PLAINVIEW, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man died in a head-on collision southeast of Plainview in northeast Nebraska.

Pierce County Sheriff Rick Eberhardt says Tim Wacker was driving southeast Friday morning on Nebraska Highway 13 when his vehicle collided with an oncoming vehicle being driven by 25-year-old Chance Johnson, of Norfolk.

Eberhardt says the 48-year-old Wacker was killed. He lived in Plainview.

The sheriff’s office said Monday that Johnson was flown to a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital for treatment.

The collision is being investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday for the trial of a former Omaha police officer charged after a deadly encounter with a mentally ill man.

Thirty-nine-year-old Scotty Payne is charged with felony assault and use of a weapon in the June 5, 2017, death of Zachary Bearheels. Police say the 29-year-old Bearheels was acting erratically at an Omaha convenience store and fought officers’ efforts to take him into custody.

Police cruiser video shows Payne using a stun gun on Bearheels and Officer Ryan McClarty dragging Bearheels by his hair and repeatedly punching him in the face. McClarty is scheduled to begin trial Jan. 14.

A judge ruled last month that jurors to be chosen for Payne’s trial will not learn that it led to the officer’s firing.

BRANDON, S.D. (AP) – A South Dakota man has his lost wallet back with some extra cash thanks to a stranger.

Hunter Shamatt thought he’d never seen the wallet again when he lost it on a flight to Las Vegas for his sister’s wedding. Inside was $60 cash and a check for about $400.

Shamatt tells KSFY-TV he received a package a few days later along with the wallet and a letter. The stranger wrote he found the wallet wedged between a seat and a wall on a flight from Omaha, Nebraska, to Denver. He added $40 so Shamatt would have “an even $100” to celebrate the wallet’s return. The stranger only signed the letter with initials.

Shamatt’s was able to thank the man after tracking down his return address in Omaha.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities arrested 32 men and seized 186 roosters when they broke up a cockfighting event.

The Nebraska Humane Society raided a farm near Louisville, Nebraska, on Saturday after receiving a tip about a cockfighting event there.

Mark Langan with the Nebraska Humane Society says the raid broke up a large, well-organized cockfighting operation.

The men who were arrested range in age between 20 and 67. They all face charges of participating, viewing or promoting cockfighting. Two juveniles were also detained.

Cass County Sheriff William Brueggemann says the two property owners said they didn’t know why so many people were on their property.

Many others at the cockfighting event were able to escape into fields near the property before officers could arrest them.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha community college is running out of space to train vehicle mechanics, so it’s planning to invest $32.5 million into a new building on its south Omaha campus.

Metro Community College hopes to use the 100,000-square-foot, two-story expansion for its auto technology and auto collision programs, The Omaha World-Herald reported .

The auto programs have 290 students this year, which is pushing capacity, said Al Cox, the coordinator for Metro’s auto technology department. Students in the programs learn in the classroom, receive hands-on training and many also work for local dealerships as they study.

The new building would have more classrooms, faculty offices and bays for students to work in. The facility would also feature a dealer-style automotive showroom.

The proposed expansion comes ahead of an anticipated need for mechanics. The industry expects to have more than 25,000 technician openings nationwide over the next three years, according to a representative for Baxter Automotive Group, which hires 10 to 20 students from Metro each year.

“It is literally an industry that is in need,” said Tim Nordquist, a service director for Baxter Automotive in Omaha. “We don’t have enough technicians.”

The two-year college’s plan must still be approved by the State Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education.

The proposal is the latest building project the college had undertaken in the last two years. Metro spent $90 on three new buildings on its Fort Omaha campus and also renovated the Industrial Training Center on the south Omaha campus for about $10.5 million.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Students registered at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln may rent hunting equipment at the university’s Outdoor Adventure Center.

The gear includes blinds and decoys and is available through a grant partnership between the National Wild Turkey Federation and the Cabela’s Outdoor Fund.

Officials say students must visit the Outdoor Adventure Center in person to rent the gear.

Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol have arrested two people and seized 170 pounds of marijuana and other THC products during a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in Omaha.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. today, a trooper observed an eastbound 2008 Toyota van driving with a registration violation near mile marker 449 on I-80. During the traffic stop, an Omaha Police Department K9 detected the presence of a controlled substance inside the vehicle.

A search of the vehicle revealed 170 pounds of marijuana, 2.5 pounds of THC shatter, and more than 3,000 THC vape pens. The estimated street value of the drugs is more than $500,000.

The driver, Timothy Pardon, 50, and passenger, Crystal Pardon, 35, both of Trail, Oregon, were arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and no drug tax stamp. Both were lodged in Douglas County Corrections.

There were two children in the vehicle who were placed in protective custody.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The future of Lincoln’s skywalk system is the subject of legal uncertainty after the project’s original contracts expired and plans for a downtown shopping mall were dropped.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Chief Assistant City Attorney Chris Connolly says city staff and the original skywalk system’s building owners are discussing how the skywalks should be handled in the future. City staff will be considering whether the downtown skywalks are a useful system for the city to maintain.

Lincoln’s original skywalk system was built in the late 1970s and early 1980s to connect five blocks in the city’s downtown, providing an indoor pathway. Additional walkways were added later.

Contracts covering construction, continued maintenance and public access within the original system have expired or will soon end.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — An arraignment has been scheduled for a Hastings man accused of driving while intoxicated when his vehicle ran into a pedestrian, killing him.

Adams County Court records say 46-year-old Nen Lam is charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence and two related DUI crimes. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Lam. The arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.

The accident occurred around 3:40 a.m. on Oct. 14 in Hastings. Police say 27-year-old Anthony Epp was fatally struck as he was either walking or skateboarding on the street. He lived in Hastings.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Prosecutors say they don’t intend to file charges for the death of a man shot when a friend’s gun went off while the friend was cleaning it in an Omaha suburb.

The shooting occurred Oct. 5 at an apartment in Bellevue . Sarpy County authorities say the bullet from the semi-automatic handgun struck 26-year-old Eric Niedbalski in a shoulder. He died later that night at Nebraska Medical Center. He lived in Bellevue.

Chief Deputy Sarpy County Attorney Bonnie Moore said Wednesday that “it doesn’t appear that there was any criminal wrongdoing” on the part of 27-year-old Benjamin Morrison, who was cleaning the .45-caliber handgun.