(AP) — A proposed ballot measure that could allow betting on previously recorded horse races has failed to win enough support from Nebraska lawmakers.

Backers fell short Thursday of the 30 votes needed to approve the proposed constitutional amendment.

The legislation, by Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha, would have allowed voters in November to decide if Nebraska should license and regulate wagering on the races.

Supporters argue that allowing the bets would help the struggling horse racing industry and increase attendance at live racing events. Opponents say the measure amounts to expanded gambling.

Lautenbaugh filed a motion to reconsider the vote, so lawmakers may vote on the issue again this session.

(AP) — A 57-year-old Roca man has died four days after being hit by a falling tree.

Wade Wunderlich used a chain saw to cut down the tree Saturday. He and his wife had been working for months to remove the tree from the 100-acre property they recently bought three miles west of Roca in southeast Nebraska.

Officials say the falling tree hit Wunderlich in the head. His wife found him injured on the ground, the chain saw idling nearby.

Rescue crews took Wunderlich to a Lincoln hospital with a severe skull fracture and brain bleeds.

He underwent surgery, but was taken off life support Wednesday morning and died.

(AP) — Federal trial has begun for the mother of a man charged with killing four Omaha people last summer.

The trial of Lori Jenkins — mother of Nikko Jenkins — resumes Thursday. She is accused of buying the ammunition that police believe Nikko Jenkins used to kill Curtis Bradford, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Juan Uribe-Pena and Andrea Kruger over 10 days last August.

On Wednesday, a relative testified that she went with Lori Jenkins last August to an outdoor outfitter store, where Lori Jenkins is believed to have bought the ammunition.

(AP) — A 23-year-old Omaha man has been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison for shooting a lifelong friend last February during an argument.

Michael Overgaard was sentenced to eight to 12 years Wednesday in Douglas County District Court for the Feb. 2, 2013 shooting of Paul Gordon.

Gordon testified that before the shooting, he restrained Overgaard to keep him from hurting someone else at a party. Gordon says he and Overgaard had been drinking and were wrestling when Overgaard grabbed an SKS rifle and shot Gordon in the abdomen.

Overgaard will be eligible for parole in four to six years.

(AP) — A 46-year-old Iowa trucker has been sentenced to 17 years in federal prison taking a teenage girl across state lines — including Nebraska — to sexually abuse her.

Tony Lee Stogdill, of Imogene, was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Council Bluffs.

Stogdill pleaded guilty to the charges in November. According to a plea agreement, Stogdill took the 15-year-old girl with him on a trucking trip in 2009 from Iowa to Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois, then back to Iowa, and sexually assaulted her repeatedly during the trip.

Stogdill’s wife, Jennifer, was sentenced to probation for her role trying to cover up her husband’s sexual abuse of the girl.

(AP) — Lawmakers have advanced a bill that would overhaul Nebraska’s process for drawing legislative and congressional districts.

Senators gave first-round approval Wednesday to a measure that would create an independent, bipartisan redistricting commission to propose new boundaries after each U.S. census. Lawmakers would select two members from each of Nebraska’s congressional districts.

The measure would give lawmakers up to three up-or-down votes on new districts, after which the Nebraska Supreme Court would decide.

Sen. Russ Karpisek says the current process leads to districts where incumbents have no incentive to compromise. Some rural senators say the system increases urban Nebraska’s political clout.

Opponents say they have technical concerns about the bill, and argue that redistricting powers should remain with lawmakers.

The bill moved on a 25-12 vote.

(AP) — A man accused of killing four people in Omaha last summer has argued that a county attorney unlawfully released information about the case to a local newspaper.

Nikko Jenkins questioned Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine during a hearing Wednesday. A judge later ruled there was no patient or client misconduct, and there was no evidence against Kleine. A motion to remove him from the case was overruled.

The 27-year-old Jenkins is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the August shooting deaths of four people. He has pleaded not guilty, and claims he didn’t receive proper mental health treatment while previously in prison.

Jenkins is acting as his own attorney in the case, which has been scheduled to go to trial in July.

(AP) — A state champion speech student will be allowed to perform a poem about gender identity for television after originally being asked not to by a statewide schools organization.

Michael Barth, a senior at Gordon-Rushville High School, was asked to change the content of a performance to be recorded for Nebraska Educational Television.

Barth won the Class C-1 poetry division with poems that combined lyrics from hip-hop artist Macklemore’s “Same Love” and a slam poem called “Swing Set” by Andrea Gibson.

Earlier, Rhonda Blanford-Green, executive director of the Nebraska School Activities Association, said she doesn’t want the showcase to promote personal agendas.

Later, she said the intent of her decision was not to stifle freedom of speech, but to avoid any negative connotations for individuals involved in the production.

(AP) — Authorities say two people have been injured following a house fire in Omaha.

Omaha Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim McCaw says the fire was reported Wednesday afternoon at a house in north Omaha.

The two people, a man and a woman, were inside the house at the time of the fire. They were taken to local hospitals in critical condition. Their names have not been released.

The blaze was quickly contained. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.