Scam artists have started to prey on the memories of those who were killed in the school massacre in Newtown, Conn.

Family members of Noah Pozner were grieving for the 6-year-old when they learned that someone was soliciting donations in the boy’s memory. A website had been set up with his name, even including petitions on gun control. It was a scam.

Noah’s uncle, Alexis Haller, called it an outrage and reported the action to police.

Consumer groups and government officials call for caution about unsolicited requests for donations, by phone or email. They tell people to be wary of callers who don’t want to answer questions about their organization, who won’t take “no” for an answer, or who convey what seems to be an unreasonable sense of urgency.

Stormy weather is keeping crews looking for tsunami debris away from a dock that washed ashore on a remote beach on the Washington state coast.

A spokesman for the state Marine Debris Task Force, David Workman, says high winds and tides are making it hard to reach the site on the Olympic Peninsula. He says a team hopes to arrive Thursday.

Workman says there’s no confirmation yet whether the dock is debris from the March 2011 tsunami in Japan. It appears to be similar to a Japanese dock that washed ashore last June at Newport, Ore. It was cut up and removed.

The Coast Guard spotted the latest dock Tuesday on a wilderness beach of the Olympic National Park.

The University of Connecticut is creating a scholarship fund for students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where 20 students and six staff members were gunned down last week.

The Sandy Hook School Memorial Scholarship Fund will help pay college costs for Sandy Hook students who choose to attend UConn when they’re older. Siblings of the student victims and children of the adult victims also will be eligible. The awards will be need-based.

Donations will be collected through the University of Connecticut Foundation. A spokesman says the foundation hasn’t set a fundraising goal and will decide later whether the scholarships can cover the students’ entire college costs.

UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma and his wife have donated $80,000. The university says 650 other individual donations have been received in the fund’s first 24 hours.

A northeast Nebraska man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and her new husband has waived his preliminary hearing.

Sioux City, Iowa television station KTIV reports that 33-year-old Matthew Hinrichsen was in Antelope County Court on Tuesday, where he waived the hearing and faced the families of those killed.

Hinrichsen has been charged with arson and two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 25-year old Victoria Lee and her husband, 30-year-old Alex Vargas.

Investigators found the bodies of the newlywed couple in a burned-out mobile home, near Ewing. Authorities say the couple were shot before the mobile home was set on fire.

Hinrichsen’s arraignment has been set for Jan. 30.

Court documents say Hinrichsen had been having problems recently with Lee, who was his ex-girlfriend.

Police in southeast Nebraska are trying to track down a convicted sex offender suspected of sexually assaulting more children.

Lincoln television station KLKN-TV reports that police are looking for 30-year-old Billy Barritt, who has been charged in a warrant with first-degree sexual assault of a child and three counts of third-degree sexual assault of a child.

Police say Barritt sexually assaulted multiple children under the age of 10 for more than a year. Authorities say that when Barritt learned of the investigation, he left his home in Fairbury.

Barritt is currently on probation for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Police believe he could be armed.

Anyone with information on Barritt is urged to contact the Fairbury Police Department or their local police.

The Nebraska gas tax rate is set to drop slightly, meaning Nebraska drivers will see a drop in the price at the pump.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports the Nebraska Department of Revenue has announced that state gas tax rate for Jan. 1 through June 30 will decrease 1.6 cents, from 26.2 cents per gallon to 24.6 cents.

On a 13-gallon fill up, that’s nearly 21 cents.

It’s the lowest rate since the first six months of 2008, when the tax rate was 23 cents a gallon.

A Madison man has died in a crash of a sport utility vehicle and a semitrailer.

The Norfolk Daily News reports that 34-year-old Travis Ogan died in the Tuesday night crash at the intersection of U.S. Highway 81 and state Highway 32.

Investigators say Ogan was driving an eastbound SUV on Highway 32 when his vehicle was struck on the passenger side by the semitrailer.

The Nebraska State Patrol says Ogan failed to yield.

The semitrailer driver was not injured.

Investigators say both drivers were wearing seat belts.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman is urging motorists to use extra caution as state officials prepare for a major snowstorm.

Heineman said Wednesday that the first large storm of the season raises more concerns than usual, because many Nebraska motorists haven’t driven in winter conditions in nearly a year.

The governor encouraged drivers to keep an eye on weather reports through the media and a state website that monitors road conditions,www.511.nebraska.gov/ . They can also dial 511.

Nebraska Department of Roads Director Randy Peters says the state is ready to deploy 650 snows plows statewide and six new tow plows in the Omaha area.

The states of Washington and Colorado legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana in the November elections, but it is unclear if any cigarette makers plan to supply either market.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. President Barack Obama indicated last week that going after individual users won’t be a priority. But there’s no firm indication yet what action the Justice Department might take against states or businesses that participate in the nascent pot market.

Bryan Hatchell, a spokesman for the second-largest cigarette maker, Reynolds American Inc., maker of Camel and Pall Mall, said his company has no plans to produce or market marijuana products in Washington or Colorado.