LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former Nebraska Supreme Court justice has been chosen to help investigate the claim that state Sen. Ernie Chambers doesn’t live in the district he represents.

Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse announced Wednesday that a special committee has recruited former Justice William Connolly to serve as its legal counsel.

Connolly will conduct legal research related to the qualifications challenge against Chambers, of Omaha. Chambers is Nebraska’s longest-serving lawmaker.

The challenge was filed by John Sciara of Omaha, who ran unsuccessfully against Chambers in the 2016 election. Sciara contends that Chambers really lives in Bellevue.

Chambers has scoffed at the allegation as “busybody, gossipy, vengeful cud.” He also has provided lawmakers and reporters with documents listing his north Omaha address, including utility bills and newspaper subscription papers.

A Colorado woman is facing child abuse charges in Lincoln County after authorities say she left her two young children alone in a North Platte motel.

On January 31, at around 3:15 p.m., deputies with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Motel 6 in North Platte.

It was reported that 34-year-old Sabra Goff, of Colorado Springs, left two children, ages four months and two, alone in a motel room.

Deputies found that the two children were being tended to by motel staff while they waited for law enforcement to arrive.

A short time later, deputies located Goff who was reportedly highly intoxicated and had been shopping.

She was placed under arrest and transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center on child abuse charges.

Chief Deputy Roland Kramer says the children are in the custody of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.  The investigation is ongoing.

A colorado man, who is accused of passing counterfeit bills in North Platte in December, was arrested following a short pursuit on Tuesday.

At around 11:21 a.m., an officer on patrol saw Joshua Murphy driving in a vehicle near Philip Avenue and Poplar Street.

The officer was aware that Murphy had several warrants out for his arrest, including a Lincoln County warrant from the counterfeit money incident.

When the officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle, Investigator John Deal says Murphy ran through a stop sign at Poplar and Francis streets and pulled into the parking lot of Allo Communications before fleeing on foot.

The officer was able to get in front of Murphy in the South Platte Terrace Apartments parking lot and Muphy gave up.

Murphy was placed under arrest for the Lincoln County warrant and several warrants out of Colorado.  He was also charged with flight to avoid arrest and having no operator’s license.

Investigator Deal says the forgery charges stem from an incident at Little Caesars in North Platte.

On the afternoon of December 8, an officer responded to Little Caesar’s after it was reported that a male subject had passed a counterfeit $50 bill.

Management reported that a male subject, identified as Murphy, and female pulled up to the drive-thru window and paid for their order with a $50 bill.

When the clerk went to make change, he noticed that the bill appeared to be a fake and handed it back to the subjects, who then paid with real money.

Deal says numerous other businesses reported receiving counterfeit money during this period and interviews conducted with witnesses confirmed that Murphy had been the suspect in the Little Caesar’s case.

A warrant for Murphy’s arrest was issued.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Thirty-five people have applied to replace former Nebraska state Sen. Bill Kintner, who resigned after retweeting a comment that implied three women’s march protesters were too unattractive to sexually assault.

The governor’s office released the names Monday. Gov. Pete Ricketts will appoint Kintner’s successor.

The applicant who is chosen will represent Legislative District 2, a region that includes Cass County and portions of Sarpy and Otoe counties in southeast Nebraska. The new senator will serve until January 2019 and could run for election in the 2018.

Kintner’s resignation went into effect on Monday. Ricketts has said he intends to move quickly to ensure voters in the district have a voice in the Legislature.

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Sidney man killed himself after killing his wife in their western Nebraska home.

On Monday Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub identified the man as 39-year-old Jeffery Jensen and his wife, 36-year-old Rachelle Jensen. Schaub says a preliminary autopsy report shows both were killed by gunshots the afternoon of Jan. 9.

Authorities found the bodies inside the Sidney home Friday. Rachelle Jensen’s employer had called authorities to report that she hadn’t shown up for work for several days.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Public Power District intends to let people watch the monthly board meetings live through their computers, smartphones or other electronic devices.

The board says the first meeting to go live on the internet is scheduled for Feb. 9. There will be an extensive presentation on the district’s transmission line project from the Gerald Gentleman Station near Sutherland to a new substation east of Thedford.

The board meetings are scheduled for the second Thursday of each month. The meeting schedule, agenda and starting time can found at www.nppd.com/Board on the Monday before each monthly meeting. A link to view the meeting will appear shortly before the start of the meeting.

The district serves an estimated 600,000 Nebraskans with retail or wholesale electric power.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Companies that gain access to students’ personal information in schools would be barred from using it for targeted ads under a bill pending before Nebraska lawmakers.

Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln presented the measure to a legislative committee on Tuesday as a way to protect students’ online privacy in schools.

Morfeld says students may be tech-savvy, but they’re still vulnerable to targeted advertising. A similar bill was introduced last year but died in committee because no senator designated it as a priority.

A lobbyist for Microsoft says 32 states have passed similar laws.

Mississippi’s attorney general filed a lawsuit earlier in January against Google, alleging that the company is violating his state’s consumer protections law by selling ads using data from services it provides to schools.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple has snapped out of the first sales slump in the iPhone’s decade-long history, but the upturn doesn’t mean that the company has broken out of its innovation funk.

If anything, the numbers Apple released Tuesday served as the latest reminder of the company’s growing dependence on the iPhone while failing so far to come up with another breakthrough product since co-founder Steve Jobs died in 2011.

Meanwhile, Apple’s rivals have been rolling out new products in other promising fields such as augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Apple has been trailing in these areas.

To make matters worse, Apple’s iPhone sales had fallen in three consecutive quarters before it rose 5 percent in the last three months of 2016 to 78.3 million units.