OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Metropolitan Community College has agreed to pay the federal Department of Labor more than $151,000 for using a grant to buy vehicles that weren’t part of the grant program.

Metro President Randy Schmailzl says the federal government initially wanted $297,848, but the college negotiated the payment down by close to half.

The Metro board unanimously approved the payout after a closed session at its meeting earlier this week.

Schmailzl says that when it came time to close out the grant this year, the acquisition of 11 cars was questioned. He says some of the vehicles were wrongly purchased in duplicate, and some didn’t fall within the grant’s intent.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A Grand Island police officer has been placed on leave after being accused of assaulting a 26-year-old woman.

A news release from the department says the 31-year-old officer is on paid administrative leave. The release says he’s accused of assaulting the woman while he was off duty the night of Oct. 30 in a Grand Island residence.

Capt. Jim Duering said the incident “was not a domestic offense.”

Police say the case has been sent to the Hall County Attorney’s Office for consideration of any criminal charges. Police decline to comment further on the allegation.

The officer has been on the force since 2013. The Associated Press is not naming him because he has not been charged with a crime.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Customers and employees at a shopping mall on the western edge of Omaha found themselves in the midst of a cops-and-robbers scene when police chased down three men suspected of robbing a bank.

Police say the three were suspected of having robbed First State Bank & Trust in Fremont at gunpoint Wednesday morning. A vehicle suspected of carrying the robbers sped off when a Nebraska State trooper tried to pull it over on U.S. Highway 275. Authorities say it later stopped on West Dodge Road near the mall.

Police say the three men — a 44-year-old Council Bluffs man, his 27-year-old son and a 25-year-old man from Omaha — ran from the vehicle. Police converged on the area and arrested two of the men in a Best Buy store and found the third in a ravine.

No bystanders were injured.

WAKEFIELD, Neb. (AP) — Utility officials say a new wind farm being built in northeastern Nebraska to power a planned Facebook data center will distribute $80 million in property tax and landowners payments in its first 20 years.

The Rattlesnake Creek Wind Project will be built between the towns of Allen, Emerson and Wakefield.

Enel Green Power North America Inc. is spending $430 million on the project. The farm will cover 32,000 acres and generate up to 320 megawatts of power, making it the second largest wind farm in the state.

Facebook’s data center, which will be located 100 miles away in Papillion, will receive 200 megawatts from the farm. The rest of the power will be available for other buyers.

More than 100 landowners are involved in the project.

LINCOLN, Neb. – A Gretna man was hospitalized with apparent pelvic injuries after falling from a tree stand Nov. 14 while hunting in Dixon County northeast of Obert.

Todd M. Church, 44, had just climbed into a hang-on tree stand at approximately 3:15 p.m. when one of the ratchet straps failed, causing the stand platform to drop down. He fell approximately 17 feet.

Church, who was able to make a cell phone call to another hunter in the area, was transported by Wynot Fire and Rescue to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission conservation officers are investigating. They found no sign that a fall-arrest system was used with the tree stand. To prevent similar incidents, Game and Parks urges tree stand hunters to make safety the top priority and to use a fall-arrest system.

A fall-arrest system is the gear needed to keep a tree stand hunter from falling to the ground. It includes a full-body harness and a means to attach the hunter and harness to the tree from the time he or she steps off the ground until the final step back down. The fall-arrest system harness should fit snugly over hunting clothes. Jackets and coats can be worn over top of the harness.

According to the Treestand Manufacturers Association (TMA) and Tree Stand Safety Awareness Foundation, falls from tree stands account for 36 percent of all hunting accidents and are the No. 1 cause of serious injury and deaths during deer hunting season in the United States.

Both fall-arrest systems and tree stands should meet TMA standards. Tree stand hunters should always use a fall-arrest system rated for his or her weight. Ropes should never be used as a substitute for a fall-arrest system.

In addition, hunters should:

— be sure their tree stand is in proper working order,

— unload firearms when climbing into and out of tree stands,

— use a haul line to raise and lower gear into the stand,

— and maintain three points of contact when climbing the stand.

For information about hunter safety or hunter education courses, visit outdoornebraska.ne.gov/huntereducation or call Hunter Education Coordinator Wendy Horine at 402-471-6134.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a man wanted in Nebraska for parole violations has been arrested in Iowa after leading state troopers there on a chase.

A trooper had stopped 21-year-old Elias Mendoza for a suspected seat belt violation Tuesday morning in Mason City. The patrol says Mendoza then fled the stop in his vehicle. The Iowa State Patrol gave chase, intentionally hitting Mendoza’s car. Troopers say Mendoza then fled on foot and was arrested inside a nearby apartment.

Mendoza now faces 11 misdemeanor counts in Iowa. He is being held without bond in Cerro Gordo County Jail, and Nebraska authorities have place a hold on him, indicating they’ll seek to extradite him to Nebraska.

It was not clear Wednesday whether Mendoza had an attorney.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man accused of a home-invasion robbery and rape in Sarpy County has been ordered to stand trial, and more charges have been filed against him.

52-year-old Stephen Prior waived his right to a preliminary hearing on Tuesday on charges of first-degree sexual assault, false imprisonment, burglary, robbery and a weapons count. He is now also charged with possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, possessing or receiving a stolen firearm and making terroristic threats.

Prior’s next court hearing is scheduled for later this month.

His arrest came last month after a woman reported being robbed and raped in her home just southwest of Omaha by a masked man with a gun.

Prior’s attorney has said Prior plans to plead not guilty.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — There will be no smoldering firefighter calendar coming from the Omaha Fire Department next year.

The department’s fire chief has nixed plans for a sizzling 2018 charity calendar.

Omaha Fire Chief Dan Olsen says the calendar is not in keeping with the department’s mission statement that calls for its members to act with integrity, professionalism and compassion.

The department’s calendar for this year — which featured bare-chested firefighters holding shelter puppies — was a hot seller, raising enough funds to help the department buy an advanced thermal imaging camera costing several thousand dollars.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The National Indian Gaming Commission has again approved the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska’s plan to build a casino near Omaha, but after a decade of court hearings, the project’s future remains uncertain.

The Commission ruling this week came nearly 10 years after it first approved the proposed casino in Carter Lake, Iowa.

Ponca Tribal Chairman Larry Wright Jr. celebrated the latest decision because building the casino would give the tribe significant new resources to help its members.

The tribe wants to build a casino with 2,000 slot machines, 50 table games and a 150-room hotel.

Iowa Attorney General spokesman Geoff Greenwood says the office is still reviewing the decision and deciding whether to appeal.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s office didn’t immediately respond to a message Wednesday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Voters in Omaha’s Millard Public School District have voted 2-to-1 to pass a levy override that will raise taxes in the district to benefit its schools.

Override approved Tuesday gives the district the ability to levy up to 9 cents per every $100 of land valuation, over the $1.05 already allowed under state law. District officials have said that without the override, they would have to cut academic programs.

If Millard used all 9 cents of its new taxing authority, the school taxes on a $150,000 house would increase by $135 a year.

District officials have said they’re unlikely to use the full 9 cents next year.

Of Nebraska’s 244 school districts, only the Westside district in Omaha currently has an override.