(AP) — After 140 years, St. Paul United Church of Christ — one of Lincoln’s first — is closing its doors. Membership at the once-vibrant church in Lincoln has dwindled from nearly 700 people in the 1960s to a mere 18.

The Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/18ZrOGO) says the church, which opened in 1873, was once big enough to employ two ministers. Now, the church has a “very part-time minister” in the Rev. Gwen Hurst, she said. Hurst was hired in May to help the congregation settle its affairs and sell the building to Northern Lighthouse, a Christian Reformed Church.

The church’s original building, a small white wooden structure, still stands just behind its newer brick counterpart — built in 1877.

The church will hold its last service on Easter Sunday next April.

(AP) — A former northeastern Nebraska man has been sentenced to three years of supervised release, including six months of electronic monitoring, after being found guilty of wire fraud.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Omaha says 45-year-old Troy Ortmeier, formerly of West Point, was a real estate broker and manager of Ortmeier & Associates located in West Point.

Prosecutors say that on several occasions from 2008 through 2011, he sent falsified reports to the owners of Ortmeier & Associates indicating certain amounts had been expended for legitimate expenses — such as advertising — when it had not. Prosecutors say Ortmeier took the money on the falsified expenditures.

Ortmeier also was ordered Thursday to pay restitution of nearly $74,000.

(AP) — Police in southeast Nebraska have arrested a Beatrice man on suspicion of raping a 9-year-old boy.

38-year-old Scott Taylor was arrested at his home Thursday afternoon. The arrest followed an investigation conducted after the boy told his school teacher of the Nov. 18 assault.

Court records say the assault happened at the boy’s home while his parents were out.

Taylor was arrested on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault of a child. A bond hearing is expected Monday.

Taylor remained in a Gage County jail on Saturday and could not be reached for comment.

(AP) — Authorities say an Omaha officer has shot a man who ran from a vehicle spotted near the scene of another shooting.

Police say officers in northeast Omaha heard gunshots around 8 p.m. near Fontenelle Park and turned to see a sport utility vehicle from which the shots were fired.

Officers managed to stop the SUV within a couple of blocks, but the driver got out and ran. Police say one officer fired at the man, striking him several times. No officers were injured.

Police Capt. Shayna Ray says officers found a gun at the scene, but not in the SUV.

The man’s and the officer’s name haven’t been released. The shooting is being investigated.