LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A rat competition, in which psychology students condition the behavior of their lab rodents to clear a series of obstacles, is still going strong after 40 years at a Lincoln college.

About 15 rats competed in Tuesday’s Xtreme Rat Challenge at Nebraska Wesleyan University. The rodents climbed ropes, walked on a tightrope and raced through tubes.

The event was created in 1974 by former psychology professor Marty Klein. He said he crafted it as an alternative learning experiment from the “boring” psychology labs he sat through as a student.

While training the rodents, students learn techniques in how to teach them to clear the obstacles. Klein says the rats signal to students when they’re doing something wrong by becoming uninterested or not learning the desired behavior.

CRETE, Neb. (AP) — Saline County Emergency Management officials say no one was injured in an emergency landing after a small plane’s landing gear malfunctioned.

The plane carrying two people circled the Crete Municipal Airport on Tuesday before descending without its front wheel. The plane landed on its back wheels and nose before skidding to a stop.

Pilot Mitch Edwards tells KLKN-TV he was taking his passenger from Crete to Salina, Kansas. He says he returned to the airport when he discovered the problem after trying to land in Kansas.

It’s unclear what caused the malfunction. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha zoo officials say one of its lionesses has given birth to a rare white cub.

The Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium says the male cub is one of three born late last week, two boys and one girl. Zoo officials say lion cubs typically weigh about three pounds at birth and that their cubs weigh just over four pounds.

They say the cubs will soon go on display with their mother and will likely open their eyes within a week or two.

Zoo officials say the inheritance of the white coloring is not fully understood and may be linked to a rare recessive gene from each parent.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man has pleaded no contest to a charge after he was found asleep under a 7-year-old girl’s bed in Lincoln.

Twenty-five-year-old Dangelo Madkins pleaded no contest Tuesday to a charge of terroristic threats. The plea deal dismissed charges of stalking and criminal trespassing.

Police say Madkins was stalking the girl’s mother, whom he had dated. He was found under the empty bed snoring in May. Police say he had a stun gun, knife, screwdriver, a key to the apartment and the woman’s work identification.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman has been given probation for a slow-speed chase down Interstate 80 earlier this year.

26-year-old Leahlia Beatty was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation on charges of driving under the influence and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest. Her license was revoked for six months.

Authorities say they pulled over Beatty in February as she drove east in the westbound lanes of Interstate 80. The vehicle later did a U-turn and began heading west in the eastbound lanes.

The chase reached speeds of 40 mph. Beatty is accused of nearly hitting a Nebraska State Patrol trooper. Spiked stop strips flattened her car’s tires and it soon went out of control, ending up in the ditch.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A detective says an argument on Facebook between two men may have led to a fatal shooting in northwest Omaha.

Detective Michael Smith testified during a preliminary hearing Tuesday that an argument between 31-year-old Kenneth Armour and 30-year-old Michael Stubbs began with a comment to a Facebook post and escalated via phone.

Armour is accused of fatally shooting Stubbs on Nov. 5. Smith testified that Stubbs identified Armour as the shooter before he died.

Armour faces several felony charges in the case, including first-degree murder. A message left for his attorney was not immediately returned Tuesday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former Lincoln restaurant manager has been convicted of recording images of women changing clothes in an employee locker room.

29-year-old Dustin Lindgren took a plea deal with prosecutors on Monday. He entered no contest pleas to two counts of unlawful intrusion and a judge found him guilty. A third count was dropped in the deal.

Authorities say Lindgren was manager of the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery when he used a cellphone hidden in a jacket pocket to record at least 12 women in January and February. One of the women noticed the phone and notified police.

The owner of the restaurant fired Lindgren in February. He is scheduled to be sentenced next year.

DECATUR, Neb. (AP) — Decatur residents are hoping a former toll booth will help attract visitors to the eastern Nebraska community.

The Burt County Bridge Commission used to collect $1 tolls from motorists traveling on Highway 51 to and from Decatur. The money was used to help pay off the bridge and maintain it.

But the commission sold the bridge last fall to Iowa and Nebraska. The crossing is supported with tax dollars, eliminating the need for a toll.

The toll booth was set for demolition.

This summer, residents participating in a Center for Rural Affairs program were searching for a landmark that would attract visitors to Decatur. They settled upon the toll booth.

A former toll-taker says the state will help pay to move the toll booth somewhere else in Decatur.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two suburban Omaha school boards have decided not to oppose or support a plan that would eliminate a common property tax levy for a school system aimed at closing the achievement gap between poor and middle-class students and increasing classroom diversity.

Ralston Public Schools Superintendent Mark Adler said some board members liked parts of the plan, but they didn’t want to be locked into supporting it.

The Papillion-La Vista board declined to vote either way on the specific plan but did vote on Monday to state that the board “does not support the Learning Community.”

A report from the Learning Community superintendents last month said the common property tax levy is a barrier to improving the collaboration between the Learning Community and its 11 districts.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Creighton University President Timothy Lannon has announced that he’ll be leaving his post sooner than expected.

Lannon cited his health in an email to Creighton staffers and students on Tuesday and said he’d be resigning effective Jan. 20, six months earlier than planned. He’d begun planning his retirement after falling ill a year ago during Thanksgiving Mass.

Lannon returned to Creighton in 2011 as Creighton’s 24th president. Chris Bradberry, who is dean of the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions, will become interim president on Dec. 21.