OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska residents have weighed in on a referendum aimed at repealing a 2015 state law that abolished the sentence, with supporters saying it’s necessary for harsh crimes and opponents saying it’s expensive and immoral.

Ten people testified Tuesday night in Omaha at the first of three public hearings.

Nebraska residents already have begun voting on the referendum ahead of the Nov. 8 election. The question on the ballot asks voters to choose whether to retain or repeal the law.

Marylyn Felion, who witnessed a Nebraska execution in 1997, said the death penalty is no longer needed to protect society.

Vivian Tuttle testified that only an execution would’ve held those who killed her daughter and four others at a Norfolk bank accountable.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln math teacher has been named this year’s Nebraska Teacher of the Year.

State Education Department officials surprised Amber Vlasnik with the award Tuesday at Lincoln High School, where she also coaches other teachers.

The 30-year-old was awarded her education degree at the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2008, did her student teaching in Houston, Texas, and then taught math at Lincoln’s Southeast High School before joining the Lincoln High staff.,

She’ll be eligible for the National Teacher of the Year Award and will participate in several national professional development programs.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A former cellphone store employee in Council Bluffs has pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $30,000 while on the job.

21-year-old Sayeg Moreno Padilla, who lives in Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced Monday to five years of probation and ordered to pay back what he stole.

Prosecutors say Moreno Padilla opened fraudulent accounts using 44 cellphones and took $1,500 in gift cards between May 6 and June 16 last year.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Omaha teacher has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for having a sexual relationship with a former student of his.

Online court records say 36-year-old Brian Robeson was sentenced Tuesday. He’d made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a minor. Prosecutors had lowered the charge and dropped another in exchange for Robeson’s plea.

Robeson was a math teacher at Davis Middle School. Authorities say the relationship began when the girl was 13.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An expert has testified that DNA recovered from the scene of a home break-in could not rule out a former doctor on trial in the deaths of four people with ties to an Omaha medical school.

A judge sustained a defense objection Tuesday to the expert’s testimony that the DNA likely came from Anthony Garcia or a male related to him.

The DNA was collected from the Omaha home of Dr. Chhanda Bewtra, where a break-in occurred in May 2013 around the same time her Creighton University School of Medicine colleague, Dr. Roger Brumback, and his wife, Mary, were killed.

Prosecutors say Garcia also killed the 11-year-old son of Creighton’s Dr. William Hunter, and the family’s housekeeper in 2008. They say Garcia was angry at being fired by the doctors in 2001.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett has the kind of money problem most people would envy: a growing mountain of cash.

Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is holding more cash than ever with nearly $73 billion on hand. And the total grows every day he doesn’t make a deal.

Buffett says he’s always hunting for sizeable acquisitions for Berkshire, but he’s mostly sitting on the cash this year.

Investor Andy Kilpatrick, who wrote “Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett,” says he thinks Buffett is looking for a great company selling at the right price.

Berkshire earns little on its cash, but Buffett isn’t likely to feel much pressure from shareholders.

After all, Buffett still controls nearly one-third of the voting stock, and Berkshire shareholders have rejected the idea of a dividend before.

CHERRYVALE, Kan. (AP) — Police in the tiny town of Cherryvale, Kansas, looking to track down the owner of an abandoned gram of crystal meth have taken their case to social media.

A bag with methamphetamine was found Sept. 29 at a convenience store in the southeast Kansas community of about 2,300 people. So Cherryvale police politely posted about it on the department’s Facebook page.

The post reads: “We are very concerned and would like to find the owner so please notify us and describe the packaging and we will see what we can do for you.”

It’s been shared nearly 1,700 times. But Police Chief Perry Lambert says no one has come forward as the owner of the illegal stimulant — though he says he’s hopeful.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The family of a man shot by an Omaha police officer last year has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the former officer who fired the fatal shot.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Douglas County District Court and seeks $2 million for the Feb. 23, 2015, shooting death of 39-year-old Danny Elrod. Police confronted Elrod, who was suspected of robbing a nearby store, and say Officer Alvin Lugod shot him after Elrod refused to comply with commands and turned and reached for a fence behind him. An investigation determined Elrod was unarmed when he was shot, but cleared Lugod of wrongdoing in the shooting.

Lugod resigned following a departmental investigation.

The lawsuit offers to settle the case for $500,000.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Developers and investors have pulled out of the proposed $25 million City Block Project in downtown Hastings after nearly three years of planning and negotiations.

Mayor Vern Powers said at Monday’s City Council meeting that the two out-of-town developers and a local investor decided to invest their money elsewhere because of uncertainty about the project’s future. A public vote on the project was set for Nov. 8.

Plans included 42 apartments for Hastings College students, at least 75 hotel rooms, health care space, retail and office space and a publicly owned conference area adjacent to the existing Hastings City Auditorium.

STANTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have rescued a rural Madison man who got stuck in mud and water while duck hunting in northeast Nebraska.

The Stanton County Sheriff’s Office says 56-year-old John Johnson was hunting alone Saturday morning southeast of Stanton when he moved into a marshy area and his hip waders began filling with water. He soon was mired up to his neck.

Johnson and his predicament were discovered by a game warden who was in the area to check hunting permits. Rescuers called to the scene in Wood Duck Wildlife Management Area used ropes and a boat to get Johnson back on solid ground. He was taken to a hospital.