LOS ANGELES (AP) — The gap in bachelor-degree attainment between the nation’s richest and poorest students by age 24 has doubled during the last four decades.

A study released Tuesday by two education organizations finds that the percent of students from the lowest-income families earning a bachelor’s degree has inched up just 3 points since 1970, rising from 6 to 9 percent by 2013.

Meanwhile, college completion for students from the wealthiest families has risen dramatically, climbing from 44 to 77 percent.

The report comes amid renewed debate on college affordability spurred by President Barack Obama’s proposal to make two years of college free. If adopted in every state, the proposal would benefit a projected 9 million students each year. It would cost taxpayers an estimated $60 billion over 10 years.

DENVER (AP) — Federal investigators say selfies were a likely factor in a small plane crash near Denver last year that killed two.

The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that it appears likely the pilot was disoriented and lost control of the airplane. Recordings from a GoPro camera found in the wreckage show the pilot and passenger repeatedly taking photographs of themselves with their cellphones during previous flights that day, although there was no video of the deadly flight.

The NTSB said evidence of the pilot’s previous cellphone use made it likely he was distracted by such use during his last flight.

The crash killed 29-year-old pilot Amritpal Singh and his passenger shortly after they took off May 31from Front Range Airport in Adams County.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leaders say the House will vote next week on legislation to construct the Keystone XL pipeline and send it to President Barack Obama. Obama has threatened a veto.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday that the House will consider the Senate-passed bill, which also included provisions stating that climate change is not a hoax.

The House passed a version of the bill last month. The Senate voted 62-36 last week to build the $8 billion project that would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the Texas Gulf coast. That vote was short of 67 votes needed to override a presidential veto.

PENDER, Neb. (AP) — If voters approve, Thurston County will build a 34-bed jail to replace the old jail that’s housed prisoners in the courthouse basement since the 1920’s.

The Board of Supervisors decided last week to place a $5.9 million bond measure on the April 14 ballot.

Officials say the old, 25-bed jail doesn’t meet modern standards for inmate care and security. The replacement would be built in Pender.

Supervisor Leonard Peters says Thurston County has letters of commitment from Burt, Cuming, Dixon, Stanton and Wayne counties to house inmates in a new Thurston County Jail.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Medical Center is caring for seven sets of twins this week, which officials say is a record for the Omaha hospital.

Of the 14 babies, nine are boys and five are girls.

All but one set of twins were born in Omaha. Two boys were born in Wichita and transferred to the Nebraska Medical Center.

Hospital officials say the smallest of the babies was born at 27 weeks in November, and weighed only about 1.5 pounds. Her sister weighed about 2.5 pounds at birth.

The hospital says the other six sets of twins were delivered this year. It says all of the babies are doing well.

WAHOO, Neb. (AP) — Saunders County officials have released the name of a 62-year-old woman who was fatally injured in a head-on collision on an icy highway in eastern Nebraska.

The Saunders County Sheriff’s Office identified her as Kathleen Schulzkump, of West Point.

She and Wesley Schulzkump were traveling east on Nebraska Highway 92 between Wahoo and Yutan when their vehicle rammed into a westbound sport utility vehicle a little before 1 p.m. Sunday. She was pronounced dead at Saunders Medical Center in Wahoo.

Wesley Schulzkump also was taken to the hospital. The SUV driver, Tony Grabowski, of Wahoo, was treated for minor injuries.

The Sheriff’s Office cited the icy roadway and blowing snow as factors in the accident.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 20-year-old woman arrested in connection to a fatal Omaha shooting has been denied bond.

Janessa Arias appeared for an initial court hearing Monday in which she was denied bond. She was arrested Saturday on a first-degree murder charge in last week’s shooting death of 46-year-old Ray Patterson at a north-central Omaha park.

At the hearing, prosecutors said Arias was at a fast-food restaurant with Patterson when she called her boyfriend about robbing the man. They say the boyfriend told Arias to take Patterson to a park, where the boyfriend could rob him.

Police responded to a report of gunshots in the area and found Patterson with gunshot wounds. He died Wednesday at the Nebraska Medical Center.

Online court records do not list an attorney for Arias.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say they have found a man dead in the snow in downtown Lincoln.

Officer Katie Flood says officers responded to a report Monday morning that an unresponsive man was lying in the snow near The Kennard House, a historic Lincoln building. She said he was transported to a local hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

Flood says investigation is ongoing, but police don’t suspect foul play.

The man’s name and other details have not yet been released.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Several sections of Interstate 80 are closed in eastern Nebraska because of accidents in the snowy conditions Sunday morning.

Officials are encouraging people to stay off the roads in eastern Nebraska and Iowa if at all possible Sunday.

Lancaster County officials closed Interstate 80 in the county Sunday after a semitrailer truck accident that caused serious injuries.

Near Aurora, westbound Interstate-80 was closed Sunday morning and traffic was being routed around the area at the Aurora exit.

Further west, a semi became jack-knifed across both eastbound lanes near Shelton. Hall County officials are detouring traffic around nine miles of the interstate.

National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Fillbach told the Des Moines Register that “Driving is not going to be the smartest thing to do today. Stay home if you can.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police suspect the 17-year-old student arrested in connection to two fires at a high school likely started them out of boredom.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/1Ht8Cau ) the student was arrested Friday on two counts of arson for the fires, the second of which prompted officials to close the school Thursday.

Students and staff were evacuated twice due to the fires. The first time was after someone started a fire in a trash can, and the second was after someone set fire to wrestling mats stored in a hallway near a gymnasium.

Officer Katie Flood says police believe the teen started the fires because he was bored. She says authorities think he used a lighter to start them.

The student has not yet been formally charged.