OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha bomb squad has removed a grenade that was found in a home.

Police say the squad was dispatched a little after 9:30 a.m. Thursday to a west Omaha address. A person reported finding it as the residence was being prepared for an estate sale.

Police say the homeowner told officers she believed her late husband had owned the grenade.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The head of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium says elephants could arrive within months.

The zoo has filed a permit, along with zoos in Wichita, Kansas, and Dallas, to bring 18 elephants from Swaziland to the U.S., of which six would go to Omaha.

The Big Game Parks Trust in Swaziland planned to kill the elephants to prevent overgrazing in a game reserve and national park but reached an agreement for the zoos to take them. The zoos will contribute $450,000 to a black rhino conservation effort.

The Omaha zoo filed a report with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in November 2014 and the matter is open for public comment.

Zoo chief executive officer Dennis Pate says the hard chore is staying patient.

CHAPMAN, Neb. (AP) — Merrick County authorities have been investigating the shooting deaths of two St. Bernard dogs.

A mail carrier found the carcasses of Sam and Katie on Monday afternoon in a roadside ditch on the southern end of the county, about 3½ miles southwest of Chapman. The dogs were owned by Carol Larson.

Sheriff Kevin Campbell says the dogs were shot at least three times each. He says he doesn’t know whether they were shot there or their carcasses were just dumped there. A search of the area didn’t uncover any shell casings or other evidence.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 12-year-old Omaha boy who admitted to being involved in the fatal shooting of a 31-year-old man has been ordered to serve probation at a psychiatric facility.

A judge ordered the boy on Tuesday to be placed at a Boys Town psychiatric facility. He will be evaluated in six months to determine the effectiveness of his mental health treatment. The length of the probation will be determined by the boy’s progress.

The boy pleaded guilty to reduced charges of criminal conspiracy and using a weapon in the death of Jamymell Ray. He had been charged with first-degree murder.

Authorities say the boy was carrying a handgun when he and two other boys, ages 15 and 17, ambushed Ray on June 29. Another man was wounded.

The Associated Press generally does not name juveniles accused of crimes.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police say a person has been arrested on suspicion of abducting a 20-year-old woman and a 10-month-old baby at gunpoint.

The Omaha Police Department says officers received a report early Wednesday of shots fired in a northern part of the city. Witnesses told officers a suspect had entered a residence and left with a woman and baby.

Witnesses say the suspect had a gun and fired several shots before leaving the scene.

Officers located the suspect’s vehicle outside another residence and safely removed the woman and baby. The suspect, whose name has not been released, was detained without incident.

Authorities say charges are pending. Additional information was not released.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lancaster County commissioners have approved more stringent regulations for wind turbines in the county.

Commissioners voted Tuesday to establish wind turbine noise limits of 40 decibels during the day and 47 decibels at night. The Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission recommended limits of 50 decibels during the day and 42 decibels at night.

Commissioners also established minimum setbacks for wind turbines from neighboring properties based on turbine height, differing from the 1,000-foot setback recommended by the commission.

Reconsideration of the county’s existing wind turbine regulations were prompted by plans by Oregon-based Volkswind USA to build more than 50 wind turbines in southern Lancaster and northern Gage counties. An attorney representing the company had said that if the proposed regulations on wind turbine noise levels were approved, the counties would be “effectively off-limits.”

WILBER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a second person has died after a collision between a minivan and car on a southeast Nebraska highway.

The accident occurred just before 6 a.m. Tuesday on Nebraska Highway 103, about two miles north of Wilber. The Saline (suh-LEEN’) County Sheriff’s Office says the southbound car driven by 21-year-old Nestor Godoy crossed into the northbound lanes, striking the minivan driven by 42-year-old Kevin Schroeder.

The Sheriff’s Office says Schroeder died at the scene and Godoy died later in Lincoln. Both men were from Wilber.

The crash is being investigated.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 14-year-old boy has died after falling off a motorized skateboard inside his Beatrice home.

The accident occurred around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Police Sgt. Jay Murphy says the boy suffered seizures after he fell, and an aunt began CPR. Murphy says the boy died as he was being rushed to a hospital. His name hasn’t been released.

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

UNADILLA, Neb. (AP) — The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for Otoe County in southeastern Nebraska.

The service said a little after noon on Wednesday that a storm capable of producing a twister was situated near Unadilla, about 23 miles southeast of Lincoln. The thunderstorm was dropping hail and heading northeast, toward Cass County and over to western Iowa.

The storm is part of a massive system that moved into Nebraska earlier Wednesday after dropping a dozen inches of snow in the Colorado Rockies. High winds and blowing snow have caused several accidents in western Nebraska, but no injuries have been reported.