OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The principal of a northwest Omaha elementary school has died unexpectedly at the age of 47.

Superintendent Mark Evans sent a note to parents at Dodge Elementary School saying that Crystal Simpson died Friday.

Evans wrote that the death was unexpected, but he didn’t say what caused it.

Simpson had been Dodge Elementary’s principal since 2012. Before that she had also been an assistant principal at Standing Bear Elementary.

Simpson previously won a national teaching award from the Milken Foundation in 2008.

The district plans to have counselors at Dodge Elementary when classes resume on Tuesday.

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SPRAGUE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 29-year-old Lincoln woman is dead after falling from the back of a pickup.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says the accident happened around 2:30 a.m. Saturday near Traditions Pub in Sprague, just south of Lincoln.

The office says Amanda Bundy fell from the truck’s tailgate as the pickup headed southbound on Market Street. Bundy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators are asking for witnesses to come forward.

SOUTH YANKTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have identified a man who died in a mobile home fire in northeast Nebraska.

The Cedar County Sheriff’s Office on Friday said 70-year-old Daniel Leader, of Crofton, died in the fire. Leader died of smoke inhalation.

Firefighters were dispatched around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday to the mobile home about three miles south of South Yankton.

Sheriff Larry Koranda said in a statement that Leader was found and pronounced dead at the scene.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man accused of having sex with a 12-year-old girl has been sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison.

22-year-old Dakota Campbell was sentenced Thursday. He had pleaded no contest to third-degree sexual assault of a child and felony child abuse. Campbell has been ordered to register as a sex offender once his prison sentence is complete.

Police say the sexual abuse was reported after the girl told a family friend, who told the girl’s father.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A 25-year-old Beatrice man caught with methamphetamine at the Gage County Courthouse has been given a year in prison.

Joshua Weeks was sentenced Thursday for possession of a controlled substance. His sentence will be served at the same time as his 20- to 48-month sentence for theft.

Weeks was arrested Dec. 31 after he arrived at the courthouse in Beatrice for hearings on two cases. Authorities say a metal detector alerted deputies that Weeks had metal on him. He gave a glasses case to a deputy, who opened it and found plastic bags, syringes, and a spoon.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An officer killed in the line of duty has been honored by the Omaha Police Foundation with its highest award.

The foundation named Kerrie Orozco as its Officer of the Year at a ceremony Thursday. She’s the first officer to be given the honor posthumously.

Police say Marcus Wheeler fatally shot Orozco on May 20, 2015, when he opened fire on officers trying to arrest him. Wheeler was killed when another officer returned fire. Orozco was one day away from going on maternity leave to care for the daughter she had delivered prematurely three months earlier.

Orozco’s mother, Ellen Holtz, and grandmother accepted the honor for her daughter. Holtz said, “Thank you so much for remembering Kerrie.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Lincoln woman used stolen credit card data to buy more than $190,000 worth of laptop computers.

The 34-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of theft and criminal possession of a financial card. Online court records don’t show that she’s been formally charged.

A Wisconsin law enforcement agency contacted Lincoln police April 4 about credit card information from a Wisconsin business being used for purchases in Lincoln. Lincoln investigators soon learned about credit card data being stolen from business accounts in other states also being used by the same person in Lincoln. Security videos from Lincoln stores show the woman buying nearly $194,000 worth of laptops.

Police say the laptops haven’t been found.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police have announced the death of a squirrel that hung out around police headquarters and had his own Twitter following.

Police say the squirrel, which went by @OPDSquirrel on the social media site, was found dead in the police headquarters’ parking lot in downtown Omaha.

A post by Omaha Officer Michael Bossman on Tuesday announced the death, accompanied by a picture of a dead squirrel outlined with chalk.

The squirrel’s Twitter account, however, remains active. The rodent’s nearly 350 followers have been treated to follow-up tweets from friends and family — including one from Mrs. OPDSquirrel, who thanked everyone for their kind words and said “he will be sorely missed by our 35 children and I.”

Police suggest donations to First Responders Foundation of Omaha in lieu of flowers.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha residents have raised concerns about a visit from Rachel Dolezal, who resigned as president of an NAACP chapter in Washington last year after it was revealed that she is white.

University of Nebraska Medical Center professor Dr. Renaisa S. Anthony’s decision to bring her to Omaha to talk about race on Wednesday sparked a backlash on social media.

Anthony says she organized an invitation-only dinner with Dolezal for 25 people, including faculty, students and people from the community, as part of the university’s series of events called “Race-Inclusion-Diversity & Equity.”

Anthony welcomed the controversy, saying that she sought a “polarizing national figure” to attract people’s attention and start a conversation.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Hastings woman has been given a year of probation and fined $500 for her role in the unlawful employment of someone authorities say was living in the country illegally.

Federal prosecutors say 43-year-old Stephanie Hagemeier was manager at the Holiday Inn Express in Hastings and knew the Mexican citizen who worked as housekeeping supervisor was being investigated by the Social Security Administration. The woman left the hotel for one in Kearney that also was run by Kearney Hospitality Inc.

Prosecutors say Hagemeier re-employed the woman under a different name at the behest of Paul Younes, who was an officer and director of Kearney Hospitality. Younes is scheduled to be sentenced next month.