GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) – A woman accused of beating a 2-year-old child in Grand Island has been given a year of probation.

Court records say 22-year-old Michaela Hill pleaded no contest to misdemeanor negligent child abuse after prosecutors lowered the charge from felony intentional child abuse. Police say the child suffered a detached retina among several other injuries.

The child’s father has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor negligent child abuse and false reporting. The trial of 26-year-old Justin Molt is scheduled to begin July 18 in Hall County Court.

DAVID CITY, Neb. (AP) — A three-vehicle crash near David City in eastern Nebraska has killed a teenage girl.

The crash happened Thursday on Highway 15 south of David City.

Officials say a back-seat passenger in one of the vehicles, 15-year-old Mariah Cummings of Octavia, was pronounced dead at the scene. All other victims were treated for minor injuries and released.

Investigators say all involved were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.

The crash is being investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Police have identified two people who were killed in a place crash at a western Omaha airport.

Authorities say 63-year-old David Steier and 61-year-old Arlene Steier both died from injuries sustained in the crash before 9 a.m. Sunday at the Millard Airport.

Police say David Steier died at the scene. Arlene Steier was found in critical condition at the crash site and died at a local hospital.

Witnesses told the Omaha World-Herald that smoke and flames were visible from the crash on a runway at the airport. Stanley Jenkins says he saw the plane crash into the ground nose-first and burst into flames.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident and plans to announce more details Tuesday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A $10 million school specifically designed to meet the complex needs of Omaha students with cognitive and physical disabilities has opened.

The new J.P. Lord School welcomed teachers and about 60 students, ranging in age from 5 to 21, earlier this month. Most of the school’s students aren’t verbal, some have feeding tubes and many have limited mobility.

“It’s just a friendly, friendly space,” said Laura Mac-Holmes, the school’s principal. “It’s all about the sensory curriculum — what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, what we feel.”

The school is equipped with a therapy pool that allows students to stretch and work their muscles. Rooms are designed to stimulate senses with different-colored lights, projections and music. Nursing stations are also tucked into hallways for quick access.

The school was formerly housed inside a smaller building on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus.

Architects sought input from parents, staff and special education experts to design the new facility to meet the specific needs of J.P. Lord students.

Lifts were built into the ceilings to help faculty move or maneuver students. Closets are large enough to store medical equipment and hallways are outfitted with color-changing lights to keep students engaged while they move between classes.

The school also commissioned artwork from Jeffrey Owen Hanson, a visually impaired artist from Kansas, to display on the hallways. Hanson’s artwork includes texture so students can touch and peel the paintings.

“It’s so nice that there was a space designed for the students,” said teacher Mary Becker. “Not for our ease, not for economic reasons, designed just because it’s the best place for the kids.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha attorney who voluntarily surrendered his Nebraska law license has been disbarred.

The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday disbarred Rodney Halstead after accepting the surrender of his license.

In November, the high court had suspended Halstead’s law license for a year after he lied repeatedly about checking on the welfare of an incapacitated adult. Halstead had been appointed in 2009 to serve as guardian to the ward, who was confined to a nursing home. Halstead was required to file annual reports on the ward’s condition, but he falsely reported for at least six years that he had checked on the client’s welfare.

Three months after his suspension, Halstead surrendered his license.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Trial has been set later this summer for a Texas man shot by western Iowa officer after allegedly leading police on a chase and ramming police vehicles.

A preliminary hearing was held Friday for 28-year-old Clifton Wade, of Zavalla, Texas. Wade is charged with two counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, assault on an officer and other counts for the May 1 incident.

Wade’s arraignment has been set for June 25, and his trial is set for July 31.

Council Bluffs police say Wade sped off when officers tried to stop his pickup at a closed construction site and later intentionally rammed two police cruisers. One officer then shot him.

Wade was taken to a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, for treatment and later released and booked into the Pottawattamie County Jail, where he remains on $500,000 bond.

WAYNE, Neb. (AP) — A 21-year-old Wayne man has died after his motorcycle collided with another vehicle in the northeastern Nebraska town.

Wayne police say Mark Young III was driving the motorcycle Thursday night when he collided with a sport utility vehicle driven by a 19-year-old Wayne man.

Police say both the bike and SUV were engulfed in flames when officers arrived. Police say Young had been thrown from the bike by the impact, and the driver of the SUV had been able to escape the vehicle.

Young was taken to a nearby medical center, where he died.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a man has died and a woman has been arrested in a deadly hit-and-run crash near downtown Omaha.

Police say a large sport utility vehicle went out of control while pulling out of a gas station parking lot at 24th and Leavenworth streets, jumping a curb and hitting a pedestrian, then a utility pole. Police say 48-year-old Ruben Batres died at a hospital.

Witnesses say a woman driving the SUV — later identified by police as 33-year-old Nickole Wheeler — leaped from the vehicle and fled on foot. Police say she later flagged down a motorist and asked for a ride home. But the motorist, who was aware of the crash, drove her back to the scene, where police arrested her.

Wheeler was booked on suspicion of leaving the scene of an injury accident but faces more serious charges in light of Batres’ death..

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are trying to determine what caused a small plane crash at a suburban Omaha airport that killed a man and critically injured a woman.

Omaha Fire Battalion Chief Scott Fitzpatrick says the plane crashed at the Millard Airport before 9 a.m. Sunday. The names of the two people aboard weren’t immediately released.

Witnesses told the Omaha World-Herald that smoke and flames were visible from the crash on a runway at the airport.

Stanley Jenkins says he say the plane crash into the ground nose-first and burst in to flames. Jenkins and his wife were packing up their home near the airport.

Federal investigators will try to determine what caused the crash.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — Three judges considering the death penalty for a Nebraska prisoner who killed his cellmate have set a hearing to announce their decision.

Johnson County District Court documents say the hearing regarding 40-year-old Patrick Schroeder is scheduled June 1.

Schroeder has freely admitted strangling 22-year-old Terry Berry in April 2017 in their cell at Tecumseh State Prison in southeast Nebraska. Schroeder told investigators that he killed Berry for being too talkative and said he had warned Berry several times that he needed to “shut up.”

Schroeder offered no rebuttal to prosecutors’ assertions that he should be sentenced to death. He’s said he believes in the death penalty.

Schroeder has been serving a life sentence for killing a 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer in 2006.