GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Hall County officials have what other county officials might say is a happy problem: what to do with excess revenue.

Spend the $695,000 on maintenance and other needs? Cut the tax levy?

The questions arose this year because the county has an estimated $432 million in new property valuation on the books.

Supervisor Gary Quandt said at the board meeting Wednesday that if the county can cut the levy a little, “I’d like to head in that direction.”

The supervisors decided to wait until their Aug. 25 budget meeting to determine whether to cut the levy.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln funeral has been scheduled for a 30-year-old Army soldier who died in Afghanistan.

The Defense Department says Staff Sgt. Benjamin Prange died July 24 after the vehicle he was riding in hit an explosive device.

His funeral is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Friday at Southwood Lutheran Church. Interment with full military honors will follow at Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery.

Prange grew up near Roca and Hickman and attended Norris High School. He is survived by his wife, Liz Prange, and their two sons. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division at Fort Collins, Colorado.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities say a 46-year-old engineer stabbed to death at his daughter’s birthday party was killed by his father-in-law.

Seventy-seven-year-old Bayapa Lingala was charged Wednesday with second degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony. Lincoln Police say they arrived at an area residence Tuesday night and found 46-year-old Sujay Nooka with a 1.5-inch stab wound to his upper chest. He was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities say they found Lingala in the basement with an 8-inch knife covered in blood.

A police spokeswoman says investigators are trying to determine what prompted the stabbing.

It’s unclear whether Lingala has an attorney. The case isn’t listed yet in online court records.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha-based public power utility paid out nearly $1 million in severance and vacation benefits to seven employees who resigned from its Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in eastern Nebraska — well over the $400,000 the utility initially reported.

The payouts came when Omaha Public Power District hired Chicago-based Exelon, the largest U.S. operator of nuclear power plants, in 2012 to run the troubled Fort Calhoun plant.

A Douglas County judge this week ordered OPPD to release the payout documents after a labor union sued to see them.

The documents show that former OPPD Chief Nuclear Officer David Bannister was paid nearly $256,000 in severance and more than $100,000 for unused vacation.

Several other employees who agreed to resign were paid nearly $600,000 in severance and unused vacation.

PILGER, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska families affected by June tornados have received help in the form of box springs, mattress and appliances.

Members of the Norfolk Church of Christ coordinated the application for and delivery of 90 items to 49 families in Pilger. Donations were provided by Nashville-based Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort.

The Norfolk church also set up a relief center stocked with $90,000 in supplies within two days after the storm. The relief center handed out hundreds of meal, infant care and personal hygiene kits. It also gave away clothing, linens, household items and cleaning supplies.

DIXON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 60-year-old man has died after being buried in a grain bin in northeast Nebraska.

Dixon County Sheriff Dean Chase says his office received a call Tuesday afternoon about the incident in rural Dixon.

Authorities say Timothy Hansen, of Laurel, was breaking corn loose in the bin when the grain broke loose and covered him. Chase says several people tried to free Hansen.

Hansen was dead by the time authorities recovered him.