(AP) — Lincoln city officials have hired a local law firm to handle union contract negotiations for the second bargaining season in a row.

John Hewitt, an attorney with the Cline Williams law firm, will act as the city’s chief negotiator in bargaining with the five unions whose contracts end this summer.

Hewitt will also help the city develop goals and proposals, and advise on strategy and state law. The $125,000 contract with his firm also requires that he be available to talk with the council or at news conferences.

The city has paid Cline Williams $146,021 over the past two years for similar services.

Mayor Chris Beutler says the city uses a private-sector negotiator to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

(AP) — Kevin Sharp, a country music singer who recorded multiple chart-topping songs and survived a well-publicized battle with cancer, has died. He was 43.

His sister Mary Huston says Sharp died in Fair Oaks, Calif., at 10:49 p.m. Saturday of complications from past stomach surgeries and digestive issues.

Sharp gained fame with the release of “Nobody Knows,” a single on his 1996 debut album “Measure of a Man.” He released two other albums, “Love Is” in 1998 and “Make A Wish” in 2005.

Born in 1970 in Redding, Calif., Sharp was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, which he overcame after two years of chemotherapy and radiation.

Sharp became a motivational speaker, a spokesman for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and wrote “Tragedy’s Gift,” a 2004 book about fighting cancer.

(AP) — A team of University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers is examining part of a 110-year-old sod house.

The researchers are working with a 4-foot-by-8-foot section of a wall from a house built in Custer County in 1902 or 1903.

Professor Dave Wedin says the sod house section offers a rare chance to study plant and soil samples from more than 100 years ago.

Other researchers will try to learn more about the bugs and other pests that bothered pioneers.

Several students from schools in Custer County have also been able to participate in the research. Ansley Public Schools teacher Brandon Grosserode says the project taught students about the history of the area.

(AP) — A rural water district in southeast Nebraska and local firefighters are locking horns over the fire department’s use of fire hydrants connected to the rural district’s system.

Cass County Rural Water District No. 1 has sent certified letters to local fire departments — including Plattsmouth, Nehawka and Murray — saying hydrants on its system are not to be used for fighting fires. The district fears that pressure from fire trucks could break the district’s plastic water lines and contaminate drinking water.

The request has riled firefighters, who say they likely will use the hydrants in life-and-death situations. One fire official hinted at drawing law enforcement into the fray, saying that interfering with a firefighter during an emergency is a criminal offense.

(AP) — Police are investigating an explosion in a south Omaha neighborhood that blew a hole in a pickup windshield and damaged a second nearby car.

Police say no one was injured in the blast.

Police say officers in the area heard the explosion and saw a bright flash. They found pickup that appeared to have had an explosive device detonate on its windshield. Besides the hole in the windshield, the explosion also damaged the truck’s dashboard.

The department’s bomb squad was sent to the scene and is conducting an investigation. No arrests have been made.

(AP) — A Grand Island man accused of killing one of his passengers in a crash has pleaded guilty to four charges in a deal with prosecutors.

30-year-old Hermino Alamilla Jr. pleaded guilty Friday in Hall County District Court to felony motor vehicle homicide, refusal to test and obstructing a police officer. He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault with a bodily fluid for spitting at a sheriff’s deputy.

In exchange, a charge of being a habitual criminal was dropped.

Authorities say Alamilla was driving recklessly on Aug. 19 south of Grand Island when he lost control of his car. One of Alamilla’s passengers died after being thrown from the car.

Alamilla will be sentenced June 24. He remains in jail on $100,000 bail.

(AP) — Law enforcement officials are investigating the death of a 38-year-old woman whose body was found in a Norfolk home.

Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger says Keisha Spears was found dead at about 4 a.m. Thursday after someone called 911.

Unger says the cause and manner of Spears’ death are still unknown, but that officials are hoping autopsy results will provide more clues.

Spears’ body was found in the home of Kevin Broberg.

Broberg was in Stanton County Court earlier this week, where he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting. That charge stems from a case where authorities say they found Spears with her hands and feet bound in Broberg’s house.

Unger says Broberg is cooperating with investigators.

(AP) — An inmate is suing the Nebraska prison system, saying a new policy is denying him the ability to visit with or write to his wife, who is also in prison.

38-year-old Scott Bonham filed the lawsuit last week in Lancaster County District Court. His lawsuit says that under the policy issued in March, married male and female inmates or those who decide to marry while imprisoned may not visit each other, write each other or go out on furloughs or any type of pass together.

Bonham says that has left him and his wife, Sealess, depressed. He says the policy violates his constitutional rights.

The two married on Dec. 6, two months after each transferred to a work release center in Lincoln..

(AP) — Police in Lincoln say they have arrested a 29-year-old Omaha man on suspicion of driving on a suspended license — a crime for which he’s been convicted 21 other times.

Lincoln police said officers arrested Geno Lasir Montgomery early Friday morning. Police say he was stopped after making a wide turn.

Police say Montgomery didn’t pull over immediately after the officer turned on his overhead lights. Public Safety Director Tom Casady says Montgomery was jailed on suspicion of failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, driving on a suspended license and making an improper turn.

(AP) — A 21-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a teenager in Omaha.

Dennis Brewer Jr. appeared in court Friday. A judge set no bond for him.

Brewer is accused of shooting at a sport utility vehicle at Gallagher Park Monday night. Responding officers say they were advised that two people with gunshot wounds had arrived at a nearby hospital.

Eighteen-year-old Tielor (TYE’-lur) Williams, of Omaha, was killed. Another man, 22-year-old Joshua Schmitt, also of Omaha, was injured.

Brewer has also been charged with use of a firearm to commit a felony. Online court records do not list the name of his attorney.