LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska veterans now have the option to display their status on driver’s licenses and state identification cards.

The state began allowing the veteran designation on July 1.

The new cards could make it easier for veterans to show that they qualify for special offers and discounts at Nebraska businesses. It also could help law enforcement identify those who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Veterans who want the designation must register with the Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and request the designation when renewing or applying for a duplicate identification card at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Department of Veterans Affairs director John Hilgert says the state registry has about 4,000 names so far, and officials are adding 90 to 100 per day.

CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — A Texas man has won the men’s championship at the annual World Championship Buffalo Chip Toss at the Fur Trade Days event in Chadron.

The Panhandle Post website for Chadron radio station KQSK says 41-year-old Derek Noe, of Harlingen, Texas, threw a piece of dried bison dung 125 feet, 1 inch on Saturday to win the male 18-and-older competition.

His throw was well short of the Fur Trade Days’ individual competition record of nearly 187 feet set in 2000.

The women’s crown for those 18 and older was claimed by 23-year old Ashley Riesen, of Chadron, who tossed a chip 88 feet, 9 inches.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The American Bar Association is helping Nebraska steer law students to rural communities.

The national group has awarded the Nebraska State Bar Association a $15,000 grant to pay some of the costs of placing 10 law students as law clerks in rural towns for five weeks in 2015.

The state bar association hopes a summer clerkship will encourage law students to live and work in small towns, researching cases and preparing documents for law firms. The state bar association started the clerkship program in 2013 as part of its Rural Practice Initiative to help increase the number of small-town lawyers. Iowa has a similar program.

Of Nebraska’s 93 counties, 22 have three or fewer lawyers. Twelve have none.

A North Platte woman has been arrested on a child abuse charge after she allegedly dumped a bowl of hot soup on a 12-year-old boy.

At around 5:00 p.m., on July 13, an officer from the North Platte Police Department responded to a residence in the 1100 block of East 5th after receiving a report of possible child abuse.

Police say 35-year-old Heather Kinney allegedly became angry at the boy for misbehaving and pushed several items off the table, including a bowl of hot soup.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, the hot soup landed on the boy, causing burns and blisters to his neck, shoulders and torso.

Brown said the officer met with Kinney, who had left the residence, and placed her under arrest.

She was processed and released at the Lincoln County Detention for felony child abuse.

The boy’s condition is unknown.

A man and woman from North Platte are in jail on felony charges after they were busted with a large quantity of methamphetamine on Friday night.

At around 8:00 p.m., on July 11, an officer with the North Platte Police Department observed a black Dodge Durango driving in the area of 6th Street and Adams Street.

The officer had learned earlier that the vehicle may be displaying fictitious Colorado in-transit tags.

The officer followed the vehicle to a residence in the 1200 block of West 6th Street, and made contact with two subjects, 27-year-old Sheena Strand and 30-year-old Ross Rivera, as they exited the vehicle.

When asked about the plate, Strand and Rivera claimed that they found it and put it on the Durango.

Additionally, the officer detected the odor of burning marijuana emitting from the vehicle.  Strand and Rivera admitted that they had smoked it earlier in the day.

During a subsequent search of the vehicle and personal items, the officer discovered drug paraphernalia commonly used to smoke marijuana and methamphetamine, and a large self-sealing clear baggie containing approximately 80 grams of a powdery substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine.

Both Strand and Rivera were transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and charged with felony possession of methamphetamine-more than 28 grams, and felony distribution of methamphetamine.

Strand was also cited for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

The Kearney Police Department is piecing together the details of a stabbing early Saturday morning.

At around 4:00 a.m., on July 12, officers with the Kearney Police Department responded to a physical altercation involving several subjects at the Centennial Park Apartments in south Kearney.  Officers were told that one of the subjects was armed with a knife.

Following further investigation, officers were able to determine that a 20-year-old Kearney man had stabbed another 20-year-old Kearney man multiple times, then fled the scene just prior to the officers’ arrival.

Authorities say the suspect was located within minutes, several blocks away, and taken into custody.

He’s been charged with felony 1st degree assault and use of a weapon to commit a felony.  He was jailed at the Buffalo County Detention Center.

The victim was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment.

Police did not release the name of the suspect or the victim, and the victim’s condition is unknown.

CHICAGO (AP) — Unexplained rash? Check your iPad. It turns out the popular tablet computer may contain nickel, one of the most common allergy-inducing metals.

Recent reports in medical journals detail nickel allergies from a variety of personal electronic devices, including laptops and cellphones. But it was an Apple iPad that caused an itchy body rash in an 11-year-old boy recently treated at a San Diego hospital, according to a report in Monday’s Pediatrics.

Nickel rashes aren’t life-threatening but they can be very uncomfortable, and they may require treatment with steroids and antibiotics if the skin eruptions become infected, said Dr. Sharon Jacob, a dermatologist at Rady Children’s Hospital, where the boy was treated. Jacob, who co-wrote the report, said the young patient had to miss school because of the rash.

The boy had a common skin condition that causes scaly patches, but he developed a different rash all over his body that didn’t respond to usual treatment. Skin testing showed he had a nickel allergy, and doctors traced it to an iPad his family had bought in 2010.

Doctors tested the device and detected a chemical compound found in nickel in the iPad’s outside coating.

“He used the iPad daily,” she said.

He got better after putting it in a protective case, she said

Whether all iPad models and other Apple devices contain nickel is uncertain; Apple spokesman Chris Gaither said the company had no comment.

Nickel rashes also have been traced to other common products including some jewelry, eyeglass frames and zippers.

Jacob said evidence suggests nickel allergies are become more common, or increasingly recognized. She cited national data showing that about 25 percent of children who get skin tests for allergies have nickel allergies, versus about 17 percent a decade ago.

She said doctors need to consider electronic devices as potential sources when patients seek treatment for skin rashes.

• Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 78. North northeast wind 8 to 13 mph.
• Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. North northeast wind 5 to 11 mph becoming east after midnight.
• Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 73. Southeast wind 6 to 9 mph.
• Tuesday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. East southeast wind around 9 mph.
• Wednesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67. East southeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
• Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55.
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (AP) — For the second day in a row, lightning has been blamed in the death of a visitor at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson says officials were notified late Saturday afternoon of four people being struck by lightning near Trail Ridge Road. The four were rushed to a hospital, but 52-year-old Gregory Cardwell, of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, died of his injures.

On Friday afternoon, park officials said lightning killed one woman and injured seven other people. That also occurred near Trail Ridge, which is the nation’s highest continuously paved road.

Patterson says they are the park’s first lightning fatalities since 2000.

A park news release identified the woman who died Friday as 42-year-old Rebecca R. Teilhet, of Yellow Springs, Ohio.