(AP) — An Indianapolis church leader says the youth pastor and his pregnant wife are among the three people who died in Saturday’s bus crash.

Deacon Jeff Leffew said at a news conference outside of Colonial Hills Baptist Church on Sunday morning that youth pastor Chad Phelps and his wife, Courtney Phelps, died in the accident.

He said Chad Phelps is the son of the church’s main pastor, Charles Phelps. Courtney Phelps was pregnant and due next month.

The third person who died was Tonya Weindorf, a mother of five who was a chaperone on the trip to the northern Michigan youth camp.

Dozens were injured in the accident, in which a bus struck a retaining wall and flipped on its side. The Phelps’ 2-year-old son has been released from the hospital.

(AP) — A Schuyler woman hurt in a crash Monday in Columbus has died from her injuries.

25-year-old Naimo Buluf died Friday at a Lincoln hospital.

Columbus police say Buluf was driving a sedan southbound Monday afternoon when she crossed in front of an eastbound semitrailer. The semi struck the passenger side of Buluf’s car, and both vehicles left the roadway, coming to rest at the bottom of the south embankment.

Buluf and a passenger in her vehicle, 32-year-old Berika Tahiro of Schuyler, were injured and flown to a Lincoln hospital.

Tahiro remains hospitalized in critical condition.

The 64-year-old driver of the semi was treated and released from Columbus Community Hospital.

(AP) — A Gretna woman accused of embezzling more than $4 million from the tobacco and candy business she worked for is facing tax evasion charges.

The Nebraska Department of Revenue and the Sarpy County attorney opted to pursue the tax evasion charges against 54-year-old Caroline Richardson after her former employer, Colombo Candy and Tobacco Wholesale Co, declined to press charges against her.

Instead, the company has gone after an Iowa casino. In a federal lawsuit, Colombo says Ameristar Casino should have known that Richardson was gambling with ill-gotten money.

But Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov says Richardson owes $430,000 in unpaid taxes for the $4.1 million she stole from 2010 to 2011. She is charged with three counts of tax evasion and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

(AP) — Police and recovery workers from Iowa and Nebraska have pulled a decomposing body from the Missouri River near casinos in Council Bluffs.

Authorities say a boater called 911 Saturday afternoon to report a body floating in the river between Council Bluffs and Omaha, Neb.

No other details of the body or who it may be were released.

(AP) — A breeding program in Omaha is trying to keep a toad native to Wyoming from extinction.

The Wyoming toad is considered critically endangered and one of the four most endangered amphibian species in the United States. The toad is listed as extinct in the wild on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Animals because it can only be found in only one protected place, a pond in the Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Laramie, Wyo.

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium is one of eight U.S. zoos that are breeding the toads for release in Wyoming.

The zoo has sent nearly 2,800 tadpoles and young toads to Wyoming since the program started in 1995.

(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and lengthy sentence of a Lincoln man who repeatedly raped a woman during a 2009 home invasion.

Armon Dixon was sentenced last year to 80 to 140 years in prison for sexual assault, robbery and a weapons charge. Police say Dixon pushed his way into an apartment, pulled a gun on the woman, threatening to kill her and her 3-year-old son, then repeatedly raped her over the next 10 hours. Dixon was already serving up to 120 years for robbing a convenience store and raping its clerk a month before the home invasion.

On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected all of Dixon’s arguments, including that he should not have been sentenced as a habitual offender and that his sentence was excessive.

 

(AP) — Omaha police say a final suspect being sought as part of a crackdown on gang-related crime has been arrested.

Police say 30-year-old Eric English was arrested Friday with the help of the Lincoln Police Fugitive task force. English had been charged earlier in a warrant with possession of crack cocaine with intent to deliver.

Police say English’s arrest marks the capture of the last fugitive in a nine-month investigation by local and federal authorities called Operation Purple Haze.

Nine other men had earlier been arrested as part of the operation.

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer has said all the men are considered leaders in two of the city’s most notorious gangs.

(AP) — A judge has denied bond for a 19-year-old man now charged with first-degree murder in the rape and beating death of a 93-year-old Omaha woman.

Sergio Martinez-Perez had been denied bond earlier in the week when he was charged with first-degree assault, first-degree sexual assault and burglary. The assault charge was changed to first-degree murder when Louise Sollowin died from her injuries on Wednesday, three days after she was beaten and raped in her home.

On Friday, a judge denied bond on the murder charge.

Police say officers found Martinez-Perez naked and passed out on top of the woman Sunday morning. Authorities believe Martinez-Perez entered the home through an unlocked door.

Prosecutors are weighing whether to seek the death penalty for Martinez-Perez.

(AP) — Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert says police have completed an investigation into photos of a woman at an Omaha fire station and found there was no criminal behavior.

The two photos, which were emailed to the mayor’s office on July 22, showed a woman on a fire truck and posing with two firefighters.

Stothert called the photos “inappropriate” and ordered police to investigate.

The mayor says Friday there wasn’t anything criminal about the incident but that the visit could have violated rules involving visiting hours. Firefighters involved could be subject to discipline.

The investigation found that more than 10 women attending a bachelorette party stopped by the fire station. The woman in the photos was the bachelorette.

A two-week long investigation by the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) has led to the arrest of a 22-year old Blair man on a charge of First Degree Sexual Assault of a Child.

Around 11:00 a.m., Friday, July 26, NSP investigators took Trevor A. Wilwerding, 22, into custody without incident near his residence in Blair. NSP investigators with the assistance of the Blair Police Department also served a search warrant at his residence, 2066 Front Street, Blair.  The arrest follows an investigation into sexual activity which occurred over the past several months involving Wilwerding and a 15-year old juvenile female.

Wilwerding was lodged in the Washington County Jail, the investigation continues. Investigators believe there may be other victims associated with Wilwerding.