PILGER, Neb. (AP) — Rock star Bret Michaels and his band have rolled up their sleeves to help clean up a tornado-damaged town in northeast Nebraska and sign autographs for residents and other volunteers.

Michaels and company rolled into Pilger on Monday afternoon, a week after an EF4 tornado destroyed or damaged more than half of it. Two people were killed.

Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger took Michaels, his band and crew into the heavily damaged Pilger Middle School. The former frontman of Poison said that, “Thinking about the children in this town, it takes your breath away.”

Michaels and the others then started cleanup work on the home of Tim and Betty Maly. Besides the basement, not much was left.

A traffic stop for speeding on Interstate 80 in Seward County over the weekend led to the seizure of 58.6 lbs. of cocaine and two arrests.

Just before 7:30 a.m., Saturday, June 21, a Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) trooper stopped an eastbound 2014 Ford Expedition for speeding in Seward County.  The trooper observed several suspicious packages in the rear passenger compartment of the vehicle. A probable cause search led to the seizure of 58.6 lbs. of cocaine. Seventeen packages of cocaine were located throughout the vehicle. The cocaine has an estimated street value of $1,000,000.

The driver of the vehicle, 39-year-old Sonia Hernandez, of Norwalk, Calif., and a passenger in the vehicle,  21-year-old Freddy Hernandez Jr., of Dry Fork, Va., were both lodged in the Seward County Jail on each on a charge of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — The Gage County jail in southeast Nebraska is testing a system that its creators say will reduce inmate suicides.

The system is called AliveLock and was developed by Pacific Place Enterprises LLC, which is based in Lincoln.

A special bracelet placed on an inmate wirelessly transmits vital signs to a central location. An alarm is triggered and jailers are notified if the inmate’s vital signs become unstable.

The device doesn’t prevent suicide attempts, but Gage County Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson says the alarm will give jailers the precious seconds that could mean the difference between life and death for the inmate.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A fifth teenager has been arrested in the slaying of a 23-year-old Omaha man.

Omaha police said Monday that the 15-year-old boy was booked on a charge of being an accessory to a felony.

He and the four other boys are accused in the June 7 shooting death of Brandon Wallace, who was found fatally wounded on the front porch of his home. The other boys are ages 13, 15, 16 and 17. The Associated Press generally doesn’t name juveniles accused of crimes.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A national transplant board has permanently adopted a rule that gives children a better shot at donor lungs.

The vote comes a year after a Pennsylvania girl’s need for new lungs sparked a national debate on donor rules.

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network says the issue affects about 20 children a year. On Monday, the group approved a rule that lets children apply for adult lungs.

A federal judge had ordered the network to add 11-year-old Sarah Murnaghan, of Newtown Square, to the adult list last year. After two transplants — one failed — Sarah is now breathing on her own.

The network says a dozen children have asked to be added to the adult list. However, it says most are still matched with donor lungs from children.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State workers have rounded up and moved some young geese away from a Lincoln lake.

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission workers removed about 25 goslings at Pine Lake.

The move followed complaints that the Canada geese population had soared at the lake in southeast Lincoln and that the goslings were eating plants and leaving droppings on sidewalks and the swimming beach.

The goslings were taken to a wildlife management area outside Lincoln. No adult geese were moved because they would have led the younger birds back to Pine Lake once they could fly.

The commission took the action at the request of the Pine Lake Association.

CHICAGO (AP) — The nation’s largest pediatricians’ group says parents should read aloud to their children every day starting in infancy.

Doing so can enhance child development and prepare young minds for early language and reading ability.

That’s according to a new policy from the American Academy of Pediatrics issued Tuesday.

The academy wants pediatricians to spread the message to parents of young children and to provide books to needy families.

To help promote reading, the doctors’ group is teaming up with the Clinton Foundation’s Too Small to Fail program, children’s book publisher Scholastics Inc., and a group called Reach out and Read. That nonprofit group works with doctors and hospitals to distribute books and encourage early reading.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have issued warrants for two prison inmates in connection with a 2012 killing of an Arizona man whose burned body was found in an eastern Nebraska farm field ditch.

Omaha police spokesman Michael Pecha, on Monday, said warrants were issued to 29-year-old John Meyers and 33-year-old Joseph Fleming for use of a weapon to commit a felony and suspicion of first-degree murder in the killing of Jose Quintero.

Sarpy County farmers found Quintero’s burned body in September 2012 after noticing smoke between their fields.

Investigators believe Quintero, of Phoenix, was dead when his body was dumped early on Sept. 24, 2012. They believe he was killed in Omaha.

The men are imprisoned on other charges. They will be booked on the new charges.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a car driver and his passenger have been arrested after a fatal hit-and-run crash in Omaha.

Omaha police say the accident occurred at 4:45 p.m. Sunday a couple of miles west of downtown. Police say the man was walking across Dodge Street when he was struck by a westbound vehicle that didn’t halt for a red light. The man was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later at an Omaha hospital. His name hasn’t been released.

The vehicle that hit him was found abandoned a few blocks away. The driver and his passenger were soon found and taken into custody. They have yet to be charged in court.