NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) – Authorities have identified an Otoe County crash victim as the owner of a vehicle dealership in Lincoln.

He’s been identified 47-year-old Eric Bigler, who owned Bigler Motors.

The crash occurred Wednesday night on U.S. Highway 75 south of Nebraska City. Firefighters had to extinguish flames consuming a semitrailer and a pickup truck that had collided.

Investigators say the pickup crossed into the path of the semitrailer. The semi driver suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The pickup driver was Bigler.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A driver accused of dragging a Nebraska sheriff’s deputy as the deputy tried to stop the car has been arrested in Texas.

Authorities say 33-year-old Tristan Bush was arrested Friday in Pasadena, Texas, near Houston. He’s being held in the Harris County Jail until he can be returned to Grand Island for trial.

Nebraska court records say he’s charged with escape using a deadly weapon, intentional child abuse and other crimes. The records don’t list the name of an attorney for him.

Authorities say Bush was a passenger in a car stopped April 12 in western Hall County but slid over and began driving away to keep the deputy from arresting him on several warrants. A Hall County Court affidavit says a dog in the car bit the deputy and that the deputy had to shoot the dog to make it let go.

The affidavit says a chase was quickly ended out of concern for a 7-year-old child in the back seat.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A former teacher has been accused of stealing nearly $208,000 from the show choir he directed at a Grand Island high school.

David Sackschewsky had been a teacher at Northwest High School until he resigned earlier this month after being on medical leave since a vehicular accident last fall. The 46-year-old’s arrest follows an investigation into suspicious transactions on the bank account of the 14 Karat Gold Show Choir at Northwest. He was the choir’s director at the time.

The charges are four counts of forgery and one of theft.

His attorney, Mark Porto, says he thinks Sackschewsky is not guilty, and “we’re prepared to have this out in court.”

(LINCOLN, NEB.) – Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) found 368 pounds of marijuana and arrested an Indiana man during a traffic stop on I-80 near Goehner on Saturday.

At approximately 11:50 a.m. Saturday, April 20, a trooper observed an eastbound Dodge Ram failing to stay in its lane. During the traffic stop, the trooper detected the odor of marijuana coming from the pickup.

Troopers searched the vehicle and found 16 large trash bags containing marijuana in the cargo area. The total weight of the marijuana was 368 pounds.

The driver, Bradley Wooten, 37, of Carmel, Indiana, was arrested for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp. Wooten was lodged in Seward County Jail.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) – Police say a 6-year-old girl was fatally struck by a sport utility vehicle in Bellevue.

The accident was reported a little before 8 p.m. Sunday. Police say Aubrey Oregon was hit when a friend of her family was moving a sport utility vehicle from a driveway into the street. The man driving, 59-year-old Dale Valverde, told police he didn’t know the SUV had struck Aubrey. She was pronounced dead at Nebraska Medical Center.

No arrest or citations have been reported.

BARBER COUNTY, Kan. —Two people died in an accident just after 3p.m. Saturday in Barber County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2015 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Brandon Husband, 42, Fowler, was southbound on East River Road thirteen miles northwest of Medicine Lodge.

A vulture came out of the north ditch and struck the driver in the head. The vehicle traveled off the road into the north ditch, struck a barbed wire fence and overturned.

Husband was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Larison Funeral Home. A passenger Jennifer Husband, 43, of Fowler, was transported to Wesley Medical Center where she died. They were not wearing helmets, according to the KHP.

Barber County is in south-central Kansas.

*Information for this story came from Hays Post*

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska renewable energy plant is suspending production so it can make repairs that its owner hopes will solve ongoing discharge and odor issues.

Big Ox Energy spokesman Kevin Bradley told the Sioux City Journal that it won’t be accepting truckloads of organic waste from customers and will wind down operations until early next month.

Bradley says the extent of damage and necessary repairs will determine how long production will be halted. Bradley say the damage has occurred since Big Ox began operations in September 2016.

Earlier this month Nebraska officials cited Big Ox for failing to control emissions. Inspectors had noticed gas leaking from a damaged anaerobic digester structure. The plant has been under scrutiny since neighbors complained about the plant’s odor.

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — A man has been imprisoned for driving drunk and causing the crash death of an 82-year-old woman in northeast Nebraska.

Madison County District Court records say 36-year-old Jose Valdez was sentenced Friday to 24 to 25 years. He’d pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide with a prior conviction for drunken driving.

Police say Valdez was driving home from a Christmas party in Norfolk on Dec. 8, 2017, when he didn’t yield at an intersection and collided with a vehicle being driven by 82-year-old Geneva Sinkbeil. She died later at an Omaha hospital.

Police say Valdez’s blood alcohol level that night was nearly three times the legal limit.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — Southeastern Nebraska officials say a woman has been arrested on suspicion of arson in a fire at Tecumseh Poultry earlier this month.

The State Fire Marshal’s office says in a news release late Friday that it and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office investigated the cause of the April 5 fire, leading to the arrest of 52-year-old Kimberly Bohling, of Tecumseh. She faces charges of second-degree arson, criminal mischief and burglary.

Officials say the fire remains under investigation.