(AP) — An armed man has surrendered after a nearly three-hour standoff at a southeast Nebraska motel.

Officers responded to a call early Thursday morning from a Travelers Lodge motel in Beatrice.

A negotiating team made contact with the man as officers evacuated motel occupants. The man soon let a woman and child out of the motel room, and Police Chief Bruce Lang says another woman escaped from the room shortly thereafter. It’s unclear whether they were being held hostage. Lang says the women knew the man, Adam Wolken, of Beatrice.

Negotiators talked Wolken into coming out around 2:45 a.m. He was taken into custody without incident. No shots or injuries have been reported. A rifle and handgun were recovered.

It’s unclear whether Wolken has an attorney.

Researchers say women have a higher risk of blood clots for 12 weeks after childbirth, twice as long as has been believed.

Pregnant women are more prone to blood clots because substances that thicken the blood naturally rise, and blood from the legs has more trouble traveling to the heart. Clots can cause heart attacks and strokes.

The study involved 1.7 million California women having their first child. The risk of a blood clot was about 11 times greater during the first six weeks after delivery and more than two times greater during weeks seven to 12. After that, it fell to normal levels.

The work was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at a stroke conference in San Diego on Thursday.

(AP) — The Hall County board has decided to back out of its deal to buy the former state Workforce Development building from the city of Grand Island.

The board had voted 4-3 last month to spend $600,000 in buying what would provide temporary courtrooms and office space while the county upgrades the heating and air-conditioning system at the Hall County Courthouse.

But the board was told Tuesday morning that inspections showed the former Workforce Development building lacked adequate water service and heating and air conditioning.

Chief Deputy Hall County Attorney Jack Zitterkopf says the deal with the city lets the county terminate the purchase if the county is dissatisfied with the condition of the property.

(AP) — Sentencing has been scheduled in May for an Omaha man who pleaded guilty to health care fraud and nine federal misdemeanors.

A news release from the office of Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said Wednesday that James Holt and his company, UMOJA, provide mental health services. The news release says Holt and his company stole money by billing Nebraska Medicaid for services that weren’t actually provided.

As part of the agreement, Holt and his company agreed to make restitution of about $15,000.

Sentencing is set for May 13.

(AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are being asked to take a new approach to roads funding, with a bill that would allow the state to finance high-priority projects with bonds.

Nebraska has used a pay-as-you-go system for decades, but supporters said Wednesday that the state could take advantage of low interest rates while launching more job-creating construction projects. Sen. Annette Dubas of Fullerton says her legislation would help quicken the pace of long-delayed roads projects.

The bill was introduced three years after Nebraska officials passed a law that will divert an estimated $60 million to $70 million a year into roads projects.

The Department of Roads opposes the bill. Director Randy Peters says the state’s traditional approach has served Nebraska well, and projects still take years to design.

(AP) — State officials are hoping to help Nebraska veterans and their spouses find jobs through two upcoming Hiring Our Heroes job fairs.

The fair will be held Feb. 19 at the DC Centre in Omaha. A fair will also be held April 1 at the Lancaster Event Center.

Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac of the Nebraska National Guard says veterans have skills that employers desire, such as leadership and the ability to work under pressure.

Cathy Lang, Commissioner of the Nebraska Department of Labor, says the department can help with resume writing and help veterans look for jobs with their skill set.

The ten previous fairs throughout the state have served about 1,300 veterans and 300 employers.

(AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that challenged Nebraska’s denial of driver’s licenses to people who were brought into the country illegally as children, but allowed to stay under a new federal program.

U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp said in a ruling Wednesday that the state had not violated the equal-protection rights of the youths. The lawsuit was filed by Mayra Saldana, a student at Peru State College who was granted deferred-action status under an Obama administration program.

Saldana applied for a driver’s license three times at the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles in January 2013, and was denied. Saldana came to the United States from Mexico at age 2.

(AP) — Two Nebraska men are in federal prison after being sentenced recently for failing to register as sex offenders.

U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg says in a news release that 32-year-old Stephen Wilson, of Bellevue, was sentenced Friday in Omaha’s federal court to 30 months in prison.

Authorities say it was at least the second time that Wilson, who was initially convicted in Iowa for enticing a minor, has failed to register as a sex offender.

Gilg also says 32-year-old Phillip Hagerman, of Hastings, was sentenced Friday in Lincoln’s federal court to 15 months in prison.

Hagerman had been registered as a sex offender in Kentucky since 2007, but did not register as a sex offender when he moved to Nebraska in 2013.

There is no parole in the federal system.

(AP) — High Times and Westword have filed a lawsuit challenging Colorado rules that bar recreational marijuana businesses from advertising in most publications.

The legal action was filed on Monday in federal court and argues that the rules violate free speech.

The Colorado attorney general’s office is reviewing the suit and declined comment.

State regulations only allow recreational pot shops to advertise in publications believed to have no more than 30 percent of readers under 21. There are no restrictions on medical marijuana advertising.

The lawsuit doesn’t state how the publications might have been hurt by the rule. The latest issue of Westword, Denver’s alternative weekly, has at least nine ads for recreational marijuana businesses.

Opponents previously succeeded in convincing a federal court to overturn a law requiring marijuana publications to be kept behind store counters.

(AP) — Officials in a small Nebraska city are preparing to enforce voter-approved illegal immigration rules, but opponents could file additional lawsuits after they take effect.

Fremont officials said Wednesday that police will start enforcing the measure 30 days after the results of a special city election are certified. Nearly 60 percent of voters decided Tuesday to keep the ordinance, which requires renters to get a $5 permit and swear they have legal permission to live in the U.S.

Amy Miller, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, says her group will keep close tabs on the city and will consider a new lawsuit if tenants report discrimination. A federal appeals panel upheld the ordinance, but left an opening for lawsuits if people can show that it’s resulted in discrimination.