Lincoln, Nebraska and other Midwest cities are setting records for the lack of snow. Thursday in Lincoln is the 297th in a row without measurable snow. The former record was 295 snow-free days in 2004.

The National Weather Service says the 285 snowless days as of Wednesday in Omaha breaks the record set Dec. 30, 2006.

The Des Moines, Iowa, record of 277 days set in 1889 is being matched on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, Chicago and Milwaukee have yet to have their first measurable snow of the season.

But good news may be ahead for winter wonderland fans: The NWS says snow is in the forecasts for Saturday night or Sunday in Nebraska and Iowa, the next day in Chicago.

The original tombstone of former President Thomas Jefferson has been stored for nearly 130 years at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Now the marble slab will be removed for about a year to be restored by a laboratory that serves the Smithsonian Institution.

Jefferson’s tombstone originally was at his Virginia home of Monticello, but it was shipped to Missouri after being damaged by souvenir seekers and replaced with a larger replica.

The tombstone was dedicated in 1885 at the University of Missouri, which was the first public university in the Louisiana Purchase Territory.

The restoration project will be led by Carol Grissom of the Museum Conservation Institute. Grissom says the top one-eighth of an inch on Jefferson’s tombstone plaque is separating in places, and the corners also seem to be disintegrating.

Nebraskans have another chance to let state regulators know at a public hearing what they think of a new oil pipeline route a Canadian company proposed.

The new leg of the Keystone Pipeline TransCanada wants to build has proven controversial. Environmentalists say the project could contaminate groundwater reserves.

But the project has strong support from labor unions that say the pipeline will create thousands of jobs and from the oil industry that says the pipeline will help satisfy oil demand.

So Nebraska environmental regulators should expect a large crowd at Tuesday evening’s hearing in Albion.

Regulators issued a draft 600-page report on the pipeline’s proposed route in October. Once regulators finish their review, Gov. Dave Heineman will decide whether to recommend the project.

The EPA must still complete an environmental impact statement on the new route before the State Department can give final approval to the project.

Fire officials say two young brothers died in a house fire in southeast Missouri during the weekend.

Reynolds County Sheriff Tom Volner says investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire Saturday morning in Bunker.

He says the fire killed a 3-month-old boy and a 2-year-old boy. A woman and three other children made it out of the home safely.

The surviving children were treated for burns and smoke inhalation. Volner says the woman was babysitting the children.

Neighbors told reporters they tried to get to the two boys but couldn’t because of the location of their rooms.

A judge has approved a Kansas inmate’s request to re-test DNA evidence in a 1993 murder.

Fifty-five-year-old Bradley Wade Johnson is serving a life sentence for the March 1993 death of Benjamin Creek.

Johnson and a co-defendant, Frank Sutton, met Creek in a Topeka bar. Prosecutors said the two men robbed and beat Creek before his body was found in rural Jefferson County. Sutton is also serving a life sentence.

Johnson has consistently claimed his conviction was a case of mistaken identity.

On Tuesday, a Jefferson County judge ordered that hairs found on Creek’s body and blood from Johnson’s clothing be re-tested. In 1993, DNA testing could show only that the hairs were consistent with Johnson’s. Modern testing could conclusively identify the source of the hairs.