LA VISTA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a suspect at the center of an officer-involved shooting in the Omaha suburb of La Vista has been released from the hospital and jailed.

La Vista police say Jonathan Grund was booked Friday into the Sarpy County Jail on suspicion of making terroristic threats, burglary, attempted assault, resisting arrest and weapons counts.

Police say the shooting occurred shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, when La Vista officers responded a disturbance and encountered Grund, who had a handgun. Police say Grund took off running when ordered to drop the gun. Police say Grund later broke free from Officer Nick Jeanette’s grip and again produced the gun. Jeanette fired several shots, but no one was hit by gunfire.

Police say Grund forced his way into a home, where he fought with the homeowner and fired one shot. The homeowner managed to tackled Grund and held him until police arrived.

Jeanette is on paid administrative leave during the investigation, per department policy.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 2-year-old boy has died from injuries he sustained while playing on a bounce pillow near Lincoln that was lifted into the air by wind gusts.

The Lancaster County sheriff’s office says Caleb Acuna was taken off life support Thursday afternoon at a Lincoln hospital after suffering severe head trauma. The boy’s sister, 5-year-old Arra Acuna, was injured less severely.

Authorities say the siblings were on the jumping pillow around 6 p.m. Wednesday at JK’s Pumpkin Patch when strong winds tore it from its anchors.

Raymond Fire Safety Officer Nick Monnier says the bounce pillow was lifted more than 30 feet in the air. Arra Acuna was thrown about 30 feet, but Caleb was wrapped up inside the pillow and carried more than 100 feet.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Two young children are recovering from injuries they sustained when a bounce pillow took flight at a pumpkin patch near Lincoln.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that a 2-year-old boy and his 5-year-old sister were on the jumping pillow around 6 p.m. Wednesday at JK’s Pumpkin Patch when strong winds tore it from its anchors.

Raymond Fire Safety Officer Nick Monnier says the bounce pillow was lifted more than 30 feet in the air by wind gusts. The girl was thrown about 30 feet, but the boy was wrapped up inside the pillow and carried more than 100 feet.

Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputy Scott Gaston says the boy’s injuries were more serious than the girl’s. She suffered a broken arm.

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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A state nominating commission has submitted four finalists to Gov. Pete Ricketts to replace a Nebraska district court judge who died.

The finalists announced Monday are seeking to replace the late Douglas County District Judge Mark Ashford, who died Aug. 1 after suffering a stroke.

The finalists are Patrick R. Guinan, Thomas K. Harmon, James M. Masteller, and Andrew J. Wilson, all of Omaha. Guinan and Wilson are private practice attorneys. Harmon is a county judge, and Masteller is a prosecutor in the Douglas County attorney’s office.

The 66-year-old Ashford was the brother of former U.S. Rep. Brad Ashford, of Omaha.

The finalist who is chosen will serve in the Fourth Judicial District, which is Douglas County.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lancaster County and Lincoln agencies will soon have invested more than $90,000 in drones to help law enforcement and firefighting operations.

County and city officials believe the cost of the six is already proving to be worthwhile, the Lincoln Journal-Star reported.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office used its new $22,000 drone last week to search a cornfield for a runaway student from a nearby school. Deputies ended up spotting the girl without the drone’s help, but the incident was exactly the type of operation where an unmanned aerial system would be useful, said Sheriff Terry Wagner.

The office paid for the drone with forfeiture funds, Wagner said.

Lincoln’s police and fire and rescue departments each have two drones, while the city’s parks and recreation department and the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office each have one.

“I think there is a great potential for these (drones) to help us,” said Tom Casady, Lincoln’s public safety director who oversees both police and fire departments.

Lincoln police have used a drone in a death investigation, the search of discarded property in a homicide investigation, a missing person search and assisting in a fire.

“Both (city police and fire and rescue) need a drone,” Casaday said. “They may need them at the same time and on short notice.”

Lincoln Fire and Rescue’s two drones totaling more than $29,000 have thermal imaging that can see through smoke, said Batallion Chief Eric Jones.

The drones can also carry small items, such as a life vest or rope, to help in rescue efforts, according to Jones.

The city’s Park and Recreation Department uses its more than $17,000 drone for photographing vegetation to help in developing land management plans. The agency also uses it to document the condition of glass panels on Ascent, the sculpture in Tower Square.

SEWARD, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska sheriff’s decision to halt his department’s drug interdiction program was a political ploy to keep his election opponent from making advantageous headlines, the opponent said.

Sgt. Mike Vance is running to replace his boss, Joe Yocum, as sheriff of Seward county. Vance said he’s twice been recognized by the National Criminal Enforcement Association as one of the top six drug interdiction officers in the U.S. and Canada.

Putting the highway interdiction program on ice since May was just part of Yocum’s political strategy, Vance said.

“This is political, and I know it, but I’ll do what I have to do until the election,” Vance said.

Not so, Yocum said. He told the Lincoln Journal Star that a combination of citizen complaints about the interdiction traffic stops, the need for written policies and a shortage of deputies prompted him to suspend the program he started.

“They just can’t go out and sit on the interstate for hours and hours,” Yocum said of the deputies assigned program duties on Interstate 80. “We don’t have the staffing to be able to do that.”

Sheriff since 1999, Yocum said he’s modernized his department, in part by using confiscated drug money on new equipment and training.

Vance also noted how the seized drug money has helped the department, calling it “a resource that we’re not using.”

Deputies can still investigate if they suspect there are drugs in a vehicle they’ve stopped, Yocum said, but said he hasn’t been able to spare staff hours for the supplemental program since July.

Yocum is reviewing the draft procedures for interdiction work, which the county attorney’s office requested to meet liability concerns. If they’re approved and the department’s staffing situation has improved, the highway interdiction will resume, Yocum said.

Vance doubts that will happen soon.

“I’ve redone them (the procedures) three times, and we’re still not back out on the interstate,” the sergeant said.

BELVIDERE, Neb. (AP) — Headstones will be dedicated Sunday at the southern Nebraska graves of three Union veterans of the Civil War.

The group Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will dedicate the new headstones at Belvidere Cemetery in Thayer County.

The headstones are being added to the previously unmarked graves of Richard Furry, who served with the 74th Indiana Infantry and died in 1908; William McKillip, a member of the 85th Illinois Infantry who died in 1913; and John Williams of the 48th Iowa Infantry, who died in 1910.

“It is an honor for us to dedicate monuments at the final resting places of these veterans,” said Mark Nichols, commander of the Department of Nebraska of the Sons of Union Veterans group. “Not all veterans had the means or even other family members nearby to supply a headstone when they died. More than 19,000 men who served in the Civil War are buried in our state, and about 200 graves are still unmarked, so we appreciate communities like Belvidere that help keep evergreen the memory of the Boys in Blue.”

Several dozen Union veterans and a handful of Confederate veterans are buried in the Belvidere Cemetery. Historians have said the availability of land under the Homestead Act and for purchase from the railroads brought many veterans who took up farming and helped form new communities on the prairie.

Nebraska became a recognized territory in 1854 and became the 37th U.S. state in 1867.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol has identified two garbage collection company employees killed in a crash in far northwest Omaha.

The patrol says the crash happened Friday afternoon in the Omaha community of Elkhorn, killing26-year-old garbage truck driver Pierre Neal and passenger 54-year-old Rogelio Sanchez Marin, both of Omaha.

The patrol says the northbound garbage truck tried to pass a pickup that had slowed to turn right at an intersection. As the garbage truck swung around to pass, a dump truck at the westbound stop of the intersection turned right and into the path of the garbage truck. Investigators say Neal tried to get back into his own lane, over-corrected, and lost control. The truck rolled onto its side and slid into the dump truck.

Neal and Sanchez died at the scene. The dump truck driver suffered minor injuries.

PIERCE, Neb. (AP) — State environment officials say Willow Creek Reservoir in northeastern Nebraska remains on health alert because of high levels of a toxin produced by blue-green algae.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the state’s Department of Environmental Quality tested the water last week, which showed high toxin levels.

Visitors to Willow Creek State Recreation Area should avoid full body contact activities such as swimming, wading and skiing. Non-contact activities such as boating, fishing and camping should be safe. Dog owners are urged to keep pets out of the water and not let them drink lake water.

Lakes with beaches and those that allow power boating are tested weekly through the summer months. Health alerts are lifted when algal toxin levels are below advisory concentration for two consecutive weeks.

VALPARAISO, Neb. (AP) — Concerns about rabies have condemned an eastern Nebraska family’s pet raccoon.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the mother of Matt Klabenes’ 9-year-old daughter reported Monday to the Saunders County Sheriff’s Office that the girl had been bitten by the raccoon while she was staying at his Valparaiso home over the weekend.

Six-month-old Charlie must be euthanized to take samples of his brain matter for the rabies test. Klabenes says Charlie bit him several weeks ago, but Klabenes hasn’t shown any symptoms of the deadly disease. Nonetheless, Klabenes says, the threat of rabies regarding his daughter is too real to ignore.

Charlie’s been living with the Klabenes family since Klabenes found him alone in the cab of a pickup, barely a week old.

Klabenes says his family is considering adopting another raccoon after going through the permit process for captive wildlife.