LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Marijuana will not become a legal treatment option for Nebraskans suffering from chronic illnesses this year.

Senators fell three votes short of the 33 needed to break a filibuster and force a vote on a medical marijuana bill Tuesday evening.

Opponents say marijuana has not been approved by the Federal Drug Administration and cannot be tested for safety like other drugs.

Attorney General Doug Peterson, Gov. Pete Ricketts and the Department of Health and Human Services also opposed the bill.

Advocates say medical marijuana is already legal in 23 other states and it is in Nebraska’s best interest to regulate it.

Sponsor Sen. Tommy Garrett of Bellevue says he will support a petition process to place the measure on the general election ballot.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The state’s top election official says early voting appears to be off to a robust start in Nebraska.

Secretary of State John Gale said Monday that officials in 73 counties have mailed more than 24,600 ballots to voters who have requested one. The number far exceeds to the number of ballots mailed out during the first five days of early voting during the primaries in 2014, 2012, 2010 and 2008.

Gale says 87 percent of the ballots mailed out so far have been returned. Those ballots include ones returned by military and overseas voters.

Requests came from nearly 11,400 Republicans, more than 11,200 Democrats, nearly 2,000 registered independents and 62 Libertarians.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill that would allow Nebraska to charge higher fees for hunting and fishing permits is headed to a final vote in the Legislature.

Senators gave the measure second-round approval Tuesday with a 43-3 vote after overcoming a filibuster. They also rejected an amendment by Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha to end Nebraska’s mountain lion hunting season.

The bill would give the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission the authority to raise permit fees. The maximum fee for annual resident hunting permits could rise from $13 to $18, while the fee cap for annual fishing permits would increase from $17.50 to $24.

Sen. John McCollister of Omaha, the bill’s sponsor, says the fee caps were last adjusted in 2003.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says he’s “very pleased” to see lawmakers advance a bill that would reinstate a winner-take-all system for the state’s presidential electoral votes.

Ricketts said Tuesday that his staff is keeping an eye on the bill, but added that he wants to let the Legislature work through its process. Lawmakers on Monday advanced the measure through the second of three required votes.

The bill would end Nebraska’s practice of awarding its votes by congressional district. Nebraska and Maine are the only states where it’s possible to split electoral votes between opposing presidential candidates.

The state did so for the first time in 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama captured one from the 2nd congressional district in Omaha on his way to the presidency.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Officials say two of four teens who escaped from a Kearney treatment facility have been captured.

Four teens escaped Sunday night from Kearney’s Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center. Police captured one teen near the facility, and the Gage County Sheriff’s Office received information around 11:40 p.m. Monday that another escapee was headed toward Beatrice.

The teen was found during a traffic stop on the north side of Beatrice and was taken to the Youth Attention Center in Lincoln.

Authorities are still searching for two of the teens.

Early Monday, Grand Island police tried to stop a vehicle that fled. Officers later found the apparently stolen vehicle abandoned, and inside were two T-shirts with the missing teens’ names on them.

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, police have identified the five people killed when a sightseeing helicopter crashed and burned near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee.

Police said in a news release that the dead were the pilot, 38-year-old Jason Dahl, of Sevierville, Tennessee; and four passengers, 49-year-old Johna Morvant of Kodak, Tennessee, 22-year-old Peyton Rasmussen of Huntersville, North Carolina, 21-year-old Michael Glenn Mastalez of Prosper, Texas, and 18-year-old Parker Rasmussen, also of Huntersville.

The Rasmussens’ father, Scott Rasmussen of Huntersville, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that Mastalez was his daughter’s boyfriend. Family members said Peyton and Parker Rasmussen were visiting their mother, Morvant.

The helicopter crashed Monday afternoon near a large outlet mall in Sevierville. Investigators have been going through the wreckage but haven’t determined what caused the Bell 206 helicopter to crash.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Peyton and Parker Rasmussen, and Johna Morvant were all former residents of North Platte.  Peyton and Parker’s father and grandfather, Scott and Butch, were the longtime owners of the Cedar Bowl, in North Platte.

RELATED CONTENT:

http://www.northplattepost.com/2016/04/05/family-with-ties-to-north-platte-sutherland-killed-in-tennessee-helicopter-crash/

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska is trying a new approach to serve children and youths who have serious emotional disorders.

Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Tuesday that the state is adopting a “system of care” approach designed to promote better communication and cooperation among public and private agencies, families and youth.

Sheri Dawson, who oversees the state’s behavioral health services, says state officials will review whether Nebraska has gaps in services for youths or if services are redundant. Youths with emotional disorders frequently interact with multiple state agencies and private groups.

The initiative follows a planning process that included input from more than 1,000 families, youth, system partners, service providers and others.

Department of Health and Human Services CEO Courtney Phillips says she expects the system will help children, youths and families achieve better outcomes.

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Officials say a sightseeing helicopter crashed near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee, killing all five people aboard.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said in an email that the Bell 206 helicopter crashed Monday around 3:30 p.m. near Sevierville. Officials said the tourist helicopter was destroyed by fire after the crash.

Pigeon Forge Police Chief Jack Baldwin says the helicopter appeared to have come down the side of a mountain and crashed at the foot of it.

The crash site is less than a mile from a large outlet mall in Sevierville and adjacent to a neighborhood off the main tourist drag. The site is about three miles from Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

The Post has confirmed, through family members, that three of the individuals killed were 22-year-old Peyton Rasmussen, 18-year-old Parker Rasmussen and their mother, Johna Morvant, all formerly of North Platte.  Morvant is originally from Sutherland.  This is a developing story.  The FAA has said the investigation into the crash could take up to a year.  Peyton and Parker are the children of former Cedar Bowl owner Scott Rasmussen.

RELATED CONTENT:

http://www.northplattepost.com/2016/04/05/5-killed-in-tennessee-helicopter-crash-are-identified/

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A Wisconsin man has died after a car crash along Interstate 80 in south-central Nebraska.

Authorities say 25-year-old Matthew Schmidt, of Green Bay, was alone and headed east last Wednesday when he lost control of his car about three miles east of Gibbon. The car ran off the roadway and rammed into a tree.

Schmidt was taken to a Kearney hospital. The Nebraska State Patrol was informed Sunday that Schmidt had died.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Frustrations are boiling over in the final days of this year’s Nebraska legislative session.

The session slowed to a crawl Tuesday morning, one day after lawmakers advanced a Republican-backed bill to reinstate the winner-take-all system in presidential elections.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who opposed the measure, spent several hours talking to consume debate time as the session nears an end. Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete filed a motion to end the session early, which lawmakers rejected.

Speaker of the Legislature Galen Hadley says he’s frustrated by the increased number of filibusters this year to try to block legislation, but no one person is to blame. He says he’s concerned about what it means for the future of the Legislature.