OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The founder of what has become Omaha’s Boys Town is now one step closer to obtaining sainthood.

The Vatican has issued a decree of validity for the investigation that the Archdiocese of Omaha completed two years ago. The investigation looks at the life, virtue and works of the Rev. Edward Flanagan, who died in 1948.

Steve Wolf, president of the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion, said Monday that a decree of validity means the investigation is completed and proves the priest has a reputation for sanctity. The society is leading the sanctification effort.

Flanagan founded Boys Town in 1917 in downtown Omaha. City Archbishop George Lucas says Flanagan’s work has been a blessing for the community.

BLAIR, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa pilot has died after his aircraft crashed near Blair Airport in eastern Nebraska.

The crash occurred around 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Blair police say the aircraft went down as it was taking off.

Authorities say the 59-year-old pilot lived in Glenwood, Iowa. His name hasn’t been released. He was alone on the aircraft.

Federal investigators have been called in.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A grand jury has found no crime was committed by officers chasing a Kearney man who died when his vehicle crashed along Interstate 80 in York County.

Authorities say 40-year-old Anthony Emmons died Feb. 27 when he was ejected when his vehicle rolled after striking a guardrail and a pillar. He was being chased because he’d fled from a rest stop when a state trooper approached him. Authorities say Emmons’ vehicle matched the description of a vehicle that had been weaving in and out of interstate traffic.

An autopsy showed Emmons’ blood contained drugs and had an alcohol content of more than three times the legal limit.

State law requires a grand jury investigation whenever someone dies in custody or being taken into custody.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A report from the Nebraska Crime Commission says that the disproportionate percentage of black drivers pulled over by Lincoln police has climbed over the last five years even as police officials gave more attention to the problem.

Black drivers accounted for about one in every 10 motorists pulled over last year even though African-Americans only accounted for a little over 4 percent of the city’s population.

The report released in March highlights the racial disparities among traffic stops for agencies like the Lincoln Police Department but doesn’t give an explanation behind them. Police officials deny racial profiling drives the disparity.

The commission has been tracking data on racial breakdowns of traffic stops and the results since 2001.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say officers have found a man dead after a standoff at a home in northeast Omaha.

The standoff began around 7 a.m. Monday when shots were fired as officers served an arrest warrant at the home. Police say the officers retreated and that none fired a weapon.

Nearby residents were evacuated and some streets were blocked off. Police say officers found the man dead inside the home a few hours later. It’s unclear whether he shot himself. A police spokesman didn’t immediately return messages from The Associated Press.

Police say he was the man they were sent to arrest. His name hasn’t been released.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Police have arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with the fatal shooting of another 21-year-old.

Police said a man was shot Saturday inside a parked car in southeast Omaha. His name was Oziel Vazquez-Serrano.

The shooting was reported around 6:30 p.m. Saturday. A witness gave police the license plate number of a car that was speeding away from the shooting.

Police are holding the suspect on suspicion of first-degree murder and weapons charges.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say one person is dead after a single-vehicle crash in southeast Omaha.

Police say in news release that the crash happened late Friday night, when a northbound car on Interstate 480 attempted to take the on-ramp onto Highway 75 north, lost control and hit a concrete support for an overhead interstate sign.

Police say the driver was the only person in the car and was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

The driver was taken to an Omaha hospital and died a short time later.

Police have not yet identified the driver.

Investigators believe excessive speed caused the crash.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 28-year-old Honduran man has been sentenced to 24 to 34 years in prison for driving over and killing a co-worker with whom he had been drinking.

Orling Carrasco-Zelaya was sentenced Friday in Douglas County District Court. A jury had found him guilty in March of motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.

Prosecutors say Carrasco-Zelaya, who was in the country illegally, drove drunk and hit and fatally wounded 34-year-old Margarito Nava-Luna in April 2016. Authorities say the two were co-workers and had been drinking at a west Omaha bar before Nava-Luna was hit. Deputies, who stopped Carrasco-Zelaya shortly after Nava-Luna was hit, said Carrasco-Zelaya’s blood alcohol content measured nearly three times the legal limit to drive.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Officials say a new indoor riding arena and storage facility will be constructed this year at Fonner Park horse track in Grand Island.

The 150-by-80-foot facility will be locate behind a cattle barn at the park.

Nebraska State Fair director Joseph McDermott says it will store 400 new horse stalls bought by the State Fair Board.

McDermott, who is also president of the Grand Island Livestock Complex Authority, says the facility and stalls will allow officials to promote Grand Island for large equine shows.

The facility could cost up to $450,000. McDermott says grants secured by the Grand Island and Hall County Visitors and Convention Bureau will pay for most of it. Construction is expected to begin this month and be completed by August.

WINNEBAGO, Neb. (AP) — Two people have been charged with killing a man on northeast Nebraska’s Winnebago Reservation.

Court records say 32-year-old William Redhorn Jr. was slain early on April 23 in Winnebago. An autopsy shows that he’d been strangled but also suffered head trauma.

Nineteen-year-old Jeremiah Wolfe and 21-year-old Lawrencia Merrick are charged with manslaughter. The records don’t list the names of attorneys for them.

The records say the two had told tribal police that they’d come upon Redhorn outside a building he was trying to break into and approached him when he wouldn’t stop.

Wolfe says a fight then broke out between him and Redhorn and that he put Redhorn in a headlock until he quit struggling. Merrick says she struck Redhorn’s head.

Wolfe says they didn’t intend to kill Redborn.