LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A large wind farm project planned for northeast Nebraska has been shelved because the builder couldn’t get a power company to commit to buying the electricity it would generate.

The project planned by TradeWind Energy of Lenexa, Kan., is on hold unless the company gets a deal signed to sell the energy.

Construction was to begin on the Rattlesnake Creed Wind Project in Dixon County, near the towns of Allen, Emerson and Wakefield by the end of this year so it could qualify for federal tax breaks.

Frank Costanza, TradeWind’s executive vice president, says the company is still working with local utilities in Nebraska but it’s unlikely to come together by year’s end.

The project would produce enough power for about 60,000 homes.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police and student groups at the University of Nebraska are considering removal of emergency telephones installed on the Lincoln campus in 1992.

UNL police and student groups are considering taking out the 85 blue telephones located in parking garages, academic buildings, walkways and intersections.

Todd Duncan, assistant chief for the UNL Police says university police studied use of the phones over a few years and found most calls made on the phones are not emergencies.

Eric Reznicek, president of the university’s student senate, says GPS applications for cell phones that alert emergency personnel may be a better alternative.

A pilot project begins this spring and lasts for a year to determine if there’s a better option. In the meantime, the blue phones remain.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — State and local authorities are still investigating an explosive device that was found in a central Nebraska town on Thanksgiving.

The device was discovered Thursday around 8:30 a.m. in Hastings, at the 2000 block of Boyce Street.

The Nebraska State Patrol’s bomb squad detonated the device, and no injuries were reported. Authorities say they haven’t made any arrests.

Police did not release any additional details.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Federal regulators have fined a former bank branch manager and banned him from the business.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued the order against Daniel Skalberg effective Oct. 31 but didn’t make the actions public until Friday.

Daniel Skalberg was president of Pinnacle Bank’s Madison branch from 1996 to 2010. He agreed to a $25,000 fine and the stipulation that he not work in banking again. He admitted no wrongdoing, however.

Skalberg had been accused of an improper loan scheme involving a Madison vehicle dealer from 2006 to 2010. The FDIC says the scheme cost the bank around $400,000.

There was no answer Friday at a phone listing in the area for a Daniel Skalberg.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a home inspector who’d sued a Seward real estate agent and her company over an email that he says she sent to more than 400 people, calling him a “total idiots.”

Online court records say Judge Robert Otte last week granted a request by Shelly Nitz, Woods Brothers Realty and HomeServices of Nebraska to dismiss the action brought by Matthew Steinhausen in January 2012. He said the email was libelous and hurt his business. Their attorneys said the email was opinion protected by the First Amendment.

In his dismissal order, the judge says the email was a protected opinion that went only to people on a closed company list and says Steinhausen failed to prove the email was sent with actual malice.

WILBER, Neb. (AP) — Thayer County is expected to join the Southeast Nebraska Drug Court program.

Gage County board members soon will vote on the proposal. Jefferson and Saline county boards have already approved the addition of Thayer County.

Gage, Jefferson and Saline counties are the original members of the drug court, which is based in Wilber. It offers people who are convicted of drug felonies a chance to complete a rehabilitation program. If they are successful, the charges can be wiped from their records.

Drug court administrator Kristy Rivers says Thayer County will contribute $1,000 for its first year of membership.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska man convicted for his role in two grisly cult-related murders in 1985 is asking the state to end his lifetime parole supervision.

Timothy Haverkamp has asked the Nebraska Board of Pardons to commute his second-degree murder sentence of 10 years to life, and on Dec. 11, the board will consider whether to grant him a hearing.

Haverkamp was paroled in 2009 after spending 23 years in prison for his role in the murder of a fellow cult member, 25-year-old James Thimm.

Haverkamp testified against cult leader Michael Ryan, who remains on Nebraska’s death row.

The 51-year-old Haverkamp was the subject of controversy in 2008 when officials confirmed he was one of several inmates giving tours of the Governor’s Mansion while serving participating in a prison work release program.