COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A western Iowa police officer has escaped serious injury after being dragged by a car for 20 to 30 feet.

The Council Bluffs officer was attempting early Tuesday morning to make contact with someone inside a sport utility vehicle he recognized as a suspect being sought for arrest.

Police say the officer ordered the man out of the SUV, but the suspect instead put the vehicle in reverse and drove off. The officer’s hand became trapped in the door, and he was dragged briefly before escaping. The officer suffered minor leg injuries.

Police say the suspect is believed to have fled into Nebraska.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lancaster County officials are creating a program to reduce the number of repeat offenders booked into the county jail.

An analysis of the more than 6,300 people in Lancaster County Jail in 2017 found that more than half were there for their first or second time.

But almost 50 people who were booked into the Lancaster County Jail last year had been in the jail at least 20 times in the last five years. Sometimes individuals aren’t booked for new crimes, but for failing to appear in court for previous charges.

One man has been jailed more than 130 times over the past 20 years. The 45-year-old is an alcoholic and a transient, said Brad Johnson, jail director. He’s been charged with nuisance crimes and assault-type behavior, Johnson said.

The county’s Community Corrections program is working on a recidivism program that will focus on reducing the number of 18- to 24-year-old men who return to jail. The program will prioritize men living in high poverty neighborhoods.

“The re-arrest rate for this group is really high nationally. And our jail reflects that as well,” said Kim Etherton, the executive director of Community Corrections.

About one-fifth of the more than 570 people in jail on a recent Friday fell within that category, according to records.

The program has received a three-year $1 million grant from the federal Department of Justice, she said.

The program aims to get men out of custody within six weeks and into treatment programs, Etherton said. It will likely begin in the summer or fall.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police say they’ve arrested a 32-year-old man suspected of driving drunk with five children in his vehicle after one of the kids called 911.

A 14-year-old boy — the driver’s nephew — inside the car called 911 around noon Sunday. Police say when officers stopped the vehicle, they found the children — ranging in age from 12 to 15 — crying and the driver showing clear signs of intoxication.

Police say a breath test showed the driver’s blood alcohol content at nearly .30 — nearly four times the legal limit to drive.

The driver has been charged with DUI, five counts of child neglect and not having a driver’s license or registration.

CENTRAL CITY, Neb. (AP) — An April sentencing is scheduled for a Columbus woman accused of embezzling nearly $90,000 from a business in Merrick County.

Chelsea Aldrich has pleaded no contest to theft from Agroservice Inc. in Silver Creek. Her sentencing is set for April 16 in Central City.

Prosecutors say that she wrote bogus checks on the company account while working as a secretary from Aug. 1, 2016, to Jan. 31, 2017.

O’NEILL, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 58-year-old legislative candidate died after a snow sledding accident in north-central Nebraska.

The Holt County attorney’s office says medics and other first responders were sent late Sunday afternoon to a location about 19 miles (31 kilometers) north of O’Neill. They found an O’Neill man, George Holm, who was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead later at an O’Neill hospital.

Investigators determined that Holm and a child were on a sled that slammed into a tree stump at high speed. Authorities say Holm was able to protect the child from physical injuries.

Holm was a Democrat who’d announced his candidacy for the Legislature’s District 40 seat but who had not yet officially filed. The seat is held by Tyson Larson, who will be leaving office because of term limits.

HOSKINS, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say three people were hospitalized after a fire destroyed a northeast Nebraska home.

The fire was reported just before 11 p.m. Sunday at a house in rural Hoskins. Firefighters from at least three departments fought the flames, which engulfed the structure.

Authorities have not released the injured people’s names. Two of them were sent to a Norfolk hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation. The third person suffered burns.

The fire cause is being investigated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Most of the public will soon lose live access to Lincoln’s primary police dispatch channels.

The Lincoln Police Department instead will provide an online feed that is delayed by 10 minutes — the expected response window for officers’ highest-priority calls.

News outlets will be allowed to maintain real-time access to the primary channels to ensure accountability and allow community notification when situations broadly affect public safety.

The city’s switch to a digital radio system this year offered the department an opportunity to encrypt its radio channels.

Public Safety Director Tom Casady (KASS’-uh-dee) and Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister (BLEYE’-meye-stur) say they weighed concerns over privacy, officer safety and criminal apprehension against the merits of police department transparency.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A state liquor board has temporarily suspended the liquor license of the Thayer County Fairgrounds following last year’s utility vehicle crash that killed a country singer.

Abby Uecker, who performed under the name Abby Nicole, died in the crash last July on the fairgrounds after performing at the Thayer County Fair. Investigators say the driver told them he had consumed several beers that night, but no charges were filed.

On Wednesday, the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission suspended the fairgrounds’ license for 10 days for allowing open containers of alcohol after hours. In lieu of the suspension, the Thayer County Ag Society has the option of paying a $500 fine.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld an Omaha man’s first-degree murder and manslaughter convictions.

Michael Nolt was sentenced last year to life in prison for the October 2015 shooting deaths in Omaha of Malquan King and Arelius Hassell.

Prosecutors say the shootings were part of a botched robbery. They say Nolt shot Hassell in the face after a brief argument, and then shot two other people hiding in a closet, killing King.

In his appeal, Nolt argued that some evidence should not have been allowed at his trial and that his attorney was woefully ineffective. On Friday, the state’s high court ruled that there was no merit to Nolt’s arguments.

The opinion was one of six Friday written by Justice Max Kelch, who abruptly announced his retirement last month fewer than two years after being appointed to the high court.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Police have cited a tow-truck driver who crashed into to other vehicles near Bellevue last month, killing two people and injuring two others.

57-year-old James Helbert was ticketed Thursday for misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide and careless driving.

Investigators say Helbert was driving a tow-truck erratically Jan. 5 when he crashed into the parked vehicles in the turning lane to exit Highway 75. Killed were 19-year-old Khalil Jones, of Daytona Beach, Florida, and 47-year-old Shamus Dean, of Papillion.

Police say Jones was an airman stationed at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha, and his car had stalled along the freeway. Dean had pulled over to help.

Two people in Jones’ car were seriously injured in the crash. Helbert was not hurt.