DENVER (AP) — Colorado finally knows how much tax revenue it collected from recreational marijuana in the first year of sales, and the haul was below estimates — about $44 million.

The year-end Colorado tax report was made public Tuesday. Colorado is the first government anywhere in the world to regulate marijuana production and sale, so other governments are watching closely.

Colorado’s total haul from marijuana for 2014 was about $76 million. That includes fees on the industry, plus pre-existing sales taxes on medical marijuana products. The $44 million represents only new taxes on recreational pot.

Those new taxes were estimated to bring in about $70 million. Budget writers say the tax report shows marijuana isn’t having a major effect on a multi-billion state budget.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A store owner and his employee have entered plea deals in connection to a scheme to buy food stamp cards from homeless people in Lincoln.

40-year-old storeowner Jose Banos and 48-year-old Juan Garivay pleaded no contest Monday to theft by deception charges.

Authorities say Garivay bought food stamp numbers from people at a Lincoln homeless shelter, and Banos then entered them into his store’s credit card machine for hundreds of dollars in fake grocery purchases and took the money for himself and Garivay.

According to court records, the two had been running false transactions since 2010.

But Carlos Monzon, Garivay’s attorney, says it was a one-time, “unfortunate” incident.

Sentencing hearings are scheduled for April 15. The men face up to five years in prison.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Norfolk man who’d been injured when his car struck the back of a manure spreader truck has died at a Lincoln hospital.

The Platte County Sheriff’s Office says 26-year-old Matthew LeComte died Saturday.

The accident occurred around 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 29 on U.S. Highway 81 near Humphrey. The Sheriff’s Office says LeComte was driving north when his car rammed the back of the northbound truck, which was slowing to turn east. The truck driver wasn’t injured.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska man and his ex-wife have been sentenced to probation for movie piracy.

U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Gilg says 34-year-old William Cayou, of Lincoln, was sentenced in Lincoln’s federal court Monday to five years’ probation for copyright infringement. Gilg says 39-year-old Holly Cayou, of Macy, received the same sentence last month for the same offense.

They must also each perform 200 hours of community service and pay $1,500 in restitution.

Prosecutors say the couple were married and living in Macy on the Omaha Indian Reservation from 2011 through 2013 when they obtained pirated copies of copyrighted motion pictures, reproduced them and sold them to people on the reservation.

The investigation revealed that Holly Cayou sold about 600 DVDs and William Cayou sold about 1,250 DVDs during that time.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — The new quarter depicting the Homestead National Monument is being showcased at several events in Beatrice.

The celebration started Tuesday morning with an assembly at Beatrice High School that featured state officials and coin experts from the U.S. Mint.

Everyone who attended Tuesday’s launch events had a chance to be one of the first people to get one of the newly minted Homestead Monument coins.

The quarters will be available from U.S. Mint starting on Feb. 24.

The Mint’s David Croft says the new quarter pays tribute to the strength and tenacity of settlers who took advantage of the Homestead Act.

The national monument Beatrice celebrates the Homestead Act of 1862 that distributed more than 270 million acres in 160-acre plots of land.

STANTON, Neb. (AP) — A registered sex offender accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old in northeast Nebraska has been given eight to 12 years in prison.

Online court records say 41-year-old John Suing, of Wynot, was sentenced on Monday and given credit for 197 days already served. He’d pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault of a child, after prosecutors lowered the charge.

Deputies say he assaulted the teenager last July near Woodland Park, northeast of Norfolk, after they met on social media. Suing was on probation at the time for a Gage County conviction of enticement by electronic communication device.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A fire has destroyed an antiques shop in the south-central Nebraska town of Edgar.

The fire was reported Monday morning by the owner of Ruby’s Room, Craig German. He told the Hastings Tribune that he’d noticed smoke coming from the chimney as he drove by the building.

Fire crews from Clay Center and Fairfield joined Edgar firefighters in battling the blaze. No injuries have been reported.

The fire cause is being investigated.

German says he’s sad about the loss, “but it’s just stuff.”

ALBION, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have rescued five starving horses from their owner in Boone County.

On Monday members of the Nebraska Humane Society equine team took the horses away for veterinary care, food, training and eventual adoption. The owner surrendered the horses.

The team members say they noticed the carcasses of several dead horses on the property.

The horses’ owner has been charged, but Boone County authorities have not released his or her name.

PALMER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 29-year-old Archer man is dead and two others are injured after a three-vehicle wreck near Palmer.

Merrick County Attorney Lynelle Homolka says Kasey Eddy died after his pickup was hit by two vehicles at an intersection. She says two passengers in Eddy’s truck weren’t injured.

The other two drivers, a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old, were taken to a hospital. They were treated for minor injuries and released. No passengers were in their vehicles.

The 18-year-old from St. Libory has been arrested on suspicion of felony motor vehicle homicide.

Homolka said the accident is still under investigation. She says no alcohol or drug use is suspected.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 36-year-old man accused of killing someone whose dismembered body was found in a ravine north of Omaha has been convicted of manslaughter.

Online court records say John Moniz on Monday pleaded no contest to manslaughter and to being a habitual criminal. Prosecutors reduced the original charge of first-degree murder in exchange for Moniz’s pleas. Prosecutors say Moniz killed 52-year-old Delbert Freemont Jr., whose torso, arms and legs were found Dec. 9 in Washington County.

Authorities found blood spatters on the ceiling and walls of Freemont’s home, and tests confirmed the blood belonged to Freemont. Moniz and his girlfriend had been living with Freemont until shortly before his death.

Moniz’s sentencing is scheduled for April 8.