LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill designed to attract more wind farms to Nebraska has stalled in the Legislature.

Conservative senators mounted a filibuster Tuesday to block the proposed tax credit, arguing that the state shouldn’t subsidize wind energy. Senators voted 30-12 to bring the bill to a vote, but supporters needed 33 to overcome the filibuster.

The bill by Sen. Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha would have provided up to $75 million in tax credits over a decade for wind farms. The program would have ended on Dec. 31, 2021, unless renewed by lawmakers, and required companies to invest some of their money in Nebraska goods and services.

Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte led the filibuster, saying the turbines are an eyesore and government shouldn’t subsidize them.

Today: A chance of showers, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 70. Breezy, with a southeast wind 14 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Tonight: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. South southeast wind 11 to 16 mph becoming light and variable. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph.
Thursday: A slight chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 68. West northwest wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Thursday Night: A chance of showers, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. North wind 8 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Friday: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. North northwest wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Friday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Saturday: Showers and thunderstorms likely. Cloudy, with a high near 58. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Saturday Night: Showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 45. Breezy.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A drone large enough to carry tanks of fertilizers and pesticides has won rare approval from federal authorities to spray crops in the United States.

Steve Markofski of Yamaha Corp. U.S.A. said Tuesday that the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval is a first. He says drones are already used to take pictures to help farmers identify unhealthy patches of crops, but this is the first time they’ll be able to carry a payload.

Markofski says Yamaha’s 207-pound (94-kilogram) RMAX looks like a small helicopter and is remotely piloted. It received FAA approval Friday.

Markofski says farmers in Japan and other countries have used the large drone for years.

University of California, Davis, professor Ken Giles says it’s best suited for precision spraying on California’s rolling vineyards and hard-to-reach places.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Senators have approved Gov. Pete Ricketts’ choice to lead the Nebraska State Patrol despite concerns about his involvement in a gender discrimination lawsuit 10 years ago.

The Legislature voted 32-7 Tuesday to approve Bradley Rice of Elkhorn.

Rice was part of a panel that denied several promotions to a female sergeant between 2004 and 2005. The sergeant said the rejections were based on gender rather than her qualifications. During the lawsuit, another trooper testified that Rice said women were not qualified to be in law enforcement, an opinion Rice denied.

Opponents say Rice has not been forthcoming about the remarks, and the agency already fails to recruit and retain women and minorities.

Supporters say his comments were a one-time mistake.

HENDERSON, Neb. (AP) — County officials say a McCook man has died of an apparent heart attack he sustained while driving along Interstate 80, causing a two-vehicle crash.

Hamilton County Attorney Michael Powell says the collision occurred around 5:10 p.m. Monday about seven miles east of Aurora. He says 70-year-old Victor Schwartz was driving eastbound when he began swerving onto the shoulder and back onto the road, and then jerked sideways.

Powell says another eastbound vehicle then struck Schwartz’s car just behind the driver’s door. The condition of the driver wasn’t immediately available.

Schwartz was pronounced dead on arrival at Henderson Health Care Services. Powell says both the death and crash appear to have been caused by a medical episode, likely a heart attack.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Las Vegas man arrested while hauling drugs across Nebraska has been sentenced to federal prison.

Jose Juan Solorzano-Farias was given 41 months for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. A heroin possession charge was dropped in exchange for Solorzano-Farias’ guilty plea to the meth charge.

Authorities say he was driving along Interstate 80 west of North Platte on Sept. 6 when a state trooper pulled him over. The Nebraska State Patrol says a patrol dog alerted troopers to the smell of drugs in the vehicle Solorzano-Farias was driving, and troopers say they found 27.5 pounds of meth and 1.5 pounds of heroin inside.

His passenger, Jose Arturo Solorio-Salinas, of Burnsville, Minnesota, awaits sentencing on a meth possession charge as well.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Rain in some parts of the state has disrupted spring planting and other work in Nebraska’s farm fields.

The U.S. Agriculture Department says in a report for the week ending Sunday that an inch or more of rain fell on many east-central and southeastern Nebraska counties, but the rest of the state remained mostly dry.

Topsoil moisture supplies were rated 64 percent adequate or surplus. Subsoil moisture was rated 61 percent adequate or surplus.

The department says 57 percent of the state’s expected corn crop was planted by Sunday, compared with 41 percent last year at this time and the 38 percent average over the past five years. Twelve percent of the expected soybean crop has been planted, compared with nearly 10 percent last spring and 9 percent on average.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have declined to re-confirm the state’s chief medical officer, citing his past conflicts with members of the Legislature.

Senators voted 22-15 on Tuesday for Dr. Joseph Acierno, three votes short of the minimum support required. Acierno was appointed by then-Gov. Dave Heineman in 2013 and re-appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts in December.

Some lawmakers who worked with Acierno say he hasn’t cooperated with them in the past, and accused him of displaying a sarcastic and demeaning attitude.

Sen. Sue Crawford of Bellevue says Acierno was defensive when confronted with problems in the department. Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha says Acierno has been an obstacle to reforms that lawmakers deemed necessary within the department.

Acierno was not immediately available for comment.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have confirmed three key executives within the Department of Health and Human Services.

Senators on Tuesday voted in favor of Courtney Phillips as the department’s CEO, Calder Lynch as the state Medicaid director, and John Hilgert as director of the Division of Veterans’ Homes.

Phillips and Lynch come to Nebraska from Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals. Both were appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts at the end of a national search.

Hilgert has served as director of the Division of Veterans’ Homes since 2007. He also serves as director of the Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln, chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee, says Phillips has shown great enthusiasm for working with lawmakers to improve the department.

MIAMI (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that investigators do not need a search warrant to obtain cellphone location records in criminal prosecutions.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, overturning a three-judge panel of the same court, ruled Tuesday that authorities properly got records from MetroPCS for Miami robbery suspect Quartavious Davis using a court order with a lower burden of proof.

The 11th Circuit decided Davis had no expectation of privacy regarding records establishing his location near certain cellphone towers. The records were used to convict Davis of a string of armed robberies, leading to a 162-year prison sentence.

Two judges dissented, contending the Fourth Amendment requires probable cause and a search warrant for such records.

Davis’ lawyers could ask the U.S. Supreme Court for review.