The office presented Beth Ostdiek Smith, founder of Saving Grace Perishable Food Rescue, with the award earlier this week.

Started in October 2013, Saving Grace redirects perishable food that had been destined for landfills to food pantries, shelters, senior citizen centers and other nonprofits that feed the hungry in the Omaha area. Saving Grace picks up donated items from more than 50 stores, restaurants and other entities and delivers them the same day, free of charge.

The Director’s Community Leadership Award was created in 1990 as a way to honor those who combat crime and for outstanding contributions to the community, among other things.

Omaha police say in a news release that 38-year-old Christina Stover was arrested Friday and booked into Douglas County jail on suspicion of two counts of being an accessory. Her arrest followed those of 26-year-old James Sawyer and 27-year-old Adonus Moses on suspicion of first-degree murder, assault and several weapons counts.

All three are suspected in the Feb. 5 shooting that killed 18-year-old Elijah Foster and injured a 20-year-old woman. Officers who responded to the shooting found Foster’s body near a vehicle in northeast Omaha. The woman was found injured a few blocks away.

Omaha television station KETV reports that family members of a 23-year-old man called the sheriff’s office Wednesday night concerned about his well-being. A deputy sent to a rural farm to check on him says the man fired a shot at him when he was asked to get out of his vehicle. The deputy was not injured.

Officials say the deputy requested backup, and the 23-year-old man fled. He was later found in an outbuilding and arrested around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

He was taken to a mental health treatment facility and is expected to face charges.

But the measure advanced on Wednesday but won’t pass until lawmakers figure out a way to pay for it while balancing the state budget.

The measure by state Sen. Steve Lathrop, of Omaha, would bring the total number of district court judges to 17 in the fourth judicial district, which encompasses Douglas County. Supporters say adding a judge is necessary to adjust to the large number of court cases that are handled in Omaha each year.

Lawmakers advanced the bill on a 35-0 vote. Two additional votes are required before it goes to the governor.

Deputies were dispatched to the house a little before 5 p.m. Tuesday after a man called 911, reported a shooting and hung up. Capt. Wayne Hudson of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says a deputy got to the home within three minutes and found the woman’s body and the wounded man. The man was taken to a hospital.

Hudson didn’t provide the two people’s names or other details about the shooting’s circumstances. He did say, however, that the shooting presents no danger to the public.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha trial has begun for a man accused in the road-rage killing of an Iraq War veteran.

Michael Benson, 26, is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of James Womack, 32, The Omaha World-Herald reported. The shooting occurred at a busy Omaha intersection in 2017.

Dashcam video from another vehicle shows that the altercation began after Womack got out of his semitrailer and yelled at Benson, pounded on the passenger-side window of Benson’s truck and started to walk back to his semitrailer.

Witnesses testified in a Douglas County courtroom Tuesday that they heard gunshots and then saw Womack fall to the ground. Womack was taken to a local hospital where he later died.

Benson’s attorney, Beau Finley, said there’s no proof his client fired the shots or was even in the truck involved in the dispute. After the shooting, Benson told police that his truck had been stolen days before the shooting.

Prosecutors Ryan Lindberg and Amy Jacobsen said a GPS tracking device on Benson’s vehicle and surveillance video show he was driving the vehicle the day of the shooting. They said they’re confident the evidence will lead to a conviction.

Benson was originally charged with being an accessory to a felony in the shooting before prosecutors increased the charge to second-degree murder in March 2018.

Womack was in the Army and served three tours in Iraq before he moved to Omaha with his wife to raise their three children.

The Nebraska State Patrol identified him as 24-year-old Travis Egan.

The patrol says Egan was driving west Monday morning when his car crossed the median near the Greenwood exit and rolled. He was thrown from the car and struck by an eastbound sport utility vehicle.

Egan was pronounced dead at the scene. The patrol says the SUV driver wasn’t injured.

An 11-mile (17.7-kilometer) stretch of the interstate was closed for about four hours from the Waverly exit east to the Greenwood exit.