson says a 52-year-old man was arrested Monday afternoon and faces multiple counts of criminal mischief, trespassing and theft.

Carson said the man stole the flags because some were torn and others were being flown after dark.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says he still plans to advocate for tax reforms in next year’s session despite a nearly $1 billion projected budget shortfall.

The governor said Tuesday that any changes will have to fit within the state budget, which he and lawmakers are required to balance. Ricketts says his focus will remain at least partially on property taxes, a major complaint of farm and ranch landowners.

The Legislative Fiscal Office says Nebraska faces a projected shortfall of $911 million in the upcoming two-year budget. Lawmakers and Ricketts have said they’re likely to draw some of the money needed from the state’s emergency cash-reserve fund.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal program that helps the public with Medicare-related questions has saved Nebraska residents more than $15 million over the last year.

Gov. Pete Ricketts announced the number Tuesday to spread awareness about the program to the 280,000 residents who are eligible but have not yet participated.

The Senior Health Insurance Information Program offers one-on-one Medicare counseling, a free telephone hotline, website and public presentations. The program’s 370 volunteer counselors assisted nearly 32,000 Nebraska residents between October 2015 and September 2016.

Program Director Alicia Jones says many of the savings were realized when residents learned about less expensive alternatives for their prescription drug plans. The program also helps residents whose Medicare claims were denied.

Nebraska Insurance Director Bruce Ramge says drug coverage changes every year.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Meteorologists say warmer weather has brought unusual November weather to Iowa and Nebraska: tornadoes.

The National Weather Service says as many as four tornadoes were reported Monday afternoon in central and northeast Iowa, while three were spotted Sunday in south-central Nebraska. The storms caused light damage and no injuries in both states.

Rich Thompson with the Storm Prediction Center said Tuesday that it’s rare for tornadoes to form so far north and west in late fall. He says warmer weather allowed the typical storm track to move north.

National Weather Service statistics show that only seven tornadoes have hit Nebraska in November since 1950. In Iowa, 41 tornadoes were reported in November between 1980 and 2015.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is defending a proposal that would allow the state to obtain lethal injection drugs without disclosing its supplier.

Ricketts said Tuesday that the new protocol would allow greater flexibility for the Department of Correctional Services, which hasn’t executed an inmate since 1997 and has never done so using the current three-drug protocol.

The administrative proposal announced Monday would allow the state corrections director to choose which drugs are used in an execution and withhold the name of the supplier.

Ricketts argues that the changes are already allowed under a 2009 state law which changed the protocol from electrocution to lethal injection. That law allows the identities of “all members of the execution team” to remain confidential.

Death penalty opponents say they plan to fight the proposal.