(AP) — A 54-year-old truck driver from Delaware has been convicted of misdemeanor vehicular homicide in the crash death of a 2-year-old Nebraska boy.

A Lancaster County jury convicted Leamond Pierce on Tuesday. Pierce, of New Castle, Del., was charged after a December 2011 accident that killed 2-year-old Aidan Curry, of Bellevue, an Omaha suburb. Officers say Pierce was driving a semitrailer that ran into the rear of a car that had just entered Interstate 80 in eastern Nebraska. The boy was riding in the car.

Authorities say Pierce eluded authorities after he was charged. The Nebraska charge triggered possible parole violations in Delaware, and Pierce was found and arrested in O’Fallon, Ill., in August last year. Pierce is on parole after serving 13 years for a 1981 killing in Delaware.

(AP) — Four men earlier arrested in connection with a neighborhood shooting that led to the death of a 5-year-old Omaha girl now face charges directly tying them to the girl’s death.

Omaha police said the four Omaha men were booked on the new charges Wednesday morning in the Jan. 16 death of Payton Benson.

Police have said the little girl was eating breakfast in her family home when she was struck by a stray bullet.

Police say 20-year-old Vincent Hicks has been booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy and three felony weapons counts, and 22-year-old Adonus Moses has been booked for criminal conspiracy to commit murder second-degree murder. Also, 18-year-old Jaylen Montgomery now faces three weapons counts, and 21-year-old Jacob Brown faces two weapons charges.

(AP) — The Lincoln-based Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital has bought the land for a new $93 million Omaha location and chosen the architect.

Madonna said Monday that it bought 20.8 acres of land just west of Village Point Mall in west Omaha for the facility.

The new hospital is now planned to include 250,000 square feet and a pediatric rehabilitation unit will be part of the project. Madonna officials expect the facility to be completed in 2016.

Originally, officials said they wanted to build a 200,000-square-foot facility.

The 110-bed facility will be designed by the DLR Group of Omaha in association with Michael Graves and Associates and the Page design and engineering firm.

(AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for a string of bank robberies in Nebraska and Iowa.

U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Gilg said in a news release Tuesday that 53-year-old Cameron Mitchell will be required to pay more than $74,000 in restitution for the robberies.

Prosecutors say Mitchell robbed seven banks in Omaha, Lincoln, and Council Bluffs between June and August of 2012. Mitchell was accused of walking into bank lobbies armed with a handgun, and taking money from teller drawers.

Mitchell will be required to serve five years of supervised release after his sentence.

(AP) — A bill that would keep third graders from moving to the next grade if they don’t meet reading standards faced opposition at a hearing in the Nebraska Legislature.

Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha introduced the bill, which was presented to the Education Committee on Tuesday.

Parents and those representing education associations were among the opposition to the bill. A former state board of education member testified in support of the bill and two people testified in a neutral position.

Lautenbaugh says the bill comes from education reform efforts that were successful elsewhere, particularly in Florida.

The bill would also establish a grading system for school performance and would provide for alternative ways to earn a teaching certification.

(AP) — Two workers have been injured in the collapse of a temporary stairwell at a construction site on the east side of Omaha.

Rescue workers were sent to the site just south of the Old Market area around 2:30 p.m. Monday.

The two workers had fallen about 20 feet onto concrete below. No other workers were trapped or injured by the falling debris.

The injured workers were taken to a hospital. Their names haven’t been released.

(AP) — The brother of the Milford mayor has sued him over financial misdealings.

Robert Bruha is seeking more than $47,000 in damages from Dean Bruha. Robert Bruha’s attorney says Dean Bruha controlled his brother’s bank account to help pay his brother’s bills before 2008. Attorney Rick Boucher says that between 2008 and 2012, Dean Bruha issued credit cards in Robert’s name, made payments on those cards with funds from Robert’s bank account and also wrote himself unauthorized checks using that account.

Online court records say Dean Bruha is criminally charged with identity theft, theft and eight counts of forgery. He’s pleaded not guilty, and his trial is scheduled to begin March 18.

(AP) — Police say a fake bomb was found inside a suspicious package found on a Fremont street.

The package was reported about 10:30 p.m. Monday.

Nebraska State Patrol bomb experts were called in. Nearby residents were asked to take cover in their basements while the bomb experts deployed a robot to check the package.

Police say there was an item inside the package that had been “dressed up to look like a bomb.”

(AP) — A jury of seven men and five women has resumed deliberations on a lawsuit filed for six people wrongly convicted for a 1985 Nebraska murder.

The case was turned over to the jury members on Monday afternoon, and they resumed their work on Tuesday.

The complainants’ attorneys want the jury to hold two lawmen and the estate of a third responsible for imprisoning the six. James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez, Debra Shelden, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Joseph White and Thomas Winslow served a combined 77 years in prison before DNA testing exonerated them in 2008. The tests pointed authorities to a man who died in 1992.

The five and the estate of White, who died in 2011, seek at least $14 million in damages.

(AP) — Democrat Chuck Hassebrook says he has raised more than $525,000 in his bid for Nebraska governor.

Hassebrook made the announcement at the Capitol on Tuesday as he formally filed his paperwork for office. The former University of Nebraska Regent says his campaign has recruited more than 1,500 volunteers in 91 Nebraska counties.

Hassebrook, the former director of the Nebraska Center for Rural Affairs, announced his candidacy in June. He is unopposed in the Democratic primary. Six Republican candidates are competing in the GOP primary.

Hassebrook touted his endorsements by the Nebraska Farmers Union and Planned Parenthood Voters of Nebraska, a group affiliated with Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.