(AP) — An eastern Nebraska woman has been sentenced to a year in federal prison for Social Security fraud.

U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Deb Gilg says 35-year-old Kimberly Butinski, of Valley, was sentenced Wednesday and ordered to pay restitution of nearly $40,000.

Gilg says Butinski received Social Security disability benefits on her children’s behalf after falsely reporting that she had separated from her husband. Because benefits are based on household income, Butinski received increased payments — nearly $33,000 more than she was entitled to receive.

Gilg says Butinski also received about $7,000 in food stamps and energy assistance she was not entitled to receive.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General.

(AP) — The jury has found Jodi Arias guilty of first-degree murder in the death of her one-time boyfriend in Arizona.

Arias initially denied involvement and later blamed the killing on masked intruders.

Two years after her arrest, she said she killed Travis Alexander in self-defense.

After a four-month trial that included graphic details of their sexual escapades and photos of Alexander just after his death, jurors began deliberating Friday afternoon.

 

A 7-year-old Omaha boy is recovering after being attacked by a neighbor’s two Rottweiler dogs.

The Nebraska Humane Society’s Mark Langan says the boy suffered serious injuries to his forehead and scalp in the Tuesday evening attack.

Langan says the boy was walking in a wooded area near his house when the dogs attacked. The dogs went through the invisible fence surrounding their yard before the attack.

The boy managed to get away from the dogs and return home, but Langan says he was covered in blood when he reached his house.

Langan says both dogs were taken into the humane society’s custody. The dogs are licensed and current on their vaccinations, and the owners are cooperating.

The man accused in the deadly Colorado theater shootings wants to change his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.

James Holmes’ attorneys revealed his intention Tuesday. The new plea could mean a long delay for a mental evaluation and legal arguments.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the July 20 attack that killed 12 people and left 70 injured. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Holmes’ lawyers delayed entering a plea for weeks, saying the state insanity law could severely hamper his ability to mount a defense against the death penalty.

A judge entered a standard not guilty plea for Holmes last month.

The court will hear arguments from both sides Monday on whether to let Holmes change his plea to insanity.

 

(AP) — A June sentencing date has been set for a businessman convicted of embezzling money that was supposed to go to employees’ pension funds and insurance premiums.

U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon set Richard Odermatt’s sentencing hearing for June 7.

The 61-year-old Odermatt, of Ashland, is the owner of Odermatt Floor Covering Inc. in Omaha.

Federal prosecutors say Odermatt withheld nearly $59,000 from employee paychecks between April 2009 and last July and used it for other things.

Odermatt pleaded guilty in February. He faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced.

(AP) — A 44-year-old Creston man has been given 30 to 36 months in prison for physically abusing two of his girlfriend’s children.

Larry Einspahr Jr. last week was given credit for 150 days already served.

Online court records show he’d pleaded no contest and was convicted of two counts of negligent child abuse.

Einspahr’s girlfriend, 42-year-old Janelle Gertsch, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of child abuse that officials say occurred over three months last fall.

Gertsch and Einspahr were accused of abusing Gertsch’s 12-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter.

Gertsch had adopted the two and another child but has since divorced the man she was married to at the time. Officials described the abuse as excessive discipline.

(AP) — The next Miss America won’t hear a familiar refrain when she’s crowned in Atlantic City, N.J., in September.

The song, “Miss America,” which starts with the words, “There she is, Miss America,” will not be part of the pageant.

Miss American Organization vice president Sharon Pearce says the tune, which was first played in 1955, is no longer included. She says no decision has been made on a final song.

The song was replaced by instrumental music at the 2013 pageant in January after the widow of the songwriter filed a licensing lawsuit in federal court in California in 2012. The complaint was dismissed in December following a confidential settlement.

The song was not used for three years in the 1980s after a contract dispute.

 

A 51-year-old man has been arrested, accused of fatally stabbing another Omaha man.

Police say Jade Owens was arrested late Tuesday. He’s suspected of stabbing 20-year-old Anthony Baker on Monday night in eastern Omaha.

Police say Owens also faces charges in another stabbing.

A Douglas County jailer said Owens remained in custody on Wednesday morning. Online court records don’t list the name of Owens’ attorney.

(AP) — Omaha police are looking for suspects in the stabbing death of a 20-year-old man.

A news release from police Tuesday morning says officers were called around 11 p.m. Monday to south Omaha to investigate a cutting. Upon arriving, the police found Anthony Baker with an apparent stab wound.

Baker was taken to Creighton University Medical Center, where he died.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact police at 402-444-5652, or Crime Stoppers at 444-STOP (7867), www.omahacrimestoppers.net, or text “OPD” to 274637 (Crimes).

An Iowa man has been sentenced in a Nebraska federal courtroom to 18 months in prison for having stolen explosives.

U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Deb Gilg says 43-year-old Christopher Bousman, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was sentenced Monday.

Authorities say that in August 2011, one or more people broke into storage units at the Buckley Powder Company in rural southeast Nebraska and stole 100 pounds of blasting agent, 3,000 feet of detonating cord and two cases of boosters.

An anonymous tip led investigators to Travis McQueen, of Omaha, and officials determined Bousman had assisted McQueen in disposing of the materials by throwing them into the Missouri and Platte rivers.

McQueen was sentenced in January to more than five years in federal prison for possession of stolen explosives.