A Lincoln official is defending officers from people who are complaining about being awakened early in the morning so they can be ticketed for violating the city’s water use restrictions.

Public safety director Tom Casady told reporters that he’s heard some complaints and wishes the officers didn’t have to be intrusive.

But he says that if a sprinkler is on in violation of the restrictions, the officer first must determine who is responsible so that the right person is given the misdemeanor citation.

Casady says it would be an inefficient use of the officer’s time if he or she had to return at a more civilized hour.

Two former workers at a Nebraska center for developmentally disabled adults are going to prison for abusing residents.

A judge on Wednesday sentenced Cameron Barnes, of Fairbury, to 2 to 4 years on two felony counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult, to be served consecutively. Matthew Johnson, of Beatrice, was sentenced to consecutive 1 to 4 year prison terms on similar charges.

Attorneys for both men asked for probation. Gage County District Judge Paul Korslund sentenced them to prison, saying they had violated a trust to care for those who could not care for themselves.

Barnes and Johnson were among five workers fired and charged after an investigation at the Beatrice State Development Center last year. The investigation found at least seven residents were routinely abused.

Police in Fremont and Omaha are working to recover a Fremont officer’s badge and other items stolen from his personal vehicle during a visit to Omaha.

The officer left his wallet inside his car while visiting relatives earlier this month. Police say witnesses reported seeing a person approach the car, take the wallet and run from the scene.

Fremont police say the wallet contained the officer’s badge and drug task force credentials.

Interim Police Chief Jeff Elliott says the incident is being handled as a personnel matter. He declined to name the officer.

 Students at an Omaha middle school have been sent home early after being evacuated when a fire apparently broke out on the roof.

The fire at Monroe Middle School happened about 10 a.m. Wednesday. Students were safely evacuated and were sent down the street to the Benson High School gym.

Firefighters quickly got the fire under control, but lingering smoke filled the second floor of the building. The cause is under investigation.

Students were sent home Wednesday afternoon and after-school activities were canceled.

Nebraska high school students are still outscoring their peers nationally on the ACT college entrance exam, even though the results slipped from last year.

A report released Wednesday shows Nebraska students who graduated this year outpaced the national average in English, reading, mathematics and science.

Nebraska students scored an average of 22 on the test, which measures college readiness. The national average is 21.1. The highest possible ACT score is 36.

The report also shows that 78 percent of Nebraska students took the test. Nebraska was one of 18 states with a participation rate higher than 75 percent.

Three trails in eastern Nebraska have closed to bike traffic because of cracking caused by the drought.

The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District ordered the trails closed, effective immediately.

The trails include the MoPac East Trail, which stars in east Lincoln, as well as the Oak Creek Trail near Valparaiso and part of the Homestead Trail near Cortland.

The closures add up to about 50 miles of trails. District officials say they cracked due to the extreme drought, creating a hazard for bicyclists. Workers have tried to repair them for the past two weeks, but cracks that are filled keep reopening. Manager Glenn Johnson says some are wider than a regular bicycle tire.

A Wyoming man convicted of killing a Colorado man whose body was found in western Nebraska has been sentenced to life in prison.

Vencil Ash III, of Cheyenne, Wyo., was convicted last month of first-degree murder in Kimball County District Court. The 41-year-old Ash was charged with killing Ryan Guitron, of Fort Collins, Colo., in 2003. Guitron’s remains were found at an abandoned farm near Bushnell in 2010.

Authorities believe Ash took Guitron to an abandoned farm, shot him and buried him in a woodpile.

Kelly Meehan, who told investigators of the crime, also was sentenced Wednesday to 20 months to five years in prison for being an accessory to the crime. The 24-year-old Meehan, of Fort Collins, Colo., would have been 15 when the shooting occurred.

Activists who oppose beer sales in Whiteclay are planning a new effort to draw attention to the Nebraska town, which borders a South Dakota Indian reservation where alcohol is banned.

The group has scheduled a rally Thursday at noon outside the Nebraska Capitol. Members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe are also planning a “Women’s March for Peace” on Sunday, which will begin on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and end in Whiteclay.

Organizers say the march will include members of Occupy Lincoln and the group Deep Green Resistance, which advocates for indigenous rights.

Activists have tried to shutter Whiteclay for decades, arguing that the town’s four beer stores knowingly contribute to alcoholism on Pine Ridge.

The University of Nebraska Foundation has awarded more than $760,000 in grants to support the university system’s study-abroad programs and to purchase new medical research equipment.

The university system’s Lincoln campus was awarded $235,000, its Kearney campus received $134,000, the Omaha campus $115,000, and NU’s central administration received nearly $137,000, all for study-abroad programs for students.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha received nearly $142,000 for new medical research equipment, including a DNA sequencing device and other equipment that will enable researchers to conduct genome sequencing twice as fast at half the price.

The money comes from private donations made to the foundation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Douglas County jury has convicted an Omaha woman of first-degree murder in the death of her former landlord.

The jury on Tuesday found 29-year-old Monique Lee guilty in the death of 48-year-old Karen Jenkins in October 2010. Lee, who also was convicted of a weapons charge, will be sentenced in November.

Lee was accused of using a vacuum cleaner cord to kill Jenkins. Her body was found near an abandoned house.

Lee’s brother, Gary Lee, was also accused in the crime. He posed as prospective renter. Gary Lee pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in October 2011.