OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Upgrades are on the horizon at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield as it nears capacity following its busiest year ever.

About 4.6 million people traveled through the airport last year, a 6 percent increase from 2016. The increase is the biggest annual percentage jump the airport’s seen since 2005. It’s also the airport’s fourth consecutive year of growth.

New routes, more flights, and airlines flying larger plans contributed to the increased traffic, airport officials said. Omaha’s strong economy contributed to the demand for air travel, economists said.

“The airlines have definitely been willing to invest in Omaha,” said Eppley Executive Director Dave Roth. “And in Omaha, with the economy, folks are picking up that capacity and actually flying.”

Eppley officials will begin planning for improvements outlined in the airport’s 20-year master plan that’s driven by demand. Specific projects are trigged when the airport hits certain passenger milestones.

Projects to be considered include improvements to the north concourse and renovations to the airport’s main terminal.

“We’re in the right timing right now to start looking at this,” Roth said. “I don’t think we’re too fast or too slow. We’re working through this methodically to make sure we get the right process in place and also to build the right facilities.”

Roth expects Eppley will hit the plan’s next milestone of 4.75 million passengers this year.

The airport is currently constructing a new parking garage, which is expected to be completed in the spring. It’s also adding security lines to both security checkpoints and will likely renovate the existing parking garage.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Council Bluffs police have released the name of a suspect and the officer who shot him earlier this week.

Police said in a news release Friday that Officer Trevor Benson shot 21-year-old Daton Petrey, of Omaha, early Thursday morning. Police say Petrey refused to tell the officer his name or get out of his car during initial contact. Police say when Benson opened Petrey’s door to try to remove him, Petrey put the car in reverse, dragging the officer for about 40 feet.

Police say Benson fired two shots, hitting Petrey once in the torso. The officer wasn’t hurt.

The car sped way but soon crashed. Petrey was arrested after a short foot chase, then taken to an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital, where he’s expected to recover.

A Nebraska felony arrest warrant was out on Petrey for parole violation at the time of the shooting.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for trying to coerce a 12-year-old Georgia girl to send him sexually explicit pictures.

Federal prosecutors in Omaha say 37-year-old Jeffrey Fenn Jr. was sentenced Friday in Omaha for attempting to receive child pornography.

Investigators say he befriended the girl while playing an online video game, then began an online relationship with her over a popular messaging service. He repeatedly asked for sexually explicit pictures of her, and threatened to end the relationship if she did not comply. Police say the girl sent some suggestive photos, but refused to send sexually explicit ones.

The texts were reported to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Fenn was arrested in Omaha last year.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — A man has been accused of looting his ailing mother’s bank account and not paying her bills in southeast Nebraska.

58-year-old Gary Vaughn, of Auburn, is accused of misusing nearly $61,000 from his mother’s account. Court records say he’s charged with three felony counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult. His attorney didn’t immediately return a call Friday from The Associated Press.

Vaughn’s next court date is Feb. 14.

An arrest warrant affidavit says Vaughn has power of attorney for his 83-year-old mother and is supposed to be paying her bills. The affidavit says the facility caring for his mother is owed nearly $28,000.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 22-year-old man has taken a plea deal in the fatal shooting of an Omaha resident inside a parked car.

Court records say Benjamin Guevara is scheduled to be sentenced March 19. He pleaded guilty Tuesday to manslaughter and a weapons crime. Originally he was charged with first-degree murder for the death of 21-year-old Oziel Vasquez-Serrano.

The records say Guevara shot Vasquez-Serrano on May 13, pulled him from the car and left him to die.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police officers will undergo Native American cultural sensitivity and mental health training after a mentally ill Native American man died in police custody.

29-year-old Zachary Bearheels died in June after he was shocked with a Taser multiple times, punched in the head and dragged by his ponytail.

Bearheels was a member of the Rosebud Sioux of South Dakota and also had ties to Apache and Kiowa Tribes of Oklahoma. His relatives say he had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Lt. Catherine Milone says all officers will attend an hour and a half Native American cultural training and an hour and a half mental health training in June.

More than 50 members of the basic and veteran police recruit classes received Native American sensitivity training in December.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has ordered an Omaha man to stand trial in the fatal shootings of his parents and niece in a case that could see him facing the death penalty.

Forty-six-year-old John Dalton Jr. was ordered to stand trial Wednesday following his preliminary hearing. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and four weapon charges in the Dec. 26 deaths of 70-year-old John Dalton Sr., 65-year-old Jean Dalton and 18-year-old Leonna Dalton-Phillip. Police say another niece — a 6-year-old girl — hid under a couch and was able to identify John Dalton Jr. as the shooter.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says his office still is looking at evidence to decide whether to pursue the death penalty.

Police say they arrested Dalton on Dec. 27 in Jackson, Tennessee.

MADISON, Neb. (AP) — A judge has convicted a Norfolk woman accused of killing her 4-year-old daughter.

Judge James Kube rendered his verdict Wednesday in Madison County District Court after the nonjury trial of 23-year-old Carla Montoya. The charge was intentional child abuse resulting in death. Her sentencing is scheduled for March 15.

Prosecutors say Montoya told police she became angry at her daughter, Caylee, and tossed her into a bed three times on March 12, 2016, and that the girl may have hit her head on the bed frame or a wall. The girl died days later in an Omaha hospital.

SCHUYLER, Neb. (AP) — A Schuyler man has been given four months in jail for the crash death of a passenger in his pickup truck.

Court records say Jesus Vasquez De La Cruz was sentenced last week in Colfax County District Court. He’d pleaded no contest to manslaughter after prosecutors dropped other charges. He also must pay $5,000 in restitution.

Authorities say he was driving the pickup in April 2016 when it went out of control on a rural road north-northwest of Schuyler. His passenger, 24-year-old Moises Aguilar-Aguilar, was fatally injured.

TRUMANN, Ark. (AP) — Authorities say a teenager from northeast Arkansas who was missing since Saturday has been found in Nebraska.

Trumann police say 16-year-old Arissa Farmer was found early Thursday morning in O’Neill, Nebraska. The city is more than 12 hours away from Trumann.

Officers found the teenager with a male from Dover, Tennessee, who police say she met on social media and who officers had been attempting to locate for four days.

Police initially believed Arissa was a runaway and left voluntarily. But Chief Chadwick Henson said early in the investigation that the teen may be with someone who didn’t have her best interest.

Arissa’s mother, Tia, posted Thursday on Facebook thanking those who helped bring the girl home, saying “my husband and I will be able to hug our daughter again.”