A Lincoln man who was being held on minor charges when he was found paralyzed in his cell is suing the city of Lincoln and Lancaster County.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Arok Atem’s lawsuit says police should have taken him into emergency protective custody upon his arrest.

Atem walked into a Lincoln hospital with breathing problems last year. He was arrested after becoming belligerent and throwing a phone and computer monitor. Police believe Atem was drunk.

Atem’s attorney, Maren Chaloupka of Scottsbluff, says Atem is mentally ill. The lawsuit she filed this week in Nebraska’s federal court says police should have known Atem was a danger to himself when he was arrested.

It’s unclear how Atem, who is now a quadriplegic, sustained his injuries.

A small southeastern Nebraska hospital is back in business after being evacuated because of a chemical leak.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Jefferson Community Health Center in Fairbury — south of Lincoln — was evacuated Friday afternoon after a hazardous-materials unit discovered a chemical leak in the hospital’s laundry room.

Assisted living and long-term care tenants were taken to a nearby church after the leak of the unidentified chemical. Four hospital patients also were taken to other health care facilities.

Hospital spokeswoman Lana Likens said the chemical had fully dissipated by 8 p.m. Friday. The hospital reopened later Friday night.

The Better Business Bureau that serves Nebraska, South Dakota and southwest Iowa has announced a merger with The Kansas Plains Better Business Bureau that serves most of Kansas.

The new combined territory will have nearly 10,000 accredited businesses.

Jim Hegarty is president of the bureau based in Omaha says that the merger will let each bureau “build on each other’s strengths, combine resources and initiate new programs to meet the needs of today’s businesses and consumers.”

The bureaus expect the merger to be completed in the next few months. The merged bureau will have its headquarters in Omaha, with in Lincoln, Neb.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Wichita, Kan.

A 19-year-old eastern Nebraska man has been accused of molesting a 3-year-old girl.

The York News-Times says that Damien Hartman, of York, is due back in court on Tuesday to face a felony charge of sexually assaulting a child.

A witness reported the October incident to police.

Hartman’s attorney has filed a motion asking that Hartman be given a psychological evaluation.

A York County jailer said Hartman remained in custody on Friday, pending $100,000 bail. Hartman’s attorney didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

A former Omaha television newsman who once ran for Congress has been accused of domestic violence.

Authorities say Michael Scott was arrested on Thursday. His estranged girlfriend had told police that Scott choked her, hit her in an eye and ripped off two fake fingernails while threatening to kill her last weekend.

Court records say Scott is charged with misdemeanor domestic assault. A Douglas County jailer said Scott remained in custody on Friday, pending $50,000 bail. Court records don’t list the name of Scott’s attorney.

Scott ran as a Democrat for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998 against Republican Lee Terry, who won re-election again on Tuesday.

Scott’s television career included stops at two stations in Omaha and jobs in Dallas and Denver and in Huntsville, Ala.

Toy construction trucks are pouring into the funeral home handling arrangements for a 2-year-old boy fatally mauled by wild dogs at the Pittsburgh zoo.

The parents of Maddox Derkosh requested the toys instead of flowers because their son liked to play with trucks and share them with friends

More than 3,000 have been donated, and the funeral home says it will continue accepting them even after the boy’s funeral Friday morning.

The family intends to donate the trucks to a charity that will distribute them to needy children on Christmas.

Investigations continue into the boy’s death. He fell from a wooden railing overlooking the exhibit Sunday at the zoo.

A Papillion woman that was found guilty of negligent child abuse for the third-degree burns her infant son suffered has been sentenced to a year in jail.

Omaha television station KETV reports that Star Manzo was sentenced on Thursday. Prosecutors say Manzo’s son was six months old when he was badly burned after being left on a heating pad in February. Manzo had left the baby in the care of her boyfriend, a convicted sex offender, when the incident happened.

Investigators originally charged Manzo’s boyfriend, 29-year-old David Coleman of Bellevue, with felony child abuse. But those charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.

Online court records show Coleman has pleaded no contest to negligent child abuse and will be sentenced Dec. 13.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has lowered its predictions for the drought-stunted corn crops in Iowa and Nebraska.

The USDA says that, based on Nov. 1 conditions, it expects a Nebraska crop of 1.27 billion bushels. That’s down more than 2 percent from the October forecast and 17 percent below last year.

In Iowa, a corn crop of 1.90 billion bushels is expected, which is more than 1 percent less than October and down 19 percent from last year.

The Nebraska soybean crop is forecast at 203 million bushels, the same figure as October and 22 percent below 2011.

In Iowa, a soybean crop of 409 million bushels is expected, more than 2.5 percent higher than the October figure but still 14 percent under last year.

More than a million Nebraskans will be paying more for electricity in 2013. The Nebraska Public Power District board voted Friday to raise its wholesale and retail rates an average 3.75 percent, beginning on January 1st.

NPPD says retail residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month will see a $5.50 increase in their monthly bills. The average Nebraska home uses about 1,200 kilowatt-hours per month.

The rate increases vary depending on how customers use the electricity.

NPPD says the rate increases are needed to cover NPPD’s rising costs.

The utility delivers power, wholesale or retail, to nearly 1.1 million people in Nebraska.

Related: NPPD Sues Wells Fargo Over Loss Of Retirement Securities 

Republican U.S. Sen.-elect Deb Fischer says she and her husband, Bruce, plan to go apartment hunting in the Washington, D.C. area sometime next week.

Fischer was elected Tuesday to replace Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, who opted not to seek a third term. She handily defeated Democratic rival Bob Kerrey, a former Nebraska governor and two-term U.S. Senator. Kerrey was also a 1992 Democratic presidential candidate.

Fischer, who will be sworn in as Nebraska’s newest U.S. Senator in January, said her Washington digs will not be anything fancy.

She said she’ll probably settle for a one-bedroom apartment, much like she has had in Lincoln while serving in the Nebraska Legislature for the last eight years.