(AP) — Lincoln fire officials still disagree on whether first responders with a geared-up pickup can handle some calls that traditionally have been handled by firefighters with fully equipped firetrucks.

Last May the department outfitted a pickup and gave captains the authority to take it on minor medical calls.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue Capt. Jeff Gottbreht says that he’s concluded the Alternative Response Vehicle is risky to take on some calls because it doesn’t carry enough equipment to handle each emergency.

But Battalion Chief Eric Jones thinks the yearlong test has provided firefighters another tool that allows the same level of service without risking firefighter safety.

(AP) — Grand Island Mayor Jay Vavricek wants the city to contribute $3 million toward having the Central Nebraska Veterans Home be built in his south-central Nebraska town.

Vavricek will make his proposal to the City Council at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Grand Island has been home to the Grand Island Veterans Home since the Soldiers and Sailors Home opened in 1888 on 640 acres that the city donated to the state.

The state has earmarked money for the $120 million replacement facility and will be considering proposals from four cities that wish to host the veterans home. The four are Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney and North Platte.

The state says there are nearly $1.3 million of amenities it cannot provide with state and federal funds.

(AP) — A 16-year-old Omaha boy is getting the rank of Eagle Scout for a project that honors a Boy Scout killed when a tornado hit Little Sioux Scout Ranch in Iowa five years ago.

Marcus Ehlinger built a 60-foot, partial suspension bridge at the Eastern Nebraska 4H Center and will dedicate it in honor of Sam Thomsen, who died in at the ranch in 2008. The American flag that was at the camp when the tornado struck will also be displayed Sunday at the bridge when the Eagle Scout ceremony is held.

Fifteen-year-old James Kopsa, of Omaha, also will be receiving his Eagle Scout rank. He primed and painted 32 telephone poles along the Lincoln Highway for his project.

Both Ehlinger and Kopsa were in Boy Scout Troop 26 with Thomsen.

(AP) — A Lincoln man has been accused of making threats with a machete.

The incident that led to 19-year-old Taylor Arizola’s arrest happened around 1 a.m. Sunday.

Lincoln Police say Arizola pulled a machete out of his truck and threatened another man because Arizola says the other man threw a bottle at him.

Police say Arizola was actually the one who called police, but now he is facing charges of making terroristic threats and using a weapon to commit a felony.

 

(AP) — An eastern Nebraska man is facing charges because Fremont police say he tried to kill his girlfriend and himself by setting fire to a mobile home.

Fremont police arrested 19-year-old Jose Manuel Saturday night.

Police say the mobile home sustained fire and smoke damage, but no one was hurt.

Manuel is facing charges of attempted first-degree murder, second-degree arson, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

(AP) — A 34-year-old Omaha woman died after being cut in an argument, and a 35-year-old Omaha man is now facing charges in the incident.

Police say officers were called to a disturbance in northeast Omaha Saturday evening around 7:30.

The officers stopped the assault when they arrived, but LaVern Eubanks had already been critically wounded. She died later at an Omaha hospital.

Police arrested Bobby Wallace Jr. on suspicion of second-degree murder, using a weapon to commit a felony and disturbing the peace.

(AP) — Authorities say flooding in San Antonio has killed at least two people, and they are searching for a third person who was swept away in a creek.

San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Christian Bove says two women were killed in separate incidents Saturday after becoming trapped in their cars. Emergency crews recovered both of their bodies.

In the suburb of Schertz, authorities are still looking for a teenage boy who was swept away while trying to cross the swollen Cibolo Creek.

Torrential rains swamped San Antonio with flash floods on Saturday. Emergency workers used boats as they rushed to rescue more than 200 residents stranded in cars and homes.

More rain is forecast for overnight.

(AP) — Authorities are scaling back their search for a missing Iowa teenager abducted from a rural school bus stop this week.

The state Department of Public Safety says trained law enforcement will narrow their search around Dayton on Saturday for 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard.

Authorities say they’re focusing on terrain that’s difficult to navigate and requires specialized skills and equipment, so citizen volunteers are not needed. Residents are encouraged to check their rural properties for anything suspicious.

Police suspect Michael Klunder took Kathlynn and a 12-year-old girl on Monday to a hog confinement building several miles away. The younger girl managed to escape. Klunder was later found dead of self-inflicted injuries.

Authorities will search land between the hog confinement and a location where the girls’ backpacks were found.

(AP) — A Canadian mining firm says it’s close to securing the funding needed to move forward with a plan to extract a valuable and rare heat-resistant element from beneath southeast Nebraska.

NioCorp Developments CEO Peter Dickie says he expects to secure financing for the Elk Creek, Neb., project within the next few weeks.

Once the company gets funding, it will resume drilling samples to determine how much niobium and other rare earth elements are present, and NioCorp will finish analyzing the samples it has already collected. Those elements are used in making steel and high-tech devices.

People who live near Elk Creek hope the mining project succeeds because it would boost the economy, but they’re not counting on it because there have been so many delays.