BENEDICT, Neb. (AP) — A small but growing number of Nebraska farmers and owners of businesses and homes are adding solar or wind power to their property to save money and help the environment.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports Rick Hammond recently turned on 96 solar panels near his grain bins to start generating electricity.

Hammond says he’s proud to be doing something to help the Earth, and he’s looking forward to saving about $3,000 a year on his electricity bill.

Hammond’s solar power system cost $84,864, but a combination of tax credits and a USDA grant reduced the cost to $19,100.

Solar power proponents worry that projects could slow considerably next year if Congress doesn’t extend the current tax credits for solar power.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Lower energy prices benefiting consumers at gasoline pumps have hit oil- and natural gas-producing counties in western Kansas hard. It’s forcing counties to cut spending or increase property tax levies just as the state is ending an aid program meant to insulate them.

The state Department of Revenue said oil and gas property values declined an average of 52 percent this year.

Sixteen western Kansas counties saw their total property values decrease more than 20 percent, crimping their ability to raise local tax revenues.

Kansas created a trust fund in 2005 and set aside taxes collected from oil and gas production for counties to tap when the industry experiences a bad downturn. But legislators in 2014 halted the program, and the last payments to counties were made earlier this month.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A study presented to the University of Missouri Faculty Council says female faculty members at the school make about $16,000 less than their male counterparts, mainly because the men have been there longer. The study presented on Thursday also noted minority faculty members tend to make $16,000 less than their non-minority colleagues.

Despite those disparities, the study concluded there is no gender, racial or ethnic equality in faculty salaries in most university departments.

The study says male faculty members tend to have 3½ more years of experience at the university than female faculty and earn more because of that experience.

Linda Reeder, chairwoman of the school’s Status of Women Committee, says the study doesn’t adequately answer her committee’s concerns about salary inequity for associate professors.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Chocolate lovers will be in luck next year. Candy giant Mars Inc. is working with a Topeka tourism group to put on the Kansas Chocolate Festival.

Visit Topeka CEO Brett Oetting says the September 24th, 2016, festival will take place in the city’s downtown area.

He said Mars will be on the main stage, with a chocolatier who works for the company giving cooking demonstrations. Other chocolatiers also may give demonstrations, although that isn’t set in stone.

Mars has a large presence in the city. It opened its 500,000-square-foot plant in late 2013 to produce Snickers and peanut M&Ms. It announced in July that it would build a $100 million addition to the plant and hire 70 additional people.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — State officials say a Kansas man recently caught an eel near Lawrence that apparently migrated from the Atlantic Ocean.

Tim Smith, of Larned, pulled the 30-inch American Eel from the Kansas River near the Bowersock Dam in September.

Ron Kaufman, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, says the eel spawns in the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. He says the eel would migrated from the ocean up the Mississippi River and across Missouri to the Kansas River before being stopped by the dam.

Kaufman says it’s possible other eels are in the river near the dam.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Smith caught the eel using a rod and reel with a worm for bait. It isn’t clear what he did with the eel.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Three of the four women killed in a crash in southeast Nebraska Saturday were Creighton University students and the fourth was a former student. The Nebraska State Patrol say it happened just after 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Patrol says a Honda CRV was southbound on Highway 77 south of Beatrice when the driver of the vehicle swerved to miss a deer. The car crossed into the northbound lane where it was struck head on.

Creighton held a funeral Mass in honor of the four women at St. John’s Church on Sunday.

The crash killed Akuel Majouk and her three passengers: Mariana Ramirez, Jennifer Guzman and Yoselin Deleon. Ramirez was a former Creighton student, and the other three were current students. The driver of a second vehicle involved in the crash was seriously hurt, but will likely survive.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis-area chiropractor and the woman who did his billing have admitted in federal court that they defrauded the federal government and private insurance companies of more than $2.2 million.

Fifty-four-year-old Dr. Donald Havey and Susan Reno pleaded guilty to federal charges Thursday in St. Louis.

Authorities say Havey sold orthotic boots through his companies. Investigators say that from 2009 to last year, he used chiropractors to market a fall-prevention program to nursing homes in Missouri, Illinois and at least 10 other states, promising that “custom” orthotic boots would reduce falls by almost 20 percent.

But the boots weren’t custom. And prosecutors say the program really was intended just to sell boots that cost Medicare $2,400 to $2,600 and could cost patients $500 if they had no supplemental insurance.

BELTON, Mo. (AP) — A suburban Kansas City man is charged with claiming to be a police officer during a home break-in.

Thirty-one-year-old Kenneth Bishop of Belton faces charges that include false impersonation of a law enforcement officer. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Court documents say that Bishop banged Oct. 2 on the front door of home with a newborn child inside while repeatedly shouting “KCPD, KCPD.” The Kansas City Star reports that he’s also accused of breaking out a front window and firing shots into the residence. When a resident didn’t see a police vehicle outside, he retrieved his gun. The victim and the intruder traded gunshots.

Police arrested Bishop five days later while investigating an earlier home-invasion robbery in Kansas City involving individuals impersonating police officers.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer says about 65,000 businesses in the state will pay less for their workers’ compensation coverage next year.

Selzer announced Thursday that he approved lower rates proposed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. The council is a national group that analyzes workers’ compensation data and files proposed rates in a majority of states.

Selzer said rates will decrease by 11.6 percent for Kansas businesses obtaining their insurance in the marketplace and 10.4 percent for companies that participate in a state plan for high-risk businesses.

Insurance Department spokesman Bob Hanson said the decline in rates can be attributed to a drop in high-cost claims from businesses and greater awareness of their safety issues. Workers’ compensation insurance covers businesses against costs associated with employee injuries.