VALENTINE, Neb (AP) — Just more than two weeks into fall, those in western and northern Nebraska are already seeing snow.

The National Weather Service says snow is falling Thursday afternoon from Alliance to Valentine, with up to two inches expected before tapering off in the late afternoon.

High temperatures aren’t expected to climb past the upper 30s in the area, and overnight lows in the 20s.

The weather service has issued an overnight freeze warning for much of the area until Friday, when the high is expected to rebound to the upper 50s.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Prison officials say a Nebraska State Penitentiary staff member is recovering after being assaulted by two inmates in the Lincoln prison’s yard.

A written release says the inmates used homemade weapons to beat the staff member Wednesday night. Other staff used pepper spray on the inmates to stop the assault.

The staff member was taken to a local hospital, treated and released.

The attack happened as inmates were going to and from dinner. Prison officials say they will not release the names of the staff member or inmates.

Officials have detailed a rash of attacks on corrections officers and staff at various Nebraska prisons over several months, including one in August at the Lincoln Correctional Center that officials say was carried about by a dozen inmates and injured nine officers.

Officials at North Platte High School and local police aren’t clowning around when it comes to threats against the safety of students.

In line with national reports, officials at NPHS say they and students have received numerous threats of a “clown attack” at the school.

According to an email from Superintendent Ron Hanson, the threats have been issued via Snapchat, and have “threatened the physical and emotional safety of others.”

The North Platte Police Department has fielded numerous calls from parents who are concerned about the potential for an attack, but police say they don’t believe the threats are valid.

A message sent to students at NPHS from administrators, earlier today, stated that any student who came to school dressed as a clown in any way would be suspended from school, and would face potential legal consequences.

Administrators say it is their top priority to ensure that students feel safe, both physically and emotionally.

North Platte police told The Post that they have only received one report of a person dressed as a clown, and that was in late-September.  Officers were unable to locate the person and say they have not received any other reports of clown sightings.

Two felony charges have been filed against a North Platte man who is accused of assaulting his girlfriend.

At around 9:56 p.m., on October 5, officers responded to the report of a domestic disturbance in the 2100 block of West 5th Street.  A citizen had contacted police and reported hearing a woman call for help nearby.

Officers made contact with a 44-year-old female and 38-year-old Joey Ziegler.

According to Investigator John Deal, Ziegler and the female are in a dating relationship and live together.

The female told officers that she and Ziegler got into a verbal argument that turned physical when Ziegler punched her in the face and placed his hands around her neck, choking her.

The argument moved into the backyard of the residence, according to Deal, which is when the citizen heard the victim’s pleas for help.

Based on the investigation, and visible injuries to the female’s face and neck, Ziegler was placed under arrest and transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center.

He’s been charged with felony strangulation and domestic assault.  Deal said, due to prior convictions, the domestic assault charge was also enhanced to a felony.

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Reports of menacing clowns have been spreading across the U.S., fueled largely by social media, and authorities say they are being forced to take them seriously as a potential threat to public safety, particularly at schools.

Several hundred University of Connecticut students gathered late Monday in a cemetery, ready to do battle with clowns they had heard might be lurking among the headstones. Police determined that the rumors were a hoax.

Connecticut state troopers say the pranks waste resources and distract from real emergencies.

Similar incidents have been reported at schools across the country, including Penn State University, where more than 500 students showed up early Tuesday to hunt for clowns.

Sociologists say the seemingly silly panic is actually a new twist on a phenomenon as old as witch hunts.

Investigator John Deal says a person dressed as a clown was reported in North Platte in late September, but police were unable to locate the subject. He says no other sightings have been reported.

NEW YORK (AP) — Yahoo responded again Wednesday to a report that it scanned incoming email to hundreds of millions of accounts for the U.S. government.

In a carefully worded statement that stops short of a denial, the company said a Tuesday Reuters report is “misleading,” saying that “the mail scanning described in the article does not exist on our systems.”

Reuters reported that Yahoo built custom software for the scans. Yahoo’s latest statement does not say whether it has conducted such email scans in the past, or whether that software might exist outside its systems.

On Tuesday, Yahoo said only that it complies with U.S. law. On Wednesday, it said it interprets every government request for data “narrowly” to “minimize disclosure.”

Yahoo is currently selling its online operations to Verizon for $4.8 billion.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State auditors have found more than $13 million in uncashed checks piling up at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

The 192 checks were all related to the Medicaid drug rebate program.

The state Auditor’s office called the uncashed checks a significant management problem.

Officials at the agency say the backlog of checks developed because they needed to be researched and checked before depositing, but staffing issues made that hard to do.

One HHS accountant retired in April and a second one took medical leave in June. Officials say that left the department without an accountant familiar with the drug rebate program.

DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety regulators are investigating whether a recall of Ford F-150 pickup trucks for brake failures should be expanded to more model years.

The probe covers about 282,000 pickups with 3.5-liter six-cylinder engines from 2015 and 2016. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has received 25 complaints alleging sudden brake loss in the trucks. No injuries were reported.

In May, Ford recalled about 271,000 six-cylinder F-150s from 2013 and 2014 because brake fluid could leak from the master cylinder and cause brake failure.

The safety agency says it received 10 complaints about 2015 brake failures and another 15 about the 2016 models.

Investigators will decide if the 2015 and 2016 models should be added to the recall. The F-series pickup is the top-selling vehicle in the U.S.