GIBBON, Neb. (AP) — The Gibbon Heritage Center, built more than 125 years ago, has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The center was originally built in 1889 as the Gibbon Baptist Church. The red brick, Gothic-style structure was built with the labor of men in the congregation.

In 1966, the congregation outgrew the building, and local business owners D.E. and Lillian McGregor bought it.

The building was used for various purposes until May 12, 1975, when the McGregors presented the deed to the city and established an annual building maintenance gift.

The building now contains collections of photographs and archives of histories of organizations, clubs and churches, as well as a collection of Gibbon Reporter newspapers dating to the late 1800s.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been awarded a $20 million grant over five years to lead a Nebraska-based research effort focused on improving crop productivity.

The grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. It will fund the new Center for Root and Rhizobiome Innovation.

Researchers from UNL, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, University of Nebraska at Kearney and Doane University in Crete will study root and soil microbe interactions. The hope is to develop new biological tools to improve crop performance.

The grant will also fund three new faculty positions, two at UNL and one at UNK.

The team initially will focus on corn, but their findings and biological tools will be applied to studying and improving other crops, including soybeans.

REPUBLICAN CITY, Neb. (AP) — State officials have issued a health advisory at Harlan County Reservoir after high levels of toxic blue-green algae were detected earlier this week.

Meanwhile, a health advisory issued earlier this month at Pawnee Lake in eastern Nebraska has been lifted.

The elevated algae levels at Harlan County Reservoir were detected during testing by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. During this same round of testing, blue-green algae levels at Pawnee Lake were shown to have dropped to normal levels.

Visitors to Harlan County Reservoir should avoid full body contact activities such as swimming, wading, skiing and jet skiing. Boating, fishing and camping have been deemed safe.

The lake will be tested weekly through the summer months, and the health advisory will be lifted if the algae levels return to normal.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and 30-day jail sentence of a former western Nebraska police chief for obstructing government operations.

Former Sidney Police Chief Byron Wilkinson was convicted after pleading no contest last July. Prosecutors say Wilkinson wrongly kept a citation for disturbing the peace against then-city Public Works Director John Hehnke from being sent to prosecutors.

Hehnke had been ticketed in 2014 for peeking into his ex-girlfriend’s window.

In his appeal, Wilkinson argued — among other things — that the court should not have accepted his no-contest plea, because he had the authority as police chief to thwart the prosecution of Henke.

The high court disagreed Friday, saying there “is no doubt that Wilkinson actually obstructed, impaired, or perverted the governmental function of prosecuting Hehnke’s citation.”

• Joshua Evan Curtis Trace, 30, Curtis NE and Natalie Ann Phillips, 29, Curtis NE

 

• Robert Harold Bush, 47, Hershey and Beth Marie Junker, 36, Hershey

 

• Taylor Dean Hensley, 25, North Platte and Ashley Ann Clark, 27, North Platte

 

• Matthew David Brestel, 33, North Platte and Kara Kathleen Dickman, 30, North Platte

 

• Matthew Donald Pederson, 28, North Platte and Lindsey Marie Mikkelsen, 27, North Platte

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new report says Nebraska’s unemployment rate has remained 3 percent for five months in a row.

The Nebraska Labor Department said in the report issued Friday that the preliminary May rate matched those recorded for January, February, March and April and was a tenth of a point higher than the 2.9 percent reported for May last year.

The new Nebraska rate remained well below the preliminary national unemployment rate of 4.7 percent in May — three-tenths of a point under the 5 percent recorded for April.

The U.S. Labor Department says only South Dakota’s preliminary rate of 2.5 percent and New Hampshire’s 2.7 percent were lower in May than Nebraska’s 3 percent.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Someone in Dodge, Saunders or Washington counties was diagnosed with the state’s first confirmed case of West Nile virus for 2016.

The Nebraska Health and Human Services Department said Thursday that the case was reported in the Three Rivers Health Department area, which covers the three counties. The person was not hospitalized.

Experts say most people who are infected have no symptoms or experience only mild, flu-like symptoms. The most vulnerable people are those who are at least 50 or have weakened immune systems.

Nebraska reported 68 human cases of West Nile virus and two deaths last year. In 2014 eight deaths were blamed on West Nile virus.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The parents of a Nebraska toddler killed by an alligator at a Walt Disney World resort say they’re devastated by the death of their son.

A statement by Matt and Melissa Graves of Elkhorn, Nebraska, says words can’t express the shock and grief their family is experiencing.

They are thanking authorities in Orlando, Florida, for their assistance after the gator grabbed 2-year-old Lane Graves from shallow water in a lake at a Disney hotel.

An animal described as being as long as 7 feet snatched the little boy as he waded in shallow water Tuesday night. The beach had “no swimming” signs but none warning about alligators.

The company says it will now add gator warnings. No time frame is being announced, and the resort’s beaches remain closed.

MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) — A McCook man accused of abusing his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son has been given a year of probation.

Online court records say 39-year-old James Clermont was sentenced June 6 in Red Willow County District Court. He’d pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of negligent child abuse, no injury. Prosecutors had lowered the charge from felony intentional child abuse, no injury.

Clermont was accused after his girlfriend’s son was found to have bruises and abrasions on his back. Authorities say the injuries resulted from Clermont punishing the boy for wetting his pants.

A North Platte Police Department investigator has been honored with a national award.

On June 10, Investigator Roger Freeze received the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Law Enforcement Award.

The VFW says Freeze was awarded for several reasons, but especially for being an exceptions example of all who wear the badge, which reflects the VFW’s proud ideals and high standards.

Investigator Freeze has been employed by the NPPD since 1995 and was promoted to investigator in 2000. He also created the No Limits mentoring program in 1998 and has taught life skills to hundreds of at-risk juveniles in the community.

Freeze is married to his wife, Tiffany, and they have two sons, Andrew and Adam.