A May trial has been scheduled for a 48-year-old man accused of killing his 2-year-old grandson in the south-central Nebraska town of Naponee.

The Associated Press reports that Peter Draper is charged with intentional child abuse resulting in death and intentional child abuse resulting in serious injury. A court document says Draper had been seen hitting Joseph Rinehart Jr. An autopsy says the boy died April 30, 2012, of head and internal injuries.

Draper’s wife and the boy’s mother are charged with committing intentional child abuse resulting in death. Their trials haven’t been scheduled yet. All three have pleaded not guilty.

His trial will be held in Hastings, in part because the Franklin County courtroom acoustics would have been unfair to Draper because of his hearing impairment.

A bitterly divided Senate panel has voted to approve the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the nation’s defense secretary.

The Armed Services Committee voted 14-11 to send the nomination to the full Senate. Tuesday’s vote broke along party lines with all 14 Democrats backing President Barack Obama’s choice.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is pushing for a full Senate vote by week’s end, but some Republicans are threatening to filibuster the nomination.

Hagel, a former two-term Republican senator and Vietnam combat veteran, faces strong opposition from GOP senators. They have questioned whether he is sufficiently supportive of Israel and too tolerant of Iran.

Democrats have the votes to confirm Hagel on a majority vote. He would succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Nebraska prosecutors have raised the charge against a Texas man to first-degree murder.

Forty-seven-year-old Craig Johnson, of Lovelady, Texas, already had pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. Prosecutors say he killed his girlfriend, 42-year-old April Smith, on Dec. 11, 2011, at the home they shared eight miles west of Sidney in the Nebraska Panhandle.

Cheyenne County Attorney Paul Schaub says new information obtained by investigators convinced him that Johnson’s was a first-degree murder case.

Authorities say Johnson became enraged at Smith because she’d let her estranged husband to fix her vehicle. People also reported to police that Smith planned to reconcile with her husband.

A trial date hasn’t been set.

Reminiscent of the Marlboro Man, the unofficial spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas has died of a heart attack.

The Associated Press reports that 52-year-old John Alleman suffered a heart attack last week while waiting at a bus stop in front of the diner. He was taken off life support Monday.

The medically-themed restaurant is famous for its huge hamburgers, extra-fat milkshakes and fries cooked in lard. It uses the tagline, “taste worth dying for.”

Owner Jon Basso told the Las Vegas Sun that Alleman came to the diner every day. He became an unofficial mascot, and his caricature as “patient John” graced the front of the diners’ menus.

An autopsy has been performed on the body of a Saunders County jail inmate.

Authorities say 47-year-old Gloria O’Connor was found unresponsive in her cell about 1 a.m. Sunday. She was taken to a Lincoln hospital but could not be revived.

Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz says O’Connor had been sick but wasn’t sick enough to go to a hospital.

Saunders County Attorney Scott Tingelhoff says a grand jury will be convened to investigate O’Connor’s death. State law requires such an investigation whenever someone dies in custody or while being arrested.

Blood and other tests on the body won’t be available for several weeks.

A sheriff’s spokeswoman says charred human remains have been found in the burned-out cabin where a fugitive former Los Angeles police officer was believed to be.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller says the remains were found late Tuesday after a shootout that killed one sheriff’s deputy and injured another. Authorities believe Christopher Dorner barricaded himself inside the cabin and a fire later ensued.

Investigators will attempt to determine if the remains are Dorner’s through forensic tests.

Thousands of officers had been on the hunt for the former Navy reservist since police said he launched a campaign to exact revenge against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing.

Police had been searching the snow-covered woods near Big Bear Lake, a resort town about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, after Dorner’s truck was found late last week.

A Kearney woman has been given some jail time and a year of probation for placing bets and extending credit to herself while working at a keno operation.

The Associated Press reports that Robyn Morrison also was fined $500 and was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and complete classes on responsible thinking and financial peace. Morrison was given a total of 70 days in jail, but 60 of those days will be served in increments at the discretion of state probation officers.

In July a Kearney Keno manager reported to police that Morrison had been placing bets while working and had run up a loss of more than $52,000. Investigators found that Morrison had been placing bets without putting money in the Kearney Keno cash drawer.

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