OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A group of Nebraska farmers who say their crops suffered because the state improperly deprived them of irrigation water from the Republican River can proceed with their lawsuit.

Attorney David Domina, who represents the group of about 150 farmers, said Tuesday that District Judge James Doyle had rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the case.

Domina says the farmers in the Frenchman Cambridge Irrigation District agree the state had the authority to send the water to Kansas in 2013 to comply with the Republican River Compact.

But Domina says the farmers should have been compensated for that irrigation water the lost.

A spokeswoman for the state Attorney General said she couldn’t immediately comment on the ruling Tuesday afternoon.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska attorney general’s office is objecting to a new effort by a civil liberties group to have both same-sex spouses listed as parents on their children’s birth certificates.

State attorneys argued in a news release Tuesday that plaintiffs in the case are adding statements from couples who were not part of their original lawsuit and claiming additional rights not addressed in the original filings. The original lawsuit challenged Nebraska’s same-sex marriage ban.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska asked a judge last week to order state officials to list both spouses on birth certificates. The group says the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has refused to provide married gay couples with birth certificates for their children on the same conditions as married straight couples.

Bridge work will force temporary closures of the Johnson Lake outlet bridge in early October.

Beginning Monday, October 5, 2015, the Johnson Lake outlet bridge will be closed each week Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Gosper and Dawson counties will have signs posted to notify the public.

The bridge will be closed for a duration of approximately eight weeks while the new pedestrian bridge is under construction.

A McCook man is facing charges after he allegedly assaulted staff at Great Plains Health in North Platte.

At around 1:00 p.m., on September 28, officers with the North Platte Police Department responded to the Great Plains Health Behavioral Unit after receiving a report that a patient had assaulted staff members at the hospital.

Officers arrived and found staff trying to calm the suspect, 33-year-old Jessee Anderson.

It was reported that Anderson had become agitated and began choking a 34-year-old male doctor.

Police say when two male staff members attempted to intervene, Anderson stuck them multiple times and attempted to leave the facility.

After further investigation, officers took Anderson into custody and transported him to the Lincoln County Detention Center.

He’s been charged with felony assault on a health care professional, felony strangulation, two counts of 3rd-degree assault and criminal mischief.

Anderson is being held on ten percent of $100,000 bond.

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — The Sidney police chief thinks his sentence for obstructing government operations is disproportionately tough.

That’s what the attorney for Chief B.J. Wilkinson told a judge on Monday in Cheyenne County District Court.

State prosecutors say Wilkinson failed to pursue criminal charges against city Public Works Director John Hehnke after Hehnke’s ex-girlfriend filed a complaint in January 2014 against Hehnke. The case came to the attention of state prosecutors, who later charged Hehnke.

Wilkinson’s attorney, Thomas Sonntag, said in court Monday that Wilkinson’s 30-day jail sentence was unfairly tough when compared to Hehnke’s $300 fine for disturbing the peace.

Judge Travis O’Gorman says he’ll probably make a decision on the appeal within two weeks.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska is set to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with an event at the Capitol.

The Nebraska Latino-American Commission is hosting the 9th annual heritage commemoration on Oct. 9 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. Six Nebraska students, two organizations and three community leaders will be honored.

Organizers say this year’s keynote speaker is Nita Gonzales, the daughter of the boxer, poet and political activist Corky Gonzales.

Nita Gonzales is the founder and director of Escuela Tlateloco in Denver, a school that focuses on Latino students and includes a Mexican-American Studies curriculum. She is also an education and civil rights activist who was honored by President Barack Obama.

Gov. Pete Ricketts will speak to the audience, followed by Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler.

CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say they’re investigating the assault of a jail guard in western Nebraska who was on duty alone.

Dawes County Sheriff Karl Dailey says the incident happened Friday night at the county jail in Chadron.

An inmate in a cell block with four people assaulted the guard, who was working a shift alone.

Dailey says the guard did not have serious physical injuries and was able to call for assistance. Local police responded shortly. The inmate went back into the cell without further incident.

Dailey says there are usually two guards on duty at all times. He says he will have additional information soon.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A group seeking to reinstate Nebraska’s death penalty spent more than $900,000 to place the issue on the 2016 ballot.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty disclosed its expenses Monday. The group announced in August that it had collected nearly 167,000 signatures from a petition drive that began after lawmakers abolished capital punishment.

The largest contributions in the latest reporting period were $100,000 from Robert Mercer, a New York hedge fund manager, and $100,000 from the Washington-based Judicial Crisis Network.

Gov. Pete Ricketts and his father, TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, have collectively given $300,000 but did not contribute in the latest reporting period.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty reported $10,350 in cash-on-hand. Spokesman Chris Peterson says the group will continue raising money to fight a lawsuit challenging the petition drive.

A North Platte man is in jail on a felony charge after he allegedly ran from police.

At around 12:37 p.m., on September 26, an officer on patrol saw Jon Jay Caudillo in the 900 block of South Tabor Street.

The officer was aware that Caudillo had an active Lincoln County warrant for escape and made contact with him.

Police say Caudillo was cooperative at first but ran after the officer told him he was being arrested.

Caudillo ran into a building at South Platte Terrace apartments, where officers eventually found him hiding behind a dryer unit.

Caudillo was arrested and transported to jail on the warrant for escape and a new charge of resisting arrest.

Police say Caudillo was convicted of resisting arrest in 2007, making this charge a felony.