OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska school board has voted to eliminate class rank, beginning with next year’s freshman class.

The Monday vote aligns the Millard Public Schools district’s high schools with others across the country that are ditching class rank over concerns that fierce competition for rank hurts students.

Instead, students in Millard schools who meet or exceed certain GPAs will be honored with Latin distinctions commonly used to mark high achievers at colleges and universities.

Students with a GPA of 4.0 or better will be honored as summa cum laude. Those earning a GPA of 3.75 to 3.99 will graduate magna cum laude, while students with a GPA of 3.5 to 3.74 will be recognized as cum laude.

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) — The lawyer for a man accused of killing a Nebraska City resident says he’s preparing to present a case of self-defense.

Attorney Bill Gallup on Monday told a judge in Otoe County Court that his client, Sebastien Hall, would waive his preliminary hearing and proceed to district court. Hall is charged with second-degree murder in the July 19 stabbing death of 21-year-old Jacob Adams. Hall’s next scheduled court date is Sept. 8.

Prosecutors say Adams was fighting with Hall and another man, 22-year-old Dylan Boyle, when Adams was stabbed in the chest and throat. Boyle was charged with misdemeanor assault even though he tried to perform CPR on the victim.

Police say the trio fought outside a home in the 600 block of South Seventh Street. Mr Adams died at C.H.I. St Mary’s hospital after suffering knife wounds to his throat and chest.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The value of Missouri residences without insurance for earthquakes has almost exceeded the value of those with insurance.

An insurance official this past week said insured houses totaled $101 billion in 2014. Properties uninsured for an earthquake of 7-to-7.9 magnitude totaled $100 billion in value.

Market Regulation Division Director Angela Nelson says Missouri is at a “critical juncture.”

More than 560,000 residences aren’t covered in counties with the highest vulnerability to earthquakes.

The state insurance department says as many as 80 percent of homes are uninsured in some counties with the highest risk of earthquake damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the probability of at least a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in the next 50 years is 7-10 percent. The chance of an earthquake stronger than magnitude 6 is 25-40 percent.

GAINESVILLE, Mo. (AP) — The federal Department of Veterans Affairs’ inspector general is investigating reports that a southern Missouri patio and staircase is made out of military gravestones.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Navy veteran Ed Harkreader of Mountain Home, Arkansas, posted on social media last week photographs of the arrangement he found on property in Ozark County, near the Arkansas line.

CLICK HERE to view the photos

Chris Erbe is a spokesman for the National Cemetery Administration in Washington. He says the VA’s inspector general’s office is investigating. Erbe adds that military headstones periodically are replaced, but old stones are supposed to be destroyed.

The Post-Dispatch reports that a check of online grave services indicates some of the stones were for gravesites in California, Alabama and Texas.

Harkreader served in the Navy for 22 years.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A 93-year-old veteran who was part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen was the victim of crimes twice within a few minutes in St. Louis, being robbed and then having his car stolen.

Police say the man got lost about 11:20 a.m. Sunday while trying to find his daughter’s home. He stopped to call. That’s when another man got in the car, took money from the victim’s pants pocket, and left.

The victim tried to follow the robber but lost him and stopped to ask two men for help.

Rather than help, they took the man’s car.

The car is still missing and no arrests were made. The veteran was unhurt.

The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of black pilots who fought in World War II.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford is recalling just over 26,000 trucks in the U.S. and Canada because some front seat belts may not be anchored in the right position.

The recall covers F-650 and F-750 trucks from the 2011, 2013 and 2015 model years that were built in Mexico from Feb. 14, 2011, through April 28, 2015.

Ford says the front passenger and center seat belts may not be anchored in the correct spot relative to the seat. The problem could increase the risk of injury in a crash.

The company says it knows of no crashes or injuries from the problem. Ford says engineers are developing repair procedures.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A 34-year-old federal analyst in suburban Kansas City has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for possessing child pornography on a government computer.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for Kansas says Matthew Barnes of Overland Park pleaded guilty earlier to one count of possessing child pornography. He was sentenced Monday to 63 months in federal prison.

Prosecutors say investigators in 2012 found more than a dozen images of child pornography on a federal Drug Enforcement Administration computer assigned to Barnes. Barnes was an analyst for the DEA’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program in Overland Park.

The office says Barnes was also a member of the Missouri National Guard.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Thirty-eight Kansas school districts are seeking a total of $14.8 million in additional aid from the state to address local budget issues.

The requests submitted to the state Department of Education by Monday’s deadline outstrip the available funds by nearly 21 percent. Those applying for extra dollars represent more than 13 percent of the state’s 286 districts.

The state has $12.3 million in extra funds available.

Gov. Sam Brownback and legislative leaders plan to meet next Monday to consider the requests.

A majority of districts are asking the state to make up for unexpected drops in property tax revenues. Others have enrollment increases.

The Wichita district is seeking $980,000 to hire teachers, counselors and classroom assistants to deal with an unexpected influx of refugee children from Burma, Congo and Somalia.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri says it’s eliminating subsidies that help with health insurance costs for graduate students employed by the school.

University officials say the change is due to a recent IRS interpretation of a section of the Affordable Care Act.

The school said in a Friday letter to students that the law prohibits businesses from providing employee subsidies specifically for the purpose of purchasing health insurance from individual market plans.

Associate Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies Leona Rubin says the IRS considers the university’s student health insurance plan an individual market plan. Rubin says because of the IRS classification, the school would be fined if it continued to give students with assistantships a subsidy to help with health insurance costs.