(AP) — A 63-year-old woman has been killed in storms moving across the northern Plains and Upper Midwest.

Hamlin County, S.D., Sheriff Chad Schlotterbeck said the woman was hunkered down in the bathtub in her trailer on the east side of Lake Poinsett when a storm lifted the structure and dropped it to the ground. The storms brought tornadoes, strong winds and hail the size of golf balls.

Schlotterbeck said his county of about 6,000 residents was entirely without power Friday evening. The fire department was door to door to assess the extent of damage.

The storms moved into Minnesota and then were expected to hit Wisconsin.

Some of the most notable damage occurred around Lake Poinsett in northeast South Dakota. The lake is home to numerous summer cabins.

(AP) — A 42-year-old Creston woman has made a plea deal and been convicted of felony child abuse.

Janelle Gertsch pleaded no contest to three counts after prosecutors dropped two more at a hearing last week. Gertsch is scheduled to be sentenced on July 19.

Prosecutors say Gertsch and her boyfriend, Larry Einspahr Jr., beat and spanked her 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter on multiple occasions. Last month Einspahr was sentenced to 30 to 36 months in prison.

(AP) — Firefighters have extinguished a blaze that broke out above a bakery in downtown Beatrice.

No injuries were reported from the fire, which was reported just before 11 a.m. Friday.

Fire officials say the damage was minimal in what was an all but empty room on the second floor above Sunrise Bakery.

The cause of the fire is being investigated.

(AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel signaled that U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base will be around for a long time, even as the Department of Defense calls for base closings around the country.

Hagel said Thursday at a ceremony to honor StratCom personnel that the command is central to dealing with the new threats facing the country.

Earlier Thursday, Hagel was briefed on the capabilities of the command, which oversees the nation’s nuclear arsenal and has many strategic missions.

Following his remarks, the former two-term U.S. senator from Nebraska handed out commemorative coins to more than 200 military service members and civilians with U.S. Strategic Command.

The trip to Nebraska is Hagel’s first since being confirmed as defense secretary in February.

(AP) — An Omaha man has been sentenced to at least a dozen years in prison for causing a fatal car crash last year.

Sergio Valdivia-Marquez was sentenced Wednesday to between 12 and 16 years in prison for the death of 18-year-old Michael Tran.

Authorities say Valdivia-Marquez slammed into Tran’s car last October. Tran was taken off life support days later.

Valdivia-Marquez was later convicted of motor vehicle homicide. His blood-alcohol level that night was twice the legal limit.

Authorities also say Valdivia-Marquez did not have a driver’s license at the time of the crash, and he was living in the country without legal permission.

Valdivia-Marquez will be deported after he completes his prison sentence in Nebraska.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it has cleaned the water system at its Grand Island facility following reports of Legionella bacteria.

The VA says it has removed most water-use restrictions at the facility and has implemented remediation actions like chlorinating the water and installing point-of-use shower head filters.

The announcement Thursday comes a week after the VA said Legionella bacteria had been identified at the facility following annual water testing. Strains of the bacteria can cause Legionnaires disease, a form of pneumonia. No cases of the disease had been reported at the facility.

The department says it is installing a copper-silver ionization system designed to purify and disinfect water.

The Grand Island facility includes a community living center, a residential substance abuse unit and an outpatient clinic.

(AP) — An animal rights organization is taking its campaign to the Nebraska State Fair, where exhibitors and fairgoers celebrate the state’s rich tradition in agriculture, livestock farming and ranching.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has applied for a booth at this year’s fair, which runs Aug. 23-Sept. 2 at the fairgrounds in Grand Island.

PETA campaign manager Katie Arth told the Lincoln Journal Star (https://bit.ly/11To2ye) that the group’s trips to state fairs in Iowa and other states last year reflected a new strategy for trying to steer consumers away from meat and decrying what PETA members view as often deplorable exploitations of farm animals.

Nebraska fair executive director Joseph McDermott says PETA has a First Amendment right to come to the fair and spread its message.

(AP) — A California developer says an underground shelter he’s creating in a vast limestone cave in eastern Kansas could be the human race’s best chance to survive a nuclear attack or the impact of a wayward meteor.

Robert Vicino recently bought a large portion of a former U.S. Army storage facility on the southeast edge of Atchison along the Missouri River about 50 miles north of Kansas City, Mo. He says there’s room inside for more than 1,000 recreational vehicles and up to 5,000 people to ride out any potential earth-changing catastrophe.

While they’re awaiting Armageddon or a deadly global pandemic, Vicino says the Vivos Survival Shelter and Resort will be a fun place for members to spend vacations and learn survival skills.

(AP) — A 21-year-old Lincoln man has been charged with murder in the shooting death of a man at a party.

Michael Arellano was charged on Wednesday in Lancaster County Court with second-degree murder, assault and two weapons counts. Police say Arellano shot Shane Newman to death and wounded another man.

The shootings took place early Saturday morning during a party at Arellano’s father’s house in Lincoln. Authorities say Newman got into an argument with someone outside the house and punched him.

Then, police say, Michael Arellano opened fire in response. Police say Arellano denied shooting anyone after police picked him up about an hour later.

A public phone listing for Arellano couldn’t be found. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.

 

(AP) — Authorities say a 4-year-old boy who was left behind at a Fremont park by day care workers has been returned to his mother.

Fremont Police Lt. Kurt Bottorff says officers found the boy in Memorial Park on Tuesday after someone called to report a possible case of child neglect.

Officers were told by a bystander that the boy had been at the park without supervision for 30 to 45 minutes after the group from the Sparkle Haven Child Care Center left.

A representative for Sparkle Haven didn’t immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press.

Bottorff says the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services will be investigating.