KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A Palmyra girl has won the 12-and-under age category for the 26th annual Nebraska Handwriting Contest.

A news release Wednesday from the University of Nebraska at Kearney identified Hanna Thomson as the winner. The first-place finisher in the age 13-16 category was Mary Nibbe, of Red Cloud. Finishing first for entrants ages 17-49 was Sheila Sindelar, of Wisner, and the winner for people age 50 and over was Jackie Buchta, of Omaha.

The contest is administered by the university and endorsed by the Nebraska State Education Association and Nebraska Education Department.

Entries were judged on ease of reading, fluent rhythmic movement and technically correct performance of specifications such as the slope, space, size and shape of the letters.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles has released a second standard license plate design after the first attempt was criticized as inaccurate and sexually suggestive.

The department announced Wednesday that it has finalized an adjustment to the design for the new plates, which will be issued starting in 2017.

Gov. Pete Ricketts’ spokesman Taylor Gage says graphic designers at the Department of Administrative Services helped the DMV adjust the design to more accurately portray the sower that tops Nebraska’s Capitol building.

The department stopped production on the first design in April after Omaha artist Jeff Heldt said he submitted the design 2002 as part of a state contest. Heldt’s version of the Sower was based off a similar statue atop a bell tower in Michigan.

MERNA, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters have found the body of a 59-year-old man inside a charred trailer home.

Merna and Broken Bow firefighters were sent to battle the trailer blaze around 8:40 p.m. Monday. They were able to save the structure from total destruction and prevent the flames from spreading to nearby properties.

Authorities have identified the body as that of the occupant, Michael McAlevy. An autopsy was ordered.

TRENTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two southwest Nebraska men who died in a murder-suicide.

Hitchcock County Sheriff Bryan Leggott said in a news release posted Tuesday that 49-year-old Robert Lawing fatally shot 58-year-old James Baxter before killing himself with the same stolen handgun. Deputies who were sent to a Trenton home early on April 27 found Lawing’s body outside and Baxter’s inside the residence.

Leggott didn’t say what events led to the shootings. Both men lived in Trenton.

In a related incident, the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office says Lawing’s home was destroyed by an arsonist two days after the shootings. No arrest has been reported.

HOLDREGE, Neb. (AP) — Plenty of water is headed for the Platte River in Nebraska, but officials don’t know yet how much and when it will arrive.

Engineer Cory Steinke told the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District board members Monday in Holdrege that the water will come from the basin’s rain runoff, nearly full Wyoming reservoirs upstream of Lake McConaughy (muh-KAHN’-uh-hay) on the North Platte River and deeper-than-average snowpacks in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.

Steinke says there isn’t much room in the upstream reservoirs for a higher-than-normal snowpacks. He says releases from the Glendo Reservoir upstream from Lake McConaughy have been increased.

On Monday Lake McConaughy was holding about 1.5 million acre-feet of water — around 85 percent of maximum.

A 31-year-old North Platte woman has been accused of brandishing a knife and threatening another woman with it.

On Tuesday, at around 4:51 p.m., North Platte police responded to a disturbance at an apartment in the 1400 block of Rodeo Road.  It was reported that Quannalyn Makes Room For Them had gotten into a verbal argument with a 41-year-old female.

At some point, Makes Room For Them allegedly grabbed a kitchen knife and threatened to harm to other female with it.

Officers quickly arrived on the scene and took Makes Room For Them into custody.  According to Investigator John Deal, the knife allegedly used in the incident was located and seized as evidence.

Makes Room For Them was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center on charges of felony terroristic threats and use of a weapon to commit a felony.

No injuries were reported.

On Saturday, August 27th, night two of opening weekend, Cam opens the show for Lady Antebellum beginning at 8 pm.  

Tickets are available for $60 general admission and $90 for the limited pit tickets available. Concertgoers can get tickets at Etix.com and at the Heartland Events Center Box Office.

State Fair events and entertainment director, Chelsey Jungck says, “We’ve been trying to get our hands on Lady A for a long time.  I can’t think of a year when our concertgoers haven’t wanted to see them at the Nebraska State Fair. We are so happy that everything worked out to sign Lady Antebellum to come to Grand Island in 2016.”

Lady Antebellum will be celebrating a decade together in 2016, and their success has been unmatched.  Lady A has won numerous awards from the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association and the Grammy’s.

Songs like “Just a Kiss”, “Dancin’ Away With My Heart”, “Need You Now” and “Bartender” barely scratch the surface of what Lady Antebellum has been able to accomplish in six albums.

Jungck said, “Lady A has always maintained that they put so much energy into every single performance, that they want their audience to feel—to hear the electricity. That’s what we can all look forward to at this year’s fair.”

Lady Antebellum

Special Guest:   Cam

Date:   Saturday, August 27, 8pm

General Tickets: $60 plus gate and fees

Pit Tickets:   $90 plus gate and fees

Available: Etix.com or at the Heartland Events Center Box Office.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A relative of celebrated novelist Willa Cather has left $5.8 million in his estate to support various scholarly projects at her alma mater, the University of Nebraska.

The university said in a news release Tuesday that Charles Cather bequeathed the money to the University of Nebraska Foundation for various Cather initiatives at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They include the Willa Cather Archive and the Cather Project.

Charles Cather was the son of Willa Cather’s brother, James D. Cather, and attended the university in the early 1940s. He died on March 14, 2011.

Willa Cather graduated from the university in 1895 and died in 1947. Her novels such as “O Pioneers” told of Great Plains frontier life. She was awarded a Pulitzer in 1923 for “One of Ours.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A home that the University of Nebraska Foundation purchased in 2013 for a former NU president has been sold at a loss after more than a year on the market.

The house sold to an undisclosed buyer for $575,000 on Monday.

The home at 2810 S. 27th St. in Lincoln was purchased in 2013 for then-President J.B. Milliken for $750,000 using private foundation funds.

Milliken accepted a position in New York shortly after the purchase and never moved in. The foundation put the 7,000-square-foot home on the market in January 2015. The foundation spent $895,000 in June 2015 for a different home for new NU President Hank Bounds.