Nebraska State Patrol troopers and communication specialists participated in special enforcement efforts during the 2014 Husker football season thanks in part to a $23,030 grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety (NOHS).

The special enforcement, designed to ease traffic congestion and reduce the potential for serious injury crashes, put additional troopers on the road during times of heavy traffic both before and after seven Husker home football games. In addition to the added enforcement, the Nebraska State Patrol Aviation Support Division provided traffic reports before and after home football games.

“Getting nearly a hundred thousand football fans to and from home games is truly a team effort,” said Colonel David Sankey, Superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol. “We’d like to thank our highway safety partners and the Husker Faithful for making safety a priority on game days.”

The special enforcement efforts resulted in 390 citations and warnings to include, Speeding, Driving While Intoxicated, Driving Under Suspension, No Proof of Insurance, along with Seat Belt and Child Restraints.  In addition, motorist assistance was provided to 52 drivers.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A small Nebraska town is getting a $250,000 grant to help upgrade its water system.

The Nebraska Department of Economic Development says Merriman will use the money to update parts of its water system.

Merriman is planning to replace a well and make modifications to an existing well house.

The town will also receive $350,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help with the project.

ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — A former Alliance hospital executive has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

A judge sentenced 65-year-old James Parks on Tuesday and ordered him to serve five years of supervised release and register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty in August to the charge in a deal with prosecutors.

The Nebraska State Patrol says the 2013 investigation began after a report from Box Butte General Hospital officials raised questions about information found on Parks’ work computer.

Authorities say a search of his email account showed conversations of a sexual nature about young girls between Parks and another man. Authorities say the account showed evidence the two men had exchanged videos and photos that depicted children sexually.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The chairwoman of Nebraska’s parole board says a former prisons director pressured her into paroling more inmates in an effort to reduce crowding.

Esther Casmer testified under subpoena Tuesday that some inmates were paroled even though they hadn’t completed mandatory programming to treat anger management, addictions and other problems.

Casmer told a legislative committee that the board’s role as a public-safety gatekeeper became compromised in 2008, when former corrections director Bob Houston started pushing to release more prisoners.

Casmer also says the governor’s chief-of-staff, Larry Bare, told her and another board member that they should “be concerned about losing your jobs for not paroling enough people.”

Casmer was appointed by Gov. Dave Heineman in 2005. A spokesman for the governor says he will respond as soon as he can.

• Today: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 38. North northwest wind 6 to 16 mph becoming east northeast in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph.
• Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 16. South southeast wind 3 to 6 mph.
• Thanksgiving Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. South wind 5 to 9 mph.
• Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 24. South wind 6 to 9 mph becoming west northwest after midnight.
• Friday: Sunny, with a high near 65. West wind 8 to 11 mph.
• Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 29.
• Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 62.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A longtime psychologist says Nebraska has dismantled important mental health services over the last decade, effectively turning jails and prisons into the state’s biggest treatment centers.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln psychologist William Spaulding told a legislative committee Tuesday that a law designed to reduce dependence on state hospitals wasn’t properly implemented.

The 2004 law was intended to shift those patients into community settings, but Spaulding says the money to support those programs never materialized. A UNL psychiatric rehabilitation center also closed in 2009, and many highly trained experts who worked for the state left to take jobs with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Spaulding says Lincoln police reported a 60 percent increase in calls involving mental illness between 2004 and 2008.

Committee members are looking at prison reforms.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov.-elect Pete Ricketts has named his top budget and policy advisers.

Ricketts announced Tuesday that he will retain Gerry Oligmueller as the state budget administrator and Lauren Kintner as his policy director and general counsel.

Oligmueller has served as budget administrator since 1995, under former Democratic Gov. Ben Nelson and Republican Govs. Mike Johanns and Dave Heineman. He also has been acting director of the Department of Administrative Services since July 2013.

Kintner leads an office that advises governors on policy, while serving as a liaison to state agencies and the Legislature.

She previously served as an assistant attorney general under former Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg, and an assistant to former U.S. Rep. Hal Daub of Omaha. She is married to Nebraska state Sen. Bill Kintner, of Papillion.

ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — A western Nebraska woman has been sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to repay the nearly $12,000 she stole from a youth soccer club.

A Box Butte County judge sentenced 30-year-old Erin Merrill on Monday. She was found guilty of two counts of attempted theft in October after pleading no contest to the charges.

Prosecutors say Merrill used the Alliance Youth Soccer Club’s debit card to withdraw $8,180 cash in 39 transactions between September 2012 and August 2013. They say she also used the team card to make nearly $3,500 in purchases.

She tells authorities she took the money to pay medical bills.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska farmers are nearly done harvesting this year’s crops after last week’s cold, dry weather.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 96 percent of the corn grown in Nebraska has been harvested. And 97 percent of the sorghum has also been harvested.

Both those crops are slightly ahead of what’s normal. At this time of year, 92 percent of the corn and 93 percent of the sorghum has typically been harvested.

The USDA also estimated that about 69 percent of the winter wheat crop is in good or excellent shape.

About 59 percent of the pasture and range areas across the state are also in good or excellent condition.