LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man who was burned in a grass fire in Whiteclay has filed papers to sue local authorities for negligence.

Bryan Blue Bird of Pine Ridge, S.D., hired a lawyer and sent a tort-claim notice to Sheridan County and the Rushville Fire Department in northwest Nebraska.

The 51-year-old says he was lying in a field March 6 in Whiteclay when flames surrounded him. Authorities ignited the blaze to clear grass and prevent unintentional fires. Blue Bird says they didn’t thoroughly check the field, and set the fire on a windy day.

Blue Bird’s injuries have increased tension between residents of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and neighboring Whiteclay.

Reservation leaders have sought to limit alcohol sales in Whiteclay, where four stores sell millions of cans of beer annually.

GOODWELL, Okla. (AP) — Three Union Pacific crew members remain missing after two trains collided in the Oklahoma Panhandle, causing a white-hot fire that emergency crews are struggling to extinguish.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph says the fire near Goodwell is contained but still burning Monday morning. A National Safety Transportation Board team is investigating the Sunday morning crash.

Each train carried two crew members, and officials say one conductor survived after jumping off the train. Three crew members are missing.

Randolph says firefighters from Fort Worth, Texas, are en route with fire-suppressing foam after hundreds of gallons of water failed to put out the blaze. After the fire is extinguished, crews must wait for the metal to cool before they can safely search the trains for any sign of the missing crew.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — More than 2,000 people are expected to pedal their way through Omaha’s streets in the late night Owl Ride next month.

Registration has already opened for the third annual nighttime ride, set to begin at 11 p.m. on July 14. The 14-mile Owl Ride is the largest annual night bicycle ride between Chicago and Denver.

Proceeds from the ride will go to the Meyer Foundation for Disabilities, which supports social and recreational programs for people with developmental disabilities in the Omaha area.

Riders must be equipped with front lights, rear red reflectors and helmets. The cost to register is $30 for individuals and $60 for families. Participants may register at www.owlride.org.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man who began his career as a student assistant at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Aviation Institute has been named its director.

Scott Vlasek has been interim director the past eight months, taking over when Scott Tarry left to become director of the Strategic Air and Space Museum near Ashland.

Vlasek earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNO and began his work at the Aviation Institute in 1995.

He will continue as faculty adviser for UNO’s competitive aviation team, the Flying Mavs.