GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) – As the second Nebraska State Fair at its Fonner Park location in Grand Island was winding down, officials were looking ahead at solving problems for next year. Atop the list was transportation and parking. With nice weather abounding and a Willie Nelson concert on the schedule, fairgoers soon filled overflow lots on Sunday. State Fair Board chairperson Jana Kruger says the JBS Swift Plant let fairgoers use shuttles from its big parking lot. But fairgoers complained about waiting lines for shuttles and about the lines at the fair entry gates. Kruger says the crush of people was a great problem to have. But Kruger also says the parking and transportation problems will be worked on so they won’t recur next year. The fair run ended on Monday.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) – A 40- year-old man has been arrested in Hall County, accused of stealing grave vases and copper markers from the graves of veterans. The Grand Island Independent reports that Omer Butler faces felony and misdemeanor charges for the thefts last month. Butler has also been charged with obstructing a police officer for an incident in July and two counts of trespassing for incidents in June Court records don’t list a home address for Butler but say he has a Georgia driver’s license. Butler remained in Hall County custody on Monday. His attorney didn’t return a call from The Associated Press. Hall County Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Castleberry told The Independent that deputies can’t determine where the markers came from because the markers list only the wars the veterans served in.

SEWARD, Neb. (AP) – A federal investigator doesn’t expect a quick answer to the question facing him: What caused the fatal plane crash near Seward airport in southeastern Nebraska? The crash of the Christen Eagle II biplane into a cornfield Sunday morning killed 58-year-old Jeff Clausen, of Lincoln, and 56-year-old Mark Pearson, of Plymouth. At a news conference Monday, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tim LeBaron said he’d spent much of Labor Day the crash site near Seward Municipal Airport. LeBaron says he expects to have some information available in about a week, but his full investigation could take six months. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Pearson had just bought the plane and was flying it under the instruction of Clausen, who was director of operations for Lincoln’s Silverhawk Aviation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska’s law requiring petition circulators to be residents of the state has been found unconstitutional, but several other petition restrictions were upheld. U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon ruled Tuesday in two lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and several petition organizers. Bataillon ruled that the state’s ban on out-of-state petition workers unfairly infringed on organizers’ constitutional rights and made it harder to conduct a petition drive.  Bataillon also threw out a requirement that local petition sponsors be residents of those cities. But he upheld requirements that petition circulators be 18 years old, and that petitions identify paid circulators. A ban on paying circulators by the signature was also upheld. Officials with the ACLU and state Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond Wednesday to messages about the rulings.

MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) – A Colorado company is the apparent low bidder for repairs to the Red Willow Dam north of McCook, Neb. SEMA Construction of Centennial, Colo., submitted a bid of $15.3 million to repair cracks found in the dam embankment in October 2009. The McCook Daily Gazette reports that the company’s bid was slightly higher than the government estimated but $2 million less than the closest bid. Gerri Voto-Braun, a contracting officer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, says she will work with the Colorado company to ensure it’s a responsible bid. The bureau also must approve SEMA’s sub-contracting plans before awarding the bid. Officials say work on the dam about 10 miles north of McCook will take about two years.

MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) – A 28-year-old Waverly man has won the lottery for a Nebraska bighorn sheep permit. Tyson Ritz is a deer hunter who has won the right to hunt and kill a bighorn during the season that runs Nov. 29-Dec. 22. The lottery drawing took place Tuesday at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission meeting in McCook. The nearly 1,800 applicants paid $25 to enter the lottery. The money is used for the state’s bighorn sheep management program. Ritz likely will be hunting his bighorn on public land at Fort Robinson State Park in northwest Nebraska.