Mid-Plains Community College received a check for $15,600 from the Nebraska Public Power District on Wednesday night.

The money will be split equally between McCook Community College and North Platte Community College and used for scholarships for students pursuing careers in the engineering and electrical fields.

Larry Linstrom, first vice chairman of the NPPD Board of Directors, made the presentation during a MPCC Board of Governors meeting.

The funds were raised during the Wells Fargo Nebraska Open golf tournament in September. It was the 25th year NPPD coordinated the tournament.

The event has raised a cumulative total of just over $1.4 million for community college students in NPPD’s service area through the years. The total received by MPCC over the life of the tournament has been $282,510.

“Hundreds of students have had their tuition paid as a result of this tournament,” said Linstrom. “Nebraska’s economy is stronger because of the education provided by the community college system, and NPPD is stronger for having hired many of these graduates. The tournament is a great way to pair business and education to get results.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska prison officials say a prison staff member has been assaulted by an inmate.

A news release from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says the assaulted occurred Wednesday afternoon at the maximum security prison in Tecumseh.

The release says the inmate hit the staff member in the head and face while the two were in a staff office in a housing unit. The staff member was able to get out of the office and call for help. The staff member was treated for minor injuries. Neither the inmate nor the staff member were named.

Officials have reported several attacks on corrections staff at various Nebraska prisons over several months, including one in August at the Lincoln Correctional Center that left nine officers injured.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale is pulling a set of public service announcements off the air amid criticism that they could mislead voters about a death penalty ballot measure.

Gale said Wednesday that the 30- and 60-second radio spots were intended to ensure voters understand the potentially confusing ballot language. Voting “repeal” in the election is a show of support for the punishment, while voting “retain” is a declaration that the death penalty should not be reinstated.

The death penalty opposition group Retain a Just Nebraska argued that radio ads failed to mention that the state will still have life imprisonment if the death penalty stays repealed.

Gale says he pulled the ad so the debate will remain focused on “substantive issues.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An investigator says an inmate helped two others escape a Lincoln prison in a laundry truck.

Nebraska State Patrol investigator Cory Townsend testified at a hearing Tuesday that the inmate piled clothes atop Timothy Clausen and Armon Dixon, who’d climbed into a laundry cart on June 10. The cart was then loaded into a truck used to haul laundry from the Lincoln Correctional Center to another state prison.

Authorities have said the two ripped a hole in the truck’s roof, climbed out and jumped off for a brief span of freedom. Clausen and Dixon were recaptured within a week.

The third inmate hasn’t been charged. A judge decided Tuesday that Clausen and Dixon will be tried on escape charges.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says the budget he proposes to lawmakers next year won’t raise taxes and will slow the growth of state government.

Ricketts says he still plans to look at tax reforms, even though state revenues have fallen short of projections. The governor made the comments in his weekly newspaper column released Tuesday.

Nebraska has collected less tax revenue than expected largely because of a downturn in commodity prices, weakening the state’s agricultural industry.

Ricketts has already ordered state agencies to restrain their spending. Two weeks ago, he imposed a ban on non-essential out-of-state travel and a hiring freeze for non-mission critical positions. Ricketts says the state needs to prioritize investments in some areas, such as the corrections department.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska residents and small businesses have received nearly $1 million in federal grants to pay for new energy projects throughout the state.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that 40 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects have received grants totaling roughly $962,000. The grants were provided through the Rural Energy for America Program.

The department says the projected energy savings from the announced project is equivalent to the amount required to power 345 homes. The projects are located in 22 Nebraska counties, and include upgrades such as new windows, solar panels and converting irrigation motors from diesel to electric.

Congress created the program in the 2002 Farm Bill and reauthorized it in 2014 with guaranteed funding of at least $50 million annually.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Roughly 1,400 people filled a suburban Omaha church to remember the six members of a family who died last week in a house fire in rural southeast Nebraska.

The Speer family Thursday morning when fire consumed their home near the village of Nehawka (neh-HAH’-kuh). Michael and Michelle Speer, who were both 36, died along with their four daughters.

Ann Gentle, who worked with both parents at Union Pacific, says the Speer home was full of love, laughter and music, and the family was always welcoming.

The funeral was held Tuesday at Calvary Christian Church in Bellevue.

The four girls who died were 11-year-old Elli Perez, 7-year-old Adilynn Speer, 5-year-old Emma Speer and 2-year-old Anniston Speer.

Investigators said embers or hot ashes from a fireplace likely started the fatal fire.

EDITOR’S NOTE: An additional memorial service will be held for Elli Perez at 10:00 a.m., on Wednesday, October 26, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in North Platte. Elli’s father, James, is a 1997 graduate of North Platte High School.  Her mother, Michelle, graduated from NPHS in 1998.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials from two Nebraska counties say allowing people to text emergency calls has some challenges, even though it has expanded emergency services and saved some lives.

Buffalo and Douglas counties began their text-to-911 services in January 2015. Officials say calling 911 is still the fastest, most effective way to assure first responders can get to the scene.

Interim Douglas County 911 Director Mark Conrey says text exchanges in Omaha are processed more slowly than regular 911 calls and that location information transmitted with the messages can be unreliable.

But in Buffalo County, the system helped two Kearney children, who successfully alerted authorities via text that their dad was drunk and driving them to Colorado in April. Buffalo County Sheriff Neil Miller says they’ve only had problems receiving photos from some carriers.