OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says an entrance screening officer violated some procedures when his gun accidentally fired inside the county courthouse.

The officer was checking the slide on the gun when it fired. The gun went off at a closed exit, and no one was hurt. The bullet pierced an X-ray machine and hit a concrete wall near the machine.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said Friday that had it not been for the concrete wall, the bullet likely would have gone through a conference room and into his office. Kleine was not in the office at the time the gun went off.

The department says an internal investigation showed some procedures were violated and that corrective action will be taken.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Eastern Nebraska health officials are warning that smoke from July Fourth fireworks could create air quality issues and trigger reactions in those sensitive to pollutants.

The Douglas County Health Department says the concern is greatest this weekend through Wednesday, the day after Independence Day.

Fireworks smoke may cause breathing to be difficult for individuals with asthma or other heart or lung diseases, the elderly, very young children, and pregnant women.

Health director Dr. Adi Pour says those people can minimize the risk by avoiding strenuous outdoor activity and limiting time spent outdoors.”

ADEL, Iowa (AP) — For the first time since the 1930s, Iowa residents can legally buy and set off fireworks this Fourth of July, thanks to a new law.

But in the state’s population center of Des Moines and elsewhere, calls for “fun, freedom and fireworks,” are running into local concerns about the danger and simple annoyance of bottle rockets, roman candles and firecrackers.

Officials in many Iowa cities have approved rules that block most fireworks sales and largely prohibit people from setting off the loud and colorful explosives.

It’s led to complaints by some sellers, court action by a fireworks wholesaler and a threat by a lawmaker to reduce local control in the next legislative session.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Thunderstorms have loosed a barrage of hail on eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, shattering windshields, damaging roofs and shredding field crops and urban gardens.

Authorities say a tornado touched down Thursday just south of Wynot in northeast Nebraska, ripping apart a shed and damaging a home. No injuries have been reported.

Hailstones as big as baseballs were reported in the Omaha metropolitan area, including neighborhoods that had been clobbered by howling winds and tornadoes on June 16.

Omaha Public Power District says power outages occurred overnight. At 5:15 a.m. Friday, the utility was reporting 170 Omaha customers without electricity.

Quarter-size hail damaged buildings and heavy rain flooded streets in Sioux City, Iowa.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska state commission that is reviewing a proposed route for the Keystone XL pipeline has scheduled another hearing in Ralston to hear public input.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission says it will hold the hearing at the Ralston Arena on July 26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Doors will open at 9 a.m.

Commissioners will accept comments on a first-come, first-served basis. Speakers will have three to five minutes to give their comments.

The commission has held similar public hearings in Norfolk, York and O’Neill and will hold a more formal evidentiary hearing with legal arguments Aug. 7-11 in Lincoln.

The pipeline would transport oil from Canada, across Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with an existing pipeline to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 19-year-old woman has been imprisoned for causing a fatal crash while driving drunk last November in Douglas County.

Online court records say Emily Standley was sentenced Tuesday to five to seven years in prison. She’d pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. The judge credited her for seven days served in custody and revoked her driver’s license for 15 years.

Investigators say Standley was driving Nov. 4 when she ran a red light just north of Omaha and was hit by a pickup. The crash killed 18-year-old Jason Hald, who was a passenger in Standley’s car.

Investigators say Standley’s blood alcohol content was 0.113 — well over the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

AUBURN, Neb. (AP) — A southeast Nebraska judge has sentenced a former director of a nonprofit organization to jail and probation for stealing from the organization.

Nemaha County Judge Curtis Maschman gave Dawn Parriott 21 days in jail and 24 months of probation at her sentencing Tuesday in Auburn. The 46-year-old Peru resident had pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor theft counts.

Parriott also was ordered to make restitution.

A state audit showed documentation may have been falsified for nearly $8,900 in travel reimbursements for Parriott as director of Project Response. The Auburn-based agency’s mission: help the homeless and victims of sexual and domestic abuse.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two Lincoln police officers investigated for steroids say in their federal civil rights lawsuit that their fellow officers subjected them to unlawful policing.

Officers Tim Cronin and Josh Fullerton weren’t charged or punished in the criminal and internal investigations that started in the fall of 2015.

Attorney Douglas Philips alleged in the lawsuit filed Monday that the officers were subjected to unlawful arrest and illegally denied access to their attorney. He also said their property was unlawfully searched.

The lawsuit names current narcotics unit Capt. Chris Peterson, former Chief Jim Peschong, Assistant Chief Brian Jackson, several officers and the department’s lawyer as defendants in the case.

Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister says department officials are evaluating the officers’ claims and working with the city attorney’s office to review previously completed internal investigations.

DENVER (AP) — Dozens of Coloradans are accused of running a marijuana trafficking ring in which they pretended to be growing weed for sick people but illegally shipped the drug out of state.

A Denver grand jury has indicted 62 people and 12 businesses in case that involved federal and state agents executing nearly 150 search warrants in 33 homes and 18 warehouses in the Denver area.

The indictment was returned June 9 and announced Wednesday by state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman.

Coffman says it is the largest illegal marijuana operation since Colorado legalized the drug. She says that “the black market for marijuana … continues to flourish.”

Coffman says that the enterprise was producing more than 100 pounds a month of illegal pot for shipment to Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, Ohio and Oklahoma.