News Director Scott Carlson sits down with Dalene from the NP Area Habitat for Humanity and Teri from First National Bank to discuss the “A Brush with Kindness” program to help with the beautification of NP area homes. Have a listen to learn all about it, and visit www.npahfh.org for more information.

A 36-year-old North Platte man has been jailed after he allegedly sexually assaulted a child as they slept.

According to Investigator John Deal, on August 4 at around 6:41 p.m.,  officers met with a juvenile and their mother at the police department regarding an alleged sexual assault.  Deal said the alleged assault occurred at a residence in the 700 block of South Sycamore Street.

The juvenile told officers that they had been sleeping in their bedroom early on the morning of August 2, when they awoke to find Dennis Nash, their mother’s live-in boyfriend, performing oral sex on them.

Officers searched the residence where the alleged offense occurred and, according to Deal, found evidence that corroborated the victim’s account.

Officers made contact with Nash and conducted an interview.  It was determined that there was probable cause to arrest Nash and charge him with 1st-degree sexual assault.

Police did not reveal the age or sex of the alleged victim but stated that they were under 16.

Nash was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.  He’s being held without bond.

ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) — State officials say they’re looking to improve and expand the Nebraska Advantage Act, which gives qualified businesses state incentives.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Thursday that Nebraska Department of Economic Development Director Courtney Dentlinger and other state officials are meeting with Chambers of Commerce and businesses across the state to brainstorm different ideas to keep businesses in the state and attract additional ones.

The incentives are based on the dollar amount of investment in Nebraska and number of jobs created, starting at $1 million in new investment and 10 new jobs.

Businesses are offered a wage credit and partial refund of sales taxes paid on qualified capital purchases. They can also be granted personal property exemptions for things such as ag-processing machinery and planes.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska is no longer at risk of losing $17 million in federal funding because of delays in processing public benefit applications.

The state Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that its processing rate improved to more than 95 percent for the period of October 2015 to March 2016.

Department CEO Courtney Phillips says applications in July were approved in an average of nine days, and one-third of the clients received same-day approval.

The department now allows clients to apply for assistance via telephone. Clients can also sign up to receive email notifications to check their online account for messages.

Nebraska now ranks 23rd nationally in its timely processing of applications. In August 2014, the state ranked last in the country.

NEW YORK (AP) — Three experimental Zika vaccines protected monkeys against infection from the virus, an encouraging sign as research moves into studies in people.

The experiment involved a traditional vaccine and two more cutting-edge ones. The traditional vaccine is expected to enter preliminary human studies this year. At least two other experimental Zika vaccines are in human studies already.

Researchers reported the success in monkey studies Thursday in a paper released by the journal Science. The traditional vaccine used a dead virus, while the other two used a single gene of the Zika virus to prime the monkeys’ immune systems to fight off the germ.

Efforts to develop a vaccine began after a massive Zika outbreak last year in Brazil.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new Nebraska audit has uncovered serious flaws in the operations of a state agency that’s key to the governor’s goal of growing Nebraska’s economy.

The audit, released Tuesday, says the Department of Economic Development spent millions of dollars on grants and contracts during 2015 without adequate documentation or monitoring. State Auditor Charlie Janssen couldn’t confirm the money was used for appropriate reasons.

The audit also questions a more than $14,000 payment made in October as part of a settlement agreement with Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, who became the agency’s director in February 2015 but was fired by Gov. Pete Ricketts in October.

Nebraska Department of Administrative Services attorneys say Hicks-Sorensen agreed to resign and waive all claims against the department in exchange for the payment.

Agency officials say they’ll fully consider the finding and make appropriate reforms.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former village board chairman has been sentenced to prison for trying to arrange sex with a 15-year-old girl in Lincoln.

Court records say 56-year-old Steven Klingelhoefer was sentenced Tuesday to 20 to 22 years in prison. He’d pleaded guilty to enticement with an electronic communication device and to possession of child pornography. He entered the pleas after prosecutors lowered the enticement charge.

He resigned in November as chairman of the Amherst Village Board in Buffalo County.

Prosecutors say Klingelhoefer tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl in Lincoln, where he was arrested Nov. 20. Authorities say the person he was exchanging emails and text messages with was actually an undercover officer working for the Nebraska attorney general’s office.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Prisons officials say staff members at the Nebraska State Penitentiary have regained control of a group of inmates who refused orders to return to their living quarters.

A statement from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says the prison is on lockdown status after the incident Tuesday evening.

According to the statement, a group of inmates who had been ordered to return to their housing unit from the dining hall refused to leave a yard. A group of inmates “converged on staff” and inmates throughout the facility “became defiant” and “verbally aggressive.”

Warden Rich Cruickshank says staff regained control and secured the facility. The statement says no staff or inmates were injured.

The facility will be on lockdown status while the incident is investigated.