OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Navy Secretary Ray Mabus will be in Nebraska next week for a naming ceremony for the USS Omaha.

The Navy announced plans in February for five new ships. The USS Omaha is a littoral combat ship, which can operate in shallow and deep water.

The city says Mabus will be in Omaha for the naming ceremony on Monday at Louis and Clark Landing.

The future USS Omaha is the fourth Navy vessel to bear the name. It’s being built in Mobile, Ala.,

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man sentenced to life in prison for the beating death of his toddler has had his request to be released from prison denied.

Germai Molina filed a petition last year in Lincoln’s U.S. District Court for habeas corpus. He claimed his constitutional rights were violated when he was not allowed to show a 6 1/2-hour taped interview of his ex-wife to the jury, among other things. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Warren Urbom denied the petition, ruling that Molina filed the petition too late.

Molina’s plea for relief came after being twice rejected on appeal by the Nebraska Supreme Court.

Molina was convicted in 2004 of second-degree murder and felony child abuse in Grand Island for the 2003 beating death of his 2-year-old daughter, Diana Molina.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man accused of driving a stolen SUV at a Lincoln police officer who was trying to arrest a woman has been sent to prison.

Local media says 36-year-old Jonathan Dye was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Thursday. He pleaded no contest to theft by receiving stolen property and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest.

Police say Dye accelerated toward an officer outside a bank in December. The officer was at the bank about Dye’s passenger, who allegedly was trying to cash stolen checks. Dye and the woman fled.

The SUV, which was stolen out of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was later found abandoned in Lincoln.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Preliminary results from an investigation show a man wounded during an Omaha standoff with officers fired one round from his shotgun.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says two deputies involved in Monday’s incident are returning to duty on Thursday.

The standoff in northwest Omaha lasted several hours until a deputy shot 36-year-old Lance Wetzel, who remains hospitalized.

The sheriff’s office says an officer had used a stun gun round on Wetzel when he left his vehicle. But Wetzel grabbed his shotgun and pointed it toward officers. The sheriff’s office says a deputy then fired his rifle and hit Wetzel, who fired his shotgun once harmlessly into the air.

Officers were looking for Wetzel because his wife reported he’d punctured her vehicle’s tires and he was wanted on a weapons warrant.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A June survey report says growth in rural areas of 10 Midwestern and Western states has slowed.

The report released Thursday says the Rural Mainstreet Index hit its lowest level of the year, 56.7, compared with 58.5 in May.

But survey organizers say any survey index score above 50 on the 100-point scale suggests growth in the months ahead.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss oversees the survey of rural bankers. Goss says the global economic slowdown, combined with a stronger U.S. dollar, have pushed agriculture and energy prices lower. He says downward pressure that weakens overall growth for rural parts of the 10 states.

The states are Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Railroad history buffs can check out one of Union Pacific’s historic steam locomotives in Omaha during the College World Series, and then watch it return home to Wyoming.

Union Pacific is displaying steam locomotive No. 844 throughout the College World Series in downtown Omaha. The display is across the street from the stadium.

The locomotive was delivered for Union Pacific in 1944. The engine pulled passenger trains at first but in the 1950s was switched to freight duty in Nebraska.

After the baseball tournament concludes, the locomotive will return to Cheyenne, Wyo.

On the way home, the locomotive will visit Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Wednesday; North Platte on Friday; and Cheyenne on next Saturday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Congressman Adrian Smith is co-sponsoring a measure to stop the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s aerial surveillance of agriculture operations, which have taken place in Nebraska and neighboring states.

The measure is similar to one introduced in the Senate last week by Nebraska U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns.

Smith, a Republican representing Nebraska’s vast 3rd House District, says the EPA’s aerial surveillance program raises questions about the privacy and property rights of America’s agriculture producers.

The EPA has defended the 10-year practice as a cost-effective way for the agency to monitor animal feedlots that may be polluting water.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Missouri man has pleaded no contest after Nebraska prosecutors lowered the charge against him involving sex with an underage girl.

Local media reports that 24-year-old Kristofer Allen, of Kansas City, Mo., made the plea Tuesday in Lancaster County District Court.

The charge was lowered to attempted first-degree sexual assault, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. The original charge carried a maximum of 50 years in prison.

A 15-year-old Waverly girl told investigators that Allen had traveled to Nebraska to see her and that she had sex with him about 10 times from June to August last year.

Allen’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 29.