(AP) — University of Iowa President Sally Mason is facing criticism after saying that ending sexual assault is “probably not a realistic goal, just given human nature.”

Mason has apologized for the comment she made earlier this month.

On Thursday, she opened a public forum on sexual assault issues. She told a group of about 200 about her experience of being assaulted by a stranger when she was a college student in 1970.

Mason said a man in a trench coat groped her as she walked to class in Lexington, Ky., before she was able to get away.

Growing emotional, she said she wants young women on campus “to know where to go if something like that happens to them.”

The Iowa Board of Regents scheduled a meeting Friday to hear from Mason.

(AP) — A former Beatrice State Developmental Center worker convicted of abusing developmentally disabled adults has again been sentenced to prison.

On Wednesday Matthew Pangborn was given nine years and four months to 15 years in prison. He will be serving consecutive sentences on three counts of abusing a vulnerable adult and two counts of strangulation. Four additional charges were dropped as part of a plea agreement that included Pangborn’s pleading no contest to all five counts.

In July 2012 Pangborn was found guilty of four counts of abusing a vulnerable adult and several other charges. He was sentenced to 15 to 23 years in prison. The Nebraska Supreme Court later determined that Pangborn should be retried because a chart prosecutors made shouldn’t have been given to the first jury during deliberations.

(AP) — Authorities say two Omaha residents have been sentenced to life in prison for killing two men during a drug robbery in December 2012.

Douglas County court records say 37-year-old Derrick Stricklin and 40-year-old Terrell Newman were sentenced on Wednesday. Each had been convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and several other crimes.

The bodies of 47-year-old Carlos Morales and 40-year-old Bernardo Noriega were found inside an auto body business on Dec. 2, 2012. A third man was inside the building but was not hurt. He identified Newman as one of the shooters.

(AP) — A 39-year-old Ceresco man has been given four to five years in prison for vehicular homicide.

Online court records say Damian Smith was sentenced on Wednesday in Lancaster County District Court. He’d pleaded no contest after prosecutors lowered the charge from manslaughter. The records say Judge Steven Burns gave Smith credit for 446 days already served.

Authorities say Smith’s northbound vehicle ran a stop sign near Waverly on Nov. 4, 2012, and collided with an eastbound vehicle. Twenty-four-year-old Seth Coats died of his injuries later at a Lincoln hospital. Four others in Coats’ vehicle and one in Smith’s vehicle were hospitalized.

(AP) — A proposal to buy a new airplane for Nebraska’s governor and other state officials has won first-round approval in the Legislature.

Lawmakers advanced the measure on Thursday with a 31-3 vote.

A legislative consultant has recommended buying a new twin-engine King Air model that can carry five passengers and two pilots. It would cost as much as $3.8 million, though money from other aircraft sales would likely reduce that cost. The plane would replace the state’s current, 1982 Piper Cheyenne aircraft.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha, says buying a new plane instead of leasing or chartering is more cost-efficient over the long term.

Gov. Dave Heineman has said the state needs a plane so officials can travel quickly and safely for state business.

(AP) — The man accused of the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater in 2012 now faces trial in October.

Judge Carlos Samour on Thursday set an Oct. 14 trial date for James Holmes. Holmes is charged in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting that killed 12 people and injured 70.

However, the judge said it’s possible the trial may be further delayed as prosecutors and defense attorneys spar over sanity evaluations of Holmes.

Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

(AP) — Investigators with the Omaha Fire Department say a discarded cigarette on an outdoor balcony led to the blaze that gutted much of a University of Nebraska at Omaha student apartment building.

The fire Wednesday afternoon destroyed the roof and third floor of the three-story building that housed 50 students. No students were injured.

Investigators say the fire started on a second-floor balcony of the building, where smoking is banned. University policy allows smoking on campus, but only outdoors and at least 10 feet from any building entrance.

After firefighters declared the building was safe to enter, UNO officials on Thursday allowed students who lived in the building’s second and third floors to retrieve personal items.

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(AP) — A 66-year-old Lincoln woman has been sent to prison, convicted of fraud in stealing from her disabled neighbor.

Online court records say Loris Austin on Tuesday was given 39 to 60 months in prison on four counts. Records say Austin pleaded guilty to two of the counts and no contest to the remaining two.

Authorities say Austin had taken more than $60,000 from Joeann Self between 2004 and 2011. Self had authorized Austin to write checks to pay Self’s bills.