COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) – A 27-year-old woman has been arrested, accused of starting a fire at the house she rents in Columbus.
Authorities say Ebtihal Albaiaty was arrested at the scene early Monday morning.
Columbus Fire Chief Dean Hefti says Albaiaty lived alone in the house and was not injured by the blaze, which took firefighters about an hour to extinguish.
A Platte County jailer said Albaiaty remained in custody on Tuesday. Online court records don’t list the case. It’s unclear whether Albaiaty has a lawyer.

GERING, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office says Gering violated state law on open meetings last fall.
Questions were raised about the council’s Oct. 14 meeting. Among them was whether the council could go into a closed session regarding a complaint against Mayor Ed Mayo.
Mayo said the complaint had been made about his request for inventory audits from city department heads. The mayor says a closed “personnel session” couldn’t be held because he wasn’t technically one of the city’s “personnel.”
Bruning’s office says the violation was rectified in December when the council took action in open session.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska couple who pleaded no contest to animal cruelty charges won’t be allowed to own animals for five years as part of a plea agreement.
Daniel and Ellyn Newcomer entered the plea to six misdemeanor counts on Monday in Dodge County Court. The Newcomers, who currently live in Wahoo, were arrested earlier this year after authorities removed nine dogs, three cats and a pot-bellied pig from their home in Fremont.
County Attorney Oliver Glass says he sought the six misdemeanors because six of the dogs had to euthanized, and he wants to make sure they don’t legally own pets for five years. Sentencing is June 11.
Glass says authorities won’t seek charges against the Newcomers for seven dogs that were found in February inside a storage unit they rented. Those dogs were taken to an animal shelter.

CHADRON, Neb. (AP) – Dawes County Attorney Vance Haug is recovering after a motorcycle accident over the weekend in Chadron.
Eagle Radio station KQSK says police say Haug and his passenger were injured on Sunday when Haug’s motorcycle was hit by a car on U.S. Highway 385.
Police say Haug was heading south when he turned in front of northbound car, which hit the motorcycle Haug and his passenger were taken to a hospital with what police say were non-life-threatening injuries. Hospital officials on Monday declined to release any information.
The driver of the car and a passenger weren’t injured.
Police say Haug was cited for failure to yield the right of way.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) – An Iowa woman has been ordered to serve 90 days in a Nebraska prison for dumping 23 dead or dying dogs in a cornfield.
Hall County District Judge William Wright said during Friday’s sentencing hearing that Denise Withee surrounded herself with animals to help her cope with depression. Wright ordered the prison to evaluate Withee, of Mapleton, Iowa, and report back to him so he can make a final determination on her sentence.
Withee said during her animal cruelty trial that she was taking the dogs to someone in Nebraska when she became sick, pulled over and passed out. She said that when she awoke, most of the dogs were dead from the heat. She said she panicked and dumped them near Grand Island.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Mark Lakers, best known for dropping out of the 2010 race for governor amid a campaign finance scandal, is again seeking elected office.
This time, Lakers is making a quiet run for a seat on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
Two years ago, Lakers appeared to be on track to give Nebraska Democrats a viable shot at taking the governor’s office but he later dropped out of the race and then admitted in court to falsifying 51 of 80 campaign pledges on his finance reports. He pleaded guilty to one count of abusing public records and was fined $500.
Now, Lakers says he wants to focus on improving Nebraska’s university system, which he argues has long been underfunded and is pricing students out of a college education.

MINDEN, Neb. (AP) – Two South Dakota men face attempted murder and several other charges in a high-speed chase through central Nebraska.
Aleksandr Voznyuk, of Sioux Falls, S.D., and Petr Strizheus, of Harrisburg, S.D., appeared Friday in Kearney County Court for preliminary hearings. Their cases were bound over for trial in district court.
Trooper Paul Hazard testified that the men led him on a high-speed chase on Interstate 80 on Jan. 27. He said Strizheus drove while Voznyuk shot at him from the passenger’s seat.
Hazard said that after a 39-mile chase, the men abandoned their car near Minden and fled on foot. They were arrested the next day.
The men are being held on $500,000 bond each.
Messages left Saturday for their attorneys weren’t immediately returned.