Scientists hoping to detect dark matter deep in a former South Dakota gold mine have taken the last major step before flipping the switch on their painstakingly delicate experiment.

Harry Nelson, a University of California, Santa Barbara physics professor and a principal investigator on the Large Underground Xenon experiment, says the team has finished submerging its phone booth-sized detector in a 70,000-gallon vat of purified water. The process took more than two months.

He said Monday that the team could be ready to begin collecting data by February.

Scientists know dark matter exists but haven’t been able to detect it. Regular matter accounts for about 4 percent of the universe’s mass, dark matter accounts for about 25 percent and the rest is mysterious dark energy.

The father of a 22-year-old man who police say killed a monkey after breaking into an Idaho zoo says he believes the tragedy was a drunken prank that got out of hand and “turned into a horrible situation.”

Michael J. Watkins was arrested Monday, and authorities plan to charge him with a pair of felonies: burglary, for allegedly breaking into Zoo Boise, and grand theft, for taking and killing a monkey.

The suspect’s father, Jerry Watkins, tells the Idaho Statesman that his son is “not a malicious monkey murderer.”

Jerry Watkins says friends of his son have told him Michael Watkins was drunk and wanted to try to get a picture with the monkeys when he broke in to the zoo. He thinks the monkey must have attacked his son, and his son defended himself.

The patas monkey died early Saturday of blunt-force trauma.

Michael Watkins’ arraignment is set for Wednesday.

Nebraska’s winter wheat crop is off to a bad start because of this year’s drought.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Nebraska’s winter wheat has been slow to emerge and isn’t in very good condition because it has been so dry.

During the past two months, less than one inch of precipitation has fallen in the western two-thirds of Nebraska. Most of the state remains in an extreme drought.

About 17 percent of the winter wheat crop rated in good condition last week, and none of it was considered excellent. Normally, 65 percent of the wheat crop rates good or excellent at this time of year.

The USDA says about 92 percent of the wheat crop has emerged, but some farmers are reporting thin or spotty stands of the crop.

Dolphins are washing ashore along the northern Gulf Coast with bullet wounds, missing jaws and hacked off fins and federal officials are looking into the mysterious deaths.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said Monday that they are asking fish and wildlife agents and dolphin monitors in several states to be on the lookout for other troubling cases.

A marine mammal biologist for NOAA says two dolphins were found shot in Louisiana in 2011. This year, three dolphins were found shot — two in Mississippi and one in Louisiana.

On Friday, experts from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss., said they found a dead dolphin with part of its jaw missing.

 

Police in Idaho say a 22-year-old man is facing felony burglary and grand theft charges after the death of a monkey at the Boise zoo.

Boise police say Michael J. Watkins of Weiser, Idaho, was arrested in the case Monday afternoon.

More details are expected at a news conference taking place Monday night.

The patas monkey was found dead of blunt force trauma to the head and neck early Saturday morning, shortly after a zoo security guard frightened away two male intruders.

Police are still seeking at least one other man suspected in the case, but his identity and details about his relationship to Watkins have not been released.

Nebraska lawmakers should have an easier time balancing the budget next year, thanks to growing revenue and shrinking expenses.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that a new estimate puts the gap between revenues and expenses at around $200 million for the next two years.

That is below the nearly $1 billion shortfall that loomed over lawmakers two years ago, or the $377 million deficit they faced in 2009. And it’s one-third as big as the shortfall they expected to face just months ago.

Mike Calvert, director of the Legislative Fiscal Office, says a state board recently issued projections for state tax revenue that were $295.8 million higher than earlier estimates. He says new calculations also showed the state needs to spend about $202 million less on aid for public schools.

More than 130 scientists from Iowa colleges and universities say this year’s drought is consistent with a warmer climate predicted as part of global climate change and more droughts can be expected.

Scientists and researchers from 27 Iowa colleges and universities signed the Iowa Climate Statement released Monday. It says a warming climate causes wet years to be wetter and dry years to be hotter and dryer. Those extremes lead to more flooding and drought, and Iowa has experienced both in recent years.

The state was hard hit this year when drought spread across two-thirds of the country.

The scientists say warming will continue as global emissions increase and greenhouse gases accumulate, and they expect a growing number of droughts as soon as the 2020s.

A forester at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln says the state’s supply of locally-grown Christmas trees should not be affected by this year’s drought.

Dennis Adams of the Nebraska Forest Service said in a statement Monday that an estimated 25,000 Nebraska-grown trees will be available this year.

He says more than 25 Christmas tree farms are located around the state, and most will open in the days around Thanksgiving. They allow customers to select and cut their own trees, which Adams says ensures better quality, minimizes the threat of fire and even adds a better aroma.

Adams says buying pre-cut trees from Nebraska is also a better option than purchasing those shipped from western and northern states because they will be fresher.

An Arizona man is jailed after troopers find more than 2300 lbs of marijuana in the back of the rental truck he was driving.

Just before 10:00 a.m., Sunday, November 18, a trooper stopped an eastbound 2012 rental truck for failure to signal near the Bradshaw Interchange on I-80. The trooper was given consent to search the vehicle. A search of the truck led to the seizure of 101 bundles of marijuana weighing 2,395.5 pounds.

The driver of the vehicle, James C. Valimont, 56, Glendale, Ariz., was lodged in the York County Jail on a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver

Nebraska authorities have reported a slight drop in charitable gaming.

The office of Nebraska Tax Commissioner Douglas Ewald says the total for the quarter ending Sept. 30 dropped to a total of $60.4 million, compared with $60.8 million from the quarter ending June 30.

Tax receipts also dropped, to $1.25 million from $1.26 million.

Charitable gaming includes keno, pickle cards, bingo, and lottery and raffle games.