laSCHUYLER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a construction worker died Saturday in northeast Nebraska while trying to free a cement truck.

The Colfax County Attorney’s office said 26-year-old Craig Anderson of Columbus died Saturday around 8 a.m. while working south of Schuyler.

A cement truck got stuck near Lake Socorro, which is just west of Highway 15.

Anderson was driving a payloader and attempting to pull the truck out with a chain when the incident happened. Authorities say the chain snapped and struck Anderson who died at the scene.

A funeral is planned for Wednesday at Bible Baptist Church in Columbus. Anderson is survived by his wife, Dorothy Anderson, and three sons.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — At the next Lincoln Science Cafe, the president and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will discuss the impact of investing in stem cell research.

Before joining the institute last year, C. Randal Mills was president and CEO of Osiris Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company specializing in stem cell science.

The Science Café is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Monday at VEGA, 350 Canopy St., in Lincoln.

Science Cafés involve a face-to-face conversation with a scientist about science topics. They are open to everyone 21 and older. Go to www.unmc.edu/sciencecafe for more information about Science Cafes.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Omaha public school employee has been sentenced to four years of probation for using school funds to pay for purchases made on a personal credit card.

James Clark was sentenced Friday in federal court. He was also ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution to Westside Community Schools.

Prosecutors say the 52-year-old Clark opened a Sam’s Club credit card in his name in 2005, then used district funds to pay for personal purchases between 2006 and 2010.

As the district’s director of finance, Clark had access to the district’s accounting system and could issue checks for authorized purchases on behalf of the district.

Clark pleaded guilty in January to intentionally misusing funds from an agency that received federal assistance.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer and his assistant chiefs are in line to see salary increases under a new agreement with the city.

Schmaderer will see a raise of more than $6,000 this year under the tentative contract agreement between the City of Omaha and its police management bargaining unit, which includes Schmaderer and the assistant police chiefs.

The agreement, announced Friday, includes an 8 percent salary increase for all police managers over the four-year contract.

The city has struggled to retain police chiefs. Schmaderer’s predecessor, Alex Hayes, served as chief for two years and retired at age 48 in 2012.

When Schmaderer was hired, he was Omaha’s fourth police chief in five years.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Architects from Lincoln and Omaha are opposing a plan to merge the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture into the university’s Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.

Several architects spoke against the plan during Friday’s university Board of Regents meeting. They said the move would negatively affect the quality of education provided at the college and UNL’s ability to produce graduates capable of getting jobs with top firms.

Patrick McDermott, a 1968 graduate of the college, said UNL College of Architecture graduates currently rank ninth among architecture graduates nationwide on licensing exam scores.

The merger was proposed last year by Chancellor Harvey Perlman. The new merged school would be named the Hixson-Lied College of the Arts and Architecture.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is hosting its 15th annual weather symposium to teach families how to survive and thrive in severe weather events.

The event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Hardin Hall on the university campus. The free event will explore the wonders of weather.

Participants will have the chance to meet local television weathercasters and try out their own weathercasting skills against an interactive green screen. The event will also feather the Doppler on Wheels, a mobile tornado research laboratory, and the Nebraska Task Force Search and Rescue Dog team.

The Nebraska Emergency Management team will also talk about the deadly tornado that struck Pilger last June.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will be the keynote speaker for the University of Nebraska Peter J. Hoagland Lecture next week.

The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Mammel Hall on the University of Nebraska at Omaha Pacific Campus. Seating is limited, so reservations are recommended.

The mayor’s speech will focus on fighting income inequality. He’s scheduled to give a similar speech earlier Thursday at Drake University in Iowa.

The visits come as de Blasio moves to expand his national profile. De Blasio, a Democrat, has close ties to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will launch her 2016 presidential candidacy on Sunday.

YANKTON, S.D. (AP) — Authorities in Yankton have recovered the body of a 6-year-old southeastern South Dakota boy.

Yankton Police Chief Brian Paulsen says they found the body of Lincoln Hilt about 28 feet off shore in the Missouri River.

The Hurley boy went missing Sunday night while fishing with family from the docks at a Yankton city park. He had received a fishing pole as an Easter gift.

Family members last saw him sitting on the dock, which authorities say they found him about 100 yards from Friday.

Authorities from various South Dakota and Nebraska agencies had searched for Hilt all week using dive teams, airplanes and dogs. The windy, rainy weather had slowed search crews.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Eastern Nebraska health officials have issued a warning about the potentially harmful levels of smoke in the air from agricultural burning.

The health departments in both Lincoln-Lancaster and Douglas counties issued a health advisory Friday for people with asthma, lung disease and other respiratory or heart conditions. Health officials say the source of the smoke is fires in the Flint Hills area of Kansas, several hours south of the Omaha metro area.

The notice applies to adults as well as children, and anyone with these health issues are advised to stay indoors with doors and windows closed.

Lincoln-Lancaster air quality supervisor Chris Schroeder says the area will likely be blanketed in the smoke for several days.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An attorney for a former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school has requested that his trial be moved and the jury sequestered.

The Omaha World-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1D4xj8l ) Anthony Garcia’s attorney Robert Motta Jr. made the request Friday, calling it a “necessary evil.” But prosecutors say the move would be drastic and inconvenient.

Garcia is charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 deaths of Thomas Hunter, the 11-year-old son of Creighton University pathologist William Hunter, and Shirlee Sherman, the family’s housekeeper, as well as the May 2013 deaths of Creighton pathologist Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary.

Authorities say Garcia was motivated by revenge for being fired from Creighton’s pathology department in 2001.

A judge has taken the request under advisement.