Utility workers who were sent east to help restore power lost during Superstorm Sandy have returned home to Nebraska or are headed that way.

Nebraska Public Power District says 16 of its line technicians had ended their work in New Jersey, where they’d been sent after restoring power in parts of West Virginia. NPPD spokesman Mark Becker says they’re expected back in Nebraska on Wednesday.

Omaha Public Power District spokeswoman Paula Lukowski  says its seven workers were scheduled to return to Omaha on Wednesday as well. They’d been working in New York.

Lincoln Electric System says its crew had already returned.

A Douglas County judge has sentenced an Omaha woman to life in prison for killing her former landlord.

Monique Lee was convicted in August of first-degree murder in the October 2010 slaying of 48-year-old Karen Jenkins.

Prosecutors say Lee used a vacuum cleaner cord to kill Jenkins, who had evicted Lee. Jenkins’ body was found near an abandoned house.

Lee’s brother, Gary Lee, also was prosecuted. Prosecutors have said Gary Lee posed as a prospective renter to lure Jenkins to one of her properties. Investigators have said that when Jenkins arrived, Monique Lee hit her in the head and strangled her while Gary Lee held her down.

Gary Lee pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and in September was sentenced to 65 to 100 years in prison.

The Grand Island City Council has been asked to bar from city employment policies any discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The proposal scheduled to be considered at the council meeting Tuesday would add the protection to only city policies and would not affect any other employer in the south-central Nebraska community.

The council on Oct. 9 rejected a measure that would have barred businesses from discriminating against current or prospective employees based on their sexual orientation. It also would have covered housing and retail situations.

Councilman Larry Carney told The Grand Island Independent that the new proposal is a smaller first step toward eliminating discrimination.

City policies already bar discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, mental or physical disability, marital status, national origin or genetic information.

 

A condemned Ohio inmate sentenced to die for stabbing a woman more than 100 times is awake and having his last visits before his scheduled execution.

The execution of Brett Hartman is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith says Hartman has been calm and cooperative since arriving Monday.

Smith says Hartman slept for about three hours early Tuesday.

He declined breakfast before starting visits with an aunt, a sister and a friend Tuesday morning.

Prison staff checked Hartman’s veins twice on Monday and determined they were accessible and shouldn’t pose problems during the execution.

Hartman took two doses of an anti-anxiety drug Monday, which is offered to inmates under Department of Rehabilitation and Correction policy.

All of the nation’s major freight railroads are being recognized again as top employers for military veterans.

G.I. Jobs included CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, BNSF and Canadian National railroads in its list of the top military-friendly employers in the nation.

The rankings are based on company policies on military service and company efforts to recruit and hire veterans.

The U.S. railroad industry said earlier this year that railroads would hire at least 5,000 veterans.

CSX led all railroads by ranking No. 2, but BNSF wasn’t far behind at No. 5.

CSX CEO Michael Ward says military veterans are excellent railroad employees because they work well with teams and have safety and leadership training.

A rifle bullet has missed a school bus driver in eastern Nebraska.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the driver was alone on the school bus about 8:25 a.m. Monday as it headed south on 238th Road, southeast of Seward.

Seward County Sheriff Joe Yocum says the bullet passed through the right side of the bus, struck a window frame and ended up on a seat near the center of the bus.

There haven’t been other reports of vehicles being shot at in the area, and Yocum says investigators don’t believe the bus was specifically targeted. He says all possibilities are being examined, however.

 

Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood says he’s running for Nebraska governor and plans to emphasize for voters that he’s a budget-minded veteran lawmaker.

The Republican officially declared his candidacy Monday night in Norfolk, his hometown.

Flood is the second declared GOP candidate to enter the 2014 race. Gov. Dave Heineman can’t seek re-election because of term limits, and he’s already endorsed Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy.

Flood tells The Associated Press that he’ll focus on taxes, spending, job creation and infrastructure.

Flood says he will point to his work on legislation that preserved the death penalty, guaranteed concealed-carry rights for gun owners, and a statewide ban on late-term abortions.

He also helped pass the largest tax cut in state history.

Police fatally shot a Camp Pendleton Marine who struck an officer with a car in a parking garage in Palm Springs, authorities said Monday.

The Marine repeatedly ignored orders to stop after being approached by officers on bike patrol around 2 a.m. Saturday, the Palm Springs Police Department said in a statement.

One of the officers partially climbed into the passenger window to stop the car, but the Marine accelerated, striking the other officer, the department said. The Marine kept driving with the officer hanging out of the window until the car crashed near the garage exit, it said.

Both officers were treated for injuries at a hospital and released. They have been placed on administrative leave while the department investigates.

The Marine died at the scene and the lone passenger, another Marine, was not injured, authorities said.

“In the course of these events, fearing for their safety and the safety of others both officers discharged their weapons,” the statement said.

The Desert Sun (https://mydesert.co/UkHMTr) identified the Marine who was shot as Cpl. Allan DeVillena II and said his family contacted the newspaper.

Police said authorities later found a smartphone in the car that was reported stolen by someone whose identification card was found in the Marine’s pants pocket.

The lone passenger was arrested for investigation of public intoxication and for an unrelated misdemeanor warrant then released. Police did not release his name.

DeVillena’s father, Alan DeVillena, told the newspaper his son and the passenger had gone out to celebrate the 237th birthday of the Marine Corps, which was Saturday.

The father said the family was headed to Palm Springs to find out what had happened after being notified of his son’s death by the Marine Corps.

The newspaper reported both Marines were with the 1st Marine Logistics Group based in Camp Pendleton, but the men were stationed at Twentynine Palms.

Marine Corps officials could not be immediately reached for comment Monday when many offices were closed to celebrate Veterans Day.

DeVillena said his son served in Afghanistan and was due to finish his four-year enlistment in about two months. He said he planned to attend college.

“He was looking to get into audio engineering,” DeVillena told the newspaper. “He wanted to get into recording. He wrote a lot. He had a passion for music.”

Police say letters found after an Ohio murder-suicide that killed three children indicate it was orchestrated by their grandmother and uncle, who were found dead with the youngsters in the family garage amid a disagreement over who should care for them.

Toledo police say the bodies of the five were found Monday in a car, and they may have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. A truck was running with hoses leading from the exhaust into the car.

Firefighters found the bodies after using a sledgehammer to force open a barricaded door to the garage. Two dogs and a cat also died.

A family friend says the children’s mother had asked their grandmother to care for them about three years ago, but had recently decided they should return home.

Authorities are investigating the death of a man whose body was found at the base of a factory water tower in southeast Nebraska.

Thayer County Sheriff David Lee says the body of 19-year-old Taylor Horsechief, of Deshler, was discovered a little after 6 a.m. Saturday at the former Deshler Broom Factory. The factory closed in 1998.

Lee says it appears Horsechief died from an accidental fall, but the investigation is continuing. Investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy.

Horsechief graduated from Deshler High School in 2011.