OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials say two trash collection employees have died in the crash of two heavy trucks in the northwestern Omaha community of Elkhorn.

The crash happened around 1 p.m. Friday when a Waste Management garbage truck and a Department of Transportation dump truck collided.

Waste Management said in a written statement that it was working with local authorities and the Nebraska State Patrol. It also offered “our deepest sympathies” to the families and friends of the employees killed.

The names of the employees have not yet been released.

INLAND, Neb. (AP) — The driver of a tractor has died in south-central Nebraska after a collision with a train.

The Nebraska State Patrol says 60-year-old Kurt Unger, of Doniphan died in the Thursday morning crash in Clay County, near the small community of Inland.

The crash happened at a BNSF railroad crossing.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) – A former Hastings police officer accused of assaulting his wife and mother has been given probation.

Adams County Court records say 27-year-old Cody Bland was sentenced Thursday in Adams County Court. He’d pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of assault. Prosecutors dropped a related charge in exchange for his pleas.

The records say Bland’s wife told officers that Bland kicked, shoved and tackled her at their Hastings home Oct. 30. She managed to summon some of her husband’s relatives for help after he took her cellphone. His mother says he slapped and kicked her after she arrived.

Bland had been on the Hastings force for four years. He resigned in November.

BRADSHAW, Neb. (AP) — Authorities arrested two people after nearly 60 pounds (27 kilograms) of marijuana was found in their vehicle after a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in eastern Nebraska.

The York County Sheriff’s Department says a deputy stopped the vehicle late Monday night for a traffic violation about a mile west of the Bradshaw exit.

The deputy reported smelling the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. Sheriff’s Lt. Paul Vrbka says the deputy got consent to search the vehicle, and the marijuana was found in duffel bags inside the trunk.

Online court records don’t show the two California residents have been formally charged.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa man has been given 50 years in prison for producing child pornography involving a prepubescent child and for trading child pornography.

Forty-year-old Christian Hansen, of Tipton, was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. He’d been convicted in March of multiple child sexual exploitation and child pornography counts.

Prosecutors say Hansen was already a registered sex offender for crimes in Nebraska when he took photos of a child’s genital area last year and emailed the photos to other people. Hansen also traded child pornography with others and stored the pornography on multiple electronic devices.

Hansen was convicted in 2011 of three counts of possession of child pornography in Nebraska.

WILBER, Neb. (AP) — A man accused of killing a Lincoln woman will be evaluated for his competence to stand trial.

A Saline County district judge agreed Tuesday to a request from the attorney for 52-year-old Aubrey Trail, who’s pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and unlawful disposal of human remains. Trail and 24-year-old Bailey Boswell are accused of killing 24-year-old Sydney Loofe in November, dismembering the body and dumping the remains in rural Clay County. His trial is scheduled to begin June 17.

Trail’s attorney, Ben Murray, says the request was just due diligence. He says he wants to ensure that any questions about Trail’s ability to understand court proceedings and assist in his defense don’t arise during trial.

State prosecutors didn’t oppose the motion.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has ruled that a Lincoln ordinance can’t bar a man from possessing a firearm just because he has been found guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Judge Kevin McManaman of Lancaster County District Court last week overturned a county court conviction of Evan Bell, 25. McManaman ruled that Bell’s misdemeanor convictions weren’t enough to completely deprive him of any rights under the Second Amendment, in part because the elements of his crimes didn’t include violence. The judge did not rule that the entire ordinance was unconstitutional.

City Attorney Jeff Kirkpatrick said Wednesday that the city won’t appeal the ruling.

A Lincoln officer whom Bell contacted by phone in July 2017 about another case couldn’t understand what Bell was alleging so offered to go to Bell’s home to talk. The court records say Bell agreed and said he’d put his handgun in a bedroom. After learning Bell had twice been convicted and served jail time for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the officer cited Bell for violating the ordinance.

Bell was convicted in county court and fined $250, and his gun was taken away.

He appealed, saying in part that the city ordinance was unconstitutional because it took away his gun rights for misdemeanor crimes that didn’t include violence.

His attorney, Nathan Sohriakoff, said Wednesday that the ordinance lists contributing to the delinquency of a minor among upward of 30 offenses that make it for illegal someone convicted of any to possess a firearm.

McManaman said in his ruling that courts already have ruled that many of the crimes the city lists — domestic assault, for example — are sufficient grounds to bar someone from owning firearms. But he also said that other, lesser crimes require prosecutors to provide supporting evidence to show that those violators should lose their gun rights.

Prosecutors didn’t do so in Bell’s case, the judge said.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A young man who shot and wounded a Douglas County deputy has been sentenced to probation and community service.

Douglas County court records say Tyler Pitzl was sentenced Monday in Juvenile Court. The Nebraska Supreme Court had rejected efforts to prosecute him in adult court.

Authorities say Pitzl, of Waterloo, was 17 when he attacked his parents at the home they shared and shot at two deputies who responded to the Sept. 3, 2017, disturbance call. One deputy was wounded in a hand and forearm. Deputies returned fire, hitting Pitzl in the abdomen.

In an unrelated case, prosecutors say Pitzl was convicted for calling 911 in May to falsely report that he was robbed at knifepoint. He was charged as an adult and pleaded guilty. His sentence: probation and community service.

FAIRBURY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man died after a house fire in the southeast Nebraska town of Fairbury.

The blaze was reported around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities say the man was pronounced dead at a Fairbury hospital. He was identified as 67-year-old Gary Nolte.

Investigators blamed the fire on a burning candle.

WILBER, Neb. (AP) – A former schoolteacher in southeast Nebraska accused of sexual assault has taken a plea deal.

Saline County Court records say 41-year-old Matthew Hoffman, of Dorchester, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault without consent. He’d pleaded not guilty in March to two felony counts of sexual abuse and one of sexual assault. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 20.

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

Hoffman resigned his Crete High School position in February.