ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) — The National Weather Service says a weak tornado briefly moved through a rural area between Lincoln and Omaha on Thursday.

The weather service in Valley, just west of Omaha, says the tornado hit just before 5 p.m. Thursday near Ashland as strong thunderstorms moved across the southeastern and eastern portions of Nebraska.

The Saunders County Sheriff’s Department says no injuries or damage have been reported from the tornado.

The weather service says it expects to gather more information on the tornado later Thursday or Friday.

WAHOO, Neb. (AP) — An Osceola man is scheduled to be sentenced next month for his role in a Saunders County collision that killed an engaged couple.

Online court records say 43-year-old Douglas Cerny pleaded no contest Thursday to two misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide. His sentencing is set for Sept. 29.

Authorities say Cerny ran a stop sign Jan. 24 at an intersection with U.S. Highway 77, west of Wahoo. Cerny’s vehicle collided with one being driven by 29-year-old Jessica Thomas. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Thirty-two-year-old Tanner Hauck, who was in the vehicle with Thomas, died several days later.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska man has pleaded guilty to stealing from a casino in Winnebago.

Mark Hannan, of South Sioux City, entered the plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. He’d previously pleaded not guilty to the charge: theft by an employee of a gaming establishment on Indian lands. His sentencing is set for Oct. 31.

Court documents say that from Nov. 1 through Feb. 15, Hannan stole the money while working at the Native Star Casino, which is owned and operated by the Winnebago Indian Tribe of Nebraska.

NEWMAN GROVE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man has died after the tractor he was driving overturned in northeast Nebraska.

The accident occurred Tuesday evening on private land just northeast of Newman Grove. Madison County deputies sent to the scene say Ronald Konz, of Lindsay, died after the tractor overturned into a creek. Investigators think he was moving hay bales at the time.

The accident is being investigated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gage County has appealed a jury’s verdict awarding more than $28 million to six people who were wrongfully convicted in the 1985 slaying of a southeast Nebraska woman.

The appeal was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. The county wants a judge to set aside the verdict or order another trial.

The appeal argues there wasn’t enough evidence to find for the six people who spent a combined 77 years in prison in the death of 68-year-old Helen Wilson before DNA testing cleared them in 2008. It also says the jury was tainted by statements that the six were innocent and says the $28.1 award was excessive.

The six have become known as the Beatrice Six. An attorney for them has declined to comment about the appeal.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two firefighters have been injured while battling a blaze at a house just north of Omaha.

The fire was reported at 1:20 a.m. Thursday in the Ponca Hills area, east of U.S. Highway 75.

The occupants escaped without harm. The two firefighters were taken to an Omaha hospital.

The fire cause is being investigated. Officials suspect the blaze began in a pickup before spreading to a garage and then the house.

LA VISTA, Neb. (AP) — Friends have gathered to remember a former classmate who was killed after being hit by a train in La Vista.

Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Wilson and 18-year-old Dillon McHenry were hit by a BNSF Railway train while walking along the tracks over the Papio Creek around 8:40 p.m. Monday.

Their friend, 18-year-old Edward Zielinski, says he and the two men were on the tracks when they saw the train. Zielinski jumped into the water below, but the other two men went off the bridge after the train hit them.

Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene. McHenry was taken to a local hospital and is now in fair condition.

An investigation shows the train didn’t blow its whistle. La Vista police are reviewing video from the train’s camera.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says a routine traffic stop on Interstate 80 near Lincoln turned up close to 50 pounds of marijuana in a pickup.

The sheriff’s office says the stop occurred around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, and deputies conducted a probable-cause search. Deputies say they found 49 one-pound bags of marijuana packed into totes in the bed of the pickup. Authorities estimate the street value of the marijuana at $250,000.

The search also turned up hash oils and a handgun.

Two men in the truck were arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana with intent to deliver and other counts.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 30-year-old Lincoln man has been sentenced to two years in prison for arranging to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex in a grocery store parking lot last November.

Anthony Dyer was sentenced Tuesday in Lancaster County District Court. In June, he pleaded no contest to a charge of enticement by an electronic device.

Prosecutors say Dyer exchanged sexually explicit text messages in November with a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but was actually an undercover deputy sheriff posing as a young girl. Prosecutors say Dyer arranged for them to meet for sex in Fallbrook. Dyer was arrested when he showed up.