OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal trial has begun for an Omaha businessman accused of paying someone to set fire to his manufacturing plant near Fort Calhoun in eastern Nebraska.

Prosecutors say 52-year-old Thomas Schropp was in financial trouble and hoped to gain around $4 million in insurance proceeds for the destruction of his PK Manufacturing plant. It burned down on Nov. 20, 2008. The trial began Tuesday.

In his opening statement, prosecutor Russ Mayer says Schropp promised Billy Richards $20,000 if he’d torch the plant. Richards has since pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of a building by fire. He’s expected to testify against Schropp.

Defense attorney Alan Stoler says the government can’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Schropp was involved with the plant fire.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A Columbus woman and her boyfriend are accused of physically abusing her 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.

20-year-old Jodie Shelly and 24-year-old Ryan Roberts were arrested on Monday. An investigation started after the girl was taken to a local hospital last week.

Investigator Gregory Sealock says in a court document supporting the arrests that Shelly acknowledged having an anger problem and that “she grabs her daughter too firmly when she is whining or arguing with her brother.” The document says Shelly acknowledged angrily tossing her daughter onto a couch from a few feet away.

The document also says Roberts reported that he’d backhanded the boy in the mouth after the boy had bitten him.

Online court records don’t list attorneys for Shelly or Roberts.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police say they believe the same man could be responsible for three armed robberies in the past month.

Authorities said Tuesday the suspect has not been identified and is still at large. The suspect is believed responsible for a robbery Jan. 17 and two others Dec. 20.

Police say in each robbery, the suspect brandished a hand gun, demanded money and fled. All robberies took place between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at convenience stores.

Police spokesman James Shade says investigation continues as detectives work to identify the suspect.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A 7-year-old girl has died after being injured in a Sarpy County collision that occurred a week ago with her big sister at the wheel.

Nebraska Medical Center spokesman Taylor Wilson said Tuesday that Madelyne Hughes died around 11 p.m. Monday. The little girl was taken to the Omaha hospital on Jan. 13, after an accident on U.S. Highway 75.

Sarpy County authorities say 17-year-old Taylor Hughes and Madelyne were in a northbound sport utility vehicle that was struck by a southbound van when Taylor Hughes tried to turn west onto Platteview Road south of Bellevue.

The van driver was hospitalized with a broken ankle. Taylor Hughes was treated for an arm injury. She was cited for failing to yield.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska doctor whose medical team treated three Ebola patients last year will attend President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

Dr. Philip Smith, medical director of Nebraska Medicine’s Biocontainment Unit, was invited as a guest of U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse. Obama is scheduled to speak Tuesday starting at 8 p.m. Central Time.

Smith leads the specialized Nebraska team that treated three Ebola patients last year.

Nebraska’s biocontainment unit is the largest in the country and one of just four facilities in the United States equipped and trained to handle Ebola and other highly contagious diseases. Between September and November of last year, doctors in Nebraska successfully treated Dr. Rick Sacra and freelance journalist Ashoka Mukpo.

Sasse praised the medical staff for its courage, precision and hard work.

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — Police say a 29-year-old woman from Norfolk is in custody after hitting another person in the face with a DVD player and scratching officers who tried to arrest her.

Officers were dispatched to an apartment building Sunday night.

When they arrived, officers say they found the 29-year-old being pinned down by a second woman. Police told the second woman to get off the 29-year-old, and when she did, officers say the 29-year-old struck her with a DVD player that was on the ground.

Police tried to handcuff the 29-year-old, who they say struggled and resisted officers’ attempts to take her into custody.

She was arrested for second-degree domestic assault, third-degree assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, obstructing a police officer and disturbing the peace.