OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha nonprofit has been awarded more than $1.4 million by the federal government to provide housing for the homeless in certain Nebraska counties.

The Metro Area Continuum of Care for the Homeless received the grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide supportive housing for the homeless in Pottawattamie, Douglas and Sarpy counties.

Funding will go toward rental assistance, as well as the local homeless management information system.

The organization’s assistant director, Lisa Vukov, says that mental health and substance abuse treatment and other support services will also receive aid.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln school officials say hail and rain from a storm last week caused extensive damage to a middle school that’s under construction.

The May 9 storm punched fist-sized holes into 80,000 square feet of roofing at the future Moore Middle School. It received the most damage among schools in the Lincoln district.

Hail beat through the school’s roofing and insulation while rain poured through still-open windows.

Construction workers patched up some of the holes, but district officials said Tuesday the damaged roof will need to be replaced as it covers a third of the total space. Other schools in Lincoln received minor damage.

Officials say insurance will cover what they estimate to be a six-figure damage cost.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man suspected of setting off an explosive device in a Lincoln park has been arrested after nearly two dozen more devices were discovered in his home.

Witnesses at Tierra Park say the man set off the device around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and then went to the house. No injuries have been reported, although several dozen schoolchildren were at the park on a field trip.

Police say they obtained a search warrant and then found 21 more improvised explosive devices that they don’t think were fashioned at the home. Authorities are trying to determine whether the man is connected to mailbox bombings around the city.

Online court records don’t show that the man has been charged.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha City Council has accepted a lawsuit settlement that the people who filed the lawsuit want out of.

Members of the Johnson family changed their minds about settling the lawsuit alleging excessive force by police officers and on May 3 asked the Omaha City Council to vote against the deal. Sharee Johnson said she and the others didn’t realize their oral agreement was binding. She said the family wants its day in court.

The agreement calls for the city to pay $6,000 to each of the five family members who filed the lawsuit and to pay up to $60,000 toward their attorney fees.

The council delayed the decision until Tuesday and then voted 7-0 to approve it.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — A former Dodge County assessor convicted of stealing from the county has been given probation.

27-year-old Brittny King also was ordered to repay $106 and provide 120 hours of community service. In March King was found guilty of two misdemeanor theft counts. The judge told King at Tuesday’s sentencing that she’d serve 90 days in jail if she violated the terms of her 12-month probation.

Court records say King used a county-issued credit card on two occasions to buy fuel for her personal vehicle.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say 46 living cats and 10 dead kittens have been removed from a Lincoln home.

Police responded to the home last week after a UPS driver reported that the home smelled like someone may have died inside. Officer Katie Flood says a woman who lives at the home allowed officers to walk through the home, and they found cats and the home to be in general disarray. The woman was told she had a week to clean up the home and that police would follow up.

Sgt. Randy Clark says 46 cats were taken from the home Monday, along with 10 dead kittens.

Animal Control Manager Steve Beal says that the cats are with the Capital Humane Society. Beal says no citations have been issued, and an investigation is ongoing.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former Lincoln high school math teacher has pleaded no contest to driving drunk for the third time.

42-year-old Terry Harms, of Cortland, entered the plea Tuesday. The charge stemmed from a December traffic stop, during which Lincoln police smelled alcohol on Harms.

Police say his blood alcohol level registered at 0.165 percent — more than twice the legal limit to drive in Nebraska.

Court records show Harms was convicted of drunken driving in 2007 and 2011.

He worked as a substitute teacher for Lincoln Public Schools and as a part-time teacher at Lincoln North Star. School district officials say Harms has resigned.

He will be sentenced July 1.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha school board has approved the purchase of textbooks and other materials that will be distributed for health and sex education classes starting this fall.

The board voted 7-0 Monday night for the purchases recommended by staff, after several people urged the board to wait and take more time to review the material.

In January, the board approved new standards for health and sex education. Parents and community members debated some of the curriculum’s new topics, including gender identity, sexual orientation, abortion and emergency contraception.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man whose body was found in a Lincoln house is suspected of shooting the two women whose bodies also were found there.

Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister said Tuesday that investigators think 50-year-old Ronald Heritage shot 53-year-old Tina Jensen and 55-year-old Norma Voges several times before killing himself. Relatives of Jensen found two of the bodies Sunday afternoon and called police.

Police have said Heritage and Jensen had been in a relationship and that it appears there’d been a disturbance before or when Voges arrived to help Jensen move some items out of Heritage’s home, where Jensen had been living. All three worked for the U.S. Postal Service.

A firearm has been recovered.

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — Safety regulators have proposed fining a Minnesota excavation company that was drilling in Omaha’s Old Market area when a natural gas-fueled fire destroyed a building.

Regulators say a crew struck a gas line underneath the sidewalk in front of M’s Pub on Jan. 9. Gas leaked into the basement of the building and exploded. An M’s Pub employee was taken to a hospital with cuts and a firefighter was treated after slipping on ice.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Monday that North Central Service, of Bemidji, Minnesota, didn’t use “safe and acceptable” means to find underground utilities in the area. OSHA is proposing a $4,900 fine.

A company spokesman didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday from The Associated Press.