LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln’s police chief says there are many challenges in recruiting good candidates, illustrated by the fact that only 16 out of 335 applicants since April made it to training.

Chief Jeff Bliemeister will be looking for a deeper and more diverse pool of applicants in the future.

According to Bliemeister, recruitment challenges include making sure applicants meet certain qualifications, such as not having criminal convictions with sentences of a year or more, a written test of basic education and the physical fitness test.

Bliemeister says the department is working with the city’s Human Resources staff on recruiting ideas and that law enforcement clubs have been started in high schools.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A state panel has dismissed a complaint alleging that Nebraska Sen. Ernie Chambers misused public resources when he ridiculed another lawmaker with drawings and poems on state letterhead.

The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission voted 7-0 on Friday not to investigate the complaint by Andrew Sullivan, a conservative activist from Omaha.

Chambers has released more than two dozen memos calling attention to state Sen. Bill Kintner’s use of a state computer to have cybersex with a woman he met online. Kintner was fined $1,000 for misuse of state property. The memos, dubbed “Kintner-grams,” include unflattering drawings of Kintner and rhymes mocking his indiscretion.

Commission member Jeff Peetz says he doesn’t condone Chambers’ memos, but notes that Kintner’s behavior was a matter of public concern.

NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) — A convicted sex offender has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl less than a year after he left a Nebraska prison.

Online court records say 23-year-old Nebraska City resident Preston Boehnke pleaded guilty Tuesday in a deal with prosecutors. A second count was dropped in exchange for Boehnke’s plea. A sex offender specific psychological evaluation will be completed before his sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 10.

Boehnke was sentenced in 2013 to three to five years in prison for possession of child pornography. He was released from custody in July 2015. Court records say the sex assault occurred April 1 this year.

DECATUR, Neb. (AP) — More northeast Nebraska residents are being allowed to return to their homes days after they were evacuated because of an anhydrous ammonia leak that killed a local farmer.

Magellan Midstream Partners, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, said Friday that it is still not allowing people who live within a mile from where the pipeline leak occurred to return home. Magellan says only four homes fall within the mile radius.

Magellan has been repairing the 8-inch-diameter pipeline that carries the liquid fertilizer. When released from a tank or pipe, anhydrous ammonia becomes a lethal gas that can cause severe chemical burns and damage the tissue of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs.

Authorities have said 59-year-old Phillip Hennig, of Tekamah, was killed by the fumes Monday night while checking on the leak.

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government is confirming another death due to the rupture of an air bag made by Takata Corp.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says a 50-year-old woman died Sept. 30 in Riverside County, California.

Honda Motor Co. confirmed the woman’s death and said she was driving a 2001 Civic.

This is the 11th known U.S. fatality attributed to Takata air bags.

The air bags can inflate with too much force, which causes their metal interior to rupture and spew shrapnel into the vehicle.

The problem touched off what is now the largest auto recall in U.S. history. More than 69 million inflators have been recalled in the U.S. and more than 100 million worldwide.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The defense has begun its case in the trial of a former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school.

Defense attorneys for Anthony Garcia called several witnesses Thursday, including an expert who testified that a gun magazine found at the home of Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary, showed extensive wear and did not appear to be new.

The testimony is intended to counter prosecutors’ assertions that the magazine was part of a handgun Garcia had purchased two months before the Brumbacks were killed in 2013.

Prosecutors say Garcia killed the Brumbacks, as well as the 11-year-old son of another Creighton University School of Medicine faculty member, Dr. William Hunter, and the family’s housekeeper in 2008.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a wounded man struck a school bus as he was driving to an Omaha hospital.

The shooting occurred around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in northeast Omaha. Police say 25-year-old Jestun Haynie was sitting in the car in a driveway when someone in another vehicle drove by and shot him. He was about two miles from the shooting site when his car hit the school bus. Police say the bus driver and none of the children were injured.

Haynie was treated at Creighton University Medical Center and then taken to jail on an unrelated warrant and on suspicion of traffic violations. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Haynie.

DENISON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 51-year-old man accidentally shot himself on his way into a western Iowa field to hunt deer with his wife.

The shooting occurred around 5 p.m. Monday in southern Crawford County. The Iowa Natural Resources Department says Daniel Gehling, of Denison, was adjusting the handgun in his waistband when it went off. The bullet struck one of his thighs. The department says his wife, Carolyn, called for help and applied pressure on the wound to stanch the bleeding.

Daniel Gehling was taken to Crawford County Memorial Hospital in Denison for treatment and then flown to an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital for surgery.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in south-central Nebraska have captured a man sought in a Texas homicide.

The U.S. Marshals Service says 30-year-old Jose Rivera, of Houston, was arrested without incident Tuesday night in Grand Island. He’s suspected in a fatal shooting during a January 2015 robbery at a convenience store in Houston. Authorities say a multiagency task force developed information that Rivera was at the Grand Island address where he was picked up.

Online records said Rivera remained in Hall County Jail on Thursday morning. It’s unclear whether Rivera has attorney who could comment on his behalf and whether Rivera will fight extradition to Texas.

RICHLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a car driver has been killed in a Colfax County collision with a sport utility vehicle.

The crash occurred around 6 a.m. Thursday, about three miles east of Richland on U.S. Highway 30. The Colfax County attorney’s office says a mechanical problem caused the eastbound SUV to go out of control, cross into oncoming traffic and hit the car head-on.

The car driver was pronounced dead at the scene and a passenger was taken to a hospital. The SUV driver also was hospitalized.

Authorities haven’t released the names of those involved.