KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) – A summer traffic stop along Interstate 80 in central Nebraska is proving profitable for several Buffalo County agencies that will share $252,470 that was seized. The Kearney Hub reports neither of the men who were in the car when it was stopped on July 12 tried to claim the money in court. So Buffalo County Judge John Icenogle ruled the cash had been forfeited. Court documents say Nebraska State Troopers found the cash hidden in the lining of suitcases in the rental car’s trunk after the two men told conflicting stories about their travel plans. No drugs were found in the car, so the men were released. The money will be split between Buffalo County’s fines and licensing fund and the county drug law enforcement and education fund.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman says he’s frustrated with the state’s efforts to enact child welfare reforms, but he’s promising improvements after meeting with an agency director and other stakeholders. The Republican governor says he makes no excuses for the recent problems that have risen with the effort to privatize services. He says he met this week the director Nebraska Department of Health and Human services, a non-profit service provider, and the Lancaster County Attorney’s office, which has clashed with the state before. Heineman’s comments came one week after State Auditor Mike Foley released an audit of the state’s child welfare services. The agency dispute parts of the report, and says it has made improvements to address others. Heineman says he still supports privatization of Nebraska’s child welfare services.

DENVER (AP) – A melon farm in Colorado has issued a recall of cantaloupe following a Listeria outbreak that has killed at least two people, sickened 22 and spread to several states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the deaths from the outbreak were reported in Colorado and New Mexico, and state health departments said more deaths could be confirmed once testing comes back. The CDC said the 22 people infected are in seven states: Colorado, Indiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia. Jensen Farms spokeswoman Amy Philpott said y that one of the Colorado farm’s Rocky Ford cantaloupes tested positive for the bacteria, but more tests are needed to determine if it’s the same strain linked to the outbreak. It is first time the bacteria has been linked to cantaloupe in the U.S.

GERING, Neb. (AP) – An 18-year-old Gering woman has been found guilty of child abuse for helping children she was supervising in an after-school program “huff” intoxicating fumes from cleaning products and other sources.  Scottsbluff radio station KNEB reports that Jessica McDaniel was convicted Wednesday in Scotts Bluff County Court of two counts of aiding and abetting inhaling an intoxicant and two counts of misdemeanor child abuse. Court records say McDaniel was supervising children at an after-school program at Westmoor Elementary School on Feb. 23 when she inhaled from empty whipped cream cans and from a can used to clean electronics. Prosecutors say McDaniel was also helped two children inhale from the cans. She is set to be sentenced Nov. 16 on the misdemeanor counts.