OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has found a former doctor convicted of killing four people connected to an Omaha medical school is competent to face an upcoming death penalty hearing.

Douglas County District Judge Gary Randall agreed on Tuesday with a state psychiatric evaluation that found Anthony Garcia competent to go through the sentencing phase of his case. The judge had ordered the evaluation earlier this month after Garcia refused to answer questions at a competency hearing.

In October, Garcia was convicted of killing the 11-year-old son and a housekeeper of Creighton University faculty member William Hunter in 2008 and killing pathology doctor Roger Brumback and his wife in 2013.

Prosecutors say Garcia blamed Hunter and Brumback for his 2001 firing from Creighton’s pathology residency program.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Sarpy County officials are planning to switch control of the jail from the sheriff’s office to a civilian corrections staff and director.

Past talks about the transition have been revived now that county officials are weighing costly jail expansion options. Deputies currently manage the 148-bed Papillion facility.

The jail has frequently exceeded capacity since the 1990s. The county has paid other jails to house its inmates, but has struggled recently to find space nearby.

Options include doing nothing, expanding the current jail or building a new one.

County Deputy Administrator Scott Bovick says all options require increased staffing, so the transition should begin now.

County Board member Brian Zuger says the staff change would save the county money without negatively impacting public safety.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — A Fremont man has been given six years in prison for beating up and choking his girlfriend.

Jacob Booze was sentenced Monday in Dodge County District Court. Booze had pleaded no contest to felony strangulation and false imprisonment. Authorities say he choked and suffocated the woman early in the morning of Nov. 1, after she returned home from a night out with a friend. Authorities say he stomped on her face, menaced her with a shower curtain bar and threatened to kill her.

She was treated later at a hospital for facial fractures.

WALTHILL, Neb. (AP) — A police sergeant has been killed in a northeast Nebraska highway crash.

The Nebraska State Patrol says Sgt. Curtis Blackbird was responding to a call Sunday morning in Walthill when he ran into a construction crane. The patrol says the crane was obscured by thick fog in a work zone on Nebraska Highway 94.

The 59-year-old Blackbird was an officer for the Omaha Tribe Law Enforcement.

Walthill sits about 67 miles (108 kilometers) north-northwest of Omaha.

HICKMAN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of the drivers involved in a fatal collision in southeast Nebraska.

The accident occurred around 7 a.m. Monday on U.S. Highway 77, at a rural road intersection about six miles (9.65 kilometers) south of Lincoln. Lancaster County Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Houchin says a westbound car that didn’t halt at the intersection was struck by a northbound car, which then struck a south-facing pickup truck waiting to turn east onto the rural road.

Houchin says the westbound car driver died at the scene. She’s been identified as 87-year-old Laverda Baehr, who lived in Hastings. The other car’s driver was hospitalized in Lincoln. He’s been identified as 26-year-old James Rivers III, of Beatrice.

The pickup driver wasn’t injured. He’s been identified as 64-year-old Jim Jinings, of Macedonia, Iowa.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Migrating white pelicans apparently have found in Lincoln what they’ve been looking for on their way north: a well-stocked lake.

Hundreds have been resting at Capitol Beach Lake, restoring their strength for their remaining journey to summer homes in North Dakota.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln bird expert Paul Johnsgard told the Lincoln Journal Star (https://bit.ly/2nmVhK3 ) that it’s not uncommon to see this many pelicans congregating at food spots in late March, but that hasn’t been the case at Capitol Beach Lake until this year.

Harvey Schwartz is vice president of the Capitol Beach community’s board of directors and he says the lake was drained and deepened several years ago. It wasn’t until recently that varying species of catfish were stocked with success. Schwartz thinks that abundance has attracted the winged visitors.

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CLEARWATER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a passenger has been killed in a rollover crash in Antelope County.

The crash occurred on a rural road early Sunday morning, southwest of Clearwater. The Nebraska State Patrol says the driver’s view of an approaching curve apparently was limited by fog. The vehicle ran off the roadway and rolled.

The driver and another passenger received minor injuries. The names of all three people haven’t been released.

The crash is being investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man has died of injuries suffered when he was struck by a car in Omaha.

The accident occurred just before 11 p.m. Thursday in the eastern part of the city. Police say the man was walking across a street when the car struck him. The man wasn’t in a crosswalk.

Police say the man died early Sunday morning at a hospital. He’s been identified as 19-year-old Dylan McConeghey.

DENVER (AP) — Colorado is considering an unusual strategy to protect its nascent marijuana industry from a federal crackdown, even at the expense of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax collections.

A bill in the Colorado Legislature would allow pot growers and retailers to reclassify their recreational pot as medical pot if a change in federal law or enforcement occurs.

It is the boldest attempt yet by a marijuana state to avoid federal intervention in its weed market.

The bill would allow Colorado’s 500 or so licensed recreational pot growers to instantly reclassify their weed.

It’s a provision getting a lot of marijuana industry attention following recent comments from members of President Donald Trump’s administration.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer has said “there’s a big difference” between medical and recreational pot.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Three central Nebraska residents are facing felony animal neglect charges after neighbors raised concerns about the way they were treating horses and dogs.

The Merrick County Sheriff’s Department arrested a 35-year-old man, a 34-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man last week on suspicion of animal neglect.

Five horses were taken from the rural property last June by the Central Nebraska Humane Society. Earlier this month, 21 dogs were taken from the land.

Merrick County Sheriff John Westman says all the animals were neglected and needed veterinary care.

Lawyer James Wagoner, who represents the 35-year-old man, says he thinks his client has been misunderstood and he was likely trying to help the animals.