OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey says he has decided not to address graduates and their families at a Jesuit college in Omaha because he doesn’t want his support for abortion rights to be a distraction.

Kerrey told Creighton University’s president, the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, in a letter that the May 18 commencement “should be a moment of celebration and not disrupted by politics.”

The state Republican Party’s executive director, Ryan Hamilton, said last week that Creighton should find a different speaker and “take a stand for their pro-life values.”

Kerrey says he supports Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Hendrickson told the campus that he appreciated Kerry’s desire not to shift the focus away from students.

Kerrey also served as Nebraska’s governor.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A Methodist church in Omaha has decided to defy its larger denomination by condoning same-sex marriages.

The leaders of First United Methodist Church in Omaha recently decided to allow same-sex weddings at the church and allow its pastor to officiate at those ceremonies.

The local church’s decision contrasts with a vote at the United Methodist Church’s general conference. In February the overall United Methodist denomination narrowly supported a ban on gay clergy and on same-sex weddings performed at its churches.

Bishop Rube Saenz, who leads the Great Plains Methodist Conference, says he sees no reason to sanction the church unless someone complains.

First United Methodist’s pastor Rev. Kent Little says he plans to treat same-sex marriages the same as any other marriage at the church.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to again draw down Glenn Cunningham Lake in north Omaha in an effort to control invasive zebra mussels and an overabundance of common carp.

The Corps said in a news release Friday that the goal of the initial drawdown was to expose zebra mussels to freezing temperatures and dry them out while also eliminating the carp to improve the fishery. The reservoir was lowered almost 20 feet by late November, and the lake bed was exposed to harsh winter conditions.

But snowmelt and runoff from heavy rain last month caused officials to close a drain gate in order to minimize flood risks downstream. The lake now sits only about 1.5 feet (0.5 meters) below normal.

The drawdown will begin shortly to ensure the lake is prepared for final fish renovation, which is tentatively planned for early June.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The death of a popular Nebraska talk radio host has brought messages of sorrow from the state’s governor and other Republican leaders.

Lincoln police say 53-year-old Coby Mach, who hosted the KLIN-AM show “Drive Time Lincoln” and was president of the Lincoln Independent Business Association, was found dead in his car late Friday afternoon of an apparent suicide. The Lincoln Journal Star says Mach’s death came a day after he announced the end of his talk show for health and family reasons.

Mach started in radio at 14 and worked in Grand Island, Omaha and at KFOR in Lincoln before joining KLIN. Board members say membership in the business organization doubled during his 15-year tenure.

Gov. Pete Ricketts issued a statement Saturday saying he was heartbroken over Mach’s death and praised the talk show host as “a tenacious voice for fiscal conservatism and our free enterprise system.”

Similar statements were issued by U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse, as well as Lincoln-based U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska officials are urging those who lost livestock in a mid-March storm and subsequent flooding to seek help removing carcasses before Monday’s deadline.

Ranchers and farmers in federally declared disaster areas in Nebraska have until April 15 to report the carcasses to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality for help removing them. The department’s carcass removal hotline is 1-877-253-2603.

U.S. Department of Agriculture crews will handle pick-up and disposal of the animals.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has reversed a lower court’s ruling that found an airman’s sentence for attempted child sex assault too lenient.

The decision came in the case of 42-year-old Jason Gibson, who was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in 2017 when he contacted a then-18-year-old DeArch Stubblefield and set up sex with a 15-year-old girl. Gibson was later sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation, with the judge noting Gibson’s military service and lack of criminal history.

Prosecutors appealed, and the Nebraska Court of Appeals in November agreed that Gibson should be resentenced to prison.

But on Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals’ finding, saying that while the sentence was lenient, it was not “clearly against justice or conscience, reason and evidence.”

Stubblefield, who was a star football player for Bellevue West and also had no criminal history, was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison for his role.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A jury has awarded a former worker a $1.47 million judgment in a lawsuit filed after she and other servers learned they’d been video recorded changing clothes at the Lincoln restaurant.

Court records show the jury made the award April 1. The woman had sued the Tilted Kilt restaurant franchisee, Famous Brands Group, and her former manager at the Lincoln restaurant, Dustin Lindgren. She and other servers learned in 2014 that Lindgren had used his smartphone to take the videos. The restaurant has since closed.

In 2015 Lindgren was sentenced to probation and 180 days in jail for his actions.

The judge had told the jury it was already established that Lindgren had violated her privacy and that Famous Brands had negligently supervised and retained Lindgren. The jury’s only duty was to determine what Lindgren and Famous Brands should pay.

Famous Brands’ attorney didn’t immediately return a message Friday from The Associated Press. Efforts to reach Lindgren were unsuccessful.