LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A poll suggests that people who live in small Nebraska towns are less likely to attend church than people who live in bigger cities.

The Nebraska Rural Poll says 75 percent of poll respondents said they belong to a church, with 39 percent saying they attend services weekly or more often. But people who live in or near towns of fewer than 500 were least likely to attend weekly church services; thirty-five percent reported doing so.

The poll was sent to 6,350 households in Nebraska’s 84 nonmetropolitan counties in March and April. Results are based on more than 2,300 responses. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percent.

Vicky Cerino

(OMAHA)-The University of Nebraska Medical Center is currently accepting nominations for the 2013 J.G. (Jack) Elliott Award. The deadline to submit materials is Aug. 31.

The award is given annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to medicine and health programs for Nebraska. The award is given in memory of Elliott, a former Scottsbluff resident who served on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents for 20 years until his death in 1974.

The recipient will be selected by the UNMC chancellor based on input from individuals or groups chosen by the chancellor. The award will be presented during UNMC’s spring commencement ceremony in Omaha.

Nominees are evaluated according to the following criteria:

• A Nebraska resident who has made a significant contribution to the health of the state through his or her actions.
• Statewide impact with contributions in the areas of education, research and community outreach.
• The individual’s actions should improve individual and community health.
• The health contributions should be beyond the scope of work-related activities.

Nomination forms are available online at the bottom of this page: http://www.unmc.edu/vc_externalaffairs.htm, or by contacting Carol Ann Brandt at(402) 559-5105 or e-mailing her at: [email protected].

Submit nomination form and supporting materials no later than August 31, 2012 to:
Bob Bartee, UNMC Chancellor’s Office, 986630 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-6630

AINSWORTH, Neb. (AP) — U.S. Senate candidate Bob Kerrey is flying to north-central Nebraska to tour areas along the scenic Niobrara River that have been ravaged by wildfires in the last week.

Kerrey is flying Thursday from Omaha to Ainsworth and will travel from there to Springview and Valentine before returning to Omaha on Thursday night.

Kerrey says he wants to see the damage firsthand, talk to people who have been affected by the fires and thank first responders and volunteers. Kerrey is also making a plea for Congress to pass the federal farm bill soon to make disaster assistance available to those affected by wildfires and record drought this year.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A 30-year-old man has been charged with making threats at a hospital in southeast Nebraska.

That Joseph Palensky, of Sutton, has been jailed pending $100,000 bail. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.

Sheriff Dale Radcliff says Palensky went into the emergency room at the hospital in Henderson around 8 p.m. Saturday. Radcliff says Palensky was looking for a specific doctor and made threats to harm him, but the doctor wasn’t there. Authorities say Palensky threatened a nurse who was on duty.

Radcliff says Palensky told deputies who were dispatched that he was suicidal and repeated that he intended to hurt the doctor.

The deputies got a gun and knife away from Palensky and took him into emergency protective custody.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 43-year-old Lincoln man has been given seven years in federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine operation.

Prosecutors say Michael McMillan was convicted of possession of a chemical with the intent of using it to make meth. McMillan must serve three years of supervised release after he leaves prison.

Prosecutors say McMillan acquired pseudoephedrine and supplied it to Mark Skoda and others. Prosecutors say Skoda used the chemical to make meth in Lincoln.

In March Skoda was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson is calling on the House of Representatives to pass the federal farm bill, which contains wildfire and drought aid.

Nelson, Nebraska’s lone congressional Democrat, accused the House of playing politics by delaying debate on the bill as farmers and ranchers struggle through record drought. Nebraska and other states have also struggling to control wildfires in tinder-dry conditions.

Nelson says the farm bill includes provisions for financial relief for those suffering from drought and wildfires and would give “Nebraskans a bit of breathing room against natural disasters that often strike without warning.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Eight more Nebraska counties have been added to a national list of those eligible for a streamlined drought relief process.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it streamlined the process as crops in many states burn up in the widest drought in nearly 25 years.

Nearly 1,370 counties nationwide now will automatically qualify for disaster assistance if they’re in a severe drought for at least eight weeks or were in extreme drought this growing season.

The eight new Nebraska counties on the list are Boone, Custer, Greeley, Howard, Merrick, Nance, Sherman and Valley. Already on the list were Banner, Chase, Dawson, Dundy, Franklin, Frontier, Furnas, Gosper, Harlan, Hayes, Hitchcock, Kimball, Lincoln, Perkins, Phelps and Red Willow.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say they’ve arrested a 25-year-old Omaha man on accusations that he fatally shot a southeast Omaha man and his two sons.

Timothy J. Britt was arrested Wednesday and charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three related firearms charges.

He’s accused of shooting 44-year-old Miguel Avalos, 18-year-old Miguel Avalos Jr. and his 16-year-old brother, Jose Avalos, on July 9.

Police have said someone broke into the Avalos home and opened fire. Other family members in the home escaped injury.

Britt is the third person to be arrested in the case. Others are 33-year-old Anthony Davis, of Omaha, and 27-year-old Tiaotta Clairday, of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Britt’s case did not yet appear in online courts records.