LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Kids who found a message in a jar discovered inside a rotting tree stump have unearthed memories for a former Lincoln city worker.

The jar was found last week by some day campers at Wilderness Park as they dug out the stump.

A note inside the jar said: “This tree was repaired June 3, 1983, by the forestry section of the city Park Dept. Take this note to the office.” And so they did, which led them to the story about how the jar got there.

Joe Haag said that he’d put the baby food jar inside a hollow of the ailing tree when he worked for the city. The tree survived until it was cut down last year.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A Columbus man and his girlfriend accused of abusing his 10-month son have made plea deals.

22-year-old Juan Trejo pleaded no contest to felony child abuse after prosecutors dropped two similar charges. Twenty-two-year-old Julie Staroscik pleaded no contest to misdemeanor negligent child abuse after the charge was reduced from a felony. They made their pleas on Monday.

Trejo’s sentencing date is Aug. 15. Staroscik’s is Aug. 25.

Authorities say Trejo fractured the boy’s skull this spring by throwing him to a floor when the baby wouldn’t stop crying. A doctor at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha says the boy had about 20 fractures to his skull, ribs, arms and legs in various stages of healing.

Staroscik is not the boy’s biological mother.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — An eastern Kansas man is charged with first-degree murder after an abduction and police chase ended in the death of a 5-year-old girl.

Thirty-year-old Marcus McGowan, of Atchison, was charged Wednesday with aggravated assault, two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, aggravated endangering of a child and trying to elude law enforcement officers.

Leavenworth County prosecutor Todd Thompson announced at a news conference that McGowan appeared in court early Wednesday and had the charges read to him. He is being held in the Leavenworth County jail.

Authorities say McGowan abducted Cadence Harris on Friday from a home they shared with the girl’s mother in Atchison. Cadence was found dead in McGowan’s car after a police chase ended with McGowan being shot when he pointed a gun at officers.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Douglas County public employees union has filed a lawsuit against its former president to recover at least $28,000 that disappeared during her tenure.

The Employees United Labor Association filed the lawsuit against Anne Hurley earlier this month accusing her of using dues money for personal purposes.

Hurley’s attorney, Matt Kahler, says his client denies any wrongdoing and plans to answer the lawsuit next week.

Hurley, who led the union from 2009 to 2012, has worked in the Register of Deeds office for 15 years.

Register of Deeds Diane Battiato says Hurley told her about the accusations. Battiato says she views this as a dispute between the union and Hurley.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two men have been charged in arrest warrants in the weekend shooting death of an Omaha man.

Omaha police announced Wednesday that 24-year-old Absalom Scott and 29-year-old Rico Larry have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and weapons counts in the Sunday shooting death of 59-year-old Frank Sanders.

Police officers responding to a call of a shooting around 11 p.m. Sunday found Sanders dead in a midtown Omaha apartment.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A 58-year-old Columbus man has pleaded no contest to charges he stabbed his wife and initiated a two-hour standoff with police.

Alfredo Santistevan pleaded to second-degree assault and terroristic threats charges.

Court documents say Santistevan’s wife had a knife wound on her hand and swelling of her eye and nose.

Santistevan was arrested after the standoff and taken to a local hospital to be treated for self-inflicted knife wounds. Since his hospital release he has been held at the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln.

He faces up to 25 years in prison.