LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials in the city of Lincoln are seeking private-sector partners to launch a driverless shuttle service downtown.

State Sen. Mike Hilgers has offered a resolution Wednesday asking the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee to look at the merits of a driverless shuttle pilot project in Lincoln and changes that would be necessary to state law.

Hilgers says the program could reduce costs and congestion while helping Lincoln businesses.

The city was denied a $50 million federal grant last year that would have funded the project with 50 downtown shuttles and 650 passenger cars across Lincoln.

But network engineer David Young says that positive feedback has shown a self-driving shuttle could hit the road as soon as 2018.

No formal deals have been struck yet.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Costco officials have given final approval for construction of the company’s planned chicken processing operation in eastern Nebraska.

Company Vice President of real estate Jackie Frank said site work could begin in the next few weeks. A ceremonial groundbreaking is also planned for June.

Costco would invest about $280 million to build the plant, hatchery and feed mill complex. Supporters say area farmers would raise chickens to be slaughtered at the facility, a system that could generate about $1.2 billion annually for the eastern Nebraska economy.

Opponents of the plant expressed concerns in a series of Fremont city meetings last year, some speaking out on how the chicken industry treats farmers as a disposable resource.

The plant is projected to open April 2019.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Investigators say an inmate accused of shooting two deputies, killing one, in an Iowa jail escape somehow managed to unlock his shackles inside a transport van.

Court records presented Wednesday at 24-year-old Wesley Correa-Carmenaty’s initial court hearing say he was in handcuffs and leg shackles May 1 when he was taken from a courthouse to the Pottawattamie County Jail. But he had unlocked them by the time the van reached the jail.

Police say a struggle ensued between Correa-Carmenaty and the deputies, and that Correa-Carmenaty managed to grab one’s gun. Police say he shot Deputy Mark Burbridge in the head and Deputy Pat Morgan in the abdomen before taking both deputies’ guns, ammunition and the keys to the van. Burbridge died; Morgan is recovering.

Correa-Carmenaty was recaptured in Omaha, Nebraska.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say officers searching a south Omaha home for drugs and other evidence found a makeshift cage used by a couple to corral a 3-year-old girl.

Police reports say a baby gate had been fastened to the top of a crib to form the cage that apparently was often occupied by the girl. She and a 12-year-old boy were removed from the home by state authorities after the April 18 search.

Court records say 32-year-old Kaylee Taylor and 34-year-old Joseph Hamilton both face two counts of felony child abuse. Hamilton also is charged with misdemeanor domestic assault and theft counts and four felony drug charges.

Jail records say both remained in custody Thursday. Their attorneys didn’t immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lincoln Electric System has decided to end its contract to buy power from one of the Nebraska Public Power District’s plants near Hallam.

LES spokeswoman Rachel Barth says the utility decided it wouldn’t need the electricity Sheldon Station generates because its predicted customer demand appears smaller than expected.

The Lincoln utility is also in the middle of reviewing its electricity generating portfolio to ensure it has the right mix of power sources.

To end the contract with NPPD at the end of this year LES will pay $10.5 million.

GRETNA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a motorcyclist died at a hospital after crashing in Sarpy County on the southwest side of Omaha.

The accident occurred around 3:50 p.m. Tuesday on Nebraska Highway 370, just east of Gretna. The Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office says 75-year-old Robert Swanson lost control of his three-wheel motorcycle. He was thrown off after it ran across the traffic lanes into a roadside ditch. The Sheriff’s Office says in a news release that Swanson died at 9:45 p.m. at Nebraska Medical Center.

Witnesses say a wheel may have fallen off the motorcycle before the accident.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A man accused of shooting two sheriff’s deputies, one fatally, in an Iowa jail escape has been returned to that state to face charges.

Officials say 24-year-old Wesley Correa-Carmenaty was picked up from an Omaha, Nebraska, jail Wednesday and taken to the Pottawattamie County Courthouse in Council Bluffs for his initial hearing. He was denied bail as he awaits prosecution on murder, attempted murder and other counts. He’ll be held at a jail in Sioux City. His attorney hasn’t returned a call.

Authorities say Correa-Carmenaty had just been sentenced to 45 years in an unrelated case May 1 when he grabbed a deputy’s gun, shot him and another deputy, and escaped in a jail transport van.

Authorities say Correa-Carmenaty was recaptured after he carjacked a woman’s car and drove to Omaha.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman has entered a plea and been convicted of misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide in a fatal December crash in Grand Island.

35-year-old Sheri Jindra pleaded no contest Wednesday in Hall County Court for the Dec. 11 crash that killed 41-year-old Melissa Brown.

Grand Island police say Brown was driving an SUV east on Husker Highway when she was hit by Jindra’s southbound minivan. Police say Jindra ran a red light.

Brown was pronounced dead at a hospital; her husband, a passenger in the SUV, received minor injuries.

Jindra faces up to a year in prison when she’s sentenced July 7.

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) — A July sentencing has been scheduled for a former Nebraska City teacher accused of debauching a minor.

Court records say 27-year-old Emily Lofing pleaded no contest Monday to an amended charge of contributing to the delinquency of a child. Her sentencing is set for July 17.

Lofing was accused of arranging a meeting last summer to have sex with a 16-year-old boy. She has resigned her position at Nebraska City Middle School.