RUSHVILLE, Neb. (AP) — Officials say two men are still at large after overpowering a jailer and escaping from the Sheridan County Jail in the Nebraska Panhandle.

The two fled around 10 p.m. Monday after overpowering the jailer and reaching an office where they could climb out a window. A news release from County Attorney Jamian Simmons says someone with a car was waiting for them in an alley behind the jail.

Simmons also says the two may have stolen a car in Rushville that was found Tuesday morning in Rosebud, South Dakota.

The two are 26-year-old Hijinio Garnette, of Gordon, and 23-year-old Esdon Haukass, of Mission, South Dakota. Garnette was awaiting sentencing on two convictions of failure to appear. Haukass is facing a charge of possession of methamphetamine for sale.

HOLDREGE, Neb. (AP) — A driver has been jailed for running into and killing an 86-year-old pedestrian in Holdrege while reading a text message.

Twenty-four-year-old Cattarina Stock was given 90 days Wednesday during a hearing in Phelps County Court in Holdrege. She also was sentenced to two years of probation. Stock had pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular homicide. The charge had been reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor in exchange for her plea.

Authorities say Holdrege resident Aldon Thieszen was crossing a street June 28 when he was hit by Stock’s car. A Nebraska trooper says Stock failed to keep an eye out for pedestrians and was distracted by one of a series of texts she’d been exchanging.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities have stopped efforts to take custody of a 15-year-old girl whose mother had been delaying follow-up treatments after the teen underwent two surgeries to remove a brain tumor.

The motion filed last week requesting that Angelica Koenig be placed in temporary custody of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to receive urgent cancer treatments has been dismissed. The dismissal Tuesday followed the family’s decision to start treatments.

An affidavit says the patient’s mother, Stefanie Koenig, had decided to forgo chemotherapy and radiation for her daughter for more than a month after her surgeries. It says the likelihood of the teen surviving past one year with her type of brain tumor is less than 10 percent without radiation and chemo.

Stefanie Koenig’s attorney declined to comment on Angelica’s treatment plan.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have advanced a bill designed to shield jail inmates from having to pay excessive charges to make phone or video calls while incarcerated.

The measure won first-round approval on Monday on a 28-2 vote.

Sen. John McCollister, of Omaha, says allowing inmates to stay connected with friends and family leads to lower rates of recidivism, which could help ease Nebraska’s prison overcrowding. The measure would allow inmates to communicate with their lawyers at no cost.

It also would prevent cities or counties from profiting in excess from monopoly phone contracts with prisons.

No one spoke in opposition to the measure Monday.

Two additional votes are required before it goes to Gov. Pete Ricketts.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed a new lawsuit Monday to challenge the state’s lethal injection protocol, arguing that officials adopted a flawed protocol last year without adequate public review.

The lawsuit seeks a judge’s order to prevent the state from moving forward with executions until it enacts regulations that comply with state and federal laws, and provides an opportunity for adequate input and review.

The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services has defended its protocol, which gives Director Scott Frakes greater flexibility to choose which drugs are used in executions. The lawsuit takes issue with the department’s claims that its staff didn’t produce any early drafts of the protocol and didn’t consult with experts before approving the new version.

Nebraska previously relied on a protocol with three specific drugs, but abandoned it after repeatedly failing to get sodium thiopental from overseas suppliers. The drug is no longer manufactured in the United States.

“Nebraskans of goodwill hold different point on the death penalty,” said Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska. “However, Nebraskans across the political spectrum agree that when the state seeks to implement its most grave function, it must do so within the bounds of the law.”

The lawsuit was filed in Lancaster County District Court on behalf of state Sen. Ernie Chambers, of Omaha, and the Rev. Stephen Griffith, who have both fought to abolish the death penalty.

Chambers also filed a formal complaint with the Legislature last week, alleging that Nebraska’s lethal injection protocol is unconstitutional. The complaint was referred to the Judiciary Committee for a possible hearing.

Nebraska corrections officials have taken several steps in the last year to resume executions after more than two decades. The last execution was in 1997.

The department recently notified death-row inmates Carey Dean Moore and Jose Sandoval of the drugs it intends to use in their executions, but the Nebraska Supreme Court hasn’t approved a death warrant for either man.

A Department of Correctional Services spokeswoman said the agency doesn’t comment on pending lawsuits.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two organizations criticized new University of Nebraska directives on free speech and draft proposals on campus free speech zones, saying they restrict expression.

University of Nebraska campuses were directed to develop policies that limit public forums to certain buildings and grounds after the Board of Regents approved a new free expression policy in January.

The Academic Freedom Coalition of Nebraska and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska have opposed the board’s policy. AFCON said it places “unconstitutional restrictions” on what and where expression is considered free on campus.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln faced a challenge to free speech in August when a graduate student-lecturer made an obscene hand gesture and belittled a student recruiting for the archconservative Turning Point USA. The situation led to questions about whether the student was sitting in a free speech area while she distributed her information.

The incident, in part, led to the regents’ request for campuses to write regulations for buildings and grounds.

Retired professor Sam Walker said he plans to stage a protest against the proposed grounds and facilities policy April 9 at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

“It’s public property, it’s state property, it’s supported by tax dollars,” Walker said of the campus.

AFCON criticized a “tip sheet” distributed to University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty last month as being “unconstitutional speech code.”

The tip sheet was developed by the office of Executive Vice Chancellor Donde Plowman to assist lecturers and graduate students in handling difficult situations in the classroom, said a spokeswoman for UNL. It directs faculty to include “a safe and civil discourse statement” in each course’s syllabus. It also notes that students may be disciplined if their speech is deemed “abusive, harassing, intimidating or coercive.”

UNL spokeswoman Leslie Reed said the policies aim to formalize practices that weren’t well articulated in the past. She said they hope to have the policies in place by early May.