(AP) — Public safety officials in Connecticut say about 50 people have been hurt after two commuter trains collided outside New York City. Four of those injuries were deemed serious.

No fatalities were reported following Friday evening’s collision near Fairfield on the Metro-North Railroad.

The rail line referred to it in a news release as a “major derailment.”

A spokesman for public safety officials in nearby Bridgeport says about 250 people were on the two trains that collided after one derailed.

The railroad says a train that departed New York City’s Grand Central station en route to New Haven derailed. A westbound train on an adjacent track then struck the derailed train.

Some cars on the second train also derailed as a result of the collision.

Amtrak suspended service indefinitely between New York and Boston.

 

(AP) — A major insurer is recommending 11 Nebraska hospitals for spine surgeries and knee or hip replacements because they deliver quality care at a reasonable cost.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska says these hospitals all meet quality standards demonstrate cost efficiency.

Dr. Dave Filipi with the insurer says this list should help Nebraskans decide which hospitals to use.

The list includes six hospitals in Omaha: The Nebraska Medical Center; Alegent Creighton’s Immanuel, Bergan Mercy and Lakeside hospitals; the Nebraska Spine Hospital; and Methodist Hospital.

Three Lincoln hospitals were also honored: Saint Elizabeth and BryanLGH East and West hospitals.

Fremont Area Medical Center in Fremont and Saint Francis Medical Center in Grand Island were also named hospitals of distinction.

An Omaha gay-rights group is seeking the return of some $1,800 donated to a Lincoln woman convicted of lying about being attacked in her home by masked men who carved anti-gay slurs into her skin.

Beth Rigatuso, president of Heartland Pride, says that the money was given to Charlie Rogers by donors at a candlelight vigil held on Rogers’ behalf last July.

Rogers, a former Nebraska basketball player, had told police that three masked men broke into her Lincoln house and assaulted her. But police say Rogers faked the attack.

Rogers was ordered to repay more than $10,000 given to her. A probation officer distributed the money to donors and a Lincoln police charity. But the Omaha group says it didn’t get its share.

(AP) — Police say a man stabbed his estranged girlfriend at least 20 times in a Grand Island church parking lot before cutting his own throat and fleeing.

Police say the man, identified as 41-year-old Aslin Nabarro, and 33-year-old Mirna Medina-Colocho argued in the parking lot Friday morning before Nabarro pulled out a knife and began stabbing the woman in the torso and head.

Police say he then inflicted a deep cut to his own throat, fled and collapsed in an alley less than a block away.

Both Medina-Colocho and Nabarro were taken to a local hospital, where each underwent surgery. A nursing supervisor at St. Francis Medical Center said both in stable condition Friday evening. Their conditions were not available Saturday.

Military officials say a Humvee carrying six Navy SEALs and two other sailors overturned during a training exercise at Fort Knox in Kentucky, killing one of the SEALs and injuring the others on board.

Lt. David Lloyd, a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Group Two in Virginia Beach, Va., says the Humvee was part of a convoy on the post when it overturned Wednesday night. What caused it to flip remains under investigation.

The Navy says the SEAL who died was Special Warfare Operator Third Class Jonathan H. Kaloust, who was based in Virginia. He was from Massapequa, N.Y.

Lloyd says the seven survivors were treated for minor injuries and released from a hospital.

The sailors had been conducting tactical training, but Lloyd would not release further details about the exercise because it was considered sensitive.

(AP)-The public can learn more about the progress being made at the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant on Friday.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Omaha Public Power District will discuss the latest inspections at the idle plant 20 miles north of Omaha at the meeting.

Fort Calhoun initially shut down for routine maintenance in April 2011, but flooding along the Missouri River and a series of safety violations forced it to stay closed.

The utility is working to address a list of about 480 items in 18 major categories the NRC says must be fixed before the plant will be allowed to restart.

OPPD officials say they think Fort Calhoun can be ready by late May.

Regulators say the plant won’t restart unless they’re confident it is safe.

Omaha cold case investigators have been looking for links between this week’s slayings of a Creighton University professor and his wife and the 2008 slayings of an 11-year-old boy and his family housekeeper.

The professor, Dr. Roger Brumback, was a colleague of the boy’s father and mother at Creighton’s medical school. They are Drs. William and Claire Hunter. Their son, Thomas Hunter, and their housekeeper, 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman, were stabbed to death at the Hunters’ home on March 13, 2008.

Police have not said how Roger and Mary Brumback were killed. Their bodies were discovered in their west-central Omaha home on Tuesday.

No arrests have been reported in either case.

Police won’t say whether they found any links, other than the professional relationships between Roger Brumback and the Hunters.

Sentencing has been rescheduled for a Blair woman who was convicted of negligent child abuse in the drowning of a toddler at her day care facility.

The new court date is May 30 and had been requested by the lawyer for 59-year-old Nancy Tierney. She’d pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge. Prosecutors dropped a manslaughter count in exchange for her plea. Tierney’s original sentencing date was May 16.

Police say Tierney was charged after a 16-month-old girl drowned in August last year in a pool at Tierney’s home, which served as a certified day care facility. A court document says Tierney left the girl, Isabella Thallas, and other children unattended when she used a bathroom. Tierney said she thought the gate to the pool had been locked.

Investigators say more than 130 marijuana plants have been found at the home of a woman who worked as a litigation assistant in the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office.

38-year-old Kimberly Meidell was arrested Wednesday at the home she shares with 38-year-old Eric Trost, who also was arrested.

An arrest warrant affidavit says that in addition to the marijuana plants, more than a pound of marijuana and marijuana paraphernalia were found in the home.

Meidell had worked in the Attorney General’s Office for more than nine years. Deputy Attorney General David Cookson said Thursday that Meidell’s “employment has been terminated.”

A Lancaster County jailer said Meidell and Trost remained in custody on Friday. Online court records don’t list the names of their attorneys.

(AP)-Drug company Novartis has begun laying off workers at its plant east of Lincoln.

The Swiss drugmaker says in a statement it had notified 72 people that their positions have been eliminated. The company also won’t fill 41 positions that had been open.

The positions are in technical operations, engineering and quality.

The job cuts are part of a plan Novartis announced last month to cut 300 jobs from its workforce of 750 in Lincoln. More layoffs are planned in early 2014 and a final round will occur in 2015.

The layoffs follow inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that found problems with quality control and complaint resolution at the plant.