OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Public Schools is set to open its first virtual school for kindergarten through eighth-grade students this month.

The Omaha Virtual School will be open to home-schooled students, giving them a mix of face-to-face instruction and online lessons.

Students participating in the free program will be given a laptop to receive instruction at home at their own pace. They’ll also be required to report in person once a week for face-to-face activities, such as science labs or field trips.

The school board unanimously approved the program last month. The district plans to hire four teachers and a student learning advocate, similar to a school counselor.

Superintendent Mark Evans says the program will avoid the pitfalls that have challenged virtual schools in other states.

BENNINGTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Powerball ticket worth $1 million was sold in the eastern Nebraska community of Bennington.

The ticket matched the first five numbers in Saturday night’s Powerball drawing but missed on the Powerball number. The ticket was sold at a Cubby’s convenience store. A ticket sold in Raymond, New Hampshire, matched all the numbers to win the $487 million jackpot.

Nebraska Lottery spokesman Brian Rockey said Monday that the $1 million prize hasn’t been claimed yet. Winning Nebraska Lottery tickets expire 180 days after the drawing. Prizes of $20,000 or more must be claimed in person at Nebraska Lottery headquarters in Lincoln.

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — Norfolk authorities have arrested a 22-year-old man accused of beating a woman and threatening to harm her child.

Police say officers were dispatched to an apartment a little before 12:10 a.m. Sunday to check on a report that a man was threatening to kill a child. Officers found the man upstairs with the 18-month-old girl.

He was arrested on suspicion of assault, child abuse and other crimes. Court records don’t show that he’s been formally charged yet.

Officers say they later found a knife in a diaper box that had been near the man.

The child’s mother and several witnesses say the man had punched the woman, held a knife to the toddler’s throat and chased a would-be rescuer out of the apartment.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Police say a 10-year-old boy was critically injured when he was struck by a car in northwest Omaha.

The accident happened near 107th and Fort streets around 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Witnesses told police that the boy ran out into the street in front of a 1997 Honda Accord. The driver tried to swerve but still struck the boy.

Paramedics rushed the boy to a hospital in critical condition.

Police said there wasn’t a crosswalk where the incident happened.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Fire officials say separate fires less than a week apart at the same Bellevue apartment complex were started the same way — by carelessly discarded cigarettes.

Officials say the first fire on July 22 damaged a third-floor apartment at the Gateway Park Apartments complex. But the next fire, on Tuesday, left the building uninhabitable and dozens of people without homes.

It also sent four people, including a Bellevue firefighter, to a hospital for injuries.

The Bellevue Fire Department says that the second fire caused $1 million in damage to the building and $250,000 in damage to its contents.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A long-awaited national cemetery for U.S. military veterans and their families south of Omaha will be dedicated this week before accepting its first burials this fall.

The Omaha National Cemetery will be dedicated Friday at an off-site ceremony in Sarpy County.

Cemetery director Cindy Van Bibber says the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is expected to complete an initial segment of the property to be used for in-ground casket and cremation burials as early as September.

Once complete, the entire 236-acre cemetery will serve the burial needs of more than 112,000 veterans in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

National cemeteries provide burial spaces for honorably discharged veterans, their spouses and eligible dependents at no charge.

ROYAL, Neb. (AP) — Experts will be available Saturday at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park to help people identify fossils and ancient artifacts.

The 2016 Fossil and Artifact Identification Day will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. People may bring just single items or whole collections for identification.

The park sits two miles west and six miles north of Royal in northeast Nebraska’s Antelope County. Valid Nebraska State Park permits are required for vehicles and can be purchased there.

Call 402-893-2000 or visit https://www.ashfall.unl.edu for more information.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man serving a life sentence for the 1986 killing of his girlfriend will remain behind bars after the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected his motion for postconviction relief.

The high court on Friday said a lower court was not wrong to dismiss Courtney Starks’ motion without holding an evidentiary hearing. Starks was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and a weapons count for the killing of Linda Wierzbicki.

In his postconviction motion, Starks argued that his lawyers failed to claim prosecutorial misconduct during his trial. Starks claims that police coerced a confession from him by showing him graphic photos of Wierzbicki’s body, then lied at trial about showing him such photos.

The high court says the lower court’s review of the trial record was enough to discount Starks’ arguments.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have identified a driver killed when his speeding car struck a vacant building in southeast Omaha.

Police say 33-year-old Armando Armas was killed in the 12:15 a.m. Friday crash.

Police say Armas’ car was one of two vehicles speeding east on Q Street when it left the road and struck the building at the intersection with South 37th Street.

Armas was pronounced dead at the scene. Police believe he and the driver of the other vehicle were drag racing when the crash occurred.

Police are looking for the other vehicle and driver.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver died after his car struck a building in southeast Omaha.

The accident occurred about 12:15 a.m. Friday. Police say the car was one of two vehicles speeding east on Q Street when it left the road and struck the building at the Q Street intersection with South 37th Street.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. His name hasn’t been released.

Police are looking for the other vehicle and driver.