(AP) — The state is warning people not to swim or drink water Lone Star Lake in Fillmore County.

The warning from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is the first of the year. Officials began conducting weekly tests at 50 public lakes across the state in early May, and the tests will continue throughout the summer.

Officials say Lone Star Lake has a high level of microcystin, a toxin released by strains of blue-green algae.

Skin exposed to the toxin can develop rashes and blisters. Someone who drinks water containing the toxin is at risk for headaches, nausea and muscular pain.

Lone Star Lake will remain under alert for at least two more weeks because it must have two consecutive weeks of safe tests before the alert is lifted.

(AP) — Eight people have submitted their names for consideration of a county judgeship in eastern Nebraska.

The Judicial Nominating Commission for county judge in the 5th Judicial District will hold a public hearing on July 10 to consider the qualifications of those who have applied.

Those applying are: Steven Fillman and Kevin Schlender, both of York; Thomas Klein, of Wahoo; Christina Marroquin, of Seward; James Stecker, of Columbus; Stephen Twiss, of Central City; Nancy Waldron, of Exeter; and Rodney Wetovick, of Fullerton.

The judgeship will be based either in Merrick County’s Central City or York in York County. The opening was created by the retirement of Judge Curtis Evans.

The 5th Judicial District is composed of Boone, Butler, Colfax, Hamilton, Merrick, Nance, Platte, Polk, Saunders, Seward and York counties.

(AP) — Omaha Police have identified the man suspected of killing two people and critically wounding two others last weekend before he was killed by police.

Police said Saturday that 25-year-old Jorge Abraham Zarazua-Rubio was the suspect in the June 15 shooting.

Authorities say Zaruzua-Rubio targeted his first shooting victim, 31-year-old Aaron Anderson, before going on to shoot three other people he encountered that afternoon.

Anderson and 46-year-old Angel Cabrera were critically wounded in the shootings, but 25-year-old Anthony Vazzano and 25-year-old Pascual Bautista-Raymundo were both killed.

Officer Coral Walker exchanged gunfire with the suspect and killed Zaruzua-Rubio.

Police say they are still looking for someone who may have witnessed the first shooting. That person may be driving a 1995 Ford Thunderbird with Iowa license plate BBH-574.

(AP) — Authorities say a Creighton University professor found dead in his Omaha home last month was shot, and his wife was stabbed to death.

The Douglas County coroner reported Friday that 65-year-old Roger Brumback died of a gunshot wound, and his wife, 65-year-old Mary Brumback, died of stab wounds. Their bodies were discovered May 14.

Omaha police have been trying to determine if the killings are related to another double-homicide five years ago. Eleven-year-old Thomas Hunter and his family’s housekeeper, Shirlee Sherman, were found dead inside the Hunter home in March 2008. The case remains unsolved.

Both sets of murders have a connection to the Creighton Pathology Department, where Thomas’ father was a colleague of Roger Brumback.

(AP) — A judge has fined a Bellevue man and ordered him to pay restitution after he pleaded no contest to assaulting a referee at his son’s church league basketball game earlier this year.

Joseph Stephans must pay a $300 fine and $2,396 in restitution for the Feb. 3 incident.

Last month, Stephans pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and apologized for his actions.

Prosecutors say Stephans grabbed referee Carlos Bradford’s glasses and broke them before briefly struggling with the referee at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School, where Stephans’ son was playing in a seventh-grade basketball game. Other parents broke up the confrontation.

(AP) — A 63-year-old woman has been killed in storms moving across the northern Plains and Upper Midwest.

Hamlin County, S.D., Sheriff Chad Schlotterbeck said the woman was hunkered down in the bathtub in her trailer on the east side of Lake Poinsett when a storm lifted the structure and dropped it to the ground. The storms brought tornadoes, strong winds and hail the size of golf balls.

Schlotterbeck said his county of about 6,000 residents was entirely without power Friday evening. The fire department was door to door to assess the extent of damage.

The storms moved into Minnesota and then were expected to hit Wisconsin.

Some of the most notable damage occurred around Lake Poinsett in northeast South Dakota. The lake is home to numerous summer cabins.

(AP) — A 42-year-old Creston woman has made a plea deal and been convicted of felony child abuse.

Janelle Gertsch pleaded no contest to three counts after prosecutors dropped two more at a hearing last week. Gertsch is scheduled to be sentenced on July 19.

Prosecutors say Gertsch and her boyfriend, Larry Einspahr Jr., beat and spanked her 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter on multiple occasions. Last month Einspahr was sentenced to 30 to 36 months in prison.

(AP) — Firefighters have extinguished a blaze that broke out above a bakery in downtown Beatrice.

No injuries were reported from the fire, which was reported just before 11 a.m. Friday.

Fire officials say the damage was minimal in what was an all but empty room on the second floor above Sunrise Bakery.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

(AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel signaled that U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base will be around for a long time, even as the Department of Defense calls for base closings around the country.

Hagel said Thursday at a ceremony to honor StratCom personnel that the command is central to dealing with the new threats facing the country.

Earlier Thursday, Hagel was briefed on the capabilities of the command, which oversees the nation’s nuclear arsenal and has many strategic missions.

Following his remarks, the former two-term U.S. senator from Nebraska handed out commemorative coins to more than 200 military service members and civilians with U.S. Strategic Command.

The trip to Nebraska is Hagel’s first since being confirmed as defense secretary in February.

(AP) — An Omaha man has been sentenced to at least a dozen years in prison for causing a fatal car crash last year.

Sergio Valdivia-Marquez was sentenced Wednesday to between 12 and 16 years in prison for the death of 18-year-old Michael Tran.

Authorities say Valdivia-Marquez slammed into Tran’s car last October. Tran was taken off life support days later.

Valdivia-Marquez was later convicted of motor vehicle homicide. His blood-alcohol level that night was twice the legal limit.

Authorities also say Valdivia-Marquez did not have a driver’s license at the time of the crash, and he was living in the country without legal permission.

Valdivia-Marquez will be deported after he completes his prison sentence in Nebraska.