(AP) — Authorities say a Nebraska man died after a Union Pacific freight train struck his truck Sunday morning.

The accident happened in Belvidere in southeast Nebraska around 2:30 a.m. The town is about 45 miles south of York and just off of U.S. Highway 81.

Authorities say 24-year-old Bryant Mussman tried to cross the railroad tracks at a closed crossing before the accident happened.

Mussman was not wearing a seatbelt. The Ohiowa man was engaged to be married, and he is survived by a son, two brothers and his parents.

(AP) — Minimum-wage increase proposals are getting the maximum push from Democrats in more than half of U.S. states, highlighting the politically potent income inequality issue this year.

A national review by The Associated Press finds that lawmakers in at least 30 states are sponsoring or are expected to introduce wage hike measures. They hope to notch state-level victories as President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats remain stymied in attempts to raise federal minimum wage. The president is expected to mention minimum wage in his State of the Union address Tuesday.

Even in Republican-dominated capitals where the bills are longshots, the measures still give Democrats a chance to hammer home the popular theme of fair wages in what is an election year in most places.

(AP) — Firefighters are battling a grass fire in northeast Nebraska that forced some evacuations in Battle Creek.

Strong winds fueled the fire Sunday in a field just west of the town of about 1,200 people. Firefighters from several area cities — including Norfolk, Madison and Tilden — were helping battle the fire.

Some homes on the western edge of Battle Creek were evacuated because of the fire, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether any were damaged.

Rev. Richard Snow leads St. John Lutheran Church in south-central Battle Creek. He told the Norfolk Daily News that it didn’t appear that the town was in danger, but it was unsettling to have ashes falling in town and thick black smoke hanging in the air Sunday afternoon.

(AP) — In a first, working-age people now make up the majority in households that rely on food stamps.

That’s a switch from a few years ago, when children and the elderly were the main recipients.

Some of the change is due to demographics, like the trend toward people having fewer children. But the slow economic recovery is also playing a role, with high unemployment, stagnant wages and an increasing gulf between low-wage and high-skill jobs.

Government data shows that food stamp participation has grown fastest among workers with some college training. It’s a sign the safety net has stretched to cover what used to be the middle class.

The program now covers 1 in 7 Americans.

(AP) — A Lincoln bar reopened with two of its windows boarded up after police said an impaired driver damaged seven parked cars outside Bob’s Tavern.

Lincoln Police arrested a 52-year-old Lincoln man late Friday on suspicion of driving under the influence and reckless driving after the accident.

Police say they believe the man was under the influence of drugs, not alcohol, at the time of the crash and hadn’t been at the bar.

Police say the man’s car struck seven parked vehicles in northeast Lincoln, and the impact pushed one of the vehicles into the bar’s windows.

No one was injured in the crash, but at least two of the vehicles sustained significant damage and were totaled.

(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has reversed a lower appeals court’s order for a new trial for a Grand Island man convicted of drug charges.

In June, the Nebraska Court of Appeals reversed Roger Dalland’s meth conviction and granted him a new trial. The appeals court found that an officer was wrong to search Dalland’s vehicle because he smelled marijuana on Dalland inside the Aurora Police Department.

The Nebraska Supreme Court reversed that ruling on Friday. The high court said the appeals court erred by not taking into account an officer’s statement that Dalland had told him about needles in the vehicle before the officer searched it.

The state Supreme Court directed the Court of Appeals to affirm Dalland’s conviction and sentence.

(AP) — The state of Nebraska will pay $250,000 to a Grand Island man wrongfully convicted in 1969 of killing his wife.

Thomas Davis filed a claim against the state in 2009, as allowed by state law.

On Friday, attorney John Stevens Berry said the state has been ordered to pay him $250,000, plus costs.

Davis was convicted in 1969 of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Phyllis. The conviction was overturned in 1970 by the Nebraska Supreme Court, which cited improper admission of hearsay evidence, withholding of forensic evidence and prosecutorial misconduct.

(AP) — A 19-year-old Clay County man has been sentenced to 180 days in jail and five years’ probation for vandalizing an old cemetery in south-central Nebraska.

Robert Kelly Jr., of Saronville, also was ordered Friday to perform 200 hours of community service and pay $10,000 in restitution.

Prosecutors say he vandalized Farmers’ Valley Cemetery in August. Nearly 50 gravestones were pushed over and some were damaged beyond repair.

The cemetery was established in 1876 along the banks of the Big Blue River south-southwest of Henderson in rural Hamilton County.

(AP) — A Nebraska man has been charged in an arrest warrant with attempted murder after police say he threatened a woman and her teenage daughter with a circular saw last month.

34-year-old Jerry Stilen, of La Vista, Neb., was arrested Thursday at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Council Bluffs, where he was being held on other charges.

Police says Stilen broke into the Council Bluffs home of a 37-year-old ex-girlfriend on Dec. 23 and threatening her with a circular saw. Police say he choked the woman, and when her 15-year-old daughter fled, he chased her down and choked and threatened the girl, too. A neighbor called police to report the attack.

Stilen remains in the jail and could not be reached Saturday for comment.

(AP) — A 53-year-old man has pleaded guilty to arson for the torching of southeastern Iowa house.

According to court records, 53-year-old Jonathan Beam, of Washington, Iowa, recently pleaded guilty to the charge.

Authorities say Beam set his home on fire on Oct. 1. The home sits across the street from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and the county jail. No injuries were reported.

Beam was arrested in southeast Nebraska’s Thayer County that same week.

Police say receipts in Beam’s car showed he bought gas, flares and a torch the morning of the fire.