Authorities say a Kansas man is dead following a head-on crash in southeastern Nebraska.

Thayer County Sheriff’s officials say that 27-year-old Andrew Sandoval, of Concordia, Kan., died in the Friday morning crash. Investigators say he was traveling westbound on U.S. Highway 136 just east of Deshler when his car hit another car head-on.

Investigators say Sandoval died at the scene.

The driver of the other car, a 21-year-old Deshler woman, was taken to Thayer County Health Services in Hebron. Her condition is not known.

The accident closed down a section of the highway for more than two hours.

An Omaha group is attempting to repeal Omaha’s new legal protections for gay and transgender residents.

A group calling itself the Omaha Liberty Project recently filed a petition request with the city of Omaha.

Once approved, the group will have 30 days to collect enough signatures to put the repeal to a vote. It’s unclear how many signatures the group will need.

The Omaha City Council narrowly approved the ordinance in March that bans employers, job-training programs, labor groups and other organizations from discriminating based on sexual orientation. The measure included exemptions for religious organizations.

Patrick Bonnett, executive director of the Omaha Liberty Project, says the group will issue a statement once the petition request has been reviewed by the city.

University of Nebraska Medical Center administrators say the federal health care law will cost its two Omaha hospitals millions in aid unless Medicaid coverage is expanded.

Cory Shaw, chief executive officer of UNMC Physicians, says the law will eliminate federal payments to the Nebraska Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center. Both qualify for special aid because of care they provide to patients who are on Medicaid or uninsured.

Shaw says the payments are phased out under the health care law, and will cost the hospitals nearly $11 million a year starting in 2014.

UNMC College of Medicine Dean Bradley Britigan says the cuts would hit the medical school because of nearly $60 million annually it gets from the hospitals.

Medicaid expansion would reduce the hospitals’ uncompensated care.

A federal judge scolded a former University of Nebraska rifle coach for raising spurious theories in her bankruptcy case and testing the court’s patience.

U.S. District Judge John Gerrard rejected Karen Anthony’s appeal in her bankruptcy case.

Anthony handled the case herself, and Gerrard says Anthony tried to argue bogus theories like the notion that taxes are optional. Anthony even demanded that the judge provide a certified copy of his oath.

Anthony became the university’s first rifle coach in 1998 and continued to coach the team until 2002 when she resigned to pursue opportunities in the private sector.

Anthony declined to comment on the case.

Court documents say Anthony is self-employed but don’t provide details.

Omaha police are trying to determine whether two officers acted properly when they shot and killed a man early Sunday.

Police Lt. Darci Tierney says gunshots were reported in northeast Omaha around 2:15 a.m. Sunday.

Officers who were investigating the gunshots encountered 29-year-old Jermaine Lucas. Tierney says Lucas was armed.

During the encounter, officers fired their weapons and Lucas was killed.

The Omaha World-Herald reports Lucas was on a two-day furlough from the Community Corrections Center of Lincoln when he was killed. Lucas was serving five to eight years for illegally possessing a gun.

The officers involved were Alvin Lugod and Joseph Koenig. Both are 28-years-old and joined the force in December 2008.

Lugod and Koenig are on administrative leave, and a grand jury will also review the shooting.

Family members and Amtrak officials are looking for a retired California man who disappeared from a train somewhere between Denver and Chicago.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Sunday that the railroad is searching for 69-year-old Charlie Dowd.

Dowd, who lives in San Mateo, Calif., boarded the Amtrak train on Wednesday in the San Francisco area.

Dowd’s son talked to him by cellphone on Thursday evening when the train was in the Denver area. That was the last time family members talked to Dowd.

Dowd’s luggage, cellphone and medication arrived in Chicago without him on Friday. Family members say they are worried that Dowd may become disoriented without his medication.

Dowd is a retired firefighter who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds.

Nebraska’s largest advertising agency is celebrating its 50th anniversary in business.

Swanson Russell has offices in Lincoln and Omaha employing 140 people who cater to a mix of local and national clients.

The firm helped launch famous brands like Cliffs Notes study guides.

Swanson Russell specializes in certain advertising areas, including health care, outdoor recreation and landscaping.

A Lancaster County jury has awarded the state of Nebraska nearly $100,000 in a judgment against a Lincoln mental health practitioner for filing false Medicaid claims.

Lincoln are media outlets report that the jury awarded the state $99,785 on Friday.

The state sued Katherine Zupancic in 2010, alleging she billed state Medicaid about $85,000 worth of Medicaid claims for services she didn’t provide to Medicaid clients.

The lawsuit had sought double the damages, plus $5,000 per claim submitted before July 2004 and $10,000 per claim after.

Among other allegations, the lawsuit said Zupancic billed the state for providing services to someone when she actually was conducting training sessions elsewhere.

Union Pacific is offering teachers a packet of free resources to help them explain the importance of the transcontinental railroad.

The resources were put together as part of the railroad’s celebration of its 150th anniversary.

The resources are designed to help teachers meet national standards for teaching about history and social studies in elementary and middle school.

The kit explains some of the challenges the railroad industry faced as it build the transcontinental railroad. The project began in 1862 after Abraham Lincoln signed the law that created Union Pacific and authorized construction. The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.

Teachers who want the free resources need to fill out a form on the railroad’s website, http://bit.ly/P8oPUd

A Nebraska woman who says she was fired for speaking Spanish at work failed to convince a federal judge that was true.

The U.S. District Judge John Gerrard dismissed Rocio Reyes’ lawsuit against Pharma Chemie Inc.

Reyes and one other woman often conversed in Spanish while working at the maker of nutritional supplements for animals and humans. The company developed its English-only policy in March 2010 because managers wanted to make sure employees understood directions.

Gerrard says Reyes failed to prove that PCI’s policy requiring employees to speak English at work was discriminatory.

And Reyes couldn’t prove she lost her job for violating the policy. The company says Reyes was laid off along with two non-Hispanic workers who didn’t speak Spanish.