(AP) — Omaha police say a 17-year-old forced a woman and her son out of their car at gunpoint, but then struggled to steal the car because it has a manual transmission.

The teenager was arrested shortly after the attempted carjacking shortly after 7 Thursday morning, and he has been charged with robbery.

Police say the teen forced the woman and her 13-year-old son out of their Dodge Caliber in midtown Omaha.

Neighbor Beth Meiches says she watched the teen try unsuccessfully to put the car in gear. He sat in the car for several minutes before fleeing when police arrived.

Omaha Police Lt. Mike McGee says the fact that this car is a stick shift helped prevent its theft.

The teen was arrested a few blocks away.

(AP) — Discount retailer Gordmans Stores Inc. has announced that President and chief executive Jeff Gordman will be retiring.

The company said Tuesday that Gordman is leaving to pursue outside interests and spend more time with his family.

Gordman’s great-grandfather founded the company nearly 100 years ago. Gordman joined the Omaha-based company in 1990 and has held the posts since 1996. Board chairman T. Scott King will become interim CEO while the board seeks a successor for Gordman.

Also on n Tuesday the company posted its fourth-quarter 2013 earnings, noting a 7.4 percent drop from 2012 in sales at stores open a year or more. Net income for the quarter was $2.7 million, compared with $7.9 million a year ago.

Gordmans has 95 stores in 20 states, including Nebraska.

 

(AP) — Lancaster County prosecutors will be opening their files and allowing special access for a group that will check racial equity in the prosecutors’ decisions.

County Attorney Joe Kelly says the New York-based Vera Institute of Justice has been engaged. The group gathers and analyzes data to help ensure the justice system is fair to all and more effective.

Kelly says he doesn’t know of any problem areas and is entering the project without expectations. The study could take as long as a year to finish.

(AP) — A federal judge is catching some heat for referring to himself as “a dirty old man” and suggesting in his personal blog that young women attorneys need to dress more conservatively in court.

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf weighed in on the topic Tuesday, relaying a story about a local female attorney in her late 20s who “wears very short skirts and shows lots of her ample chest.” The woman, he said, is the source of scorn among local female law clerks.

Kopf then goes on to offer “rules” for appropriate court attire, including that, “You can’t win. Men are both pigs and prudes. Get over it.”

Comments on the judge’s blog range from support to those calling him sexist. Kopf apologized on the blog to those he offended.

(AP) — The Nebraska Appeals Court has reversed one conviction of a 62-year-old Neligh (NEE’-lee) woman found guilty in an arson case.

The court said in a decision released Tuesday that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict Daphne Hansen of aiding consummation of a felony. That reversal will eliminate the sentence of six to 12 months in prison she was given. But Hansen still faces 24 to 30 months in prison for arson and conspiracy. She was convicted in May 2013.

Investigators say Hansen claimed a financial interest in a Neligh home and that she conspired with two other people to have the house burned down. No one was injured in the June 2010 blaze.

Hansen denied any involvement in the fire.

(AP) — Beatrice police suspect a drug dispute is involved in a home invasion.

Three shots were fired inside the house early Tuesday morning, but no one was injured.

Police Lt. Mike Oliver says two men broke into the house and tied up four people there. Officers believe the men were searching for drugs or money. No arrests have been reported.

Oliver says the four people who’d been tied up were not cooperating with investigators.

(AP) — A delegation from Ukraine is set to visit the Nebraska Capitol for lessons in democracy.

Staff members from Ukraine’s parliament will meet with Nebraska state senators and other officials on Wednesday.

The visitors were selected by the Open World Program, run by the Library of Congress. The program was created to bring future leaders from former soviet republics to the United States to learn about democracy.

The program has hosted more than 17,000 young leaders from Eurasian countries since 1999, including mayors, lawmakers, judges, educators and entrepreneurs.

The Nebraska visit is hosted by the group Friendship Force of Lincoln.

(AP) — Omaha authorities say a wanted man had made threats and had a loaded handgun in his car when he was fatally shot by officers.

In a news release issued Tuesday night, Omaha police gave more details about the death of 30-year-old Willie Michalak (muh-HAH’-lihk) on March 19.

Officers sent to arrest Michalak that evening spotted him in a car parked on a driveway. Police say officers ordered Michalak to keep his hands in view, but Michalak cursed, threatened to shoot officers and said they’d have to shoot him. Police say Michalak then took his right hand off the steering wheel and reached toward his waistband. Police say that’s when five of the officers fired several shots.

Police say a loaded handgun was found on the car floor in front of Michalak.

(AP) — A new National Willa Cather Center is being planned for the author’s Nebraska hometown of Red Cloud.

The Willa Cather Foundation said Tuesday the center will include a public museum, archive and arts and cultural center.

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns is honorary national chairman for the public fundraising effort. The foundation must raise $144,000 by June 30 to meet a $400,000 challenge grant offered by the Peter Kiewit Foundation of Omaha.

Cather is celebrated as the author of “O Pioneers” and other books influenced by her life in Nebraska and Virginia and her travels. She’d been born in 1873 in Frederick County, Va., and lived for nine years in Back Creek Valley before moving with her family to Nebraska. The family resettled to Red Cloud in 1885.