FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A joint task force of North Dakota and federal officials is investigating a clash between Dakota Access pipeline protesters and private security guards earlier this month.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is heading up the probe of the Sept. 3 incident, after which security guards and protesters reported injuries.

Tribal officials say about 30 protesters were pepper-sprayed and some were bitten by dogs at the construction site near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

The task force includes members of the Morton and Mercer County sheriff’s departments, the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier says the BIA is representing Native American tribes.

A North Dakota state agency that regulates private investigation and security firms is also looking into the incident.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An effort to have DNA results admitted into evidence in the case against a former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school could delay his trial.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine has asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to delay the first-degree murder trial of Anthony Garcia, which is set to begin next Monday. Kleine also asked the high court on Monday to vacate District Judge Gary Randall’s decision excluding advanced DNA analysis from trial.

Garcia is charged in the March 2008 slayings of Dr. William Hunter’s 11-year-old son and the family’s housekeeper, as well as the May 2013 killings of Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife. Prosecutors say Garcia was seeking revenge over being fired from a Creighton University School of Medicine residency program.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A man who worked at a Bellevue group home for developmentally disabled people has been convicted in the sexual assault of one of the residents.

Online court records say 39-year-old Adrian Galbreath pleaded guilty Monday to attempted sexual assault and two counts of abuse of a vulnerable adult. Prosecutors lowered the assault charge in exchange for Galbreath’s pleas. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 21.

Court records say Galbreath worked at Hands of Heartland and had invited the group home resident to Galbreath’s Bellevue apartment on Sept. 23 last year. Authorities say Galbreath pushed down and began to assault the man after the man became intoxicated.

A Hands of Heartland official has said Galbreath is no longer an employee.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Republican majority has set the stage for an expected lawsuit over competing budgets to guide Lincoln’s spending and taxes.

The council voted 4-3 Monday to approve a tax rate that officials say wouldn’t generate enough revenue to support the budget submitted by Mayor Chris Beutler (BYTE’-lur), a Democrat.

Beutler and Democrats on the council say the council must approve a tax rate that fully supports the budget of record, in this case the budget Beutler submitted before vetoing the council’s budget.

The Republicans on the council say the mayor cannot veto a budget, and the trimmer budget approved by the Republican majority is the legal budget.

City Attorney Jeff Kirkpatrick has hired attorneys for both sides in anticipation of a lawsuit.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An off-duty Omaha police officer needed surgery after being shot in the stomach while visiting a friend’s home on the northwest edge of the city.

Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning says the incident that happened Monday morning in a barn near Bennington appears to have been an accident.

The 38-year-old officer’s friend was holding a .357 Magnum that went off and wounded the officer.

Authorities didn’t immediately identify the people involved in the incident Monday.

Omaha police said the officer was in stable condition Monday.

The Nebraska State Patrol, in conjunction with the Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office, have made an arrest in connection with a disturbance and stabbing in Peru over the weekend.

Jeffland R. Neverson, 24, a student at Peru State College was taken into custody without incident around 11:00 a.m., Monday, Sept. 19, at a residence in Peru. Neverson, was lodged in the Nemaha County Jail on a charge of 1st-degree assault and use of a weapon to commit a felony.

His arrest follows a response around 10:15 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 17, by the Nemaha County Sheriff’s office to a report of a disturbance and stabbing near the 1000 block of 5th Street in Peru.

The Nebraska State Patrol was requested to assist with the incident and investigation. Injured in the incident were, Elijah Lavalais-Hawkins, 20, Larry Hodnett, 19, and Anthony Hemingway, 23. All three are students at Peru State College.

Hemingway was treated and released from the Nemaha County Hospital on Sunday, Sept. 18. Hawkins and Hodnett were both transported to the Nemaha County Hospital and then flown with non-life threatening injuries by medical helicopter to Bryan Trauma Center, West Campus.

The investigation into what led to the disturbance and stabbings continues.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 30-year-old man accused of being a serial rapist has been given 90 to 100 years in prison.

Christopher Ennis was sentenced Monday in Omaha. He had faced six counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault and one count of strangulation until reaching a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded no contest to two counts of sexual assault.

Prosecutors say Ennis attacked as many as seven women over three years as they walked alone. Ennis is accused of grabbing the women from behind and dragging them behind bushes or buildings before assaulting them. Authorities say Ennis choked one of the women until she was unconscious.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine has said a plea agreement was reached so the women would not have to testify at trial.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Bellevue man has been killed in an Omaha motorcycle crash.

The accident was reported around 6:20 Sunday morning. Omaha police say the speeding eastbound motorcycle failed to negotiate a turn to the south and struck a fence and post. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police identified the man as 31-year-old Joshua Sheard.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police say they’ve recovered a stolen handgun used by a man who shot at two vehicles and then was shot by officers on the campus of Creighton University.

Police said in a news release Sunday night the 26-year-old man has been hospitalized for several wounds. He was shot a little after 6 a.m. Sunday after officers confronted him on the campus. Police say the man had shot at two occupied vehicles a few blocks away, striking the vehicles but missing the people inside.

Police say the .22-caliber handgun recovered from the man had been reported stolen Jan. 22.

The officers who fired at the man were identified as Austin Taylor, a veteran of two years on the force, and Aaron Anderson, a 12-year veteran.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A historian thought gigantic sculptures of significant Western figures might bring more people to the Black Hills of South Dakota and ran it by an artist in 1924.

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum told the historian to think bigger. Three years later, he began carving four presidents’ faces into the granite pinnacles.

October marks 75 years for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, which is a muse for political cartoonists and makes frequent cameos in movies. It’s also a big draw for tourists, with about 3 million people visiting each year.

To celebrate the milestone, the National Park Service held events during the summer in connection with its own 100th birthday.