MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters have been detailed to handle hot spots left by a wildfire that destroyed a house and blackened hundreds of acres as it threatened McCook in southwest Nebraska.

At least one person who camps out near the Red Willow County community of 7,500 people was burned Tuesday afternoon as 40-50 mph wind gusts whipped flames down a canyon toward the city. His name hasn’t been released.

Students and staff at an elementary school were evacuated to a high school several blocks south.

Chief Bill Elliott of the Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department said Wednesday that wind knocked a power line into a shed about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from town, and sparks from the resulting short ignited dry brush below. He estimated that 210 acres (85 hectares) were charred.

MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) — A wildfire is forcing the evacuation of part of McCook in southwest Nebraska.

Officials ordered the evacuation of the northwest corner of the city on Tuesday because fire was spreading rapidly as winds gusted up to 50 mph.

Sixteen people were treated at the local hospital for burns and smoke inhalation, but the severity of their injuries wasn’t immediately clear.

The fire damaged at least one home in northwest McCook and was threatening several others Tuesday afternoon.

The area evacuated north of Q Street and west of Norris Avenue includes McCook Elementary School. The students were relocated to McCook High School and the local YMCA.

Fire departments from several other towns in the area are sending crews to help battle the grass fire.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill intended to help Nebraska collect more online sales tax revenue cleared a key hurdle in the Legislature on Tuesday and appeared to have enough support to survive Gov. Pete Ricketts’ expected veto.

The measure would require online retailers to send customers a notice of their total taxable purchases unless the businesses collect the sales tax themselves. Retailers would also have to send an annual report to the Department of Revenue showing the total amount paid by its Nebraska customers.

Supporters painted the legislation as a way to level the playing field between online retailers and brick-and-mortar businesses, which have to collect and remit the tax. Nebraska already requires residents to report how much they spend online each year when they file their income tax returns, but few people comply, costing the state an estimated $30 million to $40 million annually.

“The longer we wait to pass legislation like this, the harder it will be for the general public to understand that this is not a new tax,” said Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, the bill’s sponsor.

Nebraska imposes a 5.5 percent sales tax on eligible purchases, and local governments can levy an additional tax of up to 2 percent. The proposal has won endorsements from leading business and farm groups and a coalition of cities.

The newly revised bill advanced to a third and final vote Tuesday with more support than it received when it was first debated in last year’s session. Senators voted 34-7 in favor of the proposal after overcoming a filibuster, compared to the 28-13 vote the previous year. Supporters need to win just one more vote before it goes to the governor’s desk. At least 30 votes are needed to override a gubernatorial veto.

Under the bill, online retailers would automatically have to collect a sales tax if allowed by Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that states can only tax businesses with a physical presence within their borders, but the court is revisiting the issue with a case involving a South Dakota internet sales tax law. A ruling is expected by June.

In a statement, Ricketts said the bill remains flawed and imposes “unnecessary red tape on companies doing business in Nebraska.”

Opponents criticized the measure as toothless because it currently lacks a collection requirement and said it would impose burdensome reporting requirements on smaller businesses. The bill would apply to companies with more than $100,000 in sales or more than 200 separate transactions in a year. Online retail giant Amazon started collecting Nebraska sales taxes voluntarily last year.

“This bill gives false hope to retailers that this is somehow going to correct the imbalance” between online operations and brick-and-mortar businesses, said Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion.

Sen. Mike Hilgers of Lincoln said lawmakers should wait until the high court rules before proceeding. Ricketts argued last year that the bill was unconstitutional.

Sen. Theresa Thibodeau said lawmakers shouldn’t pass legislation that could restrict e-commerce.

“Too often, innovations like online retail are seen as threats by policymakers even long after consumers have embraced them,” said Thibodeau, a day care and preschool owner from Omaha.

The bill that advanced Tuesday was watered down from an earlier version, which would have required businesses to collect the sales tax or send detailed transaction records to customers and the state to ensure the tax gets paid.

Watermeier said he made changes to address concerns about disclosing the online purchases of customers to the state. The bill was shelved last year because several supportive senators were absent the day of a key vote.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say three inmates peacefully ended their brief disturbance at a jail in the Nebraska Panhandle.

Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman says the three had barricaded themselves in a cell at the jail in Gering around 7 p.m. Monday and refused to come out. They were armed with broken handcuffs and other makeshift weapons.

But Overman says they surrendered around 8:30 p.m. after talking to deputies and after several officers from the Gering force and the Nebraska State Patrol showed up to help.

No injuries were reported.

BENKELMAN, Neb. (AP) — A former Dundy County sheriff’s deputy has been imprisoned for kidnapping and molesting a woman in his patrol car.

37-year-old Charles Thibedeau was sentenced Monday to six to eight years for kidnapping, a year for sex assault and six months for oppression under the color of office.

Prosecutors say Thibedeau sent Facebook messages to the 26-year-old victim last year, asking her to meet him in a remote location to discuss a law enforcement matter. Prosecutors say Thibedeau lied to the woman about an imminent police search of her home and then demanded to touch her breasts. When she refused, Thibedeau threatened her with a fictitious warrant, handcuffed her and placed her in his patrol vehicle. He touched her bare breasts and later released her.

Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) arrested multiple people, took more than 10 pounds of controlled substances off the street, and recovered a stolen car during multiple traffic stops this weekend.

Saturday evening just after 8:00 p.m., a trooper stopped a vehicle for not having its lights on while traveling eastbound on Interstate 80 near mile marker 422. During the stop, it was determined that the 2014 Ford Focus was stolen.

The driver, Klayvaughn McBride, 24, and passenger Abdilatif Abdi, 22, both of Omaha, were arrested on charges of receiving stolen property, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both were lodged in Cass County Jail.

Troopers also arrested a South Dakota man and seized more than 10 pounds of controlled substances during a traffic stop in North Platte on Sunday.

The stop occurred at approximately 2:15 p.m. Sunday, when a trooper observed a 2018 Chevrolet Impala fail to signal while changing lanes on Highway 83, just south of Interstate 80. During the traffic stop, an NSP K-9 detected the odor of a controlled substance in the vehicle.

A search of the vehicle revealed nine pounds of high-grade marijuana and 1.2 pounds of cocaine. The drugs carried an estimated street value of $83,000.

The driver, Christopher Friedel, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was arrested on charges of possession of more than one pound of marijuana, possession of more than 140 grams of cocaine, possession with intent to deliver, and no Drug Tax stamp. Friedel was lodged in Lincoln County Jail.

A student at Gothenburg high school has been removed from the school after they allegedly made threats against students and teachers.

According to a new release on Monday, the Gothenburg Police Department and the Dawson County Sheriff, along with school officials, investigated a situation where a student had allegedly made threats against a small number of students and teachers.

Authorities say the student has been removed from the school and will remain off-campus until the investigation is completed.

No students or staff were ever in any danger, according to officials and a police officer will be on campus in the upcoming days as a precautionary measure.

The investigation is ongoing and no other details were released.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to appear at a campaign event for Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts.

Pence will speak as a “special guest” during the dinner Tuesday at the Omaha Marriott Downtown.

Ricketts, a fellow Republican, is seeking a second term in the November general election.

Pence is also slated to appear across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to promote the federal tax law signed by President Donald Trump.

Pence is expected to return to Nebraska at an undetermined date to campaign for incumbent U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, who represents the Omaha-centric 2nd Congressional District.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Officials in a south-central Nebraska county don’t have complete records of the area’s rural cemeteries and who is taking care of them.

Kearney Hub reports that Buffalo County Commissioner Joe Brayton raised the issue at a board meeting last week. He says families and churches care for the 31 known rural cemeteries in the county.

Deputy County Attorney Andy Hoffmeister says the county is aware of those cemeteries because of tax-exempt requests from the last decade. He says several of the caretakers on the list are now deceased and it’s unclear who’s now taking care of some of the properties.

Hoffmeister says the county is only required to take responsibility for the cemeteries when they’re neglected or abandoned. The county would pay up to $1,000 for cemetery upkeep.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Rainbow trout are being stocked in city ponds, park lakes, and other waters across the state this month by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The commission says the fish are about 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) in length.

The Trout Lake at Two Rivers State Recreation Area near Waterloo will open for fishing on Saturday, stocked with 9,000 rainbow trout. They must be harvested and not released.

Other stocking sites include Elm Creek in Webster County, Lake Halleck in Papillion, Steinhart Park East Pond in Nebraska City, Such’s Lake in Grand Island, Auble Pond in Ord, the northwest lake at Bridgeport State Recreation Area and Terry’s Pit in Terrytown.