LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is pitching the state to Japanese companies as part of an annual conference with other Midwestern governors.

Ricketts said in a conference call from Tokyo on Monday that he met with company officials from Toyota and Meikyo Denki, a Japanese power distribution panel manufacturer.

The governor is visiting Japan for the 47th Annual Joint Meeting of the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association. This year’s conference includes the governors of Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan, the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin and governors from half a dozen Japanese prefectures. More than 300 business and government leaders are attending.

Ricketts says Japanese companies have invested $4.4 billion in Nebraska since 2010.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Emergency management officials are encouraging Nebraskans to participate in an earthquake drill next month even though quakes are rare in the state.

The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency says the state plans to participate in the Great ShakeOut drill on Oct. 15 at 10:15 a.m.

NEMA’s Bryan Tuma says it’s a good idea to plan for earthquakes even if they don’t happen often in Nebraska.

The drill is a worldwide event that encourages people to practice dropping, covering and holding on just as they would do during an earthquake.

More information is available online at http://www.shakeout.org/centralus/nebraska .

On Thursday, September 10, the Nebraska State Patrol conducted alcohol compliance checks at 14 retail outlets in Dawson County.

During the effort one business checked, Cubby’s Gothenburg Express, was found to be non-compliant after selling alcohol to a minor.

The retail outlets checked included convenience, liquor and grocery stores, as well as restaurants and bars.

Law enforcement performs compliance checks to ensure that businesses are complying with the state’s alcohol laws and to decrease youth access to alcohol.

The Dawson County compliance checks were conducted thanks in part to a grant from Partner For Success (PFS).

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — For drivers in Midwestern farm country, the growing season brings a special danger on the roads: tall corn that can obscure other vehicles until it’s too late.

The plant’s broad leaves and thick stalks can stand up to 12 feet high, forming a wall of foliage that turns rural roads into long, narrow corridors of green, yellow and brown. Many intersections have no stop signs.

The peril is especially pervasive in Iowa, the nation’s top corn producer, where crops cover more than 90 percent of the land. At least five people have been killed so far this season in crashes blamed on corn.

Authorities issue warnings, but they can do little more than plead with drivers to use caution.

The problem is also widespread across Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A new review of accident data says Iowa drivers have a 1 in 68 chance of striking a deer on the road this year.

Insurer State Farm said in a news release Monday that Iowa’s is the third-highest rate in the nation. The state had the fourth-highest rate last year.

Neighboring Nebraska’s rate for 2015 is 1 in 143, ranking it 25th on the State Farm list. The state ranked 23rd on the 2014 list.

Leading the 2015 list in West Virginia, with a rate of 1 in 44. No. 2 is Montana, where the rate is 1 in 63. The national odds this year are 1 in 169.

State Farm says its estimate is derived from claims data and state licensed driver counts from the Federal Highway Administration.

A North Platte woman is facing a felony assault charge after she allegedly assaulted her husband on Sunday night.

At around 11:00 p.m., on September 13, officers with the North Platte Police Department responded to the report of a domestic assault at a residence in the 500 block of North Cottonwood Avenue.

Officers met with a 34-year-old male victim, who alleged that his wife, 33-year-old Dixie Kaiser, had assaulted him.

According to the victim, he and Kaiser had gotten into an argument, and Kaiser began pushing and slapping him.

He said she then picked up a wall-mounted, wooden coat rack and struck him with it, causing injury.

Following further investigation, officers determined that there was probable cause to place Kaiser under arrest.

She was transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and jailed on a charge of felony 2nd-degree domestic assault.

The extent of the victim’s injuries is unknown.

According to jail records, bond has not yet been set for Kaiser.

OXFORD, Neb. (AP) — A 50-year-old Alma woman has been killed in a collision at a rural intersection in south-central Nebraska’s Harlan County.

The accident occurred Friday afternoon about 4 ½ miles east of Oxford. The Nebraska State Patrol says Rhonda Allen was driving north when she didn’t halt at a stop sign and collided with a westbound semitrailer.

The patrol says Allen died later at a hospital. The truck driver suffered minor injuries.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A former central Nebraska village clerk has agreed to repay $131,000 she was accused of taking from Elm Creek.

49-year-old Wendy Stephens pleaded no contest to attempted theft last week as part of a deal with prosecutors. She was originally charged with theft in January.

Buffalo County Attorney Shawn Eatherton says Stephens wrote checks to herself and altered checks to pay her own personal bills. Auditors discovered the deception.

Public defender Tom Stewart says Stephens confessed her crime when she was confronted about the missing money.

Stephens is scheduled to be sentenced in November.

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. average price of gasoline dropped 27 cents over the past three weeks, to $2.44 a gallon.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that the pump price fell even though crude oil prices gained strength, as gasoline supply outweighed demand.

Further price drops are likely if crude oil prices don’t skyrocket, because the Sept. 15 change to winter grade gasoline comes with a cost cut in much of the country.

The cheapest price recorded in the continental United States was Charleston, South Carolina, at $1.94.

The highest was $3.31 a gallon in Los Angeles.

The national average price of diesel was down 9 cents over the past three weeks to $2.63 a gallon.