OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to review an Omaha man’s claim that authorities withheld evidence that would have helped him beat a murder conviction.

The state’s high court made the ruling Friday in a post-conviction appeal by 45-year-old Jack Harris.

Harris is serving a life sentence for the 1995 shooting death of 35-year-old Anthony Jones of Omaha. Prosecutors said Jones was killed in a plot by Harris and another man to rob his of drugs and money.

Harris said in his latest appeal that a witness gave police information in 1999 that implicated the other man.

On Friday, the state’s high court the lower court must reconsider the merits of the Harris’ claim.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A school bus driver has been placed on administrative leave and Omaha school officials have launched an investigation after a 10-year-old boy with autism was dropped off at the wrong bus stop this week.

A frantic search was set off Thursday when the fifth-grader didn’t arrive home from school. Officials say he was mistakenly dropped off about four miles from his home. He wandered for more than two hours before he was found that evening.

School officials say a substitute driver left the boy at the wrong stop after being given an outdated route sheet. The driver is on leave pending the results of a district investigation.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 5-year-old boy who started a fire in his Lincoln home was pulled away from the flames by his teenage brother.

Firetrucks were sent to the home around 8:30 a.m. Thursday. Lincoln Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Jeremy Gegg says the younger boy had been playing with a lighter in the home’s basement when the blaze erupted.

Gegg says the older boy ran down into the basement when an alarm started sounding, grabbed his little brother and got them both outside to safety. Gegg says neither boy was injured.

The boys’ names haven’t been released.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Education Board and the Nebraska Education Department are looking at how the state can help Omaha Public Schools after its failed attempt to hire a superintendent.

Nebraska Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt said Thursday that the board has heard from community members asking if the state can address issues that led to all three Omaha superintendent finalists withdrawing from consideration last month.

The state board and the education department don’t have authority to take over Omaha’s superintendent search, but they can offer assistance should the school district request it.

Omaha school board President Lacey Merica says she’s open to state advice but not formal intervention.

School board member John Witzel says the focus should be on making sure the 52,000 students in the school district are getting the education they need.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man who hit his roommate in the chest with a hatchet has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

32-year-old Jhon Arbelaez was sentenced Thursday in Lancaster County District Court after he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and a weapons count.

Police say Arbelaez’s 38-year-old roommate woke up about 2 a.m. Oct. 3 to find Arbelaez had barricaded their front door. Arbelaez then threatened to kill the man before hitting him in the chest with a hatchet.

The two struggled, and the victim was cut in the head and neck with a kitchen knife before he escaped.

Police believed Arbelaez was mad at his roommate for calling police during a July disturbance in which Arbelaez hit and punched him.

DAVID CITY, Neb. (AP) — A June sentencing has been scheduled for a woman who took a plea deal in a Butler County crash death case.

Court records say 55-year-old Diane Hitz pleaded no contest Tuesday to felony vehicular homicide after prosecutors dropped related drunken driving and reckless driving counts. Her sentencing is set for June 13.

Prosecutors say the Columbus woman was drunk and was driving nearly 100 mph (161 kph) on May 2, 2015, when her vehicle rammed the rear of a motorcycle on U.S. Highway 81, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of Columbus. The collision killed 51-year-old Michael Gross, who lived in Duncan.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Deputies have arrested a driver after marijuana was found in his vehicle along Interstate 80 on the west side of Lincoln.

The vehicle was pulled over just after 4 p.m. Tuesday. A Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office dog alerted deputies to the presence of drugs, and deputies say they found 164 pounds (74 kilograms) of pot in the vehicle’s compartments.

Online court records don’t yet show that the man has been formally charged.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A pair of Canada geese has built a nest inside a flower pot near an Omaha hospital’s emergency room doors.

Security officer Tom Stock says the geese, Ralph and Alice, have nested near Lakeside Hospital every spring since 2005. Hospital staff is confused why the pair chose such a busy location this year when they’ve selected quieter sites near the Healing Garden or the Sleep Lab in past years.

Vice president of patient care Inglish Camero watches the geese from outside her window.

Security supervisor David Milliman says the hospital doesn’t want “a whole lot of people coming out here just to see the geese.” Signs ask visitors to neither feed nor disturb them.

Security escorts the family to the nearby lake when the goslings hatch.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A candidate for Omaha City Council has a criminal past that he says shouldn’t be held against him in May’s general election.

D’Shawn Cunningham came in a distant second to incumbent Councilman Chris Jerram in Tuesday’s primary.

The 30-year-old Cunningham has pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault after prosecutors say he threatened his mother and other family members in an August letter. The mother was granted a protection order, and Cunningham’s sentencing is set for the day before the May 9 election.

Cunningham is also wanted in Iowa’s Monona County on an arrest warrant in a marijuana case.

Cunningham says despite the conviction, he is not a violent person. He has been an advocate for ending excessive use of force by police.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — The Beatrice City Council has approved a measure to pave the way for the construction of new housing.

The council on Monday approved the demolition of the old Beatrice Community Hospital.

Excel Development Group plans to build 10 ranch-style homes where the southern third of the old hospital and its parking lot currently stand. A subsidiary of Excel also plans to build eight duplex units that will be managed senior homes on the same property.

The city estimates the demolition will cost about $1 million, with about $250,000 of that used for asbestos removal. Because the property is a part of a redevelopment area, Excel and its subsidiary can apply for state tax credits and loans to be used for the demolition.