BLENCOE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Nebraska woman driving south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 29 in western Iowa has collided with an oncoming vehicle. The crash killed both drivers.

The Iowa State Patrol says 40-year-old Angela Bender, of Omaha, Nebraska, was driving the southbound minivan late Wednesday night when the collision occurred near Blencoe in Monona County. The other driver killed was identified as 51-year-old Carolyn Klimper, who lived in Fort Morgan, Colorado.

Three other people in Klimper’s vehicle were injured.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa man rescued his dog before other people came to his rescue after he and the dog broke through lake ice in northeast Nebraska.

The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office says the dog, Jake, broke through the ice on a private lake northwest of Dakota City on Wednesday morning. He’d chased after a goose that had been shot. Thirty-year-old Andrew Sedivy, of Sioux City, Iowa, went after his dog and got him out but also broke through into the frigid water.

Sheriff’s deputies, the landowner and other hunters used a canoe to get Sedivy out of the lake and back to dry land, where he and Jake were later treated for their dunking.

BATTLE CREEK, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver died after his sport utility vehicle ran into the back of a farm machine in northeast Nebraska’s Madison County.

The accident occurred around 8 p.m. Tuesday on U.S. Highway 275, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) northeast of Battle Creek. The Madison County Sheriff’s Department says the SUV driven by 68-year-old Douglas Rakowsky struck the rear of a combine driven by Mark Freudenberg, of rural Madison.

Rakowsky was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in rural Battle Creek. It’s unclear whether Freudenberg was injured.

The accident is being investigated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln firefighters have rescued two workers from a trench that collapsed.

The two had been repairing a fiber optic cable when the collapse occurred Wednesday night. One man was trapped up to his waist for nearly 90 minutes. The other man, who’d jumped in to help his colleague, was trapped up to his knees for nearly 20 minutes.

The trench was about 10 feet (3 meters) deep.

Fire officials say both were taken to a hospital after being freed. Their names haven’t been released.

A Norfolk man is facing federal charged in connection with the burning of a car on a Nebraska Sioux Indian reservation.

United States Attorney, Joe Kelly, announced the unsealing of a criminal complaint charging Joseph Lloyd James, age 47 of Norfolk, Nebraska, with arson in connection with the burning of a car found on the Santee Sioux Indian reservation.

James’ arrest occurred on November 19, 2018, and was made during the investigation into the death of Phyllis Hunhoff of Yankton, South Dakota.  It is alleged James set fire to Hunhoff’s car.  The maximum punishment for the offense is 25 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a five-year term of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.  James is scheduled for his initial appearance before United States Magistrate Judge ­Susan M. Bazis on November 21, 2018, at 1:30 p.m.  As this matter concerns an ongoing investigation, the United States Attorney’s Office is unable to provide additional comment at this time.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Nebraska State Patrol, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (Nebraska), the Santee Sioux Nation Police Department, the Lincoln Police Department (Nebraska), the Nebraska State Fire Marshal, the Norfolk Police Department (Nebraska), the Niobrara Police Department (Nebraska), and the Yankton County Sheriff’s Office (South Dakota).

A complaint is a formal accusation of conduct, not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

WILBER, Neb. (AP) — A judge has rejected a death penalty challenge from a woman accused of helping kill and dismember a Lincoln woman.

Prosecutors have charged Bailey Boswell with first-degree murder and have said in a Saline County filing that they intended to seek the death penalty for her. In August her attorney filed the legal challenge, saying the state’s sentencing procedure in death penalty cases is unconstitutional.

Judge Vicky Johnson said in a ruling issued Tuesday that Boswell’s challenge was premature, because Boswell has not yet been convicted nor has her case been deemed eligible for the death penalty.

Prosecutors say Boswell and Aubrey Trail strangled Sydney Loofe and Boswell helped Trail cut up Loofe’s body and stuff the remains into trash bags. The remains were found Dec. 4 in Clay County, weeks after Loofe was reported missing.

WILBER, Neb. (AP) – A former southeast Nebraska schoolteacher has been sentenced for misdemeanor sexual assaults.

Saline County Court records say 41-year-old Matthew Hoffman, of Dorchester, was given two years in jail Tuesday and fined $2,000. The judge credited Hoffman with 13 days already served.

Hoffman had pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault without consent. Prosecutors lowered the charges from felonies in return for Hoffman’s pleas.

Law enforcement accounts that led to Hoffman’s arrest have been sealed from public view.

Hoffman resigned his Crete High School position in February.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska woman has been sentenced to five years of probation for stealing more than $18,000 from the Nebraska Wind Symphony.

Kelli Lockwood was sentenced after she pleaded no contest to theft. She was the symphony’s former treasurer.

The 44-year-old Lockwood was also ordered to repay $18,181 that she took.

Prosecutors say Lockwood admitted stealing cash and misusing a symphony debit card.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former auto dealer has been accused of lying to financial institutions about loans taken to buy inventory for his eastern Nebraska dealership.

U.S. District Court records say Jason Siemer is charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, two counts of making false statements on credit applications and one count of money laundering. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him. His first court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 5.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that Siemer had owned Siemer Auto Center in Fremont. Prosecutors say he created false financial statements to obtain lines of credit and loans from various lenders to buy vehicles — often using money from more than one lender to buy the same vehicle and making personal use of the extra money borrowed.

The indictment covers Siemer’s activities from September 2014 to December 2016.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Eastern Nebraska officials have identified a woman killed in a head-on crash in Douglas County.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says 59-year-old Tammi Croy died in the Friday afternoon crash near 245th and Q streets southwest of Omaha. Investigators say Croy was driving a car westbound on Q Street when she crossed the center line and hit a westbound dump truck head-on. Croy was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the truck, which overturned, was not injured.

A hazardous materials team was called to clean up diesel fuel spilled by the truck.