LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A prominent Nebraska businessman who built Crete Carrier into one of the nation’s largest privately owned trucking companies and played a significant role in the state’s Republican party has died.

Duane Acklie was 84 when he died Saturday. His son-in-law, Tonn Ostergard, who is Crete Carrier’s CEO, said Acklie’s funeral will be held Thursday at First Plymouth Church in Lincoln.

Acklie was a key fundraiser for Republican candidates and served in behind-the-scenes roles in the party. He also led state and national business organizations.

Crete Carrier began in 1966 with six leased trucks hauling dog food from a plant in Crete, Nebraska. Initially, Acklie was a lawyer advising the company’s founder, but he later bought the trucking firm in the early 1970s.

Today, Crete has 5,000 trucks and 13,000 trailers

PERU, Neb. (AP) — Three men were injured in stabbing incident in southeast Nebraska involving Peru State College students.

The Nemaha County Sheriff’s office said the incident happened around 10:15 p.m. Saturday.

Two of the men were transferred to a Lincoln hospital for treatment while the third victim was treated and released.

Authorities didn’t immediately identify the victims or explain what led to the dispute.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — Columbus police say they no longer plan to offer voluntary ride-alongs for civilians, at least for now.

The police department made the decision in after learning its insurance provider put a suspension on the rides.

Columbus Police Capt. Chuck Sherer says most people interested in riding with an officer are from the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Columbus class, the department’s Citizen’s Police Academy and criminal justice programs through Central Community College.

The department averaged 16 ride-alongs annually in 2014 and 2015, but only eight this year.

Sherer says he has to deny all requests until the suspension is lifted.

AURORA, Neb. (AP) — A central Nebraska man accused of hiring someone to kill his wife is asking a judge to dismiss one of the charges against him.

Robert S. Honken is charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Authorities say he made arrangements with Derrick Shirley of Bradshaw to kill his wife. Both men were arrested Feb. 29.

Authorities say a concerned citizen notified them that Honken had contacted him with a request to kill his wife. During a recorded police call, Honken allegedly said he wanted his wife “out of the way” and admitted he had previously hired another person, Shirley, to do the job.

Honken is seeking to have one of the charges dismissed, saying it constitutes double jeopardy.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a Lincoln woman on suspicion of setting a car on fire.

29-year-old Gabrielle Loving is accused of setting fire to a car that she believed belonged to a former boyfriend.

Authorities say the blaze caused about $7,000 in damages.

Loving told police she had nothing to do with fire, but police say her daughter told a school counselor that her mother admitted to the crime and that her clothes smelled like smoke.

According to a police affidavit, Loving’s daughter said her mother told her to put the clothes in a neighbor’s trash can and instructed her about what to say if police asked her about the incident.

Online court records did not list an attorney for Loving in the case.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A national group of state agricultural leaders will meet in Nebraska next week.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture will meet in Lincoln from Wednesday through next Saturday and celebrate its 100th anniversary.

The head of Nebraska’s Agriculture Department, Greg Ibach (EYE’-bah), has been serving as president of the group.

The group promotes policies that promote American agriculture and protect the environment.

The group’s members will be looking ahead to what the next president and next farm bill might mean for agriculture. And there will discussions of current regulatory challenges farmers and ranchers face.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln high school player has joined San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in taking a knee during the national anthem, protesting racial oppression and inequality.

Sterling Smith of Southeast High School says he did so before last week’s game and will do so again Friday against Omaha North and continue through the rest of the season.

Smith says the discussions that followed Kaepernick’s protests shed light on the difficult subject of race and give people a chance to talk about those issues. Smith says he, too, wanted to start a conversation.

The school district says it encourages athletes and spectators to stand during the national anthem but also recognizes the nation’s freedom of speech. It says no one is legally required to stand.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska at Omaha has been fined $900 for false alarms at Baxter Arena, which has been open to the public for less than a year.

University spokesman Charley Reed said that “fire-alarm sensitivity has been an issue at Baxter since it has opened” but also says they’ve been infrequent. City records say there have been five false alarms since September 2015.

Associate athletic director Mike Kemp says the problem occurs when the scoreboard is moved up and down. He says the university will get the problem resolved.

City Treasurer Donna Waller says no fines were issued for the first two false alarms. False alarms on Oct. 5 and Jan. 22 drew $200 fines. A fifth alarm on April 13 cost the university $500.

ELK POINT, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota authorities have confirmed that a body recovered from the Missouri River was that of a missing Iowa college student.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that the medical examiner’s office in Sioux Falls says the body was that of 23-year-old Tom Patterson. He disappeared in the water around 5 p.m. Sept. 4 near a beach about four miles southwest of Elk Point. Authorities have said witnesses reported that Patterson was trying to help some companions swim from the Nebraska shoreline back to South Dakota when he was swept away by the current.

Patterson was from Frostburg, Maryland, and was a student at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa.

YUTAN, Neb. (AP) — A rural Yutan man has been charged with manslaughter in the death of his sister more than two years after she was beaten.

Records say 64-year-old Randall McDuffee has bonded out of jail. His attorney, Christopher Lathrop, declined to comment Thursday beyond saying that McDuffee will be pleading not guilty.

Authorities say 49-year-old Michelle McDuffee was visiting her brother in December 2013. He told officers that he and his sister had been drinking the night of Dec. 7 and that he found her the next morning on the kitchen floor. She was treated at an Omaha hospital for head and other injuries.

Authorities say she never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead on March 3 this year. An autopsy showed she died of complications from a blunt force head injury.