(AP) — Unauthorized flower pots and graveside benches have been banned from an old Lincoln cemetery that’s being tidied up after 144 years.

More than 350 warning flags were set by urns, pots and benches at Calvary Cemetery this week, telling visitors that the items were to be moved by Nov. 11.

Father Thomas MacLean has been given the task of cleaning up the Catholic graveyard, which sits about 2 ½ miles east of downtown Lincoln.

MacLean says the items set on or near the graves have never been permitted, but “they’ve been tolerated in the past.”

He acknowledges that removing the items may be hard on relatives and friends of the deceased.

(AP) — Douglas County authorities say a 34-year-old inmate has died.

The Corrections Department says Amanda Solko, of Omaha, was pronounced dead at an Omaha hospital after being found unresponsive in her one-person cell around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Solko had been jailed since Oct. 1, pending $50,000 bail. She was accused of driving while her license was revoked.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is investigating. Nebraska law also requires a grand jury investigation whenever someone dies in custody or while being arrested.

(AP) — The 20-year master plan for Omaha’s Eppley Airfield includes eight new gates, major alterations and renovations in the terminal and another parking garage.

The plan approved Tuesday by the airport authority board will be submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration. The projects would be paid for by FAA grants, airport revenue, bonds and new passenger and customer facility charges.

The FAA allows a passenger charge of up to $4.50 each.

Eppley’s director of planning and engineering, David Roth, says the first phase of the plan would begin when the airport hits 4.8 million passengers. He says that could be many years from now. The airport is handling about 4 million passengers a year now.

(AP) — A split Nebraska Court of Appeals panel has upheld the child sexual assault conviction of an Omaha man who objected to a court reporter’s covert efforts to correct a faulty trial transcript.

Charles Kays was sentenced in 2011 to up to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing a young girl.

On appeal, Kays’ attorney noted mistakes with the official trial transcript — including that 13 jurors instead of 12 deliberated the case. The court reporter corrected the mistakes, printed a new version and shredded the original — without the approval of a judge, as required by law.

On Tuesday, two appeals court judges ruled that the corrected transcript was accurate.

But in a dissenting opinion, Judge John Irwin said the accuracy of the corrected transcript could not be verified.

(AP) — Former Nebraska state Sen. Bob Kremer has died at age 77.

Kremer, of Aurora, died on Tuesday of an apparent heart attack.

Kremer served in the Legislature from 1999 to 2007. He grew up on a family farm south of Aurora, and spent his life as a cattle feeder.

His son, Mark Kremer, says the former lawmaker enjoyed working with people and was involved with several agriculture groups, including the Corn Growers Association, Nebraska Farm Bureau and Nebraska Cattlemen. Kremer says his father was also deeply religious, and looked for ways to encourage others.

A visitation is scheduled Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at Pleasant View Bible Church in Aurora. A celebration of life will be held at the church at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

(AP) — A Republican senator says she understands Senate leaders have reached an agreement to avoid a Treasury default and reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire made her comments Wednesday as she walked into a meeting of Senate Republicans in leader Mitch McConnell’s office.

Ayotte said the leaders would make a formal announcement.

The government would reopen through Jan. 15 and Treasury would be allowed to increase the nation’s borrowing authority through Feb. 7.

(AP) — It was a cold-hearted online post that a Florida sheriff says hastened the arrest of two girls, aged 12 and 14, in the bullying-suicide case of Rebecca Sedwick.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd repeated the older girl’s Facebook comment almost word for word at a news conference Tuesday.

“‘Yes, I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself but I don’t give a …’ and you can add the last word yourself,” Judd said.

Authorities say Rebecca was tormented online and at school by as many as 15 girls before she climbed a tower at an abandoned concrete plant and hurled herself to her death. But the sheriff says the two girls arrested were primarily the ones who bullied Rebecca. They have been charged with stalking and released to their parents.

(AP) — A pair of premature twins has been brought to a Lincoln hospital after testing positive for methamphetamine.

Division of Children and Family Services specialist Julie Zegers says the newborn boys were taken to Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit on Sunday due to medical complications.

Lancaster County Juvenile Court Judge Reggie Ryder issued an order Tuesday that gave the state temporary custody of the boys and their 3-year-old sister. Ryder said he found facts that placed the children at risk of harm at their home.

The boys’ urine tested positive for meth. Their mother’s urine also tested positive for the drug.

The twins were born 11 weeks prematurely in Falls City. They weighed 2 pounds when they were tested.

(AP) — The University of Nebraska is teaching interior design strategies that could benefit the elderly.

The university is offering a new, online graduate certificate in gerontology with a concentration in interior design. The online program is taught by faculty through from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It’s available through the university’s Online Worldwide website.

Professor Julie Masters, the chairwoman of UNO’s Department of Gerontology, says the program will help designers create comforting and supportive environments for older populations. Design changes geared toward older populations could include lower shelves, stair railings and additional support bars.

(AP) — Officials are awaiting results of toxicology tests to determine what killed an 18-year-old whose body was found at a friend’s house in the eastern Nebraska town of Waverly.

Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said Monday that an autopsy didn’t find any signs of trauma on the body of William “Billy” Tucker.

Tucker and three friends had gone to a Lincoln party on Saturday night and fell asleep there. Wagner says that around 8:30 a.m. Sunday the four went to the Waverly home of one of them. Wagner says Tucker was unresponsive when a 20-year-old woman tried to wake him around 1:45 p.m. Sunday. Waverly rescue workers who responded to a 911 call said Tucker had died.

Tucker graduated from Ashland-Greenwood High School this past spring.