OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Salvation Army in Omaha and University of Nebraska at Omaha students are joining forces to help feed the homeless.
Members of UNO’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity will sleep in cardboard boxes at an Omaha mall this week through Friday night as part of a food drive and as a way to raise awareness of the plight of homeless people.
The students will collect monetary and food donations throughout the week for The Salvation Army food pantry. Demand for food pantry assistance has risen by more than 36 percent compared with last year. The goal this year is to collect 50,000 food items.
On Thursday afternoon, UNO students will be collecting donations at a Hy-Vee grocery store in southwest Omaha.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) – A 29-year-old Beatrice man who was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving also is accused of trying to bribe his way out of trouble.
Aaron Lawson was pulled over on Saturday night in Beatrice.
The officer says he suspected Lawson was drunk, but Lawson refused to take any sobriety tests. Court documents say Lawson told the officer he could “hook him up with anything” and later offered the officer $2,000 to let him go without charges.
Lawson faces felony charges of third-offense drunken driving and of bribery.
A public phone listing for Lawson could not be found. Online court records don’t list the case yet. Lawson’s lawyer from a 2011 case said Tuesday that he knows nothing about the new allegations.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) – Authorities have released the names of a man who was killed and another man who was injured when their car crashed into a canal north of Scottsbluff.
The accident at the Pathfinder Irrigation Canal was reported Monday afternoon.
The dead man was identified as 20-year-old Taylor Gulley, of Scottsbluff. The car driver was identified as 19-year-old Matthew Merryfield, of Scottsbluff. He was flown to a Scottsbluff hospital and is expected to survive his injuries.
Authorities say Gulley’s body was found inside the vehicle when it was pulled out of the water.
Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman says Merryfield reported that he lost control of the car while driving north on County Road 23. The car veered off the roadway and landed upside down in the canal.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) – A judge has denied a defense motion for a mental evaluation on the alleged victim in a child sexual assault case against a Kimball city councilman.
Scott Haun is accused of sexually assaulting a mentally disabled teenage boy. He was charged last October with first-degree sexual assault on a child more than 12 years of age but less than 16. His
trial in Scotts Bluff County District Court is in May.
A judge has denied a motion for a mental evaluation, saying there’s insufficient evidence to warrant the assessment. The judge also denied a motion to suppress statements Haun made to police during two interviews. Haun, who has been on the Kimball City Council for a total of 12 years, says he won’t resign.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) – The U.S. Forest Service is considering lifting a two-year closure of caves and abandoned mines in Colorado and several other states after imposing it in an effort to halt a deadly fungal outbreak that affects bats.
The region includes Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska.
In 2010, the Forest Service closed most access to caves and abandoned mines in the region to prevent the spread of white-nose syndrome, which killed millions of bats in the East.
The ban was imposed out of concern that cavers might spread the disease.
Experts say they now know more about the disease and the closures may no longer be needed in some areas.

GERING, Neb. (AP) – A Scottsbluff man convicted of first-degree murder is scheduled to be sentenced.
Daniel Morgan is to appear in Scotts Bluff County District Court on Monday. Morgan was convicted in March of killing Dominic Marquez on May 13 last year.
Defense attorney Jerry Soucie has said the 27-year-old Morgan was acting in self-defense when he went to confront Marquez about harassment, threats and assaults by associates of Marquez since he began dating the mother of Marquez’s child.
County Attorney Doug Warner has said Morgan was armed when he drove to Marquez’s home and had sent text messages that said he was “going after” Marquez.
Warner says the shooting didn’t qualify for the death penalty, which means Morgan will be sentenced to life in prison.