(AP) — An Omaha man is scheduled to be sentenced in August for the crash deaths of two little girls.

Online court records say Christopher Phelps pleaded no contest earlier this week to two counts of motor vehicle homicide while drunk and will be sentenced on Aug. 27.

Police say Phelps acknowledged that he’d been drinking on Oct. 10, the day he got into an argument with Chanelle Torry. She asked him to take her and her three daughters home. He sped away from his home and soon lost control of his vehicle, which flipped over in a ravine.

Four-year-old Laela Torry-Tooley and 5-year-old Mela Skye Torry were thrown from the vehicle and killed. Their sister, Bri’Elle Torry, wasn’t hurt. Chanelle Torry suffered fractures.

(AP) — A 13-year-old North Texas boy faces a capital murder charge in the death of a 5-year-old boy hit in the head multiple times.

Fort Worth police say the teen was arrested Thursday in the death of Sida Osman. The teen’s name is being withheld because he’s a juvenile.

His case is in juvenile court. Because he is younger than 14, he is not eligible to stand trial as an adult in the case.

Police say the youngster’s body was discovered Wednesday afternoon, a day after he was reported missing by his family.

Sida’s body was found in the backyard of a vacant house about a block from the apartments where he lived.

Fort Worth police say the two had gone to the yard and the teen was irritated with Sida.

(AP) — NASA has launched a satellite on a mission to examine a little-studied region of the sun that it hopes will improve space weather prediction.

The Iris satellite rode into Earth orbit on a Pegasus rocket, which was air-launched over the Pacific Ocean Thursday evening. The airplane carrying the rocket and satellite took off around sunset from Vandenberg Air Force Base along California’s central coast.

Mission controllers clapped after receiving word that Iris separated from the rocket as planned 13 minutes after launch. It will begin its two-year mission after a checkout period.

Iris will focus on a region of the sun between the surface and the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere that’s visible during eclipses.

The mission will last two years and costs $182 million. That’s cheap by NASA standards.

(AP) — One of three suspects in a Columbus slaying has pleaded not guilty.

30-year-old Eric Henry, of Columbus, made his plea Wednesday in Platte County District Court. His trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 28.

Henry, 31-year-old Kimberly Henderson and 26-year-old Quentin Critser are charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Steven Jorgensen at his Columbus home on May 18. Authorities say the three intended to rob the 51-year-old Jorgensen, but the robbery turned violent when Jorgensen resisted.

Status hearings have been scheduled for July 18 for Henderson and Critser. Henderson’s attorney declined to comment on Thursday. Critser’s lawyer didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

(AP) — Authorities in southwest Colorado looking for a 13-year-old boy last seen in November say they have found his remains.

La Plata County sheriff’s department spokesman Dan Bender says tests by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation confirmed the bones were those of Dylan Redwine.

Searchers found them during a five-day search that ended Wednesday.

The boy lived in the Monument area with his mother, Elaine Redwine, but arrived in La Plata County on Nov. 18 for a court-ordered visit in Vallecito with his father, Mark Redwine.

The father says he returned home from running errands Nov. 19 to find Dylan was gone.

(AP) — A Nebraska meatpacking plant is reopening under new management, nearly five years after it was forced to close because of legal and financial problems tied to its sister facility in eastern Iowa.

Fred Hlava, the city manager in Gordon, Neb., said Thursday that officials have approved a deal with Open Range Beef, a company registered in Bellevue, Neb. The company will reopen the plant, which previously operated under the name Local Pride Kosher.

The old plant closed its doors in September 2008, shortly after an immigration raid at the Agriprocessors slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. The parent company of both plants declared bankruptcy, and Sholom Rubashkin, a top executive at the Iowa plant, is now serving a 27-year federal prison sentence for financial fraud.

(AP) — A woman and her boyfriend have pleaded guilty to abusing her 15-year-old son, who was kept inside their home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for four years.

The guilty pleas came Thursday after the couple waived their right to a key hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence for trial.

Police say the boy rarely left a room made from tarps while being tortured and abused. He was rescued from the Escanaba home in April.

His 46-year-old mother pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse and torture. Her 47-year-old boyfriend pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse and no contest to aiding and abetting first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Sentencing is scheduled for August. They could face up to life in prison.

Their names are being withheld to protect the boy’s identity.

If you’re a Seattle Seahawks fan or a Starbucks junkie living in Nebraska, life just got a little bit sweeter for you.

Alaska Airlines says it will soon offer a daily nonstop flight between Seattle and Omaha.

The airliner announced Thursday that flights between the cities will begin on Nov. 7. Flights from Seattle are scheduled to arrive in Omaha at 3:45 p.m. Returning flights are scheduled to depart at 4:15 p.m.

The flights are part of the airliner’s service expansion. Its Seattle hub will also have a daily service to Colorado Springs, Colo.

(AP) — A former North Texas justice of the peace and his wife have been indicted on capital murder charges in the slayings of three people, including two prosecutors.

A local grand jury indicted Eric and Kim Williams on Thursday.

The couple is accused of killing Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, District Attorney Mike McLelland and McLelland’s wife, Cynthia. Hasse was shot outside the county courthouse in January, while the McLellands were killed in their home in March.

Prosecutors allege Eric Williams was the gunman in both cases.

The two were arrested in April for what prosecutors allege was a meticulous plot to avenge Eric Williams’ conviction for stealing county computer monitors in 2012.

Eric Williams is being held on a $23 million bond. His wife’s bond is $10 million.

(AP) — The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says inmates selected to drive vans for the prison’s work release programs first go through a review of their driving and chemical abuse records.

The department released some details of the policy on Thursday, following a fatal crash. Authorities say 35-year-old inmate driver Jeremy Dobbe hit a minivan, killing its driver, 47-year-old Joyce Meeks.

A news release from the department Thursday says selection as an inmate van driver includes a review of the inmate’s driving record, with particular attention to recent history. The department says drivers also undergo weekly urine testing to check for chemical abuse.

Online court records show Dobbe has DUI and reckless driving convictions from 1999 to 2003. He is serving a 5-7 year sentence for drug and other offenses.