(AP) — More than a dozen people have gathered at a restaurant in eastern Nebraska to discuss their guns and their right to carry them in the open.

Among those with holstered weapons was Taylor Crawford, who had a 9 mm handgun on one hip and a 6-month-old baby on the other. The Lincoln Journal Star says her husband, Nicolas Crawford, had organized Tuesday’s event at the Round the Bend Steakhouse in Ashland.

It’s legal to openly carry a firearm in Nebraska, but state law lets local governments impose restrictions. A permit is needed to carry a concealed weapon.

Nicolas Crawford says he wants to educate the public and get people used to seeing firearms being carried openly. He says he feels “like a billboard for responsible gun owners.”

(AP) — Authorities say the death of a woman found near a fire in Omaha is being investigated as a homicide.

Omaha police say 30-year-old Amanda M. Brown was found south of downtown Omaha by firefighters Tuesday night. Fire crews were dispatched to battle a blaze near railroad tracks in a wooded, brushy area used by homeless people.

Officials say it’s unclear how Brown died. An autopsy has been ordered.

(AP) — A 82-year-woman has pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in connection with a March crash that killed a bicyclist.

Ruth Jeffers pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge on Wednesday.

Authorities say Jeffers swerved across a traffic lane in March and struck 56-year-old Jim Johnston. He later died at a hospital.

Prosecutors say Jeffers swerved to avoid a stopped car in front of her.

Jeffers faces up to one year in jail or up to two years of probation when she’s sentenced in August.

(AP) — An Omaha teenager convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend has been sentenced to several decades in prison.

Douglas County District Judge Russell Bowie gave Justin Lenz on Wednesday a 60- to 80-year sentence. He pleaded guilty last August to second-degree murder in the May 2012 death of 16-year-old Melanie Koontz.

Lenz must serve 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

Koontz’ body was found in an Omaha creek. Investigators say she was strangled.

(AP) — Engine problems forced a San Francisco-bound United Airlines jetliner to land in Lincoln.

The Boeing 757 flight crew shut down one of its two engines before landing safely around 1:10 p.m. Tuesday. United Flight 297 was carrying 168 people from Boston.

The passengers spent much of the afternoon awaiting another plane, and they left Lincoln around 7:40 p.m.

(AP) — A 90-year-old Indiana man who hauled more than a ton of cocaine into Michigan for a Mexican drug cartel has been sentenced to three years in prison on his birthday.

Leo Sharp says he’s “really heartbroken” over his crimes. Detroit federal Judge Nancy Edmunds says age and World War II service aren’t enough to keep Sharp out of prison. She calls the case “difficult and disgusting.”

Sharp of Michigan City, Indiana, was sentenced Wednesday, seven months after pleading guilty. Prosecutors had recommended five years in prison, a substantial break from the guidelines.

Defense attorney Darryl Goldberg says Sharp has dementia and will do poorly in prison. He says prison is “not how we honor our heroes.” Sharp was awarded a Bronze Star in World War II.

(AP) — Country Singer Billy Currington is being sued by a Georgia tour boat captain who pressed criminal charges against him last year.

Currington was sentenced to five years’ probation in September after pleading no contest to a charge of abuse of an elderly person. Prosecutors say he chased and threatened 70-year-old Charles Harvey Ferrelle after his boat passed Currington’s home on Tybee Island.

The Savannah Morning News (https://bit.ly/1mCgYCN) reports that Ferrelle filed a lawsuit Tuesday saying Currington mocked and libeled him on a fan website two days before his plea. The newspaper reports that in the lawsuit, Currington is accused of writing that Ferrelle “ran like a scared rabbit” and hallucinated.

Currington’s criminal attorney, Alex Zipperer, tells The Associated Press that he’s not involved in the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for Currington’s record label did not immediately return messages.

(AP) — A lawsuit against the state says officials should not have released from prison the eventual killer of an Omaha woman and three other people.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of the estate of Andrea Kruger. A state prison spokeswoman declined to comment.

The 33-year-old Kruger was pulled from her car on Aug. 21 in northwest Omaha and shot four times by Nikko Jenkins. On April 16 the 27-year-old Jenkins pleaded guilty to killing Kruger and three other people in three separate ambushes after his July 30 release from prison.

The lawsuit says state prison officials “showed no common sense” in releasing Jenkins and thus placed Kruger at “great risk of harm” because the state knew Jenkins intended to kill people at random after his release.

(AP) — A 35-year-old man has been given three life terms the shooting deaths of an Omaha man and his two sons nearly two years ago.

Douglas County Court records say Anthony Davis was sentenced on Tuesday in Omaha. On March 7 Davis was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder for the slayings of 44-year-old Miguel Avalos and his sons, 18-year-old Miguel Avalos Jr. and 16-year-old Jose Avalos. They were slain on July 9, 2012.

An accomplice, Timothy Britt, of Omaha, also has been convicted. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on May 29.

Witnesses have testified that the men went to the Avalos home to steal drugs and money.

Online court records list an Omaha address for Davis but also show an Iowa driver’s license number.