LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has granted a convict’s request for DNA testing on untested evidence that he says could show he didn’t kill a Lincoln woman in 1988.

Herman Buckman was convicted of shooting to death Denise Strawkowski and sentenced to life.

Last September he filed an appeal for DNA testing on her underwear as well as items from her car, where her body had been found. Last week a Lancaster County district judge granted the motion despite prosecutors’ objections.

In 2004 the state Supreme Court rejected Buckman’s request for a new trial based on another DNA testing issue. The high court agreed with a district judge who said that, considering the evidence presented at trial, the test results would not have changed the verdict.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Lawsuits have been filed against an Omaha day care that had employed a man who’s been imprisoned for molesting toddlers there.

Court records say an attorney representing children called Jane Doe No. 1 and Jane Doe No. 2 and their parents were filed Tuesday in Douglas County District Court in Omaha. The lawsuit names La Petite Academy and Mark Mays, who’s serving 26 to 60 years for sexual assaults of children and pornography production.

The lawsuit says La Petite’s managers should have known that Mays posed a substantial risk to the children. He’d been fired from two previous jobs for putting children on his lap.

La Petite officials declined to comment on the litigation but said its employment practices and care protocols meet or exceed state and federal requirements.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Prosecutors say an Omaha man killed earlier this month was shot after he discovered that $11,000 in methamphetamine he intended to buy was fake.

A Douglas County prosecutor disclosed the detail Wednesday at a bond hearing for one of four people charged in the July 7 shooting death of 40-year-old Billy Walker at an apartment complex.

A prosecutor said Wednesday that 37-year-old Jason Rankin and another suspect sought to sell a substance they said was meth to Walker. Police say Rankin shot Walker during a disturbance that began when Walker discovered the “meth” was fake.

Rankin, who is charged with first-degree murder, was ordered held without bond.

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — The U.S. State Department is warning tourists going to Mexico about reports of tainted or substandard alcohol causing drinkers to become sick or pass out.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently reported about travelers becoming sick after drinking alcohol at Mexican resorts. In January, a 20-year-old Wisconsin woman vacationing in Mexico with her family died after she was pulled from a resort pool.

The State Department added the warning to its travel site for Mexico on Wednesday. The warning advises tourists to drink in moderation and to stop and seek medical attention if they begin to feel ill.

A State Department spokeswoman tells The Associated Press that U.S. citizens also should contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate in Mexico if that happens.

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FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two people have been killed in separate Dodge County motor vehicle accidents.

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office says 64-year-old Robert Belsky, of Dodge, died Saturday evening when his car ran off a county road and struck a power pole north of Dodge.

The office also says 34-year-old James Albert, of North Bend, died Sunday afternoon when the sport utility vehicle he was in collided with another vehicle on a county road northeast of North Bend.

Albert was a passenger in the SUV driven by 28-year-old David Mills, of Morse Bluff. Mills and the other driver, 26-year-old Christopher O’Connor, of North Bend, were flown to an Omaha hospital.

Both crashes are being investigated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a motorcyclist who was killed in a collision with a sport utility vehicle in west Lincoln.

Police say the crash occurred early Monday morning when the eastbound SUV turned north and was hit by the motorcycle.

Police identified the motorcyclist as 59-year-old William “Bill” McArtor, who lived in Lincoln. His former wife, Carla McArtor, was riding with him. Police say she was taken to a Lincoln hospital and is expected to recover.

The SUV driver has been identified as Reymundo Pereda. It’s unclear how many of the four people in his SUV required medical treatment.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska zoo plans to open a sperm bank and breeding facility for tigers at the zoo’s nearby conservation park.

The Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium in Omaha announced the initiatives during a Facebook Live video Monday. The video is part of a weeklong conservation awareness campaign ahead of Global Tiger Day on Saturday.

The zoo broke ground on the breeding facility last week at its Lee G. Simmons Conservation Park and Wildlife Safari in Ashland. Those tigers won’t be displayed to the public.

The main zoo campus is also now home to a genome resource bank for tigers. The zoo is collecting sperm samples from tigers in zoos nationwide and freezing them in liquid nitrogen tanks inside its Center for Conservation Research.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has been sent to prison for molesting a little girl he baby-sat as a teenager.

Online court records say 22-year-old Bailey Rangel was sentenced Monday to eight to 12 years and given credit for two days already served. He’d pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault after prosecutors reduced the charge.

An arrest affidavit says the girl was 10 when told her mother in April 2016 that Rangel began fondling her when she was 6.

Rangel is required to register as a sex offender.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — Officials say thousands of fish have died since a utility company was forced to stop diverting water from an eastern Nebraska river into its power canal.

The fish kill occurred after water flow from the Loup River to the Loup Public Power District’s canal had shut off July 15. Without river water coming in, the canal warmed up and dissolved oxygen levels dropped, killing the fish.

Jeff Schuckman is a regional fisheries manager at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s Norfolk office. Schuckman estimates the number of dead fish is in the “tens of thousands.”

He says all species were affected, including catfish, crappie and walleye.

The commission has been reviewing the fish kill in the 35-mile Loup Power Canal over the past week.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Council members in an Omaha suburb have voted to condemn and tear down an eyesore carwash owned by a fellow member.

The Bellevue City Council voted 4-0 Monday to have the carwash demolished by Aug. 25, despite protests from Councilman Pat Shannon that the council wasn’t following city code in its effort to condemn his property. He refused to leave the meeting until threatened with physical removal by police. The city attorney has said city code barred his participation in the discussion because of his financial interest in the property.

The council had told Shannon to provide a plan for the closed Big John’s Car Wash, which has drawn complaints from residents. He refused. Shannon said after the meeting that he’ll fight the condemnation in court.