• Today: Sunny, with a high near 85. Light and variable wind becoming south 8 to 13 mph in the morning.
• Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 61. South wind 7 to 11 mph.
• Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 95. South southwest wind 7 to 11 mph.
• Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 63. Southeast wind 7 to 10 mph.
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. North wind 13 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
• Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a l

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Two girls injured while riding a camel at the Nebraska State Fair have been released from the hospital.

The girls were riding a camel at the fair at 9:15 p.m. Friday when the animal bucked and they fell off.

The girls ages 6 and 8, were taken to St. Francis Medical Center. They were released later that night.

Fair officials say the camel is no longer giving rides. They say they don’t know what caused the camel to buck.

The fair ends Monday.

CHICAGO (AP) — A new study says Americans’ eating habits have improved — except among the poor.

Those results show a widening wealth gap when it comes to diet. Yet even among wealthier adults, food choices remain far from ideal.

The 12-year study used an index of healthy eating where a perfect score is 110. U.S. adults averaged just 40 points in 1999, and that climbed to 47 points in 2010. Scores for low-income adults were lower than the average and barely budged during the years studied.

Higher scores mean greater intake of heart-healthy foods including vegetables, fruits, whole grains and healthy fats. Low scores mean less of those foods and a greater chance for diet-related illnesses including diabetes, heart problems and obesity.

The study was published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The contract between Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska and Catholic Health Initiatives’ UniNet has expired without a new agreement.

UniNet represents CHI Health facilities across Nebraska. Starting Monday people who visit doctors or hospitals in Nebraska associated with the CHI Health network will have to pay more if they have insurance from Blue Cross. CHI Health’s Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa, should not be directly affected, but Iowa residents with Blue Cross policies who seek treatment in Nebraska would be.

Blue Cross says CHI Health, which used to be called Alegent Creighton Health, routinely charges 10 to 30 percent more than other Omaha hospitals. CHI Health says those figures are misleading and it believes its total cost of treatment is lower, even if certain services cost more.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Letters from Willa Cather, the renowned author of “My Antonia” and “O Pioneers,” are expected to be available online in January 2018.

The letters will be digitized under a grant of nearly $272,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. “The Complete Letters of Willa Cather” will be published online as part of the Willa Cather Archive. The archive is a venture of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Digital Research in the Humanities

Cather was born in 1873 in Virginia and lived there for nine years before moving with her family to Nebraska. The family resettled to Red Cloud in 1885. She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1895. She died in 1947.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska officials say they’re close to catching up on a backlog of public benefit applications that has prompted a federal lawsuit and an investigation by lawmakers.

Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Russ Reno says the agency expects to have all of the delayed paperwork finished by late October or early November.

Two advocacy groups sued the state in early August on behalf of a single mother in Lincoln who waited more than a month for the state to renew her public food benefits. The groups are asking a judge to certify the lawsuit as a class-action claim.

Lawmakers have also formed a special committee to investigate ACCESS Nebraska, a service that allows people to apply for and renew their public benefits. Committee members will meet Sept. 18.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A national mental health expert is set to speak in Kearney about alternatives to psychiatric drugs.

The University of Nebraska at Kearney is hosting the presentation by Peter Breggin. Breggin, a Harvard University-trained psychiatrist, will give his talk at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 in the Nebraska Student Union Ponderosa Room.

Breggin is a former consultant at the National Institute of Mental Health. He has been called “The Conscience of Psychiatry” for his efforts to reform the mental health field.

His presentation will include a question and answer session.

• Kemar Rolando Smith, 24, North Platte and Erin Rose Hasenauer, 32, North Platte

 

• Patrick Michael Hollis, 47, North Platte and Sasha Joy DeHart, 28, North Platte

 

• David Lee Smith, 27 North Platte and Jessica Lynn McBeain, 29, North Platte

 

• Refeal Emilio Adame, 31, North Platte and Christine Ann Beisner, 31, North Platte

 

• Jamieson Levi Swain, 22, North Platte and Nicole Lynn Long, 23, North Platte

 

• Brent Randall Keeney, 33, North Platte and Minnie Loraine Douglas, 33, North Platte

 

• Jeremy Michael Cole, 34, North Platte and Dustie K-Lynn Closman, 33, North Platte

 

• Jordan Taylor Maassen, 24, North Platte and Megan Kayla Brown, 22, North Platte

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Five people who worked in Nebraska’s prison system have been ordered to testify before a legislative committee investigating why hundreds of inmate sentences were miscalculated.

Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy issued the ruling on Friday. Stacy said their testimony can’t be used against them in a criminal prosecution.

Three former employees and two current ones asserted their right to remain silent after they were subpoenaed to appear at a legislative hearing next week.

The former employees are George Green and Sharon Lindgren, who retired two weeks ago under threat of being fired, and Jeannene Douglass, who retired earlier. The current employees are Kyle Poppert and Kathleen Blum, who were both suspended.

The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating the erroneous sentences, but no charges have been filed.

 

GERING, Neb. (AP) — A western Nebraska man has been given six years in prison for distributing child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced Friday that 52-year-old Ralph Moreno was sentenced in federal court in Lincoln to 72 months. He will be required to register as a sex offender.

The Nebraska State Patrol says an investigator downloaded a video of child pornography from Moreno’s computer in October. That led to a search warrant of Moreno’s residence in November. A forensic review revealed more than 200 videos of child pornography were collected over a five-year period.