BLAIR, Neb. (AP) — Midland University has dropped plans to reopen the former Dana College campus in Blair.

The university announced Friday that it will focus on improvements in its Fremont campus and on finding a permanent home for MBA, other graduate and nontraditional programs in Omaha.

In June 2013 Midland announced that it was raising money to use on the Dana campus. The 126-year-old Lutheran college closed in 2010, and many of its students transferred to Midland University in Fremont, about 20 miles away.

Midland officials say the Dana campus required a significant amount of money to maintain an aging physical plant and a challenging path to acquire accreditation. The officials concluded that the costs of reopening Dana were prohibitive compared to other growth options.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha school district is considering cutting down on use of substitute teachers for high school juniors and seniors as it struggles to close a $5.4 million budget gap.

Westside High School estimates that it could save $75,000 next year if fewer substitute teachers were hired.

The plan would give teachers discretion to decide if their students need a substitute teacher of can work independently. Officials say the high school already encourages such student responsibility and time management through its schedule that’s similar to college.

Westside borrowed the idea from Minnesota high schools, but it hasn’t been tested in the metro area. Some local officials express skepticism that it’ll catch on.

A list of 30 other potential cuts could affect bus routes, summer camps and teaching staff.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A man and a child have been rescued from a slide at a closed water park in Columbus.

The child crawled under a fence Thursday at Pawnee Plunge Water Park and the man climbed over the fence in pursuit. Columbus police officer Buddy Maschmeier says the child climbed stairs of a slide but the man followed and managed to reach the child before the child could drop out the exit into an empty pool.

The man tried to get out of the slide but injured an ankle in the attempt. He climbed back up the stairs and slid down to the child to await rescue. Their names have not been released.

Police and firefighters soon arrived to help the pair reach safety.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Trials have been scheduled for a former public announcer at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium.

Fifty-year-old Patrick Combs is accused of bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars from two elderly women. He’s pleaded not guilty to charges of theft, abuse of a vulnerable adult and other crimes. Authorities say Combs spent about $363,000 of the women’s money on cars, home repairs and gifts. His attorney has said police and prosecutors rushed to judgment and filed unfounded charges against Combs.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/1Z94K3F ) that the first trial is set to begin April 4 and the second in June.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Merrick County Sheriff’s Department says that it is seeking information about 150 to 200 dead geese illegally dumped in a ditch.

A deputy was alerted by a citizen about the geese Monday afternoon. Sheriff John Westman said the geese were found about 2 miles east of Gunbarrel Road and had not been cleaned.

Westman says the animals were disposed of sometime between 6:30 p.m. Sunday and 1 p.m. Monday.

Authorities say there are no suspects in the case at this time and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has been contacted.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal regulators are offering the public the chance to ask questions about the recent performance of the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant.

The power plant owned by the Omaha Public Power District sits on the banks of the Missouri River about 20 miles north of Omaha.

In general, Fort Calhoun has operated with few major problems since it restarted in December 2013.

It was shut down from April 2011 to December 2013 for repairs and after a small fire occurred and several safety violations were found.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s open house will be held at the Doubletree hotel in downtown Omaha Wednesday evening starting at 6 p.m.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man has died in a south Lincoln house fire.

Fire crews responded to a report of smoke coming from the house shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday. They found the man dead inside the home.

Battalion Chief Jim Bopp said crews were able to bring the fire under control in about 35 minutes.

Lincoln police said the man lived alone with his cat, which also died in the fire. Authorities will not release the man’s name until family is notified.

It appears the fire started in the back of the house, but officials continue to investigate the cause of the blaze.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A local group of 60 doctors has retained two firms to help advance its plans for a new hospital in Grand Island.

The firms are helping the doctors determine which operational, technological and environmental platforms would be needed for the new hospital. Preliminary plans call for the facility to open with 40 to 50 beds.

The group announced last June that it wanted to open a second hospital in the south-central Nebraska community and that the project would take at least two years to finish. Representatives said they wanted a hospital that would be controlled locally rather than answer to a central authority or ownership elsewhere.

St. Francis hospital in Grand Island is part of the CHI Health system.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former Lincoln Correctional Center inmate who was brutally beaten by another inmate has lost his lawsuit against the state of Nebraska.

59-year-old Rudy Rosales had sought $2.75 million from the state, plus $500,000 in medical bills, for negligence because a guard had let the attacker into his cell in November 2011.

Judge Darla Ideus ruled Monday that Rosales had failed to prove that the state had been negligent.

Ideus found that the state didn’t know about the risk the other inmate posed, and therefore didn’t fail in its duty to protect Rosales. Ideus also rejected Rosales’ claim that the prison nurse who saw him hadn’t given him proper medical care.

Rosales was treated in the hospital for five months with bleeding in his brain after the assault.