(AP) — The adversarial has given way to the collaborative in a Dodge County courtroom for juvenile offenders.

The railing has been taken away and a row of benches has been moved to make way for a conference table and 16 chairs.

County Judge Ken Vampola usually sits at the table with the defendant and his or her parents or guardian and the lawyers involved. Vampola says delinquent youths don’t fear authority, so they have to be personally motivated and buy into their futures.

The courtroom alterations illustrate other changes in the county system. Among them is a new truancy diversion program and efforts to provide alternatives to locking up juveniles.

(AP) — Authorities say a clerk has been stabbed by a thief he chased outside a Lincoln drugstore.

The theft and assault were reported about 7:40 a.m. Sunday at the CVS Pharmacy store at 16th and South streets.

Police say the man grabbed a prepaid cellphone and ran out of the store. The clerk chased the man and tried to restrain him in the parking lot, but the man used a pair of scissors to stab the clerk in an elbow. Officers soon spotted the man and arrested him.

The clerk refused medical attention.

(AP) — An Omaha police officer who was seriously hurt in a February crash has moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center.

46-year-old Lou Tomsu is now at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln.

Tomsu suffered serious injuries, including a cut to the back of the head, broken vertebra and rib injuries in the Feb. 20 crash. The driver of the car that rear-ended Tomsu’s patrol car is being prosecuted for careless driving.

Tomsu is a 19-year member of Omaha department. His wife is also a long-time officer with the Omaha police.

(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has again denied relief to a man who beat his girlfriend’s 22-month-old daughter to death.

Andre Robinson, of Omaha, was sentenced in April 2008 to life in prison for the November 2006 death of Branesha Thomas.

Prosecutors had said Robinson kicked the girl “like a soccer ball” while he was baby-sitting her and that she died from her injuries.

In 2009, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld Robinson’s conviction of intentional child abuse resulting in death and his life sentence.

Robinson filed for post-conviction relief, a type of motion that is filed after all other appeals have been exhausted. In the motion, Robinson argued he should be released from prison because his lawyer was ineffective.

On Friday, the state’s high court rejected that argument.

(AP) — Two Boy Scouts who were hospitalized with burns after a gunpowder explosion in Council Bluffs last week have been released.

The two boys, Jared Holcomb and Scott Brown, had been treated at St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln since the incident on Thursday.

The boys were hurt while experimenting with gunpowder at a Council Bluffs home in preparation for a spring ceremony.

Two other boys and two adults were also injured but didn’t have to be hospitalized as long. Holcomb and Brown were released from the Lincoln hospital on Saturday.

(AP) — A 21-year-old Lincoln man is facing charges after turning himself in to police in connection with a fatal shooting.

Kashius Haynes was arrested Saturday on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Lincoln Police Capt. Don Scheinost says investigators believe Haynes is responsible for the shooting death of 38-year-old Nathaniel Morton early Friday.

Morton was shot during an argument over gambling during a party at his home.

Morton had a wife and four children. Co-worker Katherine Freiderich says Morton always had a smile on his face and made a positive impact on others’ lives.

(AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-4.8 earthquake that shook northern Yellowstone National Park is the strongest there since 1980.

But the Sunday quake was still considered relatively light, and its location didn’t raise concerns about the park’s supervolcano, which experts say has the potential to erupt with a force about 2,000 times the size of Mount St. Helens and would have worldwide effects.

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations says the earthquake occurred at 6:34 a.m. about 4 miles north-northeast of the Norris Geyser Basin. It was felt in the Montana border towns of West Yellowstone and Gardiner.

There were no immediate reports of damage. The park has few visitors and staff this time of year.

Yellowstone sees frequent earthquakes. Since Thursday, there have been at least 25 recorded.