(AP) — A judge says jurors in the trial of the suspect in the Colorado theater shooting last year will be allowed to ask questions of witnesses.

Defense attorneys for James Holmes had objected to jurors asking questions.

However Judge Carlos A. Samour Jr. ruled Tuesday that he would allow written questions to be submitted, with safeguards to defend against objectionable questions and to protect Holmes’ rights. For instance, attorneys for both sides will be consulted before a question is asked, and they can object to questions outside the presence of jurors and the witness.

Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to more than 160 counts including murder and attempted murder. He is accused of killing 12 people and injuring 70 at an Aurora movie theater July 20, 2012.

(AP) — The doctor of a 14-year-old Ohio girl who had cerebral palsy and weighed 28 pounds when she died has been sentenced to six months in jail and a year’s probation on three counts of failing to report child abuse or neglect.

Montgomery County’s prosecutor says 51-year-old Margaret Edwards was sentenced Tuesday in Dayton. The Trotwood resident had pleaded no contest to the charges in patient Makayla Norman’s 2011 death and permanently surrendered her medical license. She faced a possible sentence of up to 18 months.

Messages left for Edwards’ attorney were not immediately returned.

Norman died from nutritional and medical neglect complicated by her chronic condition.

Norman’s mother and a nurse were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and other charges. Two other nurses were convicted of failing to provide for a functionally impaired person.

(AP) — A woman who used information about her boyfriend’s ex-wife for a bogus posting on a bondage sex dating website has been given two years of probation in Nebraska.

29-year-old Kelley Haag was sentenced Monday. She’d pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor stalking charge after prosecutors lowered the charge from felony terroristic threats.

Haag was living in Waverly when the crime occurred last fall but now lives near Minneapolis.

Police say a 33-year-old Lincoln woman reported that her name, picture and personal and professional information had been placed by someone else on a dating site devoted to people looking for bondage and rough sex. She became frightened when she got a call from a man who’d seen the posting.

Investigators traced the posting to Haag.

(AP) — A 17-year-old Omaha teen has admitted killing his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend as part of a deal with prosecutors.

The teen pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the May 2012 death of Melanie Koontz. Previously, he had been charged with first-degree murder and using a weapon to commit the crime.

Koontz’ body was found in an Omaha creek. Prosecutors say she had been strangled.

The boy will be evaluated by a psychologist before he is sentences on Nov. 6. He faces 20 years to life in prison.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify juveniles accused of a crime.

(AP) — Omaha police have issued a warrant for second-degree murder in the death of a man whose body was found at a motorcycle club.

Police announced Tuesday they had issued the warrant for 47-year-old Jay Witt.

Police are seeking Witt in the killing of 48-year-old William Furlong, of Omaha.

His body was found July 14, when police were called to the Hells Angels’ Motorcycle Club in southeast Omaha.

Police haven’t released how Furlong died.

Police ask that anyone with information call the department’s homicide unit.

(AP) — Student loan company Nelnet says it plans to hire 250 customer service representatives in Omaha.

Nelnet officials plan to hold a news conference about the new jobs on Wednesday morning.

In May, Nelnet announced plans to hire 311 people in Lincoln, and company officials said they were in a rapid-hiring mode because its federal student loan servicing business is growing.

At the end of 2009, Nelnet’s workforce in Lincoln had fallen to about 700 after eliminating 800 jobs during the recession. Nelnet had grown back to 1,350 employees by the end of last year.

Nelnet officials say the company’s share of federal student loan servicing went from 16 percent in the 2011-12 academic year to 30 percent in 2012-13.

(AP) — Federal regulators are proposing $45,500 in fines for what they say were two safety violations at a grain elevator in the southeast Nebraska town of Wilber.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release Tuesday that it’s seeking to fine the Farmers Cooperative elevator in Wilber. Farmers Cooperative is based in Dorchester and has facilities in 40 Nebraska and Kansas communities.

OSHA says the violations included allowing grain bin dust to accumulate on surfaces past allowable standards, increasing the potential of a grain dust explosion, and a repeat violation for fall hazards involving unguarded ladders.

Ron Velder, president of Farmers Cooperative, said Tuesday that the cooperative just received notice of the alleged violations and is in the process of responding.

(AP) — Arson is suspected in three Fremont fires that occurred within an hour.

Fremont Police Department Sgt. Bob Buer said firefighters received a call about a blazing bus at 5:11 a.m. Tuesday Just a few seconds later a call came in about a car in flames.

Buer says firefighters then responded at 6 a.m. to a call about a shed on fire behind a church.

No injuries have been reported.

Buer says all three fires are being treated as arson and are being investigated by state authorities.

(AP) — Powerful thunderstorms packing winds of up to 70 mph have raced through eastern Nebraska, knocking out power to thousands of people.

The storms headed into western Iowa Tuesday morning after dropping heavy rain and knocking down trees and damaging houses and other buildings.

No injuries have been reported.

Nearly 4,700 Omaha Public Power District customers lost electricity in Washington and Dodge counties, which are adjacent to Douglas County and Omaha.

Around 2.75 inches of rain was reported in Scribner, 43 miles northwest of Omaha, and wind gusts of 70 mph were reported in Blair, which sits 23 miles from Omaha.

One-inch hail was reported in Fremont.

(AP) — A 39-year-old Grand Island man faces sentencing next month on convictions for sexually assaulting his two stepdaughters.

The man had pleaded no contest to two counts. Another count was dropped in exchange for the man’s plea. The Associated Press is not using the man’s name, in order to protect the girls’ privacy.

Prosecutors say the assaults began in 2008. One of the girls is 13 now; the other is 8.

The man is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 30.