CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the state’s first recorded case of human rabies.

Officials announced Friday that a woman from Fremont County had contracted the disease. They say she may have been exposed to the virus by a bat.

State Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Karl Musgrave says rabies is often found in animals such as bats and skunks, but human cases are rare. He says there are only one or two human cases in the United States each year.

Officials have not released the woman’s health status, but say rabies is a serious, deadly illness once it develops.

To prevent rabies, officials warn that people should keep a safe distance from wildlife.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will lead a $13.5 million research effort looking at sorghum as a sustainable source for biofuel production.

The research is funded through a five-year U.S. Department of Energy grant. Scientists will examine how plants and microbes interact, and which sorghum germplasm grows better with less water and nitrogen.

The university is joining forces with researchers at the Danforth Plant Science Center, the DOE-Joint Genome Institute, and six other universities.

Most U.S. biofuels currently are made from corn, but sorghum varieties create more biomass for cellulosic ethanol. UNL agronomy and horticulture professor Daniel Schachtman says that makes it a top contender to replace corn and relieve pressure on an important global food source.

Schachtman is the director of UNL’s Center for Biotechnology, and will lead the project.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Workers are putting the finishing touches on a new Grand Island dog park before its dedication later this month.

Parks workers will spend the next week installing a dog teeter-totter, climbing ramp, jumping hoop, agility training table, hitching post and plastic fire hydrants — all made from recycled plastic water bottles.

The dog park at L.E. Ray Lake at Highway 34 and Blaine Street is set to be dedicated on Oct. 15.

Parks and Recreation Director Todd McCoy says the city’s first dog park opened for use late this summer. It includes a three-acre area natural setting for use by all dogs and a smaller, more manicured one-third acre area for small dogs.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha jury has ordered a discount store to pay a man convicted of shoplifting from it $750,000 for injuries he received from a store employee.

A Douglas County jury on Friday found in favor of 59-year-old Richard “Dave” Moore. Moore sued ShopKo after suffering a brain injury when he was thrown to the ground by a ShopKo loss-prevention officer in November 2008.

Moore was confronted by two security workers after they say he pilfered two pairs of personal grooming scissors. One of the workers threw Moore to the ground when Moore resisted going back into the store, saying he feared Moore would use a pair of the scissors to stab him.

Moore pleaded no contest to shoplifting and was fined $50.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a man who shot another man to death outside an Omaha nightclub.

Avery Tyler had appealed his conviction last year for the Sept. 3, 2012, shooting death of Delayno Wright outside the Halo Ultra Lounge during an argument.

The 25-year-old Tyler said in his appeal that the seizure and search of his cellphone by police was illegal and should have been kept out of evidence at his trial. He also argued that warrants used to search the homes of grandparents, mother and girlfriend should have been thrown out.

On Friday, the state’s high court dismissed all of Avery’s arguments, saying the searches were valid.

BLAIR, Neb. (AP) — A bomb squad has determined that a package found in a vehicle at the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant poses no danger.

The Omaha Public Power District says in a release that security workers noticed the package around 8:44 a.m. Friday. The vehicle was just outside what the district called the protected area of the plant. About 30 workers at a nearby warehouse were evacuated as a precaution, but the plant continued to operate.

The district says the Washington County Sheriff’s Office was notified, and a bomb squad from Omaha eventually was called in. The squad determined that the package didn’t contain any explosives. It’s not clear yet what the package did contain, if anything.

SCHUYLER, Neb. (AP) — A 37-year-old woman has been accused of embezzling more than $66,000 from a Pinnacle Bank branch in Schuyler.

Diane Sanchez created false loans and pocketed the money. She faces five felony counts of theft. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could be contacted to comment on Sanchez’s behalf.

Court documents say Sanchez has apologized to bank officials. The Schuyler resident joined Pinnacle Bank in 1996.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A January trial has been scheduled for a York man accused of child abuse in the spanking of a 4-year-old girl.

23-year-old Luis Rodriguez-Olvera pleaded not guilty this week in York County District Court. His trial is set to begin on Jan. 20.

Court documents say a child care worker found bruises on the girl’s buttocks, back, a side and an arm. Investigators say the child’s mother said she was at work when her fiancé spanked the girl. Investigators also say Rodriguez-Olvera acknowledged striking the girl six or seven times with a sandal because she was “acting up or misbehaving.”

WILBER, Neb. (AP) — A state audit has criticized business practices in Saline County Court, where an assistant court clerk has been charged with theft.

The audit released this week cited among other problems the lack of duty segregation, which allowed one person to handle all aspects of transaction processing.

The assistant county court clerk, 42-year-old Jodi Rezabek, is accused of fraudulently writing and depositing in her own account a $15,500 check in May. Rezabek, who lives in Tobias, has pleaded not guilty. A pretrial hearing on her case is scheduled for Dec. 8.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A man already serving time in Nebraska for child sexual assault faces similar charges in western Iowa.

Rocky Ontiveros is charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in Pottawattamie County. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could be contacted to comment on his behalf.

Iowa court documents say Ontiveros sexually abused two children from Nov. 1, 2013, to Sept. 19, 2014. His preliminary hearing in a Council Bluffs courtroom is scheduled for next week.

In August the 28-year-old Ontiveros was sentenced to 30 to 40 years in a Nebraska prison and must register as a sex offender. He’d pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a minor in Douglas County.