An FBI report of “flying saucers” in New Mexico sent to then-Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1950 has become the most popular file in the bureau’s electronic reading room.

The memo sent by FBI Washington, D.C.- field office chief Guy Hottel has been viewed nearly a million times.

The document is about a report of three flying saucers allegedly recovered in New Mexico, each occupied by three small human-shaped bodies. It says an informant told officials that the UFOs had ended up there because a government radar in the area interfered with their controlling mechanisms.

The FBI never followed up on the report.

The memo is available in the “The Vault,” an electronic reading room launched by the FBI in 2011 that contains around 6,700 public documents.

See the file here:

https://vault.fbi.gov/hottel_guy/Guy%20Hottel%20Part%201%20of%201/view

The Omaha zoo will announce the names of five African lion cubs selected through a contest on the group’s Facebook page.

The Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium will announce the names of the two males and three females Friday morning.

Visitors to the zoo’s Facebook page were asked to suggest names, and zoo workers selected 20 names from more than 5,000 submissions.

Those names were then posted on Facebook for a final vote.

Those who submitted the winning names will be given an annual zoo membership or renewal and other gifts.

The cubs were born Dec. 29.

Construction will begin soon on a new 650-seat Catholic church at the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church will replace the existing church at the site on 16th and Q streets in Lincoln.

The church says in an announcement Thursday that the new church represents a $12 million construction investment and that two-thirds of donations came from outside the city of Lincoln.

Completion of the church is expected in fall 2014.

The new church is the second phase of an expansion that included construction of the Phi Kappa Theta Catholic fraternity house. A sorority house and new Newman Center also are planned.

 

A 28-year-old Columbus woman has made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded no contest in an arson case.

Ebtihal Albaiaty had been charged with arson, accused of setting fire on April 30 last year to a house she had been renting. Prosecutors lowered the charge to attempted second-degree arson and dismissed a drug charge in exchange for her plea.

Authorities say Albaiaty had received an eviction notice only days before the fire. No injuries from the fire were reported.

She faces up to five years in prison at sentencing, which is scheduled for April 19.

Prosecutors say they are not ready to accept an offer from Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

In a court filing Thursday, prosecutors criticized defense attorneys for publicizing Holmes’ offer to plead guilty.

They say the defense hasn’t provided key details they need to consider a plea.

Legal experts say the case pivots on whether Holmes was legally insane when he opened fire in a packed theater in Aurora, killing 12 people.

Defense lawyers said Wednesday that Holmes told the district attorney’s office he would plead guilty if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

In their response, prosecutors said the disclosure of the offer by the defense was a publicity ploy that violated the judge’s gag order.

Health officials are urging 7,000 patients of an Oklahoma Dentist to seek medical tests to ensure they haven’t been exposed to hepatitis or the virus that causes AIDS.

The Oklahoma and Tulsa health departments said Thursday that the patients may have been exposed to viruses at clinics operated by Dr. W. Scott Harrington. The agencies said they found “major violations” of the Oklahoma Dental Act.

Spokeswoman Kaitlin Snider of the Tulsa Health Department says Harrington voluntarily closed his practice and is cooperating with investigators.

Letters are being sent to 7,000 patients from Harrington’s clinics in Tulsa and suburban Owasso since 2007. The letters recommend testing for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. The agencies say it is rare for infections to spread in occupational settings but that tests are important.

Two Iowa men have pleaded guilty and face up to 40 years in prison for conspiring to rob a store in northeast Nebraska.

Federal prosecutors say 20-year-old Terrence Miles, of Sioux City, and 19-year-old Austin Peters, of Nemaha, made their pleas on Tuesday in federal court in Sioux City. Peters also is known as Austin Stadler.

Miles and Peters pleaded guilty to two weapons charges as well.

Prosecutors say the two joined two others in planning to rob the Seoul Oriental Food Store in South Sioux City, Neb. Miles and the others then robbed the store on June 19, 2012, while Peters acted as lookout and getaway driver.

Sentencing dates for Miles and Peters haven’t been set.

A proposal to identify long-term water conservation projects in Nebraska has cleared a key hurdle in the Legislature, but lawmakers will likely scale it back to reduce its cost.

Lawmakers gave first-round approval Thursday to a bill that would create a 28-member water task force. The group would identify water-project needs, organize them and recommend a set of priorities to the Legislature.

Sen. Tom Carlson of Holdrege introduced the bill in the wake of a drought that affected the entire state. The Natural Resources Committee chairman says Nebraska needs to act quickly to ensure that the water supply is sustainable.

The proposal would cost about $3 million, mostly for consultants and research within a six-month window. Lawmakers are looking at ways to reduce the cost.

Police say a man has died after crashing a stolen car into a traffic light pole in Lincoln.

The crash occurred just before 9 a.m. Thursday in north-central Lincoln. Police say the car was speeding when it jumped a curb, knocked down a speed limit sign and rammed into the pole.

Lincoln Police Capt. David Beggs says the car had been reported stolen before the crash. State records say it is owned by a woman who lives in Dorchester.

The man’s name hasn’t been released.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the addition of nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers to military drills with South Korea was part of normal exercises and not intended to provoke a reaction from North Korea.

Hagel said Thursday that North Korea’s belligerent tones and actions in recent weeks have ratcheted up the danger in the region. He said the United States has to be prepared to defend its interests as well as the interests of its allies.

The defense secretary says there are a lot of “unknowns” with North Korea.

U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement Thursday that two B-2 stealth bombers flew from an air base in Missouri and dropped dummy munitions on the South Korean island range before returning home.