(AP) — Nebraska officials have suspended a Blair child care provider’s license following felony abuse charges.

The state Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that 61-year-old Kathy Matzen can’t provide for any children other than her own until charges against her and her son, 42-year-old Travis Matzen, are resolved.

Kathy Matzen is charged with two counts of felony child abuse. Travis Matzen is charged with misdemeanor child abuse.

Authorities say Kathy Matzen struck a 4-year-old boy on his hand with a knife. She says she slapped the boy with her own hand.

Travis Matzen is accused of shaving the boy’s head. He says he was trying to eliminate head lice.

A message left for Kathy Matzen was not returned Thursday. A number for Travis Matzen appeared to be disconnected.

(AP) — Police say an emotionally disturbed man is in custody after he tried to slit his wrists outside NBC’s “Today” show in New York City.

It happened at 7:50 a.m. Thursday outside the “Today” studio in Rockefeller Center.

Police say the man, who appeared to be in his 50s, was in the crowd outside the broadcast.

“Today” show host Matt Lauer tweeted: “Sorry, a man attempted to harm himself with a knife.” He also explained the situation to viewers.

The man was taken into custody as an emotionally disturbed person.

His physical injuries were not life-threatening. His mental condition is being evaluated at a hospital.

(AP) — The search-and-rescue operation at a deadly building collapse in Philadelphia has been halted for the moment.

After working through the night, firefighters and rescue workers remain at the scene Thursday morning but are not actively combing through debris.

Authorities have not officially ended the search, but the sense of urgency has subsided since the last victim, a 61-year-old woman, was rescued from the rubble nearly 13 hours after the collapse.

A building under demolition crashed onto a neighboring thrift store late Wednesday morning, killing six people. Fourteen-people were injured, including the 61-year-old woman, who is hospitalized in critical condition.

(AP) — A federal judge has temporarily allowed a dying 10-year-old girl to move up the adult waiting list for a lung transplant, though an expert has questioned the decision on medical and ethical grounds.

U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson Wednesday suspended an age factor in the nation’s transplant rules for 10 days for Sarah Murnaghan, who is hospitalized with end-stage cystic fibrosis.

Organ transplant rules that say children under age 12 must wait for pediatric lungs to become available, or wait at the end of the adult list, which includes adults who aren’t as critically ill.

New York University bioethicist Dr. Arthur Caplan says lung transplants are the most difficult of organ transplants, and children fare worse than adults, which is one reason for the existing policy. He says it’s troubling for a judge to overrule this medical judgment.

(AP) — A Lincoln man convicted of theft has been ordered to pay the Department of Veterans Affairs more than $124,000 in restitution.

Court records say 48-year-old George Strandness Jr. was sentenced on Monday by U.S. District Judge John Gerrard, who gave Strandness five years of probation as well.

Strandness had pleaded guilty to a count of theft after federal prosecutors dismissed 10 other counts.

Investigators say Strandness began receiving Veterans Affairs Dependency and Indemnity Compensation payments after his wife, a veteran, died in 1996. He remarried in 2001 but didn’t tell the Veterans Affairs Department. The marriage would have affected the benefit payments.

(AP) — The Nebraska Capitol’s south entrance is set to close briefly for repairs.

The south entrance will close starting Friday morning so workers can reset granite steps and repair walkway joints. The work is expected to take about a week before the entrance reopens.

The east, north and west entrances will remain open during construction.

The project comes after Nebraska lawmakers finished this year’s 90-day session.

The Capitol is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

(AP) — A 21-year-old Omaha man has been convicted of killing a 16-year-old who had been wearing a red shirt, the color of a rival gang.

Online court records say Angelo Tolbert was found guilty on Wednesday of first-degree murder, assault and two weapons charges.

Police say the murder victim, Montrell Wiseman, didn’t belong to any gang. A 16-year-old girl also was hit by pellets from two shotgun blasts fired by Tolbert.

Investigators have said Tolbert and four others were driving around in a rival gang’s territory, seeking revenge for the September shooting death of a cousin of one of the men. They spotted Wiseman and two girls outside a house.

(AP) — A U.S. Department of Agriculture official has defended closing a meeting with Nebraska agriculture interest groups from the public and media.

Acting Deputy USDA Secretary Michael Scuse said after Wednesday’s meeting in Lincoln that closing the meeting gives those in attendance a chance for “more open and honest dialogue.”

Dan Steinkruger is state director of the Nebraska Farm Service Agency. He was at the meeting, too, and he later told the Journal Star that “it’s just easier” to close such sessions.

The USDA was discussing efforts to pass the 2013 farm bill with Nebraska commodity groups and state and university representatives.

At stake in the legislation for nonfarming taxpayers are subsidies for crop insurance, for example, and potential cuts to food stamps.

(AP) — The Oklahoma medical examiner’s office says eight of the 20 people killed during last Friday’s tornadoes and subsequent flooding either drowned or probably drowned.

The agency said Wednesday that one person died of asphyxiation and 10 died as a result of blunt force trauma or head injuries. The cause of death was not yet determined for one victim.

Storms that swept through the Oklahoma City area on Friday generated an EF5 tornado and violent flash floods. The tornado was the widest one ever recorded at 2.6 miles.

Oklahoma emergency officials have said many of those who drowned were swept away while taking shelter from the tornado in storm drainage ditches.

(AP) — Taco Bell is firing a California employee who was photographed licking a stack of taco shells.

The shot was made in March at a Taco Bell in Ridgecrest, 100 miles north of Los Angeles.

Taco Bell Products Inc. says the shells were provided for workers to practice making its new Cool Ranch tacos and were thrown out without being sold.

The Irvine-based company says the photograph was taken for a contest showing employees enjoying their first bite of the product. It wasn’t submitted, but a worker posted it to a Facebook page — which violates company policy.

Taco Bell says the worker also violated food handling procedures.

The company says the licker has been suspended and will be fired, while the photographer no longer works at the restaurant.