The Department of Veterans Affairs says it has cleaned the water system at its Grand Island facility following reports of Legionella bacteria.

The VA says it has removed most water-use restrictions at the facility and has implemented remediation actions like chlorinating the water and installing point-of-use shower head filters.

The announcement Thursday comes a week after the VA said Legionella bacteria had been identified at the facility following annual water testing. Strains of the bacteria can cause Legionnaires disease, a form of pneumonia. No cases of the disease had been reported at the facility.

The department says it is installing a copper-silver ionization system designed to purify and disinfect water.

The Grand Island facility includes a community living center, a residential substance abuse unit and an outpatient clinic.

(AP) — An animal rights organization is taking its campaign to the Nebraska State Fair, where exhibitors and fairgoers celebrate the state’s rich tradition in agriculture, livestock farming and ranching.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has applied for a booth at this year’s fair, which runs Aug. 23-Sept. 2 at the fairgrounds in Grand Island.

PETA campaign manager Katie Arth told the Lincoln Journal Star (https://bit.ly/11To2ye) that the group’s trips to state fairs in Iowa and other states last year reflected a new strategy for trying to steer consumers away from meat and decrying what PETA members view as often deplorable exploitations of farm animals.

Nebraska fair executive director Joseph McDermott says PETA has a First Amendment right to come to the fair and spread its message.

(AP) — A California developer says an underground shelter he’s creating in a vast limestone cave in eastern Kansas could be the human race’s best chance to survive a nuclear attack or the impact of a wayward meteor.

Robert Vicino recently bought a large portion of a former U.S. Army storage facility on the southeast edge of Atchison along the Missouri River about 50 miles north of Kansas City, Mo. He says there’s room inside for more than 1,000 recreational vehicles and up to 5,000 people to ride out any potential earth-changing catastrophe.

While they’re awaiting Armageddon or a deadly global pandemic, Vicino says the Vivos Survival Shelter and Resort will be a fun place for members to spend vacations and learn survival skills.

(AP) — A 21-year-old Lincoln man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a man at a party.

Michael Arellano was charged on Wednesday in Lancaster County Court with second-degree murder, assault and two weapons counts. Police say Arellano shot Shane Newman to death and wounded another man.

The shootings took place early Saturday morning during a party at Arellano’s father’s house in Lincoln. Authorities say Newman got into an argument with someone outside the house and punched him.

Then, police say, Michael Arellano opened fire in response. Police say Arellano denied shooting anyone after police picked him up about an hour later.

A public phone listing for Arellano couldn’t be found. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.

 

(AP) — Authorities say a 4-year-old boy who was left behind at a Fremont park by day care workers has been returned to his mother.

Fremont Police Lt. Kurt Bottorff says officers found the boy in Memorial Park on Tuesday after someone called to report a possible case of child neglect.

Officers were told by a bystander that the boy had been at the park without supervision for 30 to 45 minutes after the group from the Sparkle Haven Child Care Center left.

A representative for Sparkle Haven didn’t immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press.

Bottorff says the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services will be investigating.

(AP) — The Ash Grove Cement Co. has agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty to the EPA and invest roughly $30 million in better pollution-control equipment at nine plants.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced the settlement agreement on Wednesday.

EPA officials say this deal will reduce air pollution and eliminate more than 17,000 tons of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide pollution annually.

Ash Grove has cement plants in Foreman, Ark.; Inkom, Idaho; Chanute, Kan.; Clancy, Mont.; Louisville, Neb.; Durkee, Ore.; Leamington, Utah; Seattle, Wash.; and Midlothian, Texas.

Ash Grove also pledged to spend $750,000 to reduce the effects of past excess emissions at several of its facilities.

Ash Grove is based in Overland Park, Kan.

(AP) — A Pennsylvania woman and her two daughters have been charged in the neglect-related death of their 32-year-old son and brother with Down syndrome.

Police say Robert Gensiak weighed just 69 pounds and was covered in scabies at the time of his death March 20. He was taken to the hospital a day earlier because he was semi-responsive and couldn’t stand up.

Authorities say 59-year-old Susan Gensiak and her daughters, 35-year-old Joan and 24-year-old Rebekah, were charged Wednesday with third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and neglect of care for a dependent person.

The victim reportedly hadn’t received any medical treatment since 2009.

The suspects said little to reporters as they were led into their arraignment.

(AP) — Donations of bullets have poured into a southeast Nebraska Boy Scout group after it raised concerns that an ammunition shortage would force campers to learn to shoot using air guns rather than rifles.

Leaders of the Scout’s Cornhusker Council sought donations of .22-caliber bullets after retailers weren’t able to fill their order.

Cornhusker Council district director Jerad Reimers says the group went public with its problem, hoping for donations of 24,000 rounds in time for training of scouts at camp.

Instead, people donated more than 65,000 bullets from as far away as Florida. Reimers says an Iowa man gave more than 10,000 rounds.

Reimers says the bullets will help ensure scouts learn how to handle a gun properly, something he calls “an absolute necessity.”

(AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the United States’ military is facing a number of challenges in the coming years, from civil war in Syria to the role of technology in global security.

Hagel’s remarks came Wednesday before a crowd of about 300 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where Hagel earned a bachelor’s degree of science in history some 40 years ago. It was Hagel’s first trip to Nebraska since he was confirmed as defense secretary.

Hagel said U.S. policy decisions regarding Syria carry consequences “both for action and inaction,” and that those consequences are being weighed by President Barack Obama.

Hagel, who said last month that the U.S. was considering arming Syrian rebels, made no mention of that possibility Wednesday. He did not take questions from reporters.

A Nebraska man has been convicted of a federal bribery charge along with a former Chicago alderman and another man.

Jurors convicted 71-year-old Jim Barta, 59-year-old former alderman Ambrosio Medrano and their friend 50-year-old Gus Buenrostro on Monday.

Prosecutors say the three men agreed to bribe an undercover FBI agent posing as a purchasing agent for a California hospital to land a pharmaceutical contract.

Barta is a cattle rancher who lives in Fremont and owns the Sav-Rx prescription company.

The three men had argued they were entrapped by FBI agents who came up with the hospital contract deal, but the jury rejected that argument.