A leader of a North Texas county where six people died in a tornado has described a storm-damaged neighborhood as “total devastation.”

Hood County Commissioner Steve Berry before dawn today surveyed the damage in Granbury, about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

Berry, who was a firefighter for more than 20 years, says the Ranch Brazos neighborhood has about 100 mobile homes and wood structures. He says a lot of the mobile homes were “wadded up” and rolled during last night’s twister.

Berry says all of the homes have significant damage and as many as half were destroyed. He says a lot of homes were built by volunteers with Habitat for Humanity.

Berry says houses can be rebuilt over time but the loss of a life is devastating to families.

The National Weather Service said the preliminary storm estimate for Wednesday night’s tornado in Granbury was an EF-4, based on the Fujita tornado damage scale. That means the storm carried wind speeds of 166 mph to 200 mph.

An eastern Nebraska family has lost its court challenge to a state requirement that public schools set aside time for the Pledge of Allegiance.

A  judge ruled earlier this week that the Stanosheck family, of Springfield, didn’t sufficiently state what injury the parents and their three children suffered because of the state rule.

The rule that went into effect Sept. 15 mandates that schoolchildren in kindergarten through 12th grade recite the pledge daily in the presence of a flag. But students who don’t wish to may stand or sit quietly instead.

In December attorney Kevin Stanosheck filed a petition for declaratory judgment on behalf of his wife and their children.

His petition says the Nebraska Education Department had acted beyond its authority.

(AP) — Lincoln’s parks and medians are awash in dandelions.

And Parks and Recreation Director Lynn Johnston says the drought is to blame for the yellow sea covering once-green expanses.

He says that in many spots, park grass is dead or sparse. That lets weeds thrive.

Park staffers didn’t apply weed killer in the fall because it requires moisture to work properly. And little herbicide is applied in spring because it can drift to neighboring lawns and gardens.

The department plans to spread grass seed on nonirrigated parkland in late summer and apply weed killer in early fall.

(AP) — An attorney has requested that a sheriff in southeast Nebraska be protected from questioning that could be used as evidence in an upcoming trial.

Attorney Vincent Valentino says Gage County Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson’s knowledge of the case involving Elliot Hawkins is limited.

Hawkins is suing four employees of the department after he was cleared of wrongdoing in an alleged rape case. Hawkins called the investigation reckless.

Hawkins’ attorney, Joy Shiffermiller, says her client is entitled to know what Gustafson said to the defendants. Gustafson is not named in the lawsuit.

Jennifer Valenta told authorities in 2012 that she fabricated her story of rape and inflicted injuries on herself. She has been sentenced to at least two years in prison.

(AP)-A 29-year-old east-central Nebraska man has been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial on allegations that he molested his 8-year-old niece.

Platte County District Judge Robert Steinke’s ruling followed a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation. The state evaluation said the St. Edward man was developmentally disabled and was unlikely to become competent for trial within the foreseeable future.

Prosecutor Demi Herman says the county will begin a civil commitment proceeding to hold the defendant indefinitely.

The Associated Press isn’t using the defendant’s name in order to protect the identity of the girl.

The man had been charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child. He was accused of assaulting the girl several times from October 2011 to February 2012, when she was 8 years old.

(AP) — Jodi Arias heads back to court as jurors consider whether the death penalty should be an option for sentencing the former waitress after convicting her of first-degree murder last week.

The 32-year-old aspiring photographer admitted killing her onetime boyfriend Travis Alexander in June 2008, at his suburban Phoenix home. She initially denied involvement then later blamed masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said it was self-defense when he attacked her after a day of sex.

Prosecutors said she planned the killing in a jealous rage as Alexander wanted to end their affair.

Testimony began in early January. The jury reached its verdict last Wednesday after about 15 hours of deliberations over four days.

Jurors on Wednesday will hear testimony before deciding whether the death penalty should be an option for sentencing Arias.

An Omaha man has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for receiving and distributing child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Deb Gilg says 47-year-old Michael Abraham was sentenced Monday. Abraham must also register as a sex offender and remained under supervised release for seven years after his release.

There is no parole in the federal court system.

Abraham was arrested following an undercover investigation by the Nebraska State Patrol and the FBI’s Cyber Crimes Task Force. Officers discovered child pornography being shared online from a computer in Abraham’s home. On Sept. 21, a search warrant was executed at Abraham’s home and turned up more than 100 videos and 50,000 images of child pornography and child erotica.

(AP) — The attorneys for a Cleveland man accused of keeping three women in captivity for about a decade say he will plead not guilty.

Attorneys Craig Weintraub and Jay Schlachet tell WKYC-TV that suspect Ariel Castro has been portrayed as a “monster” in the media, and after meeting with him Tuesday they don’t see him that way.

Weintraub says it’s unfair and offensive that “the media and the community want to demonize this man before they know the whole story.”

Schlachet says details of Castro’s innocence “will be disclosed as the case progresses.”

Weintraub also says Castro “loves dearly” the child he fathered with alleged kidnap victim Amanda Berry while she was in captivity.

Castro is charged with kidnapping and raping Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

Police say homicide is suspected in the deaths of a Creighton University professor and his wife at their home in west-central Omaha.

The bodies of 65-year-old Roger Brumback and 65-year-old Mary Brumback were found just before 10 a.m. Tuesday inside the home. Officers were sent to the home after a man who planned to move or buy a piano from the couple saw Roger Brumback’s body.

No arrests have been reported. Police have not said how the Brumbacks were killed.

Roger Brumback was a physician and researcher and had been chairman of the Pathology Department at Creighton University from 2001 to 2010.

Mary Brumback wrote a book about fiber and weight control with her husband in 2006.

Douglas County records say they bought their home in 2001.

Police have been poring over a west Omaha home where two people were found dead.

The bodies were found just before 10 a.m. Tuesday inside the west-central Omaha home. Officers have been sent to the home to check on the well-being of the residents.

Police spokesman Michael Pecha (PEH’-kuh) says it’s unclear whether a crime was involved in the deaths, but homicide investigators have been called in.

The names of the deceased and other information about the case haven’t been released.