(AP) — Volunteers in Omaha have removed hundreds of signs that were illegally placed along curbs, on utility poles and on public property.

42 patrol groups worked Sunday to remove about 600 signs as part of an annual effort by the Omaha Coalition of Citizen Patrols.

Coalition President Liz Davenport says the most common illegally placed signs are real estate placards that are left next to curbs rather than in yards. She says there are many others, too, from signs for roofing companies to yard sales.

People who want a sign returned can contact the Public Works Department and check its maintenance yards.

(AP) — It’s unclear what started a fire at a vacant Creighton University dorm that was quickly extinguished by firefighters.

Contractors renovating Deglman Hall alerted Creighton Public Safety about the fire Monday afternoon.

Firefighters saw smoke and flames coming from the fourth floor of the building when they arrived. Crews were able to control the fire within minutes.

Investigators were determining the cause of the fire Monday.

(AP) — A 46-year-old Missouri man has been given life in prison for the 1989 murder of a Nebraska woman.

Judge Karen Noakes sentenced John Oldson on Monday in St. Paul, Neb., telling Oldson that he was a dangerous man from whom the public needed protection.

A Howard County jury had found the 46-year-old Oldson, of Randolph, Mo., guilty of second-degree murder. He was charged with killing 31-year-old Catherine Beard, a waitress from Ord. She disappeared in 1989. Her remains were found outside Ord in 1992.

Oldson, who used to live in Ord, was interviewed in 1989 but not arrested. He was arrested a year ago in Missouri. Authorities say new evidence and witnesses led to his arrest.

Oldson’s attorney says Oldson likely will appeal.

(AP) — An Omaha-based ethanol company says it’s buying an idle ethanol plant in north-central Nebraska.

Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc. said Monday that it has signed an agreement with Choice Ethanol Holdings LLC to acquire the former Nedak Ethanol plant in Atkinson. The deal includes an ethanol storage and loading facility about 15 miles east of the plant. Terms were not disclosed.

The Norfolk Daily News has reported that Choice Ethanol, of Fargo, N.D., was a company formed by Nedak Ethanol’s lenders. Choice Ethanol had bought the plant at auction in January.

Green Plains CEO Todd Becker says Green Plains plans to staff and restart the plant within the next four weeks.

The plant can produce about 50 million gallons of ethanol a year.

(AP) — Grand Island has been struggling to get a dozen new police cruisers out on the streets.

Chief Steve Lamken said the new vehicles presented a problem with the changeover to mobile data terminals. He hopes to have them deployed by the end of June.

The new parts needed to adapt the new Ford Taurus-based cruisers to accommodate technological changes have arrived and the wiring and retrofitting have begun.

The new technology is expected to save time for officers.

 

(AP) — The overhaul of Lincoln zoning ordinances would make redevelopment easier and add new design and landscaping standards to ensure more attractive developments.

City planning staffers have been conferring with interested groups in a process that likely will take about a year.

Current zoning requirements were developed when suburban growth was flourishing. City planners believe there will be more development inside the city in the years ahead, so many of the zoning changes would guide the rejuvenation of rundown strip malls and shopping centers and promote areas of shops and housing.

The proposals include more rules on what materials can and cannot be used on building exteriors.

Planning documents say the goal is to “avoid blank walls, windowless facades, cheap materials and monotony.”

(AP) — New research raises fresh questions about which cancer patients benefit from Avastin (uh-VAS’-tihn), a drug that lost its approval for treating breast cancer nearly two years ago.

Two studies found that Avastin did not prolong life when used as a first treatment for people with brain tumors like the one U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy died of several years ago. Side effects also were more common with Avastin.

The drug is approved for treating brain tumors that have recurred and doctors say it should still be used in those patients.

Other research shows it extends survival for women with advanced cervical cancer. Avastin also is used to treat certain colon, lung and kidney tumors.

The studies were discussed Sunday at a cancer conference in Chicago.

(AP) — A Nebraska man created a dangerous gas inside his home this weekend by mixing two drain cleaners to clear a toilet.

The homeowner was fortunate he wasn’t seriously injured by the chemical cloud.

The homeowner suffered respiratory problems but refused to be treated at a hospital.

Firefighters wore breathing masks to enter the home, but they had to call in a plumber to help clear the blockage in the toilet before the gas dissipated.

Officials say it’s important that homeowners read the labels of the chemicals they’re using.

(AP) — Oklahoma authorities now say 13 people are dead from Friday’s tornadoes and flash floods. Another seven people, including five children, are missing.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office added a total of four victims on Sunday to the list of the dead. Among those killed in the storms are four children and nine adults.

Medical Examiner’s Office Amy Elliott spokeswoman didn’t detail circumstances about how the victims died and didn’t reply to messages. Names of the dead weren’t released but three storm chasers were among those killed in a tornado that went through El Reno.

Searchers were still working Sunday to find seven missing people.

(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court says the family of an 18-year-old man who died because of the willful negligence of a western Nebraska grain elevator company can’t sue the company.

Joseph Teague was suffocated in an avalanche of grain in 2007 after being ordered into a grain bin at Lorenzo, just north of the state line with Colorado. The owner of the elevator, Crossroads Cooperative Association, later was found guilty of violating federal safety standards and ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.

Teague’s estate sued Crossroads, but a Cheyenne County District judge threw out the lawsuit, saying state law makes workers’ compensation the only recourse for recovering damages.

On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court agreed, saying regardless of the egregiousness of the company’s actions, Workers’ Compensation Court has jurisdiction.