OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Former “Star Trek” actor and “Reading Rainbow” producer LeVar Burton will headline this year’s Nebraska Science Festival.

Burton will discuss the impact that mentors, technology, storytelling and science fiction have had on his life.

The science festival is scheduled for April 15th through 23rd, and will feature an array of science- and technology-related activities.

Burton will speak at 7:30 p.m. on April 22nd at Joslyn Museum’s Witherspoon Concert Hall in Omaha. His presentation is free and open to the public, but requires a reserved ticket.

Tickets for general admission seating to Burton’s presentation will be released one month prior to the event on March 22nd, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tickets will be released online at Event Brite. More information will be posted at nescifest.com.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southwestern Missouri man has agreed to a 15-year prison sentence after admitting he stole thousands of dollars’ worth of cattle and farm equipment.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that 66-year-old Howard Perryman has pleaded guilty in Greene County to two counts of stealing and one count of tampering with a motor vehicle.

The newspaper says Perryman has agreed to spend 15 years in prison. He’s already serving a 30-year sentence in Barry County for a 2014 conviction, as well as for convictions in Christian and Webster counties.

As part of Perryman’s 2013 arrest in Greene County, authorities say they recovered stolen equipment from Greene, Christian, Webster, Jasper, Dade and Lawrence counties

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former Missouri congressman Russ Carnahan has created a committee to run for lieutenant governor.

Carnahan filed paperwork Friday with the Missouri Ethics Commission setting up a Democratic campaign committee.

He served 12 years in the U.S. House before losing a 2012 primary to Democratic Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. after redistricting merged parts of their two St. Louis area districts. Missouri lost a congressional seat because the 2010 census showed the state’s population failed to keep pace with growth in other states.

Several other people already are running for lieutenant governor this year, including Democrats Winston Apple, Brad Bradshaw and state Rep. Tommie Pierson. The Republican primary includes Bev Randles and state Sen. Mike Parson.

Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder is instead running for governor

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The owner of a southwest Missouri discount tobacco store has filed a lawsuit. It challenges a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the state’s lowest-in-the-nation tobacco tax and create new fees for wholesalers of some cigarettes.

The suit filed Friday in Cole County Circuit Court claims the measure’s ballot title and fiscal notes approved by the Missouri secretary of state are insufficient and unfair.

The proposed amendment would raise the tobacco tax by 60 cents over four years, starting in 2017. It also would impose a fee of 67 cents per pack of cigarettes on wholesalers who sell off-brand smokes not covered under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the state and four largest U.S. tobacco companies.

The additional revenues would go into a new Early Childhood Health trust fund.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — In the wake of the Rams’ departure from St. Louis, a Missouri lawmaker wants sports team owners who take away their teams in the future to be responsible for debt left behind.

KMOX Radio reports that state Rep. Anne Zerr, a St. Charles Republican, has introduced a bill making pro sports team owners responsible for making sure publicly funded stadiums are paid off before they’re free to leave.

Zerr notes that the state still owes up to $12 million annually in bond payments for the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis through 2021. The dome was built entirely with taxpayer money, opening in 1995.

NFL owners on Tuesday approved the Rams’ move to Los Angeles, starting next season

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon will propose $131 million in new spending for developmental disabilities research and care in next year’s budget.

Nixon said Tuesday that the additional state and federal money would pay for 100 new health care providers over the next five years. Providers also would see a 3 percent rate increase.

The money would pay for a new autism center at Truman State University. And it would cover expansions at the Mercy Kids Autism Center in the St. Louis region and the University of Missouri’s Thompson Center for Autism. Thompson Center officials estimate they could accommodate 2,000 more visits annually.

Nixon says he’s confident lawmakers will support the proposals.

He will present his full budget before Wednesday’s State of the State address.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislation that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s anti-discrimination statute is drawing opposition.

The Wichita Eagle reports that the measure would make it illegal to fire or evict someone for being gay or transgender, and ensure equal access to public accommodation.

Supporters of the bill consider it necessary because the LGBT community in Kansas routinely faces discrimination.

Opponents counter that the measure would make Kansans who oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds vulnerable to lawsuits, and that transgender women would be allowed to enter women’s bathrooms.

Current law shields Kansans from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on race, religion, color, sex, disability, family status, national origin or ancestry.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, more than half of them in the U.S. and another big chunk in its challenging Brazilian market.

The stores being shuttered account for a fraction of the company’s 11,000 stores worldwide and less than 1 percent of its global revenue.

The closures will affect 16,000 workers, 10,000 of them in the U.S.

The announcement comes three months after its CEO Doug McMillon told investors the world’s largest retailer would review its store fleet in amid increasing competition from all fronts, including from online rival Amazon.com.

In the U.S., 154 locations will be closed, most of them small format stores called Walmart Express, which were launched as a test program in 2011. The remaining 115 locations to close are spread over Latin America, mostly in Brazil.

CLICK HERE to see the the closures.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ medical board is taking no action against a Planned Parenthood clinic after completing an investigation into whether illegal sales of fetal tissue are occurring after abortions.

A State Board of Healing Arts disciplinary attorney sent a letter last week to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri saying the board’s disciplinary staff had investigated the group’s clinic in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park.

The letter said “no further action will be taken at this time.” The Associated Press obtained a copy from Planned Parenthood.

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback called for the investigation last year and this week ordered the state to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds.

Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers have said they don’t even have programs for legal donations of fetal tissue.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is defending his support for using a new school funding formula to encourage local districts to enact merit pay systems for teachers.

The Republican governor responded to comments Thursday from Senate Democratic Leader Anthony Hensley of Topeka.

Hensley is a teacher and said he opposes merit pay because merit pay systems are marked by favoritism. He also said legislators should focus on issues that unite educators when they draft a new law for distributing more than $4 billion in aid to the state’s 286 school districts.

Brownback said Hensley is dismissing merit pay too quickly. He said lawmakers should hold hearings on merit pay systems and learn where they’ve worked.

Lawmakers aren’t sure how far they’ll get this year in drafting a new school funding law.