LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Unlicensed internet lenders have agreed to forgive more than $550,000 in loans as part of a settlement with Nebraska officials.

The agreement announced Thursday also requires four lenders to pay $950,000 in restitution for excess interest and fees paid by Nebraska consumers and $150,000 to the state.

The action by the Nebraska attorney general’s office and the Department of Banking and Finance targeted the businesses CashCall, Inc., Delbert Services Corporation, WS Funding, LLC and their owner J. Paul Reddam. It also targeted Western Sky Financial and its owner, Martin A. Webb.

State officials accused the companies of making loans to more than 2,400 Nebraska residents with annual percentage rates ranging from 89 percent to 342 percent, and charging unlawful fees.

ODESSA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have dropped charges filed against an Ohio man after a stabbing in south-central Nebraska.

19-year-old Caleb McDonald, of Liberty Township, Ohio, had been charged with assault and other crimes after the April 3, 2015, incident.

Last week a district judge in Buffalo County granted a prosecution motion to dismiss the case. After McDonald was given a psychiatric evaluation, prosecutor Mike Mefferd concluded that state law wouldn’t permit McDonald’s prosecution. McDonald’s attorney had said McDonald has a mental disorder.

Authorities say McDonald and another man were traveling in separate vehicles on a county road in Odessa when they exchanged words. The Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office says McDonald stabbed the man after they got out of their vehicles.

CAMBRIDGE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Nebraska Game and Parks worker has died in a mower accident.

The Frontier County Sheriff’s Office says the accident occurred around noon Tuesday while the 68-year-old seasonal employee was mowing campgrounds at Harry Strunk Lake near Cambridge. The office says the mower fell down a 10-foot drop-off and landed atop the man, pinning him in water.

Another worker found him and began resuscitation attempts. The man was pronounced dead later at a Cambridge hospital.

The Sheriff’s Office identified the man as Dale Oberst.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A Hastings woman accused of killing a toddler by stuffing a baby wipe down her throat has been sentenced to three to five years in prison.

34-year-old Azudany Serrano-Contreras was sentenced Wednesday in the death of 19-month-old Aliyana Peterson. Serrano-Contreras had pleaded no contest to negligent child abuse resulting in injury.

Serrano-Contreras is the aunt of the girl’s mother.

Investigators have said that Serrano-Contreras told officers that she was babysitting the child on March 12, 2015, when she cleaned the girl’s face, set the wipe down on a counter and turned to get lotion. According to authorities, Serrano-Contreras said that Aliyana was gasping for air when she turned back.

The girl was pronounced dead two days later.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Powerball jackpot has grown even larger.

There was no jackpot winner in Wednesday night’s drawing, increasing the prize from $348 million to an estimated $415 million.

While that’s not chump change, it’s a far cry from the $1.6 billion Powerball prize shared by three winning lottery ticketholders in January, the largest ever jackpot draw in the world. No one has won the full jackpot since March 2.

Powerball says the odds of winning the top prize are one in more than 292 million.

Powerball tickets are sold in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

We are pleased that charitable people in the North Platte area worked through these difficulties and helped more than 50 community causes.

Kimbia reported that the problems were caused by the confluence of 1) an extraordinarily amount of online transactions, 2) a hardware problem and 3) added system functions.  The potential for the problems was not detected during weeks of high volume testing.   Foundations using the website provider were advised that the website operation problems were not related to any data security issue and that all transaction were processed securely.

Eagle Communications, Inc. of Hays, Kansas is pleased to announce that Olivia Hasenauer has been promoted to General Manager of its Media Centers in Alliance and Chadron, Neb.

Hasenauer began her career with Eagle in 2011 as a Marketing Consultant and was promoted to Sales Manager in June of 2014. She has received numerous awards with Eagle Communications including the 2014 Individual Performance Award, given annually to an employee-owner who exhibits exemplary leadership, ability and job performance.

In making this announcement, Eagle Communications CEO Gary Shorman stated, “Olivia has great energy and enthusiasm and has been very successful as Sales Manager in North Platte. As an employee-owned company, it is important to recognize positive team leaders, and we know she will bring those same qualities to our leadership position in Alliance and Chadron.” Shorman said Hasenauer will be replacing Jerome Gilg, the Nebraska Market Manager, who has been interim General Manager in Alliance for the past 18 months.

Gilg will retire from a full-time role with Eagle at the end of July.

“This is an exciting time for Eagle, and I’m grateful for this opportunity to move forward in a company that is growing new ways to serve communities,” Hasenauer said. “The future is what we make it, and with an employee-owned company like Eagle, the future is very much in our hands.” Hasenauer has served on the Board of Directors of the Connection Homeless Shelter in North Platte, as well as the Board of Trustees of the

Hasenauer has served on the Board of Directors of the Connection Homeless Shelter in North Platte, as well as the Board of Trustees of the Mid-Plains United Way. She is also a co-founder of You-Gen, a branch of the North Platte Chamber of Commerce whose mission is to help develop young leaders in a professional setting and retain young business professionals in the community.

She is married to Neil Hasenauer and has two children, Lillian and Damian.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Three former bank executives must pay over $3.1 million for their roles in a fraud scheme that led to Lincoln-based bank’s collapse.

A judge Wednesday ordered former TierOne CEO Gilbert Lundstrom, former President James Laphen and former chief credit officer Don Langford to jointly pay the restitution fee.

U.S. District Judge John Gerrard wrote that the amount represents the losses suffered by the bank’s shareholders who purchased stocks during and after the fraud period.

Lundstrom was sentenced in March to 11 years in federal prison after being convicted of 12 counts related to the 2010 bank failure. Laphen was sentenced to 34 months in prison and Langford received 21 months in prison, after each pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud charges.