Nebraskans pick up after deadly twisters

Emergency crews in tiny Pilger, Neb., picked through the rubble of homes and a school Tuesday, a day after a pair of tornadoes touched down almost simultaneously and killed at least two people. Meanwhile, residents of northeast Nebraska and much of the Upper Midwest braced for another bout of severe weather.

Among the dead in Pilger was a 5-year-old, who may have been struck by debris, said Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger. The other reported death was from an automobile accident on a country road east of Pilger that was attributed to the storm.

Sixteen other people were injured, according to officials at Faith Regional Health Services, a hospital in Norfolk, Neb., where most of the victims were taken.

Weather forecasters said Tuesday that residents of a section of the Midwest including Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota should expect more severe weather.

Teen's charge reduced in player's slaying

DUNCAN, Okla. -- A 16-year-old boy accused in the shooting death of a baseball player from Australia will no longer face a first-degree murder charge and is testifying against two teenage co-defendants.

The Stephens County district attorney's office on Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss the murder charge against James Francis Edwards Jr. Prosecutors filed a new charge of accessory after the fact in juvenile court against Edwards in the shooting death of 22-year-old Chris Lane.

Edwards testified against 18-year-old Michael Dewayne Jones and 17-year-old Chancey Luna during their preliminary hearings and is expected to testify against them at trial in August. Both are charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors had earlier said they would dismiss the first-degree murder charge against Edwards in exchange for his continued testimony.

Evidence gathered since the killing "tends to further implicate Chancey Luna and Michael Jones and further casts doubt on the role of Edwards in the murder of Christopher Lane," according to the motion.

Lane was shot while jogging along a tree-lined road in Duncan while visiting his girlfriend's parents in August. Investigators said he was randomly targeted by "bored" teenagers.

Growing N.M. fire nears Navajo lands

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A fast-moving wildfire near the Arizona-New Mexico border grew Tuesday as it approached two communities and threatened traditional grazing lands on the Navajo Nation.

The Assayii Lake Fire ballooned to more than 19 square miles in less than two days while making its way across winter and summer grazing lands in the Chuska Mountains.

The flames destroyed at least four structures and threatened about 50 homes near the rural communities of Naschitti and Sheep Springs, fire officials said.

Some homes in Naschitti were evacuated Monday afternoon, and authorities were urging Navajo families to refrain from going into the mountains to search for their sheep and other livestock because of the fire's erratic behavior.

In California, diminishing winds have helped firefighters surround 75 percent of a blaze burning near Lake Isabella in the southern Sierra Nevada. Residents were told late Monday they could return to about 1,000 mountain homes.

Tax credits' premium savings put at 76%

WASHINGTON -- Americans who qualify for tax credits through the new federal insurance exchange are paying an average of $82 a month in premiums for their coverage -- about one-fourth the bill they would have faced without such financial help, according to a new government analysis.

But the analysis shows wide variations among states in the premiums that people are paying for their new insurance, the amount the government is picking up and the proportion of people who qualify for the subsidies, according to federal health officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Under the 2010 health-care law, the government this year began for the first time to help pay for private insurance coverage for people whose incomes reach into the middle class. The government has said 87 percent of the people who chose a health plan through the federal health exchange qualified for some financial help.

The report shows the average monthly tax credit this year is $264. Without the federal help, the average premium chosen by people eligible for a tax credit would have been $346 per month, and the subsidies lowered the consumers' premiums, on average, by 76 percent.

A Section on 06/18/2014