RALSTON, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman has been given five years of probation for stealing more than $41,000 when she worked for an Omaha suburb’s chamber of commerce.

Douglas County District Court records say 43-year-old Michelle McElligott was sentenced Tuesday. She’d pleaded guilty to felony theft. Her lawyer told the judge that McElligott had paid restitution to the Ralston Chamber of Commerce and its insurer.

A court document says that, without permission, McElligott wrote more than 60 three-figure checks to herself on an account belonging to the commerce. The court document says the last check was written on July 12 for $745.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal trial in Nebraska has been pushed to March for a man suspected of being the “AK-47 bandit,” who investigators believe robbed banks in five states.

A federal judge on Tuesday denied a motion by Richard Gathercole for a new court-appointed attorney and set trial for March 25.

Gathercole has pleaded not guilty to robbery and other charges. He’s accused of stealing more than $90,000 in August 2014 from a bank in Nebraska City, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Omaha.

Officials believe Gathercole carried an AK-47 while robbing banks in California, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska and Washington.

Gathercole, of Roundup, Montana, was arrested in June 2017 near Lexington, Nebraska, after a sheriff’s deputy spotted a pickup truck that Kansas authorities had reported stolen by a man who fired at a state trooper.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska state government collected less tax revenue than expected in December.

The Nebraska Department of Revenue reported Tuesday that net receipts for the month totaled $387 million, which is nearly 9 percent below official state estimates of $425 million.

The monthly report says net sales-and-use, individual income and miscellaneous taxes were all below projections. Net corporate income taxes were higher than expected for the month.

The projections were set in February by the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board and adjusted for new legislation that passed last year.

Nebraska State Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton says December’s tax collections were low in part because the department issued a large number of refunds that month. He says the state is still close to projections in the current fiscal year.

ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — A 6-year-old girl has died in a two-vehicle crash in northwestern Nebraska crash.

The crash happened Monday evening on state Highway 385. Investigators say 6-year-old Alyssa Mazanec, of Hemingford, died after the vehicle her mother was driving attempted to turn left and was hit by a semitrailer that that tried to pass the girl’s vehicle.

Investigators say Alyssa was thrown from the vehicle and died.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Online brokerage TD Ameritrade has found a way to let customers instantly fund their brokerage accounts by using Apple Pay and their debit cards.

The Omaha-Nebraska-based company says the new service will eliminate delays investors usually encounter while funds are verified for a new account.

TD Ameritrade’s Sunayna Tuteja says using technology can help streamline the process for investors.

TD Ameritrade clients will be able to deposit up to $10,000 a day in their brokerage accounts using their debit cards and Apple Pay. Credit cards aren’t allowed.

TD Ameritrade officials say the delays when funding a new account are a common complaint.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts called on lawmakers Tuesday to approve a new property tax package and boost funding for Nebraska’s prison system in the face of a looming state deadline to reduce overcrowding.

Ricketts unveiled the plans in his annual State of the State address that focused heavily on taxes while highlighting his new college scholarship initiative and a proposed tax exemption for military retirees.

Ricketts is seeking a constitutional amendment to prevent local property tax revenues from growing by more than 3 percent annually. Lawmakers would have to place the issue on the 2020 ballot for voters to approve.

The Republican governor’s plan would provide $550 million in state dollars over two years to the property tax credit fund, a 23 percent increase over the previous budget cycle. The fund provides money to local governments to reduce what property owners would otherwise have to pay.

Ricketts also backed a bill that would require the state to guarantee at least $275 million a year for the property tax credit fund and prevent lawmakers from withdrawing the money for other purposes.

“Property tax relief is the number one priority Nebraskans want as I travel the state, and many of you have shared similar stories with me from your districts,” Ricketts said in his remarks.

Ricketts said his combined proposals would deliver “immediate relief and structural reform” for property owners who frequently complain about their tax bills. But he said he was open to other ideas, including measures that would change the way agricultural land is valued so it more closely aligns with farm incomes.

“As we work on property tax relief, any proposal should help control spending, fit in the budget and cannot raise taxes on one group of people to raise taxes on another group,” he said.

The governor’s proposed budget recommends an additional $49 million to build two new high-security units at the Lincoln Correctional Center and $6.6 million to increase staffing and rehabilitative programs for inmates. The new housing units would allow for an additional 384 beds, while the rehabilitative programs are intended to cut recidivism rates.

Nebraska’s corrections department faces a July 1, 2020, deadline imposed by the Legislature to lower its inmate population to 140 percent of what its facilities were designed to hold. If the department falls short of that target , the prisons will fall into an automatic “overcrowding emergency” that will force state officials to consider paroling all eligible inmates right away.

Ricketts said his funding proposal “will help assist in bringing our prison population below the emergency level set by the Legislature”

Ricketts also called for increased state funding to K-12 public schools and the University of Nebraska, as well as a scholarship program for students in high-demand areas such as engineering and information technology.

State spending would increase at an average rate of 3.1 percent annually under the governor’s budget proposal. Ricketts said much of the increase is driven by the funding boost for K-12 schools and the voter-approved measure to expand Medicaid under the federal health care law.

“We have a responsibility to the people we care for and the people who pay the bills, the taxpayers,” he said. “Let’s put Nebraskans first as we work on this budget.”