NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Gravestones placed near fresh dirt on the courthouse lawn in North Platte marked the work of a prankster or pranksters.

Lincoln County workers have been filling low spots with fresh topsoil to level the lawn. The spots apparently looked like fresh graves, prompting someone to place gravestones after a storm Tuesday night. One spot had a plastic hand laid atop the dirt, and the nearby gravestone read, “Rest in pieces.”

Lincoln County facilities director Dan Manookin said he stopped his vehicle Wednesday morning and rolled down a window “to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.”

He says he thought the prank was a hoot, enjoying the good laugh it provided.

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — A Sidney man who authorities say fought and killed his former father-in-law has been given prison time for violating probation.

Court records say 25-year-old Theodore Medina was sentenced on Monday in Cheyenne County District Court to 20 to 60 months for attempted felony assault and a year for misdemeanor assault. The sentences are to be served consecutively. He’d been sentenced to probation in June 2014.

Medina was arrested in November 2013 after fighting with 50-year-old Ernest Ward, of Sidney. Ward suffered brain damage and later died. Court documents say Medina lived in Ward’s house despite no longer being married to one of Ward’s daughters.

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — Opponents have renewed calls for eliminating the agency that regulates Nebraska’s oil and gas industry, saying its decision on an oil production wastewater site posed a reckless threat to groundwater.

But at the same hearing in Sidney where the criticism was heard Tuesday, backers of the Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said it is recognized across the nation as a staunch defender of groundwater.

The hearing by the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee was called after the commission approved a request in April by Terex Energy Corp., of Broomfield, Colorado, to use a well north of Mitchell to dispose of salty groundwater and chemical-laden fracking wastewater that result from oil and gas exploration and production.

The Natural Resources Committee is expected to hold another hearing in early December in Lincoln.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — A 22-year-old Mitchell man has been given two years of probation for the crash death of a Gering resident.

Michael Fiscus was sentenced on Monday in Scotts Bluff County Court. He’d pleaded no contest and was convicted of misdemeanor vehicular homicide. Prosecutors had lowered the charge in exchange for Fiscus’ plea.

Prosecutors say Fiscus caused the death of 36-year-old Seth Thompson. Thompson died in September 2014 after being injured in the Dec. 20, 2013, accident. Scotts Bluff County authorities say Fiscus didn’t halt at a stop sign as he drove west on a county road, and his vehicle struck a northbound vehicle driven by Dustin Beaudette, of Scottsbluff. Thompson was a passenger in Beaudette’s vehicle.

BROKEN BOW, Neb. (AP) — A trial has been scheduled in April for an unlicensed midwife charged with manslaughter and other crimes in the 2011 death of a Nebraska newborn.

The trial of 68-year-old Judy Jones, of Irene, South Dakota, had been scheduled to begin next month. Custer County Attorney Steven Bowers asked for a delay, however, so evidence from a defense expert could be reviewed. The nonjury trial has been rescheduled to begin April 19.

Jones is charged with manslaughter, practicing without a license and criminal impersonation. Authorities have said Jones helped deliver a baby in rural Custer County home in September 2011, defying orders prohibiting her from practicing as a midwife in Nebraska and South Dakota. The infant died shortly after birth.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Republican legislator from Nebraska says North Carolina GOP lawmakers should consider abolishing the death penalty because the process is financially inefficient, subject to errors and does not give closure to victims’ families.

Nebraska Sen. Colby Coash visited the Legislative Building on Tuesday to talk about his experiences leading efforts this year to repeal capital punishment in his state. The group North Carolina Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty brought in Coash for Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte appearances.

Nebraska became the first traditionally conservative state to eliminate the punishment since 1973 when its legislature overrode the veto of Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Republican Rep. Jon Hardister of Greensboro also opposes the death penalty. Hardister says he hopes Coash’s visit will start discussions with fellow GOP lawmakers about repeal legislation.

The route for one of the largest events during NEBRASKAland DAYS will remain the same for 2016 after Celebration officials were notified that the construction on Jeffers Street will continue into the Spring of 2016.

The Nebraska Department of Roads is unsure how far into the Spring construction will continue.

“We consulted with the State and the City about this decision for the coming year,” says Executive Director David Fudge. “There is not a great deal of confidence that construction will be concluded by the time the Celebration gets underway on June 15th, so it seemed prudent to plan this way.”

The route will once again move West down 4th Street from Bryan before turning South on Dewey. It will conclude at H Street, at which point Parade entries will be routed East.

“Frankly we received a lot of positive feedback from law enforcement, sponsors, and the City on this route,” says Fudge. “It proved to be very popular with those folks, and safer for participants who didn’t have to navigate up and down the viaduct. Ultimately, we feel the construction delay has given our organization an opportunity to study the long-term feasibility of this route.”