LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 27-year-old Lincoln woman has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for possessing roughly a third of a pound of methamphetamine found buried in her backyard.

Tanille Tilford was sentenced Thursday in Lincoln’s U.S. District Court.

Prosecutors say that Tilford and a man were arrested in September 2013 by the Lincoln/Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force after it found the meth.

A confidential informant told Lincoln police the couple picked up about four pounds of meth a week earlier from North Platte, then dealt the drugs to people in Lincoln.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — It appears the University of Nebraska’s tuition freeze will melt next year.

A tuition increase was broached Friday at a University of Nebraska Board of Regents meeting.

Chris Kabourek, NU’s director of budget and planning, told the board that a 3 percent increase in state aid proposed by the Legislature would allow the university to cover most of its ongoing expenses, but a modest tuition increase would be necessary to fully fund its operations.

The tuition freeze was part of a 2012 deal with the Nebraska Legislature. It provides a 4 percent increase in state appropriations in exchange for keeping tuition rates flat for Nebraska students.

But after taking office in January, Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed a lesser 3 percent increase.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — An international renewable energy company is developing plans to build a $20 million solar energy production plant in Kearney.

Kearney City Council on Monday will consider an option agreement to lease 53 acres to Infigen Energy for three years at $3,000 a year.

City Attorney Michael Tye says the option agreement will give Infigen time to evaluate the site and determine whether it’s a good location to produce solar energy. If it is, Infigen will enter a 25-year lease with the city for $300 an acre, with rent to increase 1.5 percent each year of the lease.

The land lies within the city’s Tech oNE Crossing Business Park.

Infigen Energy has headquarters in Sydney, Australia, and Dallas.

CEDAR BLUFFS, Neb. (AP) — Afterschool and expanded learning opportunities will soon be available at four new sites in across Nebraska, thanks to grants awarded by the Nebraska State Board of Education.

The federal funds will go to the communities of Cedar Bluffs, awarded more than $83,000; Bayard, awarded nearly $70,000; O’Neill, awarded $50,000; and Wood River, awarded nearly $61,000.

The money will be used to support community learning centers serving students in schools with high needs. During non-school hours, the programs offer hands-on learning and activities.

Also, nine quality programs at 17 schools across the state will continue to receive federal grants for their community learning center programs.

• Ronald Joseph Mrjenovich Jr., 37, North Platte and Michelle Diana Hoy, 35, North Platte

 

• Shannon Earl Hughes, 36, North Platte and Lucille Marie Johnston, 40, North Platte

 

• Chase Tyler Whitson, 33, North Platte and Jennifer Lynn Allen, 32, North Platte

 

• Alan Lee Evans, 40, Cozad NE and Melanie Elizabeth Johnson, 40, Cozad NE

 

• Robert Melton Murphy, 56, North Platte and Roberta Kay Herrin, 52, North Platte

 

• Steven Richard Croutcher, 49, North Platte and Xaofei Cao, 38, North Platte

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill that would allow deferred-action youths to qualify for driver’s licenses in Nebraska has advanced for debate in the Legislature.

The Transportation and Telecommunications Committee voted 5-2 on Friday to send the measure to the floor.

Nebraska is the only state in the nation that continues to deny licenses to youths who qualify for the Obama administration’s deferred-action policy.

The policy grants temporary lawful status to youths bought to the country illegally as children, who have pursued an education or served in the military and kept a clean criminal background.

The proposal by Sen. Jeremy Nordquist of Omaha has won support from business and agriculture groups as well as advocates for immigrants, but is likely to face resistance from some conservative lawmakers.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska man has been given 80 years to life in prison for fatally beating his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.

Twenty-eight-year-old Dustin Chauncey was sentenced on Friday in Scotts Bluff County District Court. He’d been found guilty of child abuse resulting in the July 2008 death of Juliette Geurts. Investigators dismissed two other charges against Chauncey because of the statute of limitations.

Chauncey and Juliette’s mother, Charyse Geurts, were living together when the girl was found dead in her crib. Autopsy results revealed she died from internal organ damage caused by blunt force trauma.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are moving ahead with a $1.5 million-a-year pilot program to pay private agencies to locate relatives of state wards, keeping more children out of foster care.

Senators voted 26-0 Friday to advance the proposal, despite criticism that finding families is the role of the Department of Health and Human Services. The four-year program is intended to connect children with family members or friends they already know.

Some lawmakers expressed skepticism, saying they support the concept, but they worry the bill sets the wrong precedent by shifting responsibility off of DHHS.

Sponsor Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln says the department notifies families when a child is in foster care, but does not currently have resources to seek extended family members for permanent placements.

A North Platte man is in jail, accused of sexually assaulting his girlfriend’s four-year-old daughter.

At around 6:00 p.m., on April 9, an officer with the North Platte Police Department responded to Great Plains Health after receiving a report that  the little girl had been sexually assaulted.

According to police, the girl and her mother alleged that the mother’s boyfriend, 27-year-old Joseph Moody, picked up the girl from daycare on the evening of April 8, drove to Cody Park and forced the girl to perform a sexual act on him.

The victim was interviewed at the Bridge of Hope and, following further investigation, officers made contact with Moody and placed him under arrest.

Moody was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center and charged with felony 1st degree sexual assault of a child.