LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A $1.1 million fence meant to keep deer from dashing onto a stretch of Interstate 80 between Lincoln and Omaha is nearly complete. ElectroBraid Fence Co. is putting the finishing touches on the fence. The Nebraska Department of Roads has said the 4-mile-long stretch between the Mahoney interchange and Pflug Road has the highest deer-vehicle collision rate in the state. The 8-foot-tall fence will be electrified on the east side of the Platte River. Engineers hope the fence will redirect the deer to one of several undercrossings built beneath the Platte River bridge.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) – Comedian Larry the Cable Guy will receive this year’s Tom Osborne Leadership Award from a Hastings group. Leadership Hastings plans to honor the comedian, whose real name is Dan Whitney, on Nov. 1. The award honors a top leader in Nebraska or a national leader with ties to the state. Larry the Cable Guy was chosen because of his success in the entertainment business and his charitable work with several Nebraska organizations. The award events include an afternoon leadership seminar on Nov. 1 followed by an evening award banquet.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) – Construction has started on an outdoor learning area at the Nebraska State Fair that’s designed to teach children about groundwater use. The nonprofit Groundwater Guardians raised almost $50,000 for the half-acre learning area. It will include a prairie maze, tree fort, rain garden and other features to teach children about how and why groundwater is used. The learning area is expected to be open for next year’s fair.  Groundwater Guardians says it will also accessible year-round for education activities.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) – Two men have died in a collision on an Interstate 80 interchange in Grand Island. The Hall County sheriff’s office says 19-year-olds Tailey Taryon and Fred Tardey, of Grand Island, were killed Saturday afternoon when their vehicle collided with a semi. A third person in their vehicle has been hospitalized in critical condition. The sheriff’s office says Taryon’s vehicle was exiting I-80 and failed to stop at a stop sign, driving into the path of the semi driven by 36-year-old Michael Wilson, of Hastings. Wilson was not hurt.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska man ordered as a teen to spend life in prison will get a new sentence. Thirty-six-year-old Jeremy Herman was convicted of kidnapping for his role in the 1992 murder of Jeremy Drake. Herman was 17 when he and another teen kidnapped Drake. Herman’s accomplice, Christopher Masters, killed Drake. Herman pleaded guilty to kidnapping on the advice of his attorney, who didn’t know that the conviction carried a life sentence. A Douglas County district judge has vacated Herman’s conviction and will re-sentence him this week on a lesser charge. Herman sought a new sentence after 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said teens sentenced to life must have a meaningful opportunity to obtain release if they haven’t killed their victims.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say no evidence was turned up in a search at the home of the parents of a man convicted of killing an Omaha college student. Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning said Thursday there had been several tips about a new patio that had been poured in the home’s backyard about the time that 19-year-old Jessica O’Grady disappeared in 2006. Her body was never found. No evidence turned up after the patio at the Omaha home of Christopher Edwards’ parents was torn up and ground beneath and around it was searched. Edwards was convicted of second-degree murder and a weapons charge in 2007. Edwards was sentenced to 100 years in prison.