BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A Gage County District Court judge has rejected motions by the state to dismiss the lawsuits of two people wrongly convicted in a 1985 Beatrice murder-rape case.

Judge Daniel Bryan said in his rulings Thursday that the lawsuits filed by two of the so-called Beatrice Six against the state can proceed.

Ada Joanna Taylor and James Dean sued the state for $500,000 each, saying they were wrongfully convicted in the rape and murder of Helen Wilson in February 1985. Four others also were convicted and sentenced to prison in the case. The six were pardoned in 2009 after DNA evidence exonerated them.

Beatrice radio station KWBE reports that Bryan acknowledged Taylor and Dean “have an uphill climb” to prove their cases, but that the cases should be heard.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have advanced a new state spending plan that includes an additional $41 million for child welfare services, disaster aid and other priorities.

The budget-adjustment bill won first-round approval Wednesday in the Legislature. The measure updates the state’s $7 billion, two-year budget that passed last year.

The proposal includes $24 million for child care subsidies, and $18.5 million to reduce the caseloads and address other problems within the state’s child welfare system.

It also would increase the reimbursement paid to doctors, hospitals and nursing homes that serve Medicaid patients. The partial rate increase would cost $9.6 million, to offset a rate cut that lawmakers approved last year.

The plan adds nearly $9 million to the governor’s emergency program to help cover a recent increase in natural disasters.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The maximum number of barrels of beer that can be produced by a microbrewery or a brewpub would double under a bill signed into law Wednesday by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman.

Currently, brewpubs and craft breweries have a production limit of 10,000 barrels of beer per year. The new law allows brewpubs to produce up to 20,000 barrels per year.

One barrel contains 31 gallons, or two kegs, of beer.

The state of Nebraska regulates beer manufacturing and monitors how much brewpubs can sell.

Currently there are 22 licensees with a potential barrel capacity of 220,000 barrels or 6.8 million gallons. The current tax rate is $0.31 per gallon. None of the current licensees produces at the 10,000 barrel limit.

The state received $122,207 in beer production taxes last year.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska man caught driving drunk while he and some friends were on a naked joyride near Lincoln last winter has been sentenced to six months in jail on a third charge of driving under the influence.

Nickolus Borgman, of Denton, was sentenced on Wednesday in Lancaster County District Court. He lost his driver’s license for 15 years and was given five years of probation.

A deputy investigating a suspicious vehicle stopped Borgman’s pickup truck in February 2011. He found Borgman and three others naked inside the cab and clothes and empty beer cans in the bed of the truck.

Borgman was arrested. The others weren’t citied.

Borgman’s two previous DUI convictions and the high level of alcohol in his system made the incident a felony.

(Scottsbluff, Neb.)- Two people are jailed after a traffic stop in Sheridan County led to the seizure of methamphetamine and marijuana.

Just after 5:00 (MDT), a trooper stopped a 1998 Subaru Forester for a stop sign violation on Highway 20 about a mile east of Hay Springs, in Sheridan County. The trooper was given consent to search the vehicle. The search led to the seizure of 30 grams of methamphetamine and 14 lbs. of marijuana. The drugs were located in the vehicle’s speaker boxes.

The driver of the vehicle, Darcy W. Jealousofhim (M), 38, Kyle, S.D., and a passenger in the vehicle Misty L. Hornbeck, 37, Norfolk were both lodged in the Sheridan County Jail on charges to include possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, and possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A scaled-back version of Gov. Dave Heineman’s tax cut plan has advanced out of a legislative committee.

The Legislature’s Revenue Committee voted 5-3 Tuesday to advance the proposal, despite concerns over whether the state could afford even the smaller amount.

Bellevue Sen. Abbie Cornett said the new proposal would cost the state about $143 million over a three-year period. Heineman’s original proposal would have dedicated $327 million for individual and corporate income taxes, and eliminated an inheritance tax imposed by counties.

The new proposal advanced for debate in the Legislature would cut only individual income taxes, and leaves in place the inheritance tax. Heineman has acknowledged he lacks the votes to pass his full plan in the Legislature.

The vote comes as lawmakers adjust their two-year spending plan.