LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police are searching for a suspect after a 21-year-old Lincoln woman reported being beaten and sexually assaulted by an intruder who broke into her home.

The attack occurred in northeast Lincoln just after 5 a.m. Wednesday. The woman told police she was asleep in the living room of her apartment when she awoke to a man armed with a knife.

She says he initially demanded her belongings before attacking her. She was taken to a hospital with visible bruising and swelling to her face.

Police say the only description they have of the suspect is that he was wearing dark clothing.

Investigators believe the man may have entered the apartment through an unlocked window.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Three people are facing charges after Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies found 22 pounds of marijuana and 1 pound of methamphetamine in two different traffic stops this week.

The sheriff’s office says both stops occurred within several hours of each other on Interstate 80.

In the first incident Tuesday night, a driver was stopped on I-80 near 96th Street for a traffic violation. A sheriff’s deputy smelled marijuana and found the drug bundled in three bags in the trunk.

A 51-year-old California man was arrested in that stop.

Then early Wednesday, a police dog detected the odor of drugs coming from a vehicle another deputy had stopped on I-80. A search found the methamphetamine in the vehicle.

A 54-year-old woman and her 33-year-old passenger were arrested. Both are from New Hampshire.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) âThe caretaker for an Omaha 4-year-old whose frigid, plastic-wrapped body was hidden under basement stairs has been sentenced to prison.

On Wednesday Douglas County District Judge Greg Schatz gave Chelsey Cook 20 to 25 years. She’d been found guilty in June of intentional child abuse resulting in the death of Alicia Morrow.

Prosecutors have said Cook knew Alicia needed medical attention but did not call 911 because there was a warrant out for her arrest. An autopsy showed the girl died of hypothermia at Cook’s home, where her body was found Jan. 5. Cook didn’t put more clothes on Alicia to warm her in the house, which officials have said was frigid.

Alicia’s mother, Lakisha Morrow, has said Cook offered to care for Alicia when Morrow was homeless.

EMERSON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Pender man has died in a highway accident involving three vehicles.

The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office says the accident occurred a little before 12:30 p.m. Tuesday on Nebraska Highway 35 about a mile northeast of Emerson. The Sheriff’s Office says an eastbound vehicle sideswiped a westbound van and then spun out of control when it hit water running over the roadway and struck another westbound vehicle.

The eastbound vehicle’s driver was killed. The Sheriff’s Office identified him as 21-year-old Michael Schmidt, who lived in Pender. One of the other drivers was hospitalized and the third driver was not injured.

The collisions are being investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man and woman have been hospitalized after a fire at an Omaha apartment.

Firetrucks were dispatched around 5 a.m. Wednesday to the Harrisburg Square Apartments in south-central Omaha. Firefighters say they revived the man before he was taken in critical condition to a hospital. The woman was reported in serious condition. Both had suffered smoke inhalation.

Firefighters contained the flames to the apartment. The fire cause is being investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Thunderstorms have lashed several parts of eastern Nebraska, leaving thousands of people without power and some stranded by street flooding and storm debris.

The National Weather Service says an off-duty weather service employee saw a rope tornado briefly touch down around 8 p.m. Tuesday, three miles south-southeast of Kennard in Washington County. No injuries have been reported.

The Omaha Public Power District reported that at 5 a.m. Wednesday, nearly 9,700 customers were without power in Douglas and several other counties.

Up to 6 inches of rain was reported near Blair, and street flooding occurred in Omaha, Fremont and other cities.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The remains of a Marine from Grand Island have been buried in a local cemetery 72 years after his death during World War II.

The remains of Marine Pvt. Dale Robert Geddes were buried in Grand Island City Cemetery on Monday.

Geddes died on Nov. 20, 1943, as Americans fought to capture the Japanese-controlled island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands. About 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed, with another 2,000 wounded during the three-day battle.

Geddes was buried in what eventually became known as the “Lost Cemetery.” The U.S. government informed his family at one point that recovering his body wouldn’t be likely.

Members of his family and numerous Grand Island residents, including veterans, attended the memorial ceremony.

GRETNA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say one person has died in a crash near Gretna.

Sarpy County law enforcement officials say two vehicles were involved in the crash at 216th Street and Cornhusker Road around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Officials say an SUV ran a stop sign at 216th Street and hit a pickup. Investigators say both vehicles ran off the road into an adjacent field.

The Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office says the driver of the SUV died at the scene, while the driver of the truck was not injured. Officials say the drivers were the only occupants of the vehicles.

Both drivers were men. Their names have not yet been released.

BOYS TOWN, Neb. (AP) — Three U.S. coins will be released next year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Boys Town.

The U.S. Mint unveiled the designs of the coins on Tuesday.

One will feature a portrait of Father Edward Flanagan, who founded Boys Town as an orphanage for boys in 1917. The organization has grown into a nonprofit that houses 400 troubled boys and girls on its Omaha campus.

Other coins will feature oak trees and scenes of young children seeking shelter.

A limited number of the $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half dollar coins are scheduled to be released next year.

Flanagan was depicted in the Academy Award-winning 1938 movie “Boys Town.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court says Lincoln police did not have reasonable suspicion to stop and detain a man who says he was injured in the stop.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion Tuesday reverses the ruling of a federal judge, who last year dismissed Leroy Duffie’s lawsuit against the city of Lincoln and several police officers.

Police say the 2011 stop stemmed from a report hours earlier of a young man in a van similar to Duffie’s with what appeared to be a handgun.

But the appeals court says given Nebraska’s law allowing the open-carry of guns, that incident could not be construed as a crime. Therefore, the officers did not have reasonable suspicion that Duffie had or was going to commit a crime when he was stopped.