SEWARD, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a fugitive lieutenant in an infamous Mexican drug cartel has been arrested in eastern Nebraska.

The Seward County sheriff’s office says 39-year-old Jesus Ramon Buena-Peregina had been on the run from U.S. authorities for four years. He was arrested Wednesday during a traffic stop on Interstate 80 near Seward, about 70 miles southwest of Omaha.

Buena-Peregina, a lieutenant in the Sinaloa drug cartel, had been wanted on felony drug charges. Authorities say he returned to the country after being deported to Mexico and was trafficking cocaine.

Deputies say they found a fake passport and IDs on Buena-Peregrina. They took him and his driver, 27-year-old Vanessa E. Lopez-Pena, into custody, then notified federal authorities.

Online court records don’t list attorneys to speak on behalf of Buena-Peregina or Lopez-Pena.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Douglas County’s insurance carrier to pay $5 million — plus legal costs — to two men wrongfully jailed for months in the 2006 killing of a Murdock couple because the county’s former crime lab chief planted evidence against them.

Nick Sampson and Matthew Livers (LEYE’-vurz) will split the amount.

They were arrested after Livers falsely confessed to murdering his aunt and uncle, Wayne and Sharmon Stock, at their farmhouse. He recanted the next day.

The judgment is the maximum the St. Paul Travelers Cos.’s insurance policy would pay for former CSI chief David Kofoed’s (KOH-fohd’s) conduct. Kofoed was convicted of planting blood evidence in a car to bolster the case against Livers and Sampson, who were later exonerated.

O’NEILL, Neb. (AP) — A January sentencing has been scheduled for a 38-year-old man O’Neill man who killed his wife.

Online court records say Eduardo Barajas Quintero pleaded no contest Monday in Holt County District Court to a charge of second-degree murder. His sentencing is set for Jan. 30.

Prosecutors say he fatally stabbed 37-year-old Guadalupe Verdin Quintero on Feb. 20. A Nebraska State Patrol investigator said in an arrest warrant affidavit that Eduardo Quintero told him that he stabbed his wife because he suspected she was having an affair with another man. Quintero said he used a different knife to cut his own wrists.

Investigators counted 34 stab wounds on the body of Guadalupe Quintero.

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — The collapse of part of a building facade has shaken downtown Norfolk.

The facade fell around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday. No injuries have been reported.

Traffic was blocked as a contractor removed facade pieces that remained hanging and cleared away rubble from the sidewalk below.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced for killing his girlfriend’s dog.

Online court records say 48-year-old Francisco Rodriguez pleaded no contest Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty after prosecutors lowered the original felony charge of intentional animal cruelty. The judge sentenced Rodriguez to a year in jail and credited him with 139 days already served.

A court document says Rodriguez’s girlfriend woman reported that when she and her daughter returned from a store May 21 she found her 12-year-old dog, Maggie, dead. She told a Lincoln police officer that Rodriguez probably killed the dog because he had expressed his dislike for Maggie and had kicked her before.

A necropsy showed the dog died from internal bleeding because of external trauma.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man charged with killing his girlfriend and her 2-year-old daughter has made a deal to avoid the death penalty.

Twenty-four-year-old Dontevous (dahn-TAYE’-vuhs) Loyd pleaded no contest Wednesday to two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and two weapons counts. Prosecutors dropped plans to seek the death penalty in exchange for Loyd’s pleas. Under state law he’ll be imprisoned for life. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 15.

Police say Destacia Straughn, who had dated Loyd on and off, told police on Dec. 6 last year that she was afraid of Loyd, and officers removed him from her apartment. Police say later that night Loyd kicked in Straughn’s apartment door and began shooting, killing Straughn and her daughter, Kenacia. Three other women visiting were wounded.