(AP) — The overhaul of Lincoln zoning ordinances would make redevelopment easier and add new design and landscaping standards to ensure more attractive developments.

City planning staffers have been conferring with interested groups in a process that likely will take about a year.

Current zoning requirements were developed when suburban growth was flourishing. City planners believe there will be more development inside the city in the years ahead, so many of the zoning changes would guide the rejuvenation of rundown strip malls and shopping centers and promote areas of shops and housing.

The proposals include more rules on what materials can and cannot be used on building exteriors.

Planning documents say the goal is to “avoid blank walls, windowless facades, cheap materials and monotony.”

(AP) — New research raises fresh questions about which cancer patients benefit from Avastin (uh-VAS’-tihn), a drug that lost its approval for treating breast cancer nearly two years ago.

Two studies found that Avastin did not prolong life when used as a first treatment for people with brain tumors like the one U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy died of several years ago. Side effects also were more common with Avastin.

The drug is approved for treating brain tumors that have recurred and doctors say it should still be used in those patients.

Other research shows it extends survival for women with advanced cervical cancer. Avastin also is used to treat certain colon, lung and kidney tumors.

The studies were discussed Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago.

(AP) — A Nebraska man created a dangerous gas inside his home this weekend by mixing two drain cleaners to clear a toilet.

The homeowner was fortunate he wasn’t seriously injured by the chemical cloud.

The homeowner suffered respiratory problems but refused to be treated at a hospital.

Firefighters wore breathing masks to enter the home, but they had to call in a plumber to help clear the blockage in the toilet before the gas dissipated.

Officials say it’s important that homeowners read the labels of the chemicals they’re using.

(AP) — Oklahoma authorities now say 13 people are dead from Friday’s tornadoes and flash floods. Another seven people, including five children, are missing.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office added a total of four victims on Sunday to the list of the dead. Among those killed in the storms are four children and nine adults.

Medical Examiner’s Office Amy Elliott spokeswoman didn’t detail circumstances about how the victims died and didn’t reply to messages. Names of the dead weren’t released but three storm chasers were among those killed in a tornado that went through El Reno.

Searchers were still working Sunday to find seven missing people.

(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court says the family of an 18-year-old man who died because of the willful negligence of a western Nebraska grain elevator company can’t sue the company.

Joseph Teague was suffocated in an avalanche of grain in 2007 after being ordered into a grain bin at Lorenzo, just north of the state line with Colorado. The owner of the elevator, Crossroads Cooperative Association, later was found guilty of violating federal safety standards and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.

Teague’s estate sued Crossroads, but a Cheyenne County District judge threw out the lawsuit, saying state law makes workers’ compensation the only recourse for recovering damages.

On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court agreed, saying regardless of the egregiousness of the company’s actions, Workers’ Compensation Court has jurisdiction.

(AP) — An attorney has surrendered his license to practice law in Nebraska after he was convicted of theft charges in Kansas.

The Nebraska Supreme Court said in a ruling Friday that it has disbarred Kevin K. Stephenson, of Glenwood Springs, Colo.

Stephenson was convicted in February of two counts of theft in Greeley County, Kan., for his role in representing an estate. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and 24 months of post-release supervision, according to the ruling. He was also ordered to pay $117,400 to the estate.

The court says Stephenson self-reported his conviction to the Nebraska Supreme Court’s counsel for discipline, and did not contest the allegations.

Stephenson was admitted to practice law in Nebraska in October 2006.

(AP) — Authorities say officers in Papillion shot a man after he allegedly pulled out a knife.

Officers were called to an apartment Friday morning to check on a 22-year-old man.

The man had barricaded himself inside his apartment, and officers fired after he displayed the knife.

Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov says the man is expected to survive. Police haven’t released his name.

(AP) — Police have arrested two men in a fatal shooting on the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge that connects Omaha with Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Police say 23-year-old Terrece Cox has been arrested on suspicion of homicide, assault and weapons counts, and 27-year-old Billy Kellogg has been arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to a felony. Both were arrested Friday.

Twenty-six-year-old Shamari Richards died Wednesday morning from injuries sustained in the shooting. The other victims, 29-year-old Kevin Jenkins and 19-year-old Jeremy Fejeran, suffered non-life threatening injuries.

The shootings were reported a little after 1:15 a.m. Wednesday. The bridge closes at 11 p.m.

Police say there had been a disturbance at the bridge before the shots rang out. Witnesses told officers that they heard gunshots and then saw a crowd of people scatter.

(AP) — A Texas man on Nebraska’s death row for killing two Grand Island men has filed for post-conviction relief, saying his lawyers were ineffective.

Marco Torres Jr., formerly of Pasadena, Texas, has filed the motion in Hall County District Court and asked for a court-appointed attorney.

Torres was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and other charges in the 2007 shooting deaths of 48-year-old Timothy Donohue and 60-year-old Edward Hall.

Post-conviction relief motions are filed after all other appeals have been exhausted. Last year, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected Torres’ appeal, in which he claimed some evidence should not have been allowed.

In his latest motion, Torres says his lawyers’ were so inept that it violated his right to a fair trial.

(AP) — Police say a Columbus man was stabbed to death when he resisted an armed robbery.

A sworn police statement says three people went to 51-year-old Steven Jorgensen’s home May 18 intending to rob him, but that the robbery turned violent and Jorgensen resisted. He was then stabbed multiple times with a knife, police say.

Two people — 26-year-old Quentin Critser and 31-year-old Kimberly Henderson — were arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder in the case.

A third person, 30-year-old Eric Henry, also faces charges in the case. He is currently in a Butler County jail on other, unrelated charges.