The Salvation Army’s Christmas Toy Lift is looking to deliver cheer to the children of people who are serving time in jail or prison this holiday season.

Under the program, gifts purchased by The Salvation Army are shown to inmates, who selected one gift per child. The children receive a card, handwritten by their incarcerated parent, and the gift.

The Christmas Toy Lift is supported in part by donations to the Tree of Lights campaign. For the past 10 years, it has provided jailed family members of Sarpy and Douglas County Correctional Centers the chance to give their children Christmas gifts.

What started as a program for approximately 600 children grew to over 1,500 last year.

Nebraska hunters bagged a record 105 bull elk this fall.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says 91 percent of hunters with valid permits for the hunt shot a bull — also a record.

That compares with 90 bulls harvested and a 79 percent success rate last year.

Bull elk season ended in Nebraska on Oct. 28. Thirty-one elk cows were harvested in the first half of the cow elk season, which ran from Sept. 29-Oct. 28. That season resumes Dec. 1 through Dec. 31.

The commission is reminding successful elk hunters to send in elk tooth collection envelopes to Nebraska Game and Parks.

An analysis of consumer-credit data shows that Americans are carrying more credit card debt and being less diligent about making payments on time.

Credit reporting agency TransUnion said Monday that the average credit card debt per borrower in the U.S. grew 4.9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the rate of credit card payments at least 90 days overdue rose to 0.75 percent, up from 0.71 percent in the third quarter of last year.

While higher, the late payment rate is inching higher from historically low levels.

That suggests that most cardholders continue to prioritize their card payments over other financial obligations, such as their mortgage.

TransUnion forecasts that severe delinquency rates on cards will remain near current low levels in the fourth quarter.

maha police officers rescued two people and a dog from Carter Lake after their boat capsized.

An officer spotted the overturned boat in Carter Lake, Iowa, Sunday and called for help.

Paramedics were worried that 55-year-old Kay Dunn and her 32-year-old son, Nathaniel Nelson, could develop hypothermia if they were in the water too long.

Four other Omaha police officers responded and helped get the two people and their dog out of the water.

The two people who were rescued and one officer were taken to the hospital to be checked for hypothermia after being in the water for about 20 minutes.

The dog, Buster, was taken to the Nebraska Humane Society to get checked out.

A 43-year-old Hastings man has been given eight to 10 years in prison in a marijuana case involving a 12-year-old girl.

The Hastings Tribune reports that Ondraye Williams had pleaded no contest to possession of marijuana for sale. Prosecutors dropped another charge and enhancement for being a habitual criminal in exchange for Williams’ plea. He was sentenced earlier this week in Adams County District Court.

Court records say Williams had been texting a 12-year-old girl and was trying to arrange a meeting in March 2011, promising to bring along some marijuana.

Police learned of the plan and confiscated her cellphone. An officer then used the phone in arranging a meeting with Williams at Brickyard Park in Hastings. Officers were waiting for him there.

Police are hoping that a baseball cap found inside Zoo Boise, in Idaho, will help them track down the suspects in the beating death of a monkey.

A break-in at the zoo early Saturday left a Patas monkey dead from blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

Police are analyzing blood found at the scene to determine if it came from the monkey or one of two human intruders.

Police say two males wearing dark clothing were spotted by a security guard at 4:30 a.m. outside the fence near the primate exhibit.

Both fled and police have been unable to find them.

But they said late Saturday night that a grey baseball cap with a skull design was probably left behind by one of them.

Editors of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s literary journal plan to tour the state in December in an effort to connect with writers.

Prairier Schooner Editor-in-Chief Kwame Dawes and Managing Editor Marianne Kunkel are scheduled to leave Lincoln on Dec. 8 and return on Dec. 20. Their itinerary includes stops in 12 cities, including Alliance, Broken Bow, Norfolk and Omaha.

Dawes says he wants to remind Nebraskans of what a treasure the journal is and “see if we can generate even more ownership and pride in the publication.”

Each visit will include poetry readings by Dawes and Kunkel, followed by a question-and-answer session.

More details on the tour and the journal are available online at prairieschooner.unl.edu.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has formally announced its investigation into the death of a 2-year-old boy who was fatally mauled when he fell into a wild African dogs exhibit at the Pittsburgh zoo.

Zoo officials had previously said the USDA would investigate along with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, an accrediting agency.

USDA spokesman Dave Sacks says investigators will be looking for violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which governs the treatment of animals in public exhibits.

Maddox Derkosh, of Whitehall, bled to death when he was attacked by the dogs after falling off a wooden rail on an observation platform overlooking the exhibit at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium.

Sacks says there is no timeline for the investigation, though any violations found will be made public.

A 21-year-old man accused of impersonating an airline employee at the Omaha airport has pleaded guilty.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Timothy Foster, of Omaha, admitted entering a secured area at Eppley Airfield under false pretenses. Foster made his plea Wednesday in federal court in Omaha.

According to the criminal complaint, Foster pretended to be a United Airlines employee for six weeks starting in April. The complaint says he accessed restricted areas and a computer system of United Airlines and displayed a security badge he’d made.

Foster faces up to six months behind bars and a $5,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 26.

Hostess Brands says it is going out of business, closing plants that make Twinkies and Wonder Bread and laying off all of its 18,500 workers.

The Irving, Texas, company says a nationwide worker strike crippled its ability to make and deliver its products at several locations.

Hostess had warned employees that it would file a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to unwind its business and sell assets if plant operations didn’t return to normal levels by Thursday evening.

The privately held company filed for Chapter 11 protection in January, its second trip through bankruptcy court in less than a decade.