LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska students who can’t yet vote can begin gearing up for the chance to at least practice during the Nov. 2 general election.

Secretary of State John Gale says registration has started for students to enroll in Nebraska Student Vote. The program combines civics instruction with a mock election in tandem with the U.S. general election.

The program is for elementary, middle and high schools.

Teachers can get information about the program and register their classes online at www.nestudentvote.com. The registration deadline is Oct. 19.

Students will vote for president, U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives in the mock election.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A University of Nebraska-Lincoln crop management clinic is set to examine late-season field conditions.

The clinic is scheduled for Aug. 30 at the Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead.

Topics will include new information about using switch grass for bioenergy, late season validation techniques, and ways to identify corn and soybean disease.

Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. The clinic starts at 8 a.m. The clinic costs $160 for anyone who registers a week or more in advance and $210 for those who sign up later

ST. PAUL, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old St. Paul man has died in a mobile home fire.

A fire broke out at about 2 a.m. Friday. The body of Jason Kock was found inside the home.

Fire investigators say it appears the fire may have started in the kitchen.

The Howard County Attorney’s Office says foul play is not suspected in the incident.

An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the exact cause of death.

CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — Chadron State College is breaking ground on several major construction projects this school year, including new athletics facilities and a complex for agriculture and animal-science classes.

Administrators say the projects are part of $19 million investment in facility construction and renovations, the most expansive effort in decades. Interim college President Randy Rhine says they will help Chadron State attract new students, and serve as assets for western Nebraska.

The college has scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony for the Rangeland Complex on Sept. 6. Administrators are also planning for the first phase of the expansion and renovation of the Armstrong Physical Education Building. Construction is also expected to begin on a series of new housing units on the campus’ east side.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a man whose body was found outside a vacant home on the northeast side of Omaha.

The body was found by officers around 6:30 a.m. Sunday.

He was identified as 29-year-old Damion Davis, of Omaha.

The police homicide unit is investigating. No arrests have been reported.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol has begun its Labor Day enforcement effort as part of a nationwide campaign designed to raise awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving.

The patrol began its participation in the “You Drink and Drive, You Lose” campaign on Friday. The effort will run through Labor Day on Monday.

Troopers will conduct special enforcement efforts to include high visibility patrols, DWI checkpoints and other efforts to catch drunken drivers.

Troopers will put in overtime hours during the holiday weekend. A $27,735 grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety will help fund the special enforcement.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Audiences at Mueller Planetarium at the University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln can now experience the landing of NASA’s “Curiosity” rover on Mars.

The rover landed earlier this month and has already been producing images and information from the red planet.

Audiences at the planetarium will get to see the Curiosity landing in full-dome animation, as well as see a live update featuring the latest information and images from the rover.

The show and updates are presented with the planetarium’s current astronomy show, “A Starry Tale,” presented Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. There are no shows on UNL home football Saturdays.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — The former executive director of Kool-Aid Days in Hastings has lost his lawsuit over a bonus.

Randy Kottwitz was seeking unpaid wages and damages from Nebraska’s Official Soft Drink Heritage Foundation.

The Hastings Tribune says Judge Michael Offner ruled there was no reasonable expectation that Kottwitz receive the $5,000 bonus, because there was no promise from the foundation.

He’d received a bonus of $5,000 after the 2009 event. Kottwitz resigned the board offered only a $750 bonus for his work on the 2010 event.

Kottwitz says he felt entitled to the bonus as part of an oral agreement with the Kool-Aid Days board. He says the money was part of his salary package but was called a bonus because it was paid out of an annual donation from Kraft Foods.

BLAIR, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska utility has decided to hire outside expertise to run its troubled nuclear power plant.

At a meeting in Blair on Thursday, the Omaha Public Power District directors voted to contract with Exelon Generation LLC to run the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station.

The nuclear plant about 20 miles north of Omaha is under close scrutiny by regulators. Fort Calhoun was initially shut down for routine refueling maintenance in April 2011, but flooding along the Missouri River and the safety violations forced it to remain offline.

Exelon Generation says it operates 17 reactors at 10 nuclear power plants situated in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Exelon Generation is owned by Chicago-based Exelon Corp.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded an Omaha-based company a $524.4 million contract to replace the existing U.S. Strategic Command headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha.

The corps said Thursday that the contract went to KiewitPhelps, a joint construct of Kiewit Building Group, of Omaha, and Hensel Phelps Construction Co., of Greeley, Colo.

Col. Joel cross, the corps’ Omaha District commander, says the contract was awarded “as a best-value procurement which provides the government with the best technical team and approach and price within the authorized amount.”

The new headquarters complex for StratCom is expected to be finished by September 2016.

Besides nuclear weapons command and control, StratCom missions include space and missile defense for all branches of the U.S. military.