A baby Jesus figure taken from a Pennsylvania church’s Nativity scene last year was found cradled in the arms of a nearby statue, just hours before the replacement statue was swiped.

The vintage figurine was taken last year from outside Chambersburg’s Central Presbyterian Church. It was found Sunday in the arms of a bronze Civil War soldier statue across the town square.

A local business had replaced the Jesus statue when the Nativity scene was set up a couple weeks ago. The Chambersburg Public Opinion reports that replacement statue was swiped sometime after services on Sunday.

Congregant Buffy Super calls the statue’s return a “Christmas miracle.” Another says the church will have to considering securing the statue to deter theft.

Twin spacecraft have captured the clearest sounds yet from Earth’s radiation belts — and they mimic the chirping of birds.

NASA’s Van Allen Probes have been exploring the hostile radiation belts surrounding Earth for just three months. But already, they’ve collected detailed measurements of high-energy particles and radio waves.

Scientists say these waves can provide an energy boost to radiation belt particles, somewhat like ocean waves can propel a surfer on Earth. What’s more, these so-called chorus waves operate in the same frequency as human hearing so they can be heard.

A University of Iowa physicist played a recording of these high-pitched radio waves at a conference Tuesday in San Francisco. Craig Kletzing says it sounds like the chirping of “alien birds” and crickets.

After more than eight years roaming Mars, the NASA rover Opportunity is still making discoveries.

Scientists said Tuesday the six-wheel, solar-powered vehicle has uncovered hints of clay minerals in outcrops along the western rim of a huge crater in the Martian southern hemisphere.

Clay minerals are important because they hold clues about the Martian climate. Studying them should help scientists determine whether surface conditions in the past could have been favorable for life. Until now, their presence has been spotted by orbiting spacecraft.

Results were released at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

Opportunity will stay at its current spot for several more months before heading south to an area believed to have a motherlode of clay minerals.

Opportunity landed in 2004 and outlasted its original, three-month mission.

Investigators are trying to determine what caused the crash that killed an eastern Nebraska couple on their way to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Harold and Connie Wheeler of Tamora died Saturday afternoon after their car crossed the centerline and collided with a pickup truck.

Police Capt. Danny Reitan says investigators are looking into whether 76-year-old Harold Wheeler had a medical problem before the crash. Connie Wheeler was 71.

Both Wheelers died at the scene. The truck’s driver suffered only minor injuries.

The Wheelers were on their way to their son’s home in Lincoln where friends and family had gathered to celebrate their anniversary.

Friend Emily Greguras says the Wheelers were a nice couple who loved their dogs and cared about senior issues.

A new editor has been named to lead a social and natural sciences journal published by the University of Nebraska’s Center for Great Plains Studies.

Gary Willson will take over leadership of the journal Great Plains Research on Jan. 1. He will be replacing Robert Diffendal Jr., who led the journal for nine years.

Willson has been an ecologist and research coordinator with the National Park Service’s Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. He also has served as an adjunct associate professor in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of National Resources.

Willson has written more than two dozen articles on prairie species and landscapes.

A monthly economic index report suggests an economic slump will continue over the next three to six months for nine Midwest and Plains states.

The Mid-America Business Conditions index rose slightly in November to a weak 48.0 from 46.5 in October. The figure was 50.4 in September.

The survey of business leaders and supply managers uses a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Survey organizers say any score above 50 suggests growth while a score below 50 suggests decline for that factor.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey, and he says it is tracking “economic weakness, particularly for nondurable-goods producers.”

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Nebraska State Fire Marshal John Falgione is retiring at the end of the month.

Gov. Dave Heineman announced Monday that the 65-year-old is leaving the state cabinet post after more than 35 years in fire service.

During Falgione’s tenure, the state Fire Marshal’s office expanded a state fire prevention program aimed at students, contributed to an overhaul of Nebraska’s fireworks laws, and developed a series of online applications for permits and licenses.

Falgione was appointed by Heineman in 2007. He previously has served as a deputy state fire marshal in the investigations, code enforcement, and flammable liquid storage divisions.

His final day will be Dec. 28.

Authorities have released the name of a person injured in a fatal car crash west of Omaha.

Police say the crash occurred around 1:15 a.m. Monday on West Dodge Road, near 208th Street. Witnesses told officers that the car had been weaving and speeding through eastbound traffic when it veered across a median into the westbound lanes and rolled.

The name of the person who was killed hasn’t been released, pending notification of family.

The injured person was identified as 19-year-old Colby Burke, of Valley. Burke is being treated at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

The crash is being investigated.

Health officials say flu season is off to its earliest start in nearly 10 years — and it could be a bad one.

The primary strain circulating is one that tends to cause more severe illness, especially in the elderly.

But officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the nation seems to be fairly well prepared. More than a third of Americans have been vaccinated, and the vaccine is well matched to the strains of flu so far.

Officials said Monday that suspected flu cases have jumped in five southern states — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. An uptick in flu reports like this usually doesn’t occur until after Christmas.

The last time a typical flu season started this early was the winter of 2003-04.

A 34-year-old Omaha woman faces a felony charge of animal cruelty for the death of her dog found lying in a cage, covered in its own filth.

The Nebraska Humane Society says Mashaunda Ball was arrested on Monday.

The society says Ball had called Nov. 26 to report her dog had died. Society workers who responded found the Boston terrier, Bubbles, still alive in his wire cage. He was covered in feces and had urine burns on his paw pads.

The emaciated dog was euthanized after he was taken to a veterinarian for treatment. A necropsy report says Bubbles had five sharp pieces of plastic in his stomach.

A public phone listing for Ball couldn’t be found. Online court records don’t list the name of Ball’s attorney.