SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — A Sidney woman who was ordered to stop providing child care services to anyone but her own children has been arrested on a child abuse charge. Police say 55-year-old Nancy Gipfert was arrested on Tuesday on a warrant regarding an incident that happened last September that resulted in a 2-month old child being hospitalized. Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub had previously forwarded the case to the Nebraska attorney general’s office. Schaub says Gipfert’s bond is set at $75,000. A telephone message left for her attorney, Donald Miller, of Sidney, was not returned on Wednesday. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services issued an emergency order against Gipfert in September 2011. The department did not elaborate on why the order was issued.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man convicted of raping a woman during a home invasion in April 2009 has been sentenced to 80 to 140 years in prison. 32-year-old Armon Dixon was sentenced for sexual assault, robbery and a weapons charge on Wednesday in Lancaster County District Court. He was convicted in February of pushing his way into an apartment in Lincoln, pulling a gun on the woman and assaulting her while her son was in a room down the hall. The sentence is in addition to a 70- to 120-year term he’s already serving for robbing a Lincoln convenience store and raping a clerk in March 2009.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lincoln City Council has voted in favor of a measure that protects gay and transgendered people from discrimination. Council members approved the measure with 5-0 vote. The newspaper says council members Adam Hornung and John Camp abstained from voting, citing different legal opinions on the city’s authority to pass such a measure. At least 200 people showed up for a May 7 public hearing on the proposal, which supporters have labeled the fairness amendment. Ninety-nine people signed up to speak. The measure legally protects people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations in Lincoln based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Trial is reset for a Nebraska Panhandle man charged with vehicular homicide and manslaughter in the death of his passenger who officials say stuck his head out the window and a hit a road sign. The bench trial of 19-year-old Bryan Bloom, of Henry, which had been set for later this month, is now scheduled for June. Authorities say Bloom was driving a van to Torrington, Wyo., in June 2011 when his passenger, 18-year-old Johrdan Stone, was killed. Bloom told police he didn’t know Scott had been hurt until they arrived at a home in Torrington. Stone died of neck and head injuries. Officials say Bloom was driving drunk. Court documents show Stone also had been drinking.

PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say there are no signs of foul play in the disappearance of a Nebraska woman and her 11-year-old son. Plattsmouth police say Charlotte and Owen Schilling were last seen about 10 a.m. Thursday in the Plattsmouth area, when she checked the boy out of elementary school. They haven’t responded to cell phone calls from relatives. Police say Charlotte Schilling’s vehicle was found Friday near Lake Manawa, which is just across the Nebraska border near Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her wallet and cell phone were in the car. Officer John Hardy said that there is concern about the whereabouts of Charlotte and Owen Schilling but the investigation hasn’t shown evidence of a crime.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Rabies cases are on the rise so far this year in Nebraska. State epidemiologist Tom Safranek says that the numbers of reports is on pace to top rabies cases from each of the past two years. There have been 21 cases reported so far in 2012. There were 53 reports in 2010 and 35 in 2011. Safranek says he expects the state could see close to 90 cases, the number reported in 2009. He’s urging the public to use caution when encountering bats, skunks and foxes and to avoid domestic animals that are behaving erratically.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Secretary of State’s office is offering a series of reminders for voters as they head to the polls for the May 15 primary election.

Secretary of State John Gale says voters should check their registrations and polling places before heading to the polls, and should bring proper identification if they are newly registered by mail and did not provide identification. Identifications are not required of other voters.

Registered voters who have moved within a county, but out of their former precinct, should go to the polling place associated with their current residence. They will be required to vote with a provisional ballot.

Polls on Election Day are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central Time.

You’ll be able to view local results right here on The North Platte Post.

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — A mail processing center in Norfolk that was slated for closure has gotten a reprieve.

The center had been scheduled to close Tuesday as part of an effort by the U.S. Postal Service to cut costs. But, the U.S Senate passed a measure last month that gives the postal service an $11 billion cash infusion.

Local media reports that although the bill awaits approval by the U.S. House, the possibility of the funding has prompted the postal service to delay the closures.

Spokesman Brian Sperry told the newspaper that there will be no closures in the coming week and that there will likely be a revised list of closures.

The postal service had predicted it will lose a record $14.1 billion this year.

CHANUTE, Kan. (AP) — A small airplane that crashed in southeast Kansas on Friday was carrying five people with connections to Oral Roberts University to a Christian youth rally in Iowa.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported four of the passengers died and one was badly injured. The fatalities are identified as pilot Luke Sheets, of Ephraim, Wis., Austin Anderson, of Ringwood, Okla., Garrett Coble, of Tulsa, Okla., and Stephen Luth, of Muscatine, Iowa.

Hanna Luce, of Garden Valley, Texas, was hospitalized in critical condition. The recent graduate is the daughter of Oral Roberts trustee Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania Ministries, which was sponsoring this weekend’s Acquire the Fire rally in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Oral Roberts President Mark Rutland is asking the university community to pray for Luce and remember those who were killed. He says Luth, Sheets and Anderson were recent graduates, and Coble was a former business instructor at the school.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the twin-engine Cessna 401 went down Friday afternoon west of Chanute, Kan., and caught fire.

The NTSB says the plane lost contact with air traffic control after getting permission to descend to a lower altitude.

CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — Leadership is changing hands this weekend at Chadron State College.

Local media reports Janie Park will retire Saturday as college president. On Sunday, Vice President Randy Rhine will become the interim president of the school, which has nearly 3,000 students. He’ll serve until a new president has been hired and can begin work.

Park has led the Nebraska State College System campus since August 2005. She says she and her husband intend to return to their home in Red Lodge, Mont.