(AP) — A former Marine says she’s speaking publicly about her rape because victims are suffering the same retaliation that she encountered when she reported her sexual assault 14 years ago.

Stacey Thompson went public with her story Thursday in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.

She says she paid heavily for reporting that her sergeant had drugged her and sexually assaulted her in his barracks in 1999 at a Marine base in Japan.

Thompson says her perpetrator was allowed to leave the Marine Corps, while she was kicked out with an other-than-honorable discharge for being drugged.

A Pentagon report released earlier this month found 62 percent of sexual assault victims in the military who reported being attacked say they faced some kind of retaliation afterward.

A judicial nominating commission has forwarded the names of three people to Gov. Dave Heineman to consider in filling the 1st Judicial District vacancy on the Nebraska Appeals Court.

The nominees are Riko Bishop, Amie Martinez and James Smith, all of Lincoln.

The person chosen would be replacing Judge Richard Sievers, who has resigned.

The 1st Judicial District covers Lancaster and Seward Counties.

(AP) — Authorities say a driver died when strong winds knocked a tree onto his car in rural Arkansas as thunder storms and several tornadoes swept through the Midwest.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Office says the man was killed late Thursday in Tull, 30 miles southwest of Little Rock.

The National Weather Service says up to a dozen tornadoes touched down in Arkansas and Oklahoma on Thursday, injuring nine people and damaging several structures.

More bad weather is on tap for Friday.

Forecasters say large hail and tornadoes are likely in Oklahoma and parts of the Ozarks in Arkansas and Missouri. The areas at greatest risk include Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Joplin, Mo., where the second-deadliest American tornado on record killed at least 158 people in 2011.

(AP) — Officials in Fremont say they’re getting plenty of feedback about warning sirens.

Mayor Scott Getzschman noted at a Tuesday City Council meeting that he’s spoken with people who didn’t hear the sirens as usual and others who heard them for the first time.

Getzschman says the sirens worked when they were sounded early Monday. They also sounded Wednesday night when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Fremont County.

Emergency Manager Bill Pook says the issue Monday likely was the high wind, which could muffle the sound in one direction and carry it for a long distance in another direction.

Pook says people with concerns should listen for the siren on testing days. Fremont’s next one is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday.

(AP) — Authorities in Omaha have arrested four men on suspicion of gang-related activity that includes gun and drug trafficking.

Local and federal authorities made the arrests Thursday as part of a nine-month investigation called Operation Purple Haze. It included undercover officers buying drugs, as well as tips from the public.

Authorities are now trying to find several other men wanted on drug charges.

Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer says all the men are considered leaders in two of the city’s most notorious crime rings. He called the arrests “a major bust.”

Police have identified more than 70 gangs in Omaha.

(AP) — A Blair woman has been given four days of jail following a negligent child abuse conviction in the drowning of a toddler under her care.

59-year-old Nancy Tierney was sentenced Thursday after her conviction this month in the death of a 16-month-old Isabella Thallas.

Tierney pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge. Prosecutors dropped a manslaughter count as part of a plea deal.

Tierney was charged after Isabella drowned last August in a pool at Tierney’s home, which served as a certified day care facility. A court document says Tierney left the girl and other children unattended when she used a bathroom.

A  judge ordered two of the jail days to be severed on anniversaries of the girl’s death.

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(AP) — Meteorologists in Oklahoma have confirmed at least two tornadoes have touched down as a powerful storm system moved through the state. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

The National Weather Service said a tornado touched the ground Thursday near the town of Perkins in northeast Oklahoma. A second tornado was reported near Ripley.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., warned that there was a moderate risk of severe weather over much of eastern and central Oklahoma — the same area where a tornado last week killed 24 people in Moore.

Tornado warnings were in effect Thursday in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas. The storms can also produce hail.

Storms were also possible in parts of Kansas Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

(AP) — Nearly two years to the day after Jacque Sue Waller was last seen alive, the body of the southeast Missouri mother of young triplets has been found.

The Cape Girardeau County prosecutor’s office issued a one-paragraph statement Thursday. It said police recovered a body on Wednesday that has been confirmed as Waller.

She was 39 when she disappeared on June 1, 2011. No information was released on where the body was found. A woman answering phones at the prosecutor’s office said no further comment would be made, citing an ongoing investigation.

Waller and her estranged husband, Clay Waller, had nearly finalized a divorce when she disappeared. He was charged last year with first-degree murder and goes to trial in September.

Jacque Waller’s sister has custody of their 7-year-old triplets.

A brawl broke out after one man walked in on another man using a toilet at a lake in southeast Nebraska.

Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner says the incident occurred about 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Branched Oak Lake northwest of Lincoln.

Wagner says the toilet door wasn’t locked, and the intruder confronted the other man about that when he exited the toilet. Swear words, pushing, shoving and punches soon followed as relatives and friend joined the fracas.

Five people were cited for third-degree assault.

The man who was using the toilet was not cited.

(AP) — The Nebraska Humane Society in Omaha is offering free cat adoptions in an effort to clear some kitties from the kennel.

The Omaha shelter says in a news release that it will have 117 cats ready for adoption at no charge. The animals have been spayed or neutered, have microchips and have had their first shots.

All the cats are more than 6 months old.

The shelter needs to adopt out the cats so it has space for new arrivals.

The shelter is at 8929 Fort St. in Omaha.