(AP) — A woman and her teenage son have settled a lawsuit filed against the Malcolm school district alleging the district didn’t protect the boy from bullying.

Court records say the lawsuit filed in February 2011 was settled last week at the request of both parties. Terms were not disclosed.

The boy was an eighth-grader during the 2009-2010 school year. The lawsuit says the district didn’t react properly to harassment of the boy. In one instance, the lawsuit says, tormenters pushed his head into a toilet bowl.

The lawsuit also says the district violated his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to accommodate the boy’s diabetes.

The boy, who has since left the school, was referred to as John Doe in the lawsuit in order to protect his identity.

 

(AP) — Douglas County officials will launch a pilot program this fall that will require repeat drunken-driving offenders to take twice-daily blood alcohol tests.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning says officials are modeling the 24/7 Sobriety Program on one that’s been in place in neighboring South Dakota since 2005. An independent study of South Dakota’s program released last year showed that it reduced repeat DUI cases by 12 percent and domestic violence rates by 9 percent.

The program gives people convicted three or more times of drunken driving a chance to stay out of jail as long as they don’t drink alcohol.

Participants will take a test twice a day — once in the morning, once at night — at the Criminal Justice Center in Omaha and pay $2 for each test.

(AP) — The former owner of a Nebraska meatpacking company has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by former employees.

Private equity firm MatlinPatterson agreed to the settlement without admitting any wrongdoing. The firm was a majority owner of Premium Protein Products when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2009.

Former employees claimed the company violated federal law when it furloughed hundreds of employees for months without pay and then filed for bankruptcy.

The company’s Hastings plant was sold in 2010 and its Lincoln plant remains closed.

The law firm representing the employees called the settlement a good result. A message for officials with MatlinPatterson was not immediately returned Thursday.

(AP) — The owners of a Colorado cantaloupe farm have pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from a 2011 listeria epidemic that killed 33 people.

Brothers Eric and Ryan Jensen were arrested Thursday on misdemeanor charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. They appeared in federal court later and were released on unsecured bonds.

Prosecutors say federal agencies determined the Jensens didn’t adequately clean their cantaloupe.

Criminal charges in food-contamination cases are rare. Prosecutors say they’re pursuing this case because of the number of deaths.

It was the deadliest outbreak of foodborne illness in 25 years. The federal Centers for Disease Control say people in 28 states ate the fruit.

(AP) — Toyota is recalling 615,000 Sienna minivans in the U.S. because they can inadvertently shift out of park and roll away.

The recall involves Siennas from the 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009 models years.

Toyota said Thursday that the shift locking device can potentially be damaged. If that happens, the minivans can shift out of park even if the driver isn’t depressing the brake pedal.

Toyota said it has gotten reports of 21 accidents and 2 injuries related to the problem.

Owners will be notified of the recall by mail. Dealers will replace the shift-lock device for free.

(AP) — A former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school that fired him in 2001 now also faces a charge of attempted burglary.

Anthony Garcia appeared in court Thursday because his lawyers unsuccessfully asked a judge to order prosecutors to disclose evidence to the defense more quickly.

Prosecutors said they added the burglary charge because forensic evidence linked the 40-year-old Garcia to an attempted break-in at the home of another Creighton University Medical School professor.

Garcia, of Terra Haute, Ind., is charged with first-degree murder for the 2008 deaths of the 11-year-old son of Creighton University pathologist William Hunter and the family’s housekeeper, as well as the May deaths of Creighton pathologist Roger Brumback and his wife.

Brumback and Hunter had fired Garcia.