(AP) — Authorities say a man has surrendered to police in connection with an Omaha bank robbery.

Police say 51-year-old Scott Prine turned himself in around 1 a.m. Wednesday at police headquarters. Prine remains in custody in Douglas County Jail. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.

Police say a man entered a Wells Fargo branch on Tuesday afternoon, pulled out a dark handgun and demanded money.

A clerk put an undisclosed amount of money into a bag and gave it to the man, who left out the front door.

(AP) — An eastern cottonwood tree near Beatrice is being recognized as the largest known species of its kind in the country.

The University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources says Tuesday the tree beat out an eastern cottonwood in Kansas and will be named national champion by the conservation group American Forests.

The Nebraska tree is 10 miles northeast of Beatrice on land owned by Kevin Naber.

It stands 88 feet tall with a 108-foot canopy and a trunk circumference of 36 feet, 9 inches.

Graham Herbst, a community forestry specialist with the Nebraska Forest Service, says the tree dwarfs those around it and can be seen from far off.

The Kansas cottonwood had taken the title after Nebraska’s previous champ near Seward was downed in a 2007 storm.

(AP) — A Lincoln woman was sentenced to prison on firearm charges for an incident last spring in which she hid a gun in a pot of chili.

26-year-old Danielle Cherecwich was sentenced Tuesday to six to nine years in prison.

She was arrested April 21 on firearm charges, including being a felon in possession of a firearm, after an officer stopped her car, which had reportedly been used in a failed attempt to pass a fake check earlier that month.

Cherecwich was on parole out of Iowa and as a convicted felon couldn’t legally possess a firearm.

An initial search didn’t turn up a gun, but when officers checked a container of chili at her feet, they found a loaded .25-caliber handgun.

(AP) — The attorney for an Omaha man charged with the shooting deaths of four people is strongly hinting at an insanity defense.

Douglas County Public Defender Thomas Riley interrogated police investigators Tuesday during the preliminary hearing for Nikko Jenkins, asking whether they were aware Jenkins might have mental health problems. The investigators doggedly rebuffed the questions, but a Douglas County Sheriff’s Office investigator said he had seen at least one reference to Jenkins’ claims to have heard voices.

Riley also grilled investigators about their interview of Jenkins, in which they say he confessed to the killings. In particular, Riley questioned whether investigators were aware that Jenkins had invoked his right to an attorney days before the interview and whether investigators lied to him about the evidence they had.

(AP) — The National Toy Hall of Fame is getting ready to induct its class of 2013.

On Tuesday, the hall revealed its 12 finalists, two of which will be enshrined at the Rochester, MN museum Nov. 7.

The finalists are: Bubbles, chess, the board game Clue, Fisher-Price Little People, little green Army men, the Magic 8 Ball, My Little Pony, Nerf toys, the Pac-Man video game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the scooter and the rubber duck.

A national selection committee will vote on which two will take their place alongside last year’s winners: dominoes and “Star Wars” action figures.

Anyone can nominate a toy for induction. A museum committee compiles the list of finalists based on a toy’s longevity, innovation and other attributes.

Q: What’s your favorite toy of all time?  (Share your memories in the “comment” section)

(AP) — An Omaha man has been ordered to stand trial in four Omaha slayings committed just weeks after he was released from prison.

The judge found sufficient evidence for trial but didn’t set the start date for 26-year-old Nikko Jenkins at Tuesday’s preliminary hearing.

Jenkins is charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

They include the Aug. 21 death of 33-year-old Andrea Kruger, a mother of three who was heading home from work when she was fatally shot at an intersection on the west side of Omaha.

Two days earlier, the body of 22-year-old Curtis Bradford was found outside a garage in north Omaha. On Aug. 11 the bodies of 29-year-old Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz and 26-year-old Juan Uribe-Pena were found inside a pickup near a city pool in southeast Omaha.

(AP) — A federal judge has barred the Nebraska attorney general from enforcing a cease-and-desist order issued against a Texas law firm.

Judge Joseph Batallion (buh’-TAL’-yuhn) ruled Monday that the order violated the constitutional rights of Activision TV, which had hired the law firm of Farney Daniels. Farney Daniels, of Georgetown, Texas, has been representing Activision in patent cases against businesses in Nebraska and other states.

Attorney General Jon Bruning said in July that the law firm appears to represent companies that bought up patents just so they could threaten lawsuits and collect settlements.

Bruning said Tuesday that the judge’s order addressed a relationship between Farney Daniels and its client. He says nothing in the order stops his office’s “investigations into patent trolls and law firms that represent them, specifically Farney Daniels.”

(AP) — A kindergarten-age girl has been flown to an Omaha hospital after being hit on the head by a bell.

The accident occurred Sunday afternoon during a youth football game at Tri County Public Schools’ football field about four miles south of DeWitt in southeast Nebraska. The game was not a school event.

The bell is usually rung after a touchdown is scored at high school games.

Tri County Superintendent Randy Schlueter says he didn’t know how much the bell weighs or how the accident occurred.

Schlueter says the district buildings and grounds superintendent has already examined the field to see how the district could ensure the area and equipment would be safe for future use.

The girl’s name hasn’t been released.

(AP) — A 19-year-old Omaha woman has been arrested, accused of robbing a Fremont bank.

Fremont National Bank was robbed around 10 a.m. Saturday by a woman who escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash. No injuries have been reported.

Fremont officers and FBI agents investigated the robbery. The woman who was arrested on Monday was identified as Kimberly Babbitt. Police say Babbitt used to live in Fremont.

Online court records don’t list the name of her attorney.

(AP) — A 62-year-old northeast Nebraska man has made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to allegations that he sold uninspected meat to Omaha schools.

Paul Rosberg, of Randolph, pleaded guilty on Friday. The deal ensures he won’t be sentenced to more than 18 months in prison.

In return for the plea, federal prosecutors agreed to drop a charge that Rosberg tried to have two witnesses killed and obstructed justice. Prosecutors also agreed to reduce the charge against Rosberg’s wife, Kelly Rosberg, to a misdemeanor.

Paul Rosberg agreed to dismiss lawsuits he’s filed against three witnesses.

Court records say the Rosbergs’ company, Nebraska’s Finest Meats, sold 2,600 pounds of ground beef labeled USDA inspected to Omaha schools in fall 2011. It hadn’t been inspected.