(AP) — A company has announced plans for a $12 million project in downtown Grand Island that would turn several historic buildings into a full-service luxury hotel.

Grand Island resident Zachary Zoul announced his plans Wednesday at a news conference. His company, Hospitality Advisors Group, will take on the project.

The focus of the project is the Nebraskan Hotel, which will consist of the Masonic Temple Building, Bartenbach Opera House and Rexall Drug building.

Plans call for the hotel to cover a block of Locust Street and include 50 guest rooms and suites, a restaurant, coffee shop, spa, retail shops and meeting space.

(AP) — Jodi Arias said in a post-conviction interview with a TV station that she prefers the death penalty over life in prison.

Arias talked to members of the media in the courthouse minutes after she was convicted of first-degree murder. With tears in her eyes, she said she feels overwhelmed and that she was surprised because she didn’t believe she committed first-degree murder.

She said she would “prefer to die sooner than later” and that “death is the ultimate freedom.”

Arias has previously said that she considered suicide after killing her lover Travis Alexander. The county said that Arias was placed under suicide watch.

(AP) — A Cleveland man faces a string of charges for allegedly kidnapping two teens and a young woman and holding them for nearly a decade at his home. They were rescued Monday after one of them broke a screen door and screamed for help.

Ariel Castro was charged today with four counts of kidnapping — covering all three captives and the daughter born to one of them while she was held. He was also charged with three counts of rape against the three women. Prosecutors brought no charges against Castro’s two brothers, saying there was no evidence they had any part in the crime.

Police say the women were apparently bound with ropes and chains. City Councilman Brian Cummins, who was briefed on the case, says that they were subjected to prolonged sexual and psychological abuse and suffered miscarriages. The victims were kept in the basement of the dilapidated house.

Two of the young women, meanwhile, have been welcomed home by jubilant crowds of loved ones and neighbors. The third captive is reported in good condition at a hospital.

A fire in a meat processing plant known for its “Wahoo Wiener” kept firefighters busy for hours and sent a huge plume of smoke over Wahoo.

The fire was reported Wednesday afternoon at the Wahoo Locker Plant, and it took firefighters more than two hours to put out the blaze.

Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz says an explosion caused the fire, which quickly moved into an adjacent storage building.

At least 80 firefighters from several area fire departments responded to the blaze.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Wahoo is about 30 miles west of Omaha.

(AP) — An eastern Nebraska woman has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for Social Security fraud.

U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Deb Gilg says 35-year-old Kimberly Butinski, of Valley, was sentenced Wednesday and ordered to pay restitution of nearly $40,000.

Gilg says Butinski received Social Security disability benefits on her children’s behalf after falsely reporting that she had separated from her husband. Because benefits are based on household income, Butinski received increased payments — nearly $33,000 more than she was entitled to receive.

Gilg says Butinski also received about $7,000 in food stamps and energy assistance she was not entitled to receive.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General.

(AP) — The jury has found Jodi Arias guilty of first-degree murder in the death of her one-time boyfriend in Arizona.

Arias initially denied involvement and later blamed the killing on masked intruders.

Two years after her arrest, she said she killed Travis Alexander in self-defense.

After a four-month trial that included graphic details of their sexual escapades and photos of Alexander just after his death, jurors began deliberating Friday afternoon.

 

A 7-year-old Omaha boy is recovering after being attacked by a neighbor’s two Rottweiler dogs.

The Nebraska Humane Society’s Mark Langan says the boy suffered serious injuries to his forehead and scalp in the Tuesday evening attack.

Langan says the boy was walking in a wooded area near his house when the dogs attacked. The dogs went through the invisible fence surrounding their yard before the attack.

The boy managed to get away from the dogs and return home, but Langan says he was covered in blood when he reached his house.

Langan says both dogs were taken into the humane society’s custody. The dogs are licensed and current on their vaccinations, and the owners are cooperating.

The man accused in the deadly Colorado theater shootings wants to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.

James Holmes’ attorneys revealed his intention Tuesday. The new plea could mean a long delay for a mental evaluation and legal arguments.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 20 attack that killed 12 people and left 70 injured. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Holmes’ lawyers delayed entering a plea for weeks, saying the state insanity law could severely hamper his ability to mount a defense against the death penalty.

A judge entered a standard not guilty plea for Holmes last month.

The court will hear arguments from both sides Monday on whether to let Holmes change his plea to insanity.

 

(AP) — A June sentencing date has been set for a businessman convicted of embezzling money that was supposed to go to employees’ pension funds and insurance premiums.

U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon set Richard Odermatt’s sentencing hearing for June 7.

The 61-year-old Odermatt, of Ashland, is the owner of Odermatt Floor Covering Inc. in Omaha.

Federal prosecutors say Odermatt withheld nearly $59,000 from employee paychecks between April 2009 and last July and used it for other things.

Odermatt pleaded guilty in February. He faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced.