(AP) — A friend has crafted a coffin to replace one stolen from a Lincoln couple’s spooky display.

Thieves had taken the 6-foot-long plywood casket earlier this week off the front porch of Charles and Dixie Blalock. The 72-year-old Charles Blalock had built the coffin about 15 years ago, and its theft cast a shadow over their Halloween spirits.

But 29-year-old Jason Friesen delivered a new one Thursday morning. He used to make cabinets, so he was able to craft a 4½-foot-long coffin for his friends. He’d met the Blalocks at local craft fairs.

Dixie Blalock told the Lincoln Journal Star that the gift made her feel “like there’s still a lot of good people out there.”

(AP) — A divided appeals court panel is siding with Ohio business owners who challenged the birth control mandate under the new federal health care law.

The business owners are two brothers who say the mandate to provide contraceptive coverage would make them violate their Roman Catholic beliefs.

The ruling Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is one of many on the birth control issue, which likely will be resolved by the Supreme Court.

The appeals court panel says the mandate limits the right of free exercise of religion.

The brothers are Francis and Philip M. Gilardi. They say they don’t want to provide contraceptives like the Plan B pill for their employees. The Gilardis own Freshway Foods and Freshway Logistics of Sidney, Ohio.

(AP) — Lancaster County commissioners want more information before deciding whether to extend health insurance benefits to same-sex couples.

The board voted 4-0 keep the current policy of allowing only opposite-sex couples to get the insurance benefits.

The issue has arisen because the county’s insurance provider recently changed its policies’ language to allow same-sex spouses to be covered regardless of where couples were married or where they reside.

Personnel Director Doug McDaniel says the county hadn’t gotten any inquiries or requests from its 800-plus employees.

He says such a change could have tax implications, because health insurance payments are deducted pre-tax. But because the state doesn’t recognize same-sex couples, it’s unclear whether state taxes would need to be paid.

(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has reprimanded an Omaha attorney who was accused of misleading a state Medicaid official.

The court issued its decision Friday against Eric W. Kruger.

According to the reprimand, Kruger represented Edward Smalley in a lawsuit against a construction company that struck him with a vehicle. Smalley was eligible for Medicaid, and medical bills of $400,000 were submitted to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

The department initially refused to pay the claims, saying liability insurance might cover the cost. According to documents, Kruger told the state official Smalley would reimburse the department if it paid. The department made the hospital payments, but Kruger then amended his lawsuit to challenge its claim for reimbursement.

Kruger acknowledged in court papers that he intentionally misled the official.

(AP) — Omaha police have begun investigating an assault in the Old Market area as a hate crime.

Ryan Langenegger says he was punched in the face by a man who, with some other men, had been making fun of two gay friends of Langenegger. The two had been to a drag show with Langenegger. The three later went to a restaurant in the area early Sunday morning. One of them was wearing a dress.

Langenegger says he tried talking to the men, who been using anti-gay slurs and said the men were disgusting. One of them hit him in the face.

Police have reported no arrests.

Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert (STAH’-thurt) said Thursday that “hate crimes in our community will not be tolerated.”

(AP) — How does “Obamacare” apply to Congress?

Like so much of the law, the answer’s complicated.

Members of Congress this week finalized their take on how President Barack Obama’s signature health care law will work inside the fiefdoms of lawmakers’ staffs. The law only says that aides in “official” offices must exit the federal health insurance program and shop for policies in an exchange. The Obama administration says lawmakers should decide who is “official.”

That’s produced a patchwork of internal office policy across Capitol Hill. Republican Senate leaders and Democrats like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, are shifting all their staffer to the exchanges. Others, like GOP Rep. Darrell Issa and Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, are keeping all of their aides in the federal insurance program.

(AP) — U.S. malaria cases are at their highest level in four decades, mostly from Americans bringing home an unwelcome souvenir from their travels.

Malaria is not a big problem in the U.S. — there were only 1,925 cases in 2011, including five deaths. But cases were up 14 percent from the previous year, and the most since 1971.

Nearly all the cases were Americans or foreign travelers bringing it into the country. About two-thirds were infected in Africa, where malaria is common.

Malaria is a deadly tropical disease spread by mosquitoes. It’s treatable when caught early.

Travelers can protect themselves by taking malaria drugs before and during a trip. Only a fraction of the 2011 cases took the right drugs.

Health officials released the numbers Thursday.

(AP) — A central Ohio woman accused of faking a cancer diagnosis for her 4-year-old son has been indicted on felony charges of child endangerment and theft.

Authorities allege 31-year-old Emily Creno, of Utica, shaved her son’s head in a scheme that convinced him and others he was dying and bilked people out of donations.

Creno was arrested in September and charged with child endangerment. She’ll be arraigned Tuesday on the updated charges filed Thursday in Licking County court.

Creno’s attorney, Christopher Cooper, had filed court paperwork to pursue an insanity plea on the original charge and a competency evaluation for his client.

Cooper said Thursday he hadn’t seen the new indictment and couldn’t comment on it.

Court records show Creno’s son underwent various medical testing and monitoring that found no problems.

(AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is criticizing U.S. states that refuse to issue Defense Department identification cards — and the benefits that go with them — to same-sex spouses of military members at National Guard facilities.

In remarks prepared for delivery in New York on Thursday evening, Hagel says these states are violating their obligations under federal law. And he says they are creating hardship and inequality by forcing legally married gay partners to travel to federal military bases to get the ID cards to which they are entitled.

Hagel does not name the states, but the Pentagon has cited nine: Texas, Indiana, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia.

Same-sex spouses of military members became eligible Sept. 3 for the same benefits as opposite-sex spouses.

(AP) — Ten children and a school bus driver have been rescued after the bus they were in toppled into a southern Kansas creek swollen by heavy rain.

Butler County Sheriff Kelly Herzet (HUR’-zeht) says the children climbed through a roof hatch to await rescue Thursday afternoon as the bus lay on its side, half-submerged.

County 911 director Chris Davis said the Douglass School District bus apparently went off a bridge about 4 p.m. Thursday.

Herzet said the oldest children were 13 and helped the younger ones through the hatch. Rescuers used a line to help them to safety.

The driver was taken to a hospital to be checked for hypothermia. One child was seen being put inside an ambulance, but the sheriff says all 10 were turned over to their parents.