Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Tuesday that schools have received a written guidebook connecting them to community mental health services from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The state also received a recent $9 million, five-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The grant will pay for pilot programs in Chadron, Hastings and South Sioux City. Schools in those cities will look for proactive ways to help students before they need more intensive and costly care. The guidebook is also designed to connect students and their families to resources early.

Mitch Ahlschwede began writing letters to Nebraska legislators in 2013 when his daughter, Leyna, was in treatment for neuroblastoma, the Omaha World-Herald reported . Leyna was 18 months old when she was diagnosed, and Ahlschwede recalled feeling frustrated and angry.

Ahlschwede’s letters spurred the Nebraska Legislature to approve $1.8 million to bolster pediatric cancer in the state. Lawmakers put more funding in the state’s budget a year later, designating money to hire pediatric brain cancer specialists to study the disease. Over four years, the state has committed about $7.2 million to the effort.

The state’s funding contribution also grew out of concern about statistics indicating an elevated incidence of pediatric cancer in Nebraska.

“I think it’s a very rare opportunity,” said Dr. Don Coulter, director of the Pediatric Cancer Research Group and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “I don’t know of too many states that are supporting research for their kids like the State of Nebraska.”

Coulter said state funding, coupled with help from philanthropic groups, has helped consolidate research across the university and expand on it.

The state has funded studies examining the incidence of pediatric cancer in the state, compared to the national rate. Other studies are exploring how to repurpose existing drugs to treat kids’ tumors and develop new therapies.

Coulter said it’s also important to improve access to care for children in Nebraska, where specialized treatment is concentrated on the eastern border. Many families have to travel for treatment.

“We cure 80 percent of the kids that we see,” Coulter said. “But 75 percent of those cured children are going to need consistent care for chronic medical problems for the rest of their lives.”

Ahlschwede said he hopes that the research program will lead to more lives saved, less-painful treatments and fewer children having to travel thousands of miles for treatment.

The governor floated the idea last week as a way to prevent property taxes from sharply increasing even as the state’s agricultural economy is having troubles. A similar bill stalled in the Legislature in 2017, but Ricketts said he doesn’t think it was fully debated or understood.

“I still think it’s a good idea,” Ricketts said in an Associated Press interview. “People have had a chance to think about it and look at it, and I think that gives us more of an opportunity to get that passed.”

Nebraska now relies on a market-based system when valuing agricultural land, unlike most Midwestern states that levy based on the potential income a property can generate. Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, Wisconsin and the Dakotas all use the latter and typically charge less in agricultural property taxes than Nebraska.

Under Nebraska’s system, farmland is assessed based on the market price of nearby land parcels that have recently been sold. Investors in recent years have bought such land at a premium, raising property values for the surrounding area even when commodity prices have fallen. The soaring land values result in higher taxes.

Fresh off his win in Tuesday’s election, Ricketts said cutting taxes and promoting business growth will remain his top priorities for his next four years in office. He said the Legislature “has been the obstacle” to reducing property taxes because lawmakers have rejected his proposals, but he pledged to continue working with lawmakers.

Some senators have blamed Ricketts for not accepting their ideas.

Sen. Steve Erdman, a retired farmer from Bayard, criticized the governor’s tax package in April as “too little, too late” for property taxpayers and called it “one of the most ridiculous pieces of legislation I have seen in my life.”

Now, Erdman said he’s working with the governor’s staff on a bill that would tax agricultural land based on its potential income instead of its market value.

“A lot of people are buying for purposes other than farming it,” Erdman said. “It seems very unfair to value 99 percent of ag land based on what happens to 1 percent of it.”

Ricketts said he was also interested in the work done by a group of senators who were looking for ways to change Nebraska’s aid formula for K-12 public schools, a major driver of property taxes.

“There’s not going to be one silver-bullet answer to solve this,” he said. “Part of my job is to try to bring together (urban and rural senators) on property taxes and find something we can agree on.”

One prominent agriculture group, the Nebraska Farm Bureau, stopped short of endorsing the proposal but left open the possibility. Spokesman Craig Head said the group’s members haven’t yet approved a policy agenda for next year’s session, “but property tax reform is still a high priority for us.”

Other rural senators said they support the concept but didn’t think it addressed the immediate problem facing rural landowners.

“It doesn’t really fix anything,” said Sen. Mike Groene, of North Platte. “Twenty years ago it would have been the answer, because it would have prevented these huge valuation increases we’ve seen. Over the long range it works, but we don’t have time for the long range.”

Groene said the proposal would shift the tax burden to other property owners within a county or school district. Local governments that can’t collect additional revenue because of the policy could compensate by raising their levies — putting farmers back in the same predicament.

Groene, a blunt-spoken fiscal conservative who owns farmland, said he was fine-tuning a different proposal to address the taxes levied by public schools.

“We have to do something, or else I’m going to leave this damn state,” Groene said. “I’m sick of this.”

One of the next training opportunities will be on Nov. 29 at the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Dan Neenan with the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety says it’s important to understand the hazards of anhydrous ammonia and to use proper safety gear, especially a full-face respirator.

Neenan says anhydrous ammonia will freeze human tissue on contact and cause chemical burns.

The training costs $10. More information is available by calling 800-551-9029.

Darrell Fischer has served in the position since 2014 and previously spent 28 years with the Nebraska State Patrol. Gov. Pete Ricketts issued a statement Friday praising Fischer for his “outstanding work.”

Fischer will retire on Dec. 31.

The Crime Commission sets and maintains standards for Nebraska’s public safety agencies, tracks crime statistics and awards public safety grants.

The governor’s office is accepting applications for the commission’s next executive director until Dec. 1.

Architectural, real estate and engineering consultants recently shared their vision for a Capitol campus after working with the state’s Department of Administrative Services and the city of Lincoln for nearly two years. The proposed development plan aims to consolidate space, bring agencies together and provide a more attractive workplace to improve recruitment.

“For the state to compete with private-sector jobs, amenities such as a fitness center with shower facilities, dining options, daycare and wellness areas are all complementary additions to office space …,” the consultants said.

In addition to a new Justice Center for the state’s Supreme Court, consultants also recommended buildings or additions to house a Department of Health and Human Services consumer office and a Revenue and Economic Development Center. The plan includes a location for high-traffic public agencies, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, state treasurer, child support and an unclaimed property department.

The plan would be completed in phases. Consultants proposed long-term projects, such as renovation or new construction near the Pershing Center.

Construction of new buildings is the most cost-effective approach for the state in the long run because of increasing lease rates and demand for premium office space in downtown Lincoln, according to consultants from companies DLR Group, WRT, Berggren Architects, NAI/FMA Realty and Olsson Associates.

The 20-year plan outlines benefits totaling a cost savings of about $11 million, or $550,000 annually. The savings come from reducing average office space per employee and decreasing future space and leased space needs.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Two male students have been accused of sexually assaulting a female acquaintance in a campus residence hall at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Buffalo County Court records say 19-year-old Prestin Melroy, of Holdrege, and 18-year-old Zachary Reikofski, of Fairbury, are charged with felony sexual assault. Court records detailing what happened were not available Friday. Melroy’s and Reikofski’s attorneys didn’t immediately return messages from The Associated Press.

University spokesman Todd Gottula says the two students’ cases and status with the college will be reviewed by the Student Code of Conduct Team.