LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department has made a series of nine cartoons and posted them on YouTube to remind students about what do in emergencies.

Each video in the “Really Obvious Preparedness Facts” series is about a minute long, and combined, they have 2,200 views.

The department’s emergency preparedness coordinator, Mark Robertson, said he wanted to create the animations, because he thought it would resonate more with college students than a man in his 50s on camera would.

Robertson narrates each cartoon. He says he tries to add humor similar to the animated show “South Park” to increase the likelihood of them being shared on social media websites.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska organization that gives out financial aid for K-12 students says increased donations have led to more students receiving scholarships.

The Children’s Scholarship Fund of Omaha said it awarded $2.1 million in scholarships this school year, which is up about $300,000 from last year. The organization works with private schools to offer aid to low-income families.

The executive director of the fund says about $550,000 went to 367 new students. She says donations increased by about $400,000 this year.

The fund serves students in private schools throughout the Omaha area and northeast Nebraska.

MANLEY, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities say a woman has been killed and a man has been injured in a highway crash near Manly.

Cass County Sheriff William Brueggemann says deputies responded to the two-vehicle crash on Monday. He says 22-year-old Amanda Hauschild of Weeping Water was driving on Highway 50 when she lost control of her car. They say her car turned 180 degrees and was hit by another car in the same lane. They didn’t say why she lost control.

Hauschild died at the scene. The driver of the other car was flown to an Omaha hospital. His condition is unclear.

Neither was wearing a seat belt.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities say a drunk driver has fatally struck a 57-year-old cyclist.

Lancaster County Sgt. Mike Peschong said Douglas Dalke of Lincoln was attempting to turn when a Chevy Prizm hit him from behind.

He says a 26-year-old Kansas man was arrested and faces a felony charge of motor vehicle homicide and a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. He hasn’t been charged.

The road was closed for more than four hours while authorities investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal safety officials have proposed fining a Kansas-based company nearly $134,000 for what the officials say were welding safety violations in Omaha.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Monday that it has cited Watco Cos. Inc., of Pittsburg, Kansas, for three repeat and three serious safety violations. A spokeswoman for Watco told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she couldn’t immediately comment.

OSHA inspectors say Watco let workers enter rail cars to perform repair tasks, including welding, without implementing procedures required under OSHA’s regulations for work in confined spaces.

The agency says a Watco worker had reported suffering respiratory inflammation after doing welding work inside a rail car in Omaha.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska woman has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her boyfriend’s 68-year-old mother.

41-year-old Shelley Casterline, of Guide Rock, was sentenced Monday in Adams County District Court on one count of second-degree murder in the October 2013 slaying of Virginia Barone.

Investigators say the women had been arguing before the death. An autopsy shows Barone was stabbed twice in the back and 20 times in the chest and torso.

Casterline’s 24-year-old son, Andrew Casterline, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder and other crimes in connection to the death. Shelley Casterline testified during his trial that her son didn’t stab Barone and only helped her move the body.

Andrew Casterline will be sentenced in December.

ELK CREEK, Neb. (AP) — This summer’s drilling to explore a deposit of a rare heat-resistant element in southeast Nebraska prompted a Canadian mining firm to increase its estimate of the deposit’s size.

NioCorp Developments said Monday that the latest drilling results show that the niobium deposit near Elk Creek is even bigger than expected.

The company also said Monday that it plans to raise up to $16.5 million through private placement to support the Elk Creek project.

NioCorp previously estimated that more than 100 million tons of niobium rests several hundred feet below the ground. The company is trying to determine if it will be profitable to build a mine.

The U.S. currently imports nearly all the niobium that’s used in this country to harden steel and make it more heat-resistant for industrial uses.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska doctors treating an American aid worker battling Ebola have identified the experimental drug they used.

Dr. Phil Smith of the Nebraska Medical Center says Dr. Rick Sacra received a Tekmira Pharmaceuticals drug called TKM-Ebola for a week after he arrived in Omaha on Sept. 5.

Sacra continues to improve, and doctors said Monday that he may be well enough to leave the hospital’s isolation unit soon.

But Dr. Angela Hewlett said it’s not clear what role the experimental drug played in Sacra’s recovery because he also received a blood transfusion from an Ebola survivor and other treatments.

The 51-year-old Rick Sacra from Worcester, Massachusetts, contracted Ebola while working at a hospital in Liberia.

The Ebola virus is being blamed for more than 2,800 deaths in West Africa.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A commercial airplane traveling from Boston to Los Angeles has made an emergency landing in Nebraska.

The Federal Aviation Administration says the Virgin America flight made the unscheduled landing Monday morning at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. The plane landed safely and no injuries were reported.

The agency says the flight crew requested a diversion following a medical emergency on board. A passenger, Paul Bernon, told KCAL-TV that a man had tried to open an emergency exit door. The man was later taken to the airport’s police office.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says a passenger was taken to the hospital for observation. Officials did not provide more details.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man is charged with locking his girlfriend’s five children in a bedroom for more than 24 hours without food or access to a bathroom, authorities said Monday.

Deputies who responded to a report of domestic disturbance at a home in Westgate on Friday at 9 a.m. saw several children crying and yelling through a window for help, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office said.

The children, ranging in ages from 3 to 9, told investigators they had been locked inside a bedroom by their mother’s boyfriend, Joshua Steinbronn, 28, on several occasions — sometimes for longer than 24 hours.

The room locked from the outside, and the children reported they were unable to leave. One girl told investigators she injured her leg trying to escape.

“The children stated they had to urinate into cups, clothing and baby diapers due to not being allowed to leave the locked room,” deputy James Davis wrote in a complaint.

But the children’s mother, Jonya Smith, said those allegations were false. She also disputed authorities’ claim that the children had been removed by the Department of Human Services, saying they remained in her custody but are under state monitoring.

She said she and Steinbronn had locked the children in their rooms for disciplinary reasons and naps — but never for as long as 24 hours.

She said Steinbronn, who was released from jail Saturday, is not a bad person. She praised him for enforcing respect, calling her kids “uncontrollable.”