NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — A 57-year-old man has been injured while changing a tire for two stranded motorists in northeast Nebraska.

The accident occurred about 7 p.m. Sunday on U.S. Highway 275 east of Norfolk. Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger says a van had stopped with a flat tire in the outside westbound lane of the highway. Jeffrey Bethards, of rural Pilger (PIHL’-gur), had stopped his vehicle behind the van before getting out to help the two motorists.

Unger says a westbound car driven by Nick Beckman, of Norfolk, struck Bethards’ vehicle, then him and then sideswiped the van. Bethards was flown to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa. The two motorists were taken to a Norfolk hospital. Beckman was treated at the scene.

DANVILLE, Va. (AP) — Starting next month, America’s remaining tobacco growers will be totally exposed to the laws of supply and demand.

The very last buyout checks go out in October to about 425,000 tobacco farmers and landowners. They’re the last holdovers from a price-support and quota system that had guaranteed minimum prices for most of the 20th century, sustaining a way of life that began 400 years ago in Virginia.

Cigarette makers will have paid $10 billion to compensate growers for surrendering their quotas. Growers got another $5 billion from the companies as part of their 1998 settlement of state lawsuits over smoking-related health care costs.

When the last checks are cashed, surviving growers will be on their own, forced to find profits in a tremendously competitive global market.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Law enforcement officials from coast to coast say street gangs are shying away from wearing their colors and are covering up or even altering their tattoos to avoid detection by police.

Hartford, Connecticut, Police Sgt. Johnmichael O’Hare says gone are the days when the Bloods wore red from head to toe. All you’ll see now, he says, is maybe a red handkerchief sticking out of a back pocket.

Police say gangs have learned from past mistakes and are responding to stronger laws. Authorities say gang members also want to avoid more restrictive prison conditions imposed on gang members.

Los Angeles Detective William Nunn says there’s another reason gangs aren’t so flashy these days — they’re committing more credit card and identity theft crimes and don’t want to be easily identified.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An arbitrator has ruled that Omaha must put deploy more firefighters and medics because the city’s response times don’t measure up to national standards.

The arbitrator ruled last week on a July 2013 grievance by the firefighters union. The union says the city violated a contract provision that says the city should try to meet the national standards.

The arbitrator also says city officials must write a report identifying deficiencies in response times throughout Omaha.

Mayor Jean Stothert (STAH’-thurt) says the city will appeal the arbitrator’s rulings.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A November sentencing hearing has been scheduled for a Beatrice man convicted of raping a 9-year-old boy.

On Monday 39-year-old Scott Taylor pleaded no contest to sexual assault of a child. Prosecutors had lowered the charge in exchange for Taylor’s plea. He faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced on Nov. 19.

Taylor was arrested at his home following an investigation conducted after the boy told his schoolteacher of the Nov. 18, 2013, assault. Court records say the assault occurred at the boy’s home while his parents were out.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — First, Pope Francis married 20 couples to highlight the role of families as the heart of the Catholic Church. Next up is a special Mass for grandparents.

Francis and 100 elderly priests will celebrate a Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 28 in honor of the elderly, part of his long-standing belief that old people shouldn’t be shut away in retirement homes but should be actively cherished for their wisdom.

Some 40,000 people from 20 nations are expected to attend. Francis plans to give each one a copy of the Gospel of Mark, written in large-sized type, said Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, head of the Vatican’s family office.

Paglia said Tuesday that one of the elderly couples taking part in the Mass recently fled the Islamic militant crackdown in northern Iraq and would recount their family’s story to the crowd.

Francis was particularly close to his own grandmother Rosa. He has also said having Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, 87, in the Vatican was like having a “wise grandfather” living at home.

The Mass for grandparents, and the group wedding that Francis celebrated last weekend, are aimed at focusing attention on family life ahead of a major two-year church study on family issues starting Oct. 5.

One of the key events taking place during the process is a pep rally for families in Philadelphia in September 2015, which Francis is expected to attend.

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput told a Vatican briefing Tuesday that if Francis comes as expected, 1 million people would likely attend his Mass.