OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A jury has awarded $30 million to an Omaha company that accused wireless provider Sprint PCS of violating its patents on security technology.

The technology helps smartphones, tablets and broadband mobile cards access the Internet.

The verdict came at the end of a trial in U.S. District Court in Omaha.  Prism Technologies sued Sprint Spectrum LP, which does business as Sprint PCS, and other companies, for using systems that Prism “pioneered and patented,” even though Sprint had no legal right to do so.

Attorneys for Prism say the company’s predecessor, Prism Resources Inc., began work on the project that led to the patents by early 1996 and sought a patent in 1997.

Sprint can still appeal.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The sister of musician and photographer who fell to his death down a downtown St. Louis building’s elevator shaft is suing the former property owner and the elevator’s manufacturer.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 72-year-old Virginia Klein’s lawsuit filed Tuesday in St. Louis Circuit Court also names a company that controlled the building, as well as a developer who lived there.

The Barnhart woman alleges the elevator was defective and that the defendants’ negligence in maintaining it resulted in the 2013 death of 61-year-old Bob Reuter.

Reuter had been moving into the building when he stepped through the elevator doors into a dark shaft. The elevator was not there, and Reuter fell 18 feet to his death.

The lawsuit seeks at least $25,000 from each defendant.

FREEBURG, Ill. (AP) — A national group that represents people with dwarfism wants an Illinois high school and a half-dozen other high schools nationwide that call their sports teams “midgets” to drop a nickname they say is offensive.

The Little People of America has asked Freeburg High School in southern Illinois to phase out the nickname within two years and to stop selling “Midget” merchandise to people from outside the community 25 miles east of St. Louis.

The group hopes to persuade other schools in Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin to do the same.

Freeburg’s superintendent says the name is a source of civic pride and not meant to be derogatory. City lore traces the nickname to long-ago squads that beat much larger opponents.

OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — It’s the latest case in which some parents think they hear obscene words coming from the mouth of a talking toy — in this case, a yellow “Minions” character that comes in McDonald’s Happy Meals.

McDonald’s says the toy is just speaking nonsense words, and not a phrase that is often abbreviated as “WTF.”

Experts say the problem may be in how our brains are primed to find words even when they’re not really there. Dr. Steven Novella at Yale says that’s especially true if people are told ahead of time what words to listen for.

McDonald’s says “a very small number of customers” have been in touch with the company about the toy.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is considering allowing drivers as young as 18 to drive big rigs across the country.

Federal regulations now require drivers be at least 21 before they can drive commercial trucks across state lines. A bill introduced this week by Republican lawmakers would allow states that join together in “compacts” to drop the age threshold to 18 for interstate trips.

The change was sought by the trucking industry to help address a shortage of truck drivers.

Yet some voices express concern over the potential change. Safety advocate Jackie Gillan says allowing teens, who have higher crash rates, to drive trucks weighing as much as 80,000 pounds and work as many as 82 hours a week is a “catastrophe waiting to happen.”

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The 30-foot tall flagpole where the Confederate flag flew for 15 years on the front lawn of the South Carolina Capitol has been pulled down.

A crane yanked the pole from the ground about 2:20 p.m. Friday, just over four hours after the flag was removed.

The flagpole didn’t go easily. The crane operator had to firmly pull several times before the pole finally came out of the ground.

The crowd cheered, but it was small. On Friday morning, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 people had gathered and chanted as the flag was removed.

Crews also were removing the wrought iron fence around the flagpole and the flood lights that were required by law to illuminate the rebel banner.

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director James Comey says the gunman charged in the Charleston church massacre should not have been allowed to purchase the gun used in the attack.

Comey on Friday attributed the problem to incomplete and inaccurate paperwork related to an arrest of Dylann Roof weeks before the shooting.

He says an FBI examiner who looked into Roof’s background when he tried to purchase a gun never saw an arrest report in which police say he admitted to possessing drugs. The arresting agency was listed erroneously on the rap sheet that the examiner reviewed.

Under FBI rules, that admission should have disqualified Roof from being able to buy a gun.

The transaction went through after three days because the examiner didn’t have enough information to authorize or deny it.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The grandmother of a Kansas girl who was shot while riding in a car says the 5-year-old has died after surgery to remove her organs.

Debra Nichols told The Topeka Capital-Journal that Lily Nichols died Thursday afternoon at a Topeka hospital.

The girl had been on life support since being shot late Monday night in Topeka. Police say she was in a child seat in the vehicle when she was struck by a bullet during a drive-by shooting.

Police have made no arrests in the case and are asking for anyone with information to come forward. Earlier this week they released photos of two men who investigators say may know something about the shooting.

Lily’s death is the city’s fifth homicide this year.

AMHERST, Mass. (AP) — A Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and longtime English professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has died. James Tate was 71.

The university says Tate died Wednesday after a long illness.

Tate is a native of Kansas City, Missouri. His “Selected Poems” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1992.

Tate also received many other honors, including the National Book Award for Worshipful Company of Fletchers in 1994.

The university says Tate taught in the Master of Fine Arts program for poets and writers since 1971. He was married to poet and English professor Dara Wier.

UMass-Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy calls Tate one of the most distinguished members of the school’s faculty.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s longtime chief of staff has been selected to lead the state’s public pension system.

Members of the board of trustees for the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System on Friday announced they selected John Watson as the new executive director.

Watson was chief of staff for Nixon for more than 15 years during his time as governor and previously when he was attorney general.

The retirement system’s current executive director Gary Findlay is retiring in December. Watson will begin transitioning into the position in September.

The system manages and administers more than $9 billion in assets including retirement, long-term disability and life insurance. It serves more than 110,000 current and former state employees and their beneficiaries.