HONOLULU (AP) — Civil defense sirens that sounded across Oahu even though there was no emergency were inadvertently activated from Nebraska.

Hawaii Civil Defense spokeswoman Kelly Kunishige (COO’-nee-SHE’-gay) says eight sirens accidentally went off early Thursday because of an engineer doing upgrade work in Nebraska.

Illinois-based Federal Signal has been contracted to do modernization work for Hawaii’s more than 300 sirens across the islands. The state asked the contractor to do some checks, but after doing so, Hawaii’s siren protocols were not removed from the system, allowing some to be activated.

Kunishige says the project will allow sirens to be activated by satellite or cell phone in case radios are down.

The sirens are used during emergencies such as tsunamis.

Tsunami waves struck Hawaii in the aftermath of Japan’s earthquake last year.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities say the state’s unemployment rate remained at 3.9 percent in May, still the state’s lowest rate since December 2008.

The May and April rate is slightly lower than the March rate of 4.0 percent. A year ago the Nebraska rate for May was 4.5 percent.

Nebraska’s rate remains the second-lowest in the nation, following only North Dakota’s 3.0 percent.

The national rate rose in May to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent in April.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man with a history of drunken-driving convictions has been given a state liquor license for a Lincoln business.

Local media reports that the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission granted the license on Thursday to Jeremy Schafer for his Top Shelf Beverage Services.

The commission says the license would be revoked if the business or its owners were to have any liquor violation or convictions in the next year.

The 38-year-old Schafer’s most recent DUI conviction was for third offense drunken driving in July 2009.

Schafer says he had abused alcohol to cope with a diagnosis of cancer he’d been given. He told the board he doesn’t drink anymore except to taste wine for his business.

His business partner also has two recent DUI convictions.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — A 2-year-old Fremont boy is dead after his father accidentally ran over him with his pickup truck.

Fremont police told local media that Jorge Avalos Sr. didn’t know his son, Jorge Avalos Jr., was in front of his truck when he pulled forward Wednesday afternoon.

The boy was taken to the Fremont Area Medical Center for treatment of head and internal injuries. He died later at the hospital.

Authorities don’t plan to file charges against the father.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The election commissioner has told some residents that he’ll reopen 27 of the 86 polling places he’d closed in Douglas County.

Commissioner Dave Phipps made the announcement Wednesday at a public forum in south Omaha. Local media reports four of the spots are in south Omaha’s Ward 4.

Community groups and Democrats have criticized Phipps, saying the changes that eliminated nearly a third of the polling places made it difficult for the poorest residents to vote.

As he listened to criticism at the forum, Phipps said he’s tried to find a balance between saving the taxpayers’ money while reopening polling places that are easier for voters to find.

Another community voter meeting is scheduled for Monday in north Omaha.

McCOOK, Neb. (AP) — A 36-year-old McCook man has been sentenced for several burglaries and an escape attempt.

Local media reports that Happ Wells was given 18-20 years for burglary and theft and 14-16 years for the escape attempt, to be served consecutively. He’s also listed in court records as Hap E. Wells.

The burglaries occurred between September and December last year.

Authorities say his accomplice on several of the crimes, 36-year-old Tammy Knight, accepted a plea agreement on a burglary charge. Her sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have released the name of a 23-year-old man who died after his car crashed into a west Omaha carwash business.

Officers were dispatched to the scene a little after 2 a.m. Thursday. Police say the man was alone in his car and was declared dead at the scene.

He was identified as Benjamin Botkin, who lived in the suburban Omaha city of Ralston.

Crash investigators suspect Botkin had been speeding when he lost control of his car and was ejected as it ran off the road into the carwash.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 37-year-old Lincoln man has been given four to eight years in prison for possessing cocaine with intent to sell.

John Sampson was sentenced in Lancaster County District Court on Tuesday.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/LnyC5B) that on Nov. 5, Sampson was an intoxicated passenger in a traffic stop and was taken to Cornhusker Place Detox. Authorities say nearly 22 grams of cocaine was found there in one of his pockets.

In 2002 Sampson was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, later reduced to four years, for distributing another illegal drug, ecstasy.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A new study suggests cougars are again spreading across the Midwest a century after the generally reclusive predators were hunted to near extinction in much of the region.

The findings by a University of Minnesota doctoral student, a Southern Illinois University wildlife ecologist and the Cougar Network are detailed in the latest Journal of Wildlife Management.

The study showed 178 cougar confirmations in the Midwest and as far south of Texas between 1990 and 2008.

Confirmed sightings of Midwest cougars were sporadic before 1990, when there were only a couple. The study shows that number spiked to more than 30 by 2008.

Sixty-seven confirmations were in Nebraska, 31 in North Dakota, 12 each in Oklahoma and Texas, 11 in South Dakota and 10 in Missouri. Other states had single-digit tallies.