LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska could require high school students to pass the federal government’s civics exam for United States citizenship if a bill in the Legislature becomes law.

Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha introduced a measure Monday that would require students to answer at least 70 percent of the test’s questions correctly before they graduate.

If passed, the bill would go into effect during the 2017 school year.

The Joe Foss Institute, a civic education group that champions the measure, says nine states have passed similar laws. The other states are Idaho, Utah, Arizona, North Dakota, South Dakota, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee and South Carolina.

CRETE, Neb. (AP) — Smithfield Foods says a computer issue has forced a suspension of production at several of its plants, including its Farmland Foods plant in the southeast Nebraska town of Crete.

Smithfield spokeswoman Kathleen Kirkham says a “technology issue at our data center” was affecting production.

Kirkham says that once the problem is solved, Smithfield hopes to make up production by running additional shifts wherever possible.  The Crete plant employs about 2,000 people.

HOUSTON (AP) — Blue Bell Creameries is reassuring customers that its ice cream is safe as it tries to determine if listeria has again been found at one of its facilities.

The Texas company is returning its products to stores following contamination last year that prompted a national recall.

The company announced Friday that the bacteria may have been detected at one of its three plants, though it didn’t say which one. The company has plants in Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma.

In an email Monday, Blue Bell insisted its products were safe.

Blue Bell recalled its products in April, after its ice cream was linked to 10 listeria cases, including three deaths in Kansas. Listeria can cause serious illness, especially in older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

PERRY, Kan. (AP) — Students at a northeast Kansas high school must undergo random drug testing to participate in extracurricular activities.

The the policy took effect last week at Perry-Lecompton High School as the new semester began. School officials say the goal is to provide students with an incentive to say “no.”

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Doug Bonney says that since the mid-1990s, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled the drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities is constitutional. Bonney says the ACLU disagrees with the decision.

Perry-Lecompton High School Principal Mike Copple says drug tests will cost the school $39 per test and alcohol screenings will cost $79 per test. He wouldn’t say how much money was set aside for the testing.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas lawmakers will consider new limits on local property taxes this year.

The Republican-controlled Legislature opened its annual session Monday.

It enacted a law last year aimed at lessening annual increases in the property tax levies cities and counties rely heavily upon to finance local services. The restrictions take effect in 2018.

But Republican Sen. Jake LaTurner of Pittsburg has a new bill to tighten the restrictions and have them take effect in July.

The Kansas Association of Realtors said imposing the restrictions earlier than planned is its top legislative priority.

The idea also is supported by Americans for Prosperity. The anti-tax group is backed by billionaire political donors Charles and David Koch.

Groups representing cities and counties plan to ask legislators to repeal the restrictions before they take effect.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A new elementary school named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower has opened in his boyhood home of Abilene, Kansas, 55 years after he left office.

Parents considered Eisenhower as a name for an Abilene elementary school in the 1960s. But it wasn’t until Thursday that fourth- and fifth-grade students began classes in a building bearing the name of the 34th president and supreme Allied commander during World War Two.

The school that some parents wanted to name Eisenhower decades earlier was ultimately named after President John Kennedy based on a tradition of naming district schools after assassinated presidents. The district hadn’t built a new elementary school since then.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Highway Patrol is asking state lawmakers to support a $7.50 increase in vehicle title fees to hire an additional 75 troopers to address a sharp decline in manpower.

The Wichita Eagle reports more than one-third of the counties in Kansas have no Highway Patrol presence, while 29 are served by only one trooper. The other 40 counties are served by two or more officers.

Patrol Superintendent Colonel Mark Bruce sent a letter to lawmakers say there were 501 troopers in 2006 but only 419 now.

The patrol also is asking members of the public to fill out a survey focusing on whether troopers should be allowed to have certain types of tattoos. Current policy bars applicants from having visible or offensive tattoos.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Douglas County judge is not budging from his order to keep his courtroom gun-free — despite concerns by uniformed Omaha police who’ve been barred from entering with their service weapons.  Judge James Gleason says he is aware of the concerns of Omaha police, who have said that their weapons are a required part of their uniform.

But Gleason said in a response to Omaha police authorities that he has had a no-guns rule in his courtroom for almost 13 years, and the first time an officer objected was at a Dec. 14 hearing.

Gleason says the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is solely responsible for security at the courthouse..

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials say a Powerball ticket sold at a Hy-Vee store in Sioux City is worth $1 million. It matched five numbers in Saturday night’s drawing but missed the Powerball.

Lottery officials say no ticket matched all six Powerball numbers. That means the record $949.8 million jackpot is expected to soar to $1.3 billion for Wednesday’s drawing.

The odds to win were one in 292.2 million, and the numbers drawn were 32-16-19-57-34 and Powerball number 13.

Officials with the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs the Powerball game, said they expected about 75 percent of the possible number combinations would have been bought for Saturday night’s drawing.

Since November 4th, the Powerball jackpot has grown from its $40 million starting point as no one has won the jackpot.

Powerball is played in 44 states as well as the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A longtime Kansas City, Kansas, lawyer has been found guilty of misappropriating funds from a disabled man’s trust fund.

A Wyandotte County judge this week found Don Charles Ball guilty of felony mistreatment of a dependent adult and misdemeanor passing a worthless check.

The Kansas City Star reports Ball’s license has been suspended by the Kansas Supreme Court.

Prosecutors say Ball managed the affairs of a man who has a disabling brain injury. The man had a trust and a probate judge ordered Ball to not spend trust proceeds without court approval.

When the court ordered Ball to pay out money in the trust, he wrote a $32,000 check that the bank rejected for insufficient funds.

Ball will be sentenced Feb. 26.