HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — The Hastings Disabled American Veterans club has purchased its own van for transporting veterans to the VA hospital in Grand Island.

For years, Hastings volunteers would drive to Grand Island to pick up another van to take veterans for their medical appointment. That has changed now the Hastings club has gotten its own Ford Flex van.

The Hastings DAV chapter raised about one-third, or $14,300, of the van’s cost and was able to purchase it with the help of donations from Ford Motor Co. and a private donor.

The Hastings van will also serve veterans in Clay, Nuckolls and Webster counties. There is no charge for veterans who use the service.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services has found space and obtained permission to place some state inmates in county jails as a way to relieve overcrowding in the state prison system.

Layne Gissler, a Corrections Department official, says the state doesn’t plan to send inmates convicted of serious offenses, such as murder, to county jails. Gissler says six counties have agreed to take in the state inmates. The counties are Hall, Platte, Dawson, Phelps, Buffalo and Saline.

Gov. Dave Heineman and other state officials have said they want to avoid building a new state prison, which would cost about $150 million.

Nebraska lawmakers passed legislation this spring that authorized county jails to house the state inmates.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Several cigar bars and tobacco shops will get a shot at making the case to the Nebraska Supreme Court for why their businesses should be exempt from the state’s public smoking ban.

The move comes after the state’s high court last month struck down the exceptions as unconstitutional, leading the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office to file a motion earlier this month asking the high court to rehear the case.

Within days of that request, a group of eight cigar bars and tobacco shops, calling itself the Nebraska Premium Tobacco Association, asked to be allowed to submit arguments in the case.

The group has until Oct. 6 to submit a brief to the state Supreme Court laying out the businesses’ arguments for allowing smoking in their shops.

A North Platte man has been charged with a felony after he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend.

At around 3:07 a.m., on September 26, an officer with the North Platte Police Department was dispatched to the emergency room at Great Plains Health.

Upon arrival, the officer met with a female victim who alleged that her boyfriend, Carl McKenney, has assaulted her.

The woman told police that, after a night of drinking, McKenney had dragged her out of her car and assaulted her.

Police say the victim had multiple visible injuries.

Officers made contact with McKenney and placed him under arrest for 3rd degree domestic assault.

A criminal history check revealed that McKenney had a 2005 conviction for domestic assault.

As a result, the charge was enhanced to a felony.

McKenney was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents of Lincoln County about a scam that has been reported to their office.

According to a news release, the LCSO has received multiple reports of a person calling residents and identifying themselves as an employee of the LCSO.

Officials say the callers are using actual names of LCSO employees, and informing the recipient that they have missed a court date.

They then inform them that a warrant will be issued for their arrest if they do not pay a “fine.”

Residents are told not to go to the Sheriff’s Office, but instead are asked to mail the payment to the caller.

Authorities say they do not collect fines in this manner, and are warning residents not to mail any money to the callers.

If you receive a call of this nature, contact the LCSO at their non-emergency number, 308-535-9599.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Campus police have arrested a 19-year-old student suspected of posting a threat to use explosives at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

The university’s library was briefly evacuated on Wednesday after the anonymous threat was posted on a social media app. The university says the social network Yik Yak cooperated with university police in tracking the post.

The university says the suspect, Matthew Skinner, is a freshman from Ogallala. Buffalo County records said he remained in custody on Friday. Online court records don’t yet show that he’s been formally charged.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says farmers can begin signing up for new safety net programs next week established in the 2014 farm bill that replace the much-criticized direct payments with government payouts based on risks farmers face.

Vilsack announced the roll-out of the programs on Thursday, and said farmers can sign up as soon as Sept. 29.

The programs can help farmers protect themselves against price drops and from lower revenue in poor crop years.

Payouts this year could be significant since anticipated record corn and soybean harvests have sent commodity prices plummeting. If farmers lose money in the harvest, the programs will enable them to collect significant government payments.

Vilsack expects farmers will take several months to research their options, talk with advisers and use online calculators to determine their best choices.

The farm bill, signed into law in February, provided $6 million to set up local meetings and for the design of online tools and creation of educational materials for farmers to help them choose which program would be best.

Instead of direct payments, farmers of major row crops — mostly corn, soybeans, wheat and rice — can choose between subsidies that pay out when revenue drops or when prices drop. Cotton and dairy supports were overhauled to similarly pay out when farmers have losses.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A young Lincoln man has been given 10 to 20 years in prison for assaulting jailers at the Buffalo County Jail in Kearney.

19-year-old Audon Green was sentenced on Tuesday in Buffalo County District Court. Green had pleaded no contest to two felony counts of assault by a confined person and one of attempted assault.

Authorities say Green already was serving a sentence for assault when the jail incident occurred on March 11. Authorities say Green refused to cooperate with jailers who approached him about kicking his cell door. They suffered minor injuries when he fought their attempts to restrain him.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska county election officials will start mailing early voting ballots next week.

The office of Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale says the first ballots will be sent on Monday. Voters will be able to cast early ballots in person at their county election offices starting Oct. 4.

Gale says early voting was a popular choice for voters in the 2012 presidential election. Twenty-six percent of registered Nebraska voters cast their ballots early.

The secretary of state’s office says registrations sent in by mail must be marked by Oct. 17. That’s also the last day to complete a voter registration at Department of Motor Vehicle offices, county treasurer offices, state agencies or departments.

Nebraskans can complete or update their registrations at the Secretary of State’s website, www.sos.ne.gov.