OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A county board will consider buying property in downtown Omaha for what could become a new juvenile justice center.

The Douglas County Board is expected to deliberate resolutions April 24 for making formal offers to purchase two buildings and a parking lot. The property includes Omaha Housing Authority headquarters and a former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers building, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

Resolutions up for deliberation propose the county offer $2.75 million to the Housing Authority for its headquarters and $900,000 to Marcy Mason LLC for its property. The buildings would be demolished to make way for the new facilities.

The county hopes to use the property to create juvenile and family courtrooms and related services to replace cramped quarters in the Douglas County Courthouse across the street.

Advocates for a juvenile justice center have pressed for new quarters for years. They said the juvenile courts have outgrown their space in former holding cells in the courthouse.

Children in court for family issues sometimes share hallways and waiting rooms with adults accused of child abuse because of the courthouse’s cramped space and layout.

The Douglas-Omaha Public Building Commission tried working with Metropolitan Utilities District officials to secure all or part of its downtown headquarters for a juvenile justice center. But talks fell through, leading to the county focusing on the location across from the courthouse.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says a 90-year-old Omaha man died after his daughter backed their SUV into a pond.

The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday near Two Rivers State Recreation Area west of Omaha.

State Patrol Lt. Matt Sutter says 61-year-old Joni Carveth of Fresno, California, backed the vehicle out of a driveway and into the pond.

Carveth’s father, Dewey Andersen, had trouble getting out of the GMC Yukon. Carveth ran to a nearby home to call for help.

Rescuers found Andersen floating in the water and unresponsive. He died later at a hospital.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A former Platte County employee accused of stealing from the county while in charge of its adult diversion program has pleaded no contest.

44-year-old Traci Nelsen entered the pleas Friday. The charges: two counts of theft, one of filing a false claim and one of evidence tampering. Prosecutors say more than $56,000 was taken from the county from 2014 to 2017.

One of the theft counts involved a theft from a Girl Scouts entity.

Nelsen’s scheduled to be sentenced July 11.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s mayor wants the City Council to broaden her power to pardon people who violate certain city codes.

Mayor Jean Stothert’s proposal to allow her to pardon people convicted of any city ordinance violation will go before the council Tuesday. The council will vote next week, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

Stothert currently can pardon those convicted under city ordinance of misdemeanor assault and battery and damage to property. But the mayor can’t pardon residents in instances such as failing to restrain a dog or keeping a dirty yard.

The expansion wouldn’t permit the mayor to pardon someone convicted of a federal or state crime, said Matt Kuhse, the city prosecutor.

A mayoral pardon doesn’t erase a conviction from an individual’s criminal history, but it will show that a pardon was granted.

It’s a “formal act of forgiveness” that could benefit someone seeking a job, Kuhse said.

“If it’s asked on a job application if you’ve been convicted of a crime, you’d still have to answer yes,” he said. “But they’d be able to say, ‘I received pardon.'”

Stothert said she wants to give residents another opportunity when they’re seeking employment.

The Mayor’s Office has processed 235 pardon requests since Stothert became mayor five years ago, said Marty Bilek, Stothert’s chief of staff. More than 75 of the requests were approved and granted.

Former City Attorney Tom Mumgaard submitted a pardon application to the mayor for an illegal gambling conviction two decades ago. He pleaded guilty to participating in a football pool at City Hall, but said he since hasn’t participated in sports betting. The conviction is the only criminal citation Mumgaard has received.

He said requesting the pardon was meaningful.

“I wanted to ask even if I didn’t get it,” Mumgaard said. “I wanted to express my regret, and so I did. I expressed my regret.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police have arrested a teenager in the shooting death of a man last month in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Lincoln police say authorities arrested the 16-year-old boy Monday in Gulfport, Mississippi, on charges related to the March 26 killing of 22-year-old Edgar Union Jr. An arrest warrant charges the teen with 2nd-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and unlawful discharge of a firearm.

Police didn’t release his name.

Last week, police also arrested two 17-year-olds as accessories in connection with the shooting.

Police have said Union was shot after a fight between two groups of people that included gang members.

Union was the father of five girls, including triplets.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska soldier’s remains finally returned home on Monday, more than 66 years after his death in a North Korean prisoner of war camp.

A casket carrying the remains of Sgt. 1st Class Milton Beed was flown to Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. Service members accompanied the casket, which was met by nephews and nieces who had never known him.

“He was always a hero in my eyes,” niece Sue Jensen said. “I look at the military and he definitely sacrificed his life for us and his country.”

Beed was captured and reported missing in 1951 while serving in the Korean War as a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. Beed, who came from a military family and had earned the Purple Heart, was fighting in Korea after service during World War, during which he joined in actions in the Pacific.

Army officials declared he died at age 30 at the Suan Prisoner of War Camp Complex in North Korea on Oct. 31, 1951. His family was later told he died of malnutrition.

Jensen, of Fremont, said his parents received a letter informing them of his death.

“I don’t think my grandparents ever got over it,” she said. “A part of them died with him.”

Jensen said her family rarely spoke about Beed because it was too painful, but his presence was always felt. She grew up looking at his photo proudly displayed above her grandparents’ television.

Before being sent to fight in the Korean War, Beed lived in Indianapolis with his wife, Mary Catherine.

Jensen said a memorial service was held in Battle Creek, Nebraska, near his childhood home in Meadow Grove several years after his death.

Her father purchased a grave and marker for Beed in hopes that his remains would someday be sent home. She remembers her father saying he would bring his brother home “if it was the last thing he ever did.”

Five years ago, Jensen set out to find the uncle she only knew as a “true hero.”

She contacted the Department of Defense to request her uncle’s remains be identified. The department works to identify all remains, but requests become prioritized.

In the early 1990s, North Korea delivered 208 boxes with comingled human remains of more than 400 service members to the U.S.

Through DNA left behind by Beed’s sister, researchers were able to identify his remains.

Sgt. Kristen Duus, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense Prisoner of War Accounting Agency, said the department can identify remains through DNA, anthropological analysis or dental exams. The department mainly focuses on identifying the remains of World War II and Korean War veterans.

There are still 7,704 people missing from the Korean War.

Jensen found out in January that Beed had been identified.

“At first, I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I was shocked and so ecstatic. I started calling all of our relatives and making arrangements for his service.”

They will gather Tuesday afternoon for a visitation at Stonacek Funeral Chapel in Norfolk. Then on Wednesday, Beed will be buried in the plot his brother purchased at Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery , not far from his parents’ graves.

After so many years of uncertainty and pain, Jensen said the service will give Beed the respect and recognition he deserves. She said his return will finally bring peace to her family.

“I really wish they were alive to see this,” she said. “I know this would make them so happy, but I know they’ll be looking down on it from heaven and smiling.”

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman has been accused of embezzlement while working for the York city landfill.

59-year-old Lynn Rasmussen is charged with theft. Her attorney told The Associated Press on Monday that Rasmussen denies the allegation.

Rasmussen is scheduled for a court appearance on May 9.

Court documents say Rasmussen ran the scale house and accepted payments for material dumped at the landfill. The documents don’t say how much Rasmussen is accused of taking.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman has been sent to prison for having sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Court records say 47-year-old Sunny Gibbons was sentenced Tuesday to 10 to 15 years. She’d pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of sexual assault of a minor.

Police began investigating after the boy told a school official last year that Gibbons performed sex acts with him in 2016, when he was 15. Under Nebraska law, people 19 and over cannot have sexual contact with people under 16.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says troopers have seized more than 1,850 pounds of marijuana and other drugs in a traffic stop in southeastern Nebraska.

The patrol says the seizure happened Wednesday evening when a trooper stopped a van along Highway 81 in Fillmore County for suspicion of driving on the shoulder. The trooper says a drug-sniffing dog indicated there were illegal drugs inside the van. A search turned up 1,853 pounds of marijuana, 8,779 doses of hash oil vape pens and 46 pounds of loose hash wax.

The patrol says the street value of the drugs is estimated at more than $5 million.

The 39-year-old driver from Arvada, Colorado, was arrested on suspicion of multiple drug counts.