(AP) — A civil liberties group is warning officials in a small northeast Nebraska city against censuring a resident who has been critical of their actions.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska has sent a letter to Creighton City Attorney Andrew Marshall after city officials in November ordered Mike Nutting to stop writing letters to the editor of a local newspaper criticizing them. The City Council also instructed Nutting to submit a written apology.

When Nutting refused and wrote yet another letter critical of city officials, the City Council began the process of considering legal action against him.

The ACLU says that violates Nutting’s First Amendment right to criticize the government. The ACLU also warned that if the city presses charges against Nutting, it will defend him in court.

(AP) — A 41-year-old Norfolk man has died after his pickup rammed a tree in northeast Nebraska.

Madison County authorities say deputies and paramedics were dispatched around 6:30 p.m. Monday to the accident site near Yellowbanks Wildlife Management Area, about three miles northwest of Battle Creek.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Michael Prather (PRAY’-thur) says Kevin Haase was pronounced dead at the scene. Haase’s truck was moving at a high rate of speed when it hit the tree.

The accident is being investigated.

(AP) — A former Iowa felon on trial for illegally voting says she believed her voting rights had been restored when she cast a ballot last November.

Kelli Jo Griffin testified Wednesday that her lawyer advised her when she was convicted of a drug charge in 2008, that she would regain her rights to vote and hold public office when she left probation.

Griffin says she was unaware that Gov. Terry Branstad changed that policy in 2011 so that former offenders have to apply to him to get their voting rights back.

The trial highlights Iowa’s position as one of four states which has such a policy.

Griffin says she voted in the municipal election in Montrose to set an example for her children, who had come with her.

(AP) — The board of Southeast Community College has voted to increase tuition next year by more than 5 percent.

The board voted Tuesday during a meeting in Beatrice to increase tuition by 5.39 percent. The increase means the rate for a credit-hour will go from $55.50 to $58.50 for in-state students. The board also voted to increase dorm rates by about 3 percent.

The community college has seen a $1 million deficit in projected tuition revenue this year because of declining enrollment.

(AP) — A 39-year-old man has been charged with misdemeanor vehicular homicide in the crash death of a woman who’d been in his car when it collided with another vehicle in southeast Nebraska.

Online court records say Steven Cordis, of Ohiowa, also is charged with driving on a suspended license and of running a stop sign.

The accident occurred around 3:30 p.m. on March 12, about a mile north of Plymouth in Jefferson County. Authorities say Cordis was driving west when he ran a stop sign and his vehicle was struck by a southbound car driven by 60-year-old Mary Pearson, of DeWitt. A passenger in Cordis’ car, 39-year-old Francisca Campbell, of Lincoln, was fatally injured.

Court records don’t list the name of Cordis’ attorney. Cordis’ first court date is March 26.

A resentencing has been scheduled for a Nebraska inmate who killed his 12-year-old sister when he was 14.

The hearing is scheduled June 9 for Sydney Thieszen. He was convicted of murder in 1988 for killing his sister, Sacha, at their home near Henderson on Sept. 17, 1987.

Court records say Sydney hit Sacha in the head with a wooden rod, then shot her three times at close range.

The 41-year-old has been serving his life term at the Tecumseh prison.

After a March 12 hearing, a judge ruled that Thieszen was entitled to resentencing in accordance with a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juvenile killers is unconstitutional.

Last year state lawmakers enacted a measure that ends mandatory life sentences for juveniles who commit first-degree murder. The guidelines now call for a sentence of 40 years to life for the juveniles.

(AP) — Three people have escaped from a fire that heavily damaged their home in Gage County.

Firefighters from three departments were sent early Tuesday morning to the house in rural Holmesville.

Blue Springs Rural Fire Chief Brad Robinson says one person awakened to heat and smoke upstairs and alerted two family members so they also could flee to safety. No injuries have been reported.

An investigator determined that the fire began near a chimney.