A monthly economic index report suggests an economic slump will continue over the next three to six months for nine Midwest and Plains states.

The Mid-America Business Conditions index rose slightly in November to a weak 48.0 from 46.5 in October. The figure was 50.4 in September.

The survey of business leaders and supply managers uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth while a score below 50 suggests decline for that factor.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says it is tracking “economic weakness, particularly for nondurable-goods producers.”

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Nebraska State Fire Marshal John Falgione is retiring at the end of the month.

Gov. Dave Heineman announced Monday that the 65-year-old is leaving the state cabinet post after more than 35 years in fire service.

During Falgione’s tenure, the state Fire Marshal’s office expanded a state fire prevention program aimed at students, contributed to an overhaul of Nebraska’s fireworks laws, and developed a series of online applications for permits and licenses.

Falgione was appointed by Heineman in 2007. He previously has served as a deputy state fire marshal in the investigations, code enforcement, and flammable liquid storage divisions.

His final day will be Dec. 28.

Authorities have released the name of a person injured in a fatal car crash west of Omaha.

Police say the crash occurred around 1:15 a.m. Monday on West Dodge Road, near 208th Street. Witnesses told officers that the car had been weaving and speeding through eastbound traffic when it veered across a median into the westbound lanes and rolled.

The name of the person who was killed hasn’t been released, pending notification of family.

The injured person was identified as 19-year-old Colby Burke, of Valley. Burke is being treated at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

The crash is being investigated.

Health officials say flu season is off to its earliest start in nearly 10 years — and it could be a bad one.

The primary strain circulating is one that tends to cause more severe illness, especially in the elderly.

But officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the nation seems to be fairly well prepared. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine is well matched to the strains of flu so far.

Officials said Monday that suspected flu cases have jumped in five southern states — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick in flu reports like this usually doesn’t occur until after Christmas.

The last time a typical flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04.

A 34-year-old Omaha woman faces a felony charge of animal cruelty for the death of her dog found lying in a cage, covered in its own filth.

The Nebraska Humane Society says Mashaunda Ball was arrested on Monday.

The society says Ball had called Nov. 26 to report her dog had died. Society workers who responded found the Boston terrier, Bubbles, still alive in his wire cage. He was covered in feces and had urine burns on his paw pads.

The emaciated dog was euthanized after he was taken to a veterinarian for treatment. A necropsy report says Bubbles had five sharp pieces of plastic in his stomach.

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

U.S. customs officials have seized a dinosaur skull from a Wyoming home as part of a federal Homeland Security Department investigation.

The fossil came from a close relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex and is worth between $250,000 and $400,000.

The Tyrannosaurus bataar, also known as the Tarbosaurus, lived about 70 million years ago.

The Jackson Hole News and Guide reports that federal officials have declined to provide any details about the case, saying it remains under investigation.

Federal officials recently seized a nearly complete Tarbosaurus skeleton that was sold at auction in New York and arrested a Florida man for illegally importing dinosaur fossils.

It’s unclear whether there’s any connection between the Jackson skull and the New York case.

Authorities say a 37-year-old man was fatally injured when his car slammed into a cow in southeast Nebraska.

Lincoln television station KLKN reports that the man was driving to work in Lincoln when the accident occurred just before 6 a.m. Thursday.

The Otoe County Sheriff’s Office says the car was on State Spur 66A south of Palmyra when it hit the cow, which was standing on the roadway.

The sheriff’s office says a passer-by saw the man’s car in a roadside ditch and called for help.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name hasn’t been released yet.

An Ohio woman dubbed the “cleaning fairy” after she broke into a home, cleaned it and left a $75 bill has been put on probation for one year.

A judge sentenced 53-year-old Susan Warren of Elyria on Monday in Cleveland on her guilty plea to attempted burglary. She also must do 20 hours of community service.

The woman told authorities she was driving by the Westlake house and “wanted something to do.” She broke in, washed some coffee cups, took out the trash, vacuumed and dusted inside the house. Then she left a bill written on a napkin and included her phone number.

Warren says she owns a cleaning business and sometimes enters homes, cleans them and leaves a bill.

Authorities are going door-to-door looking for a 13-year-old boy missing for more than a week in southwestern Colorado.

La Plata County sheriff’s spokesman Dan Bender says investigators are no longer looking at the possibility that Dylan Redwine ran away while visiting his father at Vallecito for Thanksgiving break.

Bender also says investigators still view their operation as a search, not a recovery mission, but he didn’t elaborate on why.

The boy’s mother, Elaine Redwine, of Colorado Springs, told ABC News she thinks her ex-husband, Mark Redwine, may be involved in her son’s disappearance.

Mark Redwine says he wishes he and his ex-wife could come together at such a difficult time.

He reported Dylan missing after he left the boy at home Nov. 19 to run errands.