Officials say a 34-year-old man shot by an Omaha narcotics investigator has died.

Police say Jason Welch died Tuesday at Nebraska Medical Center.

Welch was shot Friday night while officers were trying to arrest him and 35-year-old Jennifer Lovings in a drugstore parking lot. Lovings was driving a sport utility vehicle that had rammed an unmarked police car. The officer says he fired when he saw Welch reach into the SUV’s console. No weapon was found in the SUV.

Lovings has since surrendered to face several charges. She and Welch were suspected of involvement in a methamphetamine sales ring.

A grand jury will investigate Welch’s death under a state law that requires such when someone dies while being arrested or in custody.

 

One of two Ohio teenagers who survived a crash that killed six friends says he called out to the others after swimming away from the wreckage.

Fifteen-year-old Asher Lewis told investigators that he was hanging on to the SUV and yelling his friends’ names before he got out of the freezing water.

A coroner on Tuesday said that all six of the teens killed drowned after the vehicle landed upside down in a pond Sunday morning in the northeast Ohio city of Warren.

The coroner says it will be several weeks before tests reveal whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.

A crash report released by the State Highway Patrol says the 19-year-old driver of the SUV that was later reported stolen didn’t have a valid license.

Firefighters battling a smoky blaze in Bellevue have found a man’s body.

The fire was reported around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in the old downtown part of Bellevue. The fire had started in an apartment above Pulsar Electronics.

Battalion Chief Joe Gibilisco says the fire probably was started by smoking materials inside the dead man’s apartment.

An autopsy has been scheduled. The man’s name hasn’t been released.

Police in Washington State say they have arrested a 24-year-old woman on suspicion of letting her 22-month-old boy inhale marijuana smoke from a bong.

Officers served a warrant on the woman’s home Friday, arresting her and the 25-year-old father of the boy. Police say they found 40 marijuana plants inside the residence as well as firearms, according to a Centralia Police statement.

Police were told the woman was allegedly letting the boy inhale marijuana smoke from a bong and were given a cell phone video of the act by an anonymous source.

The man is being accused of three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and manufacturing marijuana. The woman is being accused of unlawfully delivering a controlled substance to a minor and manufacturing marijuana.

The boy and another child are now in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol made 364 contacts during Boys State Basketball special enforcement efforts March 7-9.

High visibility patrols were conducted during the special enforcement effort designed to reduce the potential for serious injury and fatality crashes on the interstate and highways leading to Lincoln the site of the state basketball tournament.

A $9,340 grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety (NOHS) helped to pay for the extra enforcement.

The following statistics are a reflection of activity by the Nebraska State Patrol during the enforcement effort.

60- Speeding citations & warnings	1-  Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)
2-  Driving Under Suspension (DUS)	6- Seat belt citations & warnings
7- Motorists Assists	3- Child restraint citations and warnings

Federal regulators have identified a couple more minor concerns at the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant during the latest inspections, but utility officials say the idle plant should be ready for restart before this summer.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a report Tuesday on its latest inspections at the plant 20 miles north of Omaha that has been shut down since April 2011.

Regulators say both of the new violations at the plant involved instances where the Omaha Public Power District made changes without getting the NRC’s approval beforehand.

OPPD spokesman Jeff Hanson says things are going well at the plant, and the utility expects Fort Calhoun to be ready before this summer’s peak electricity demand.

Regulators and utility officials say the plant won’t restart unless it’s safe.

A measure allowing civil unions for gay couples has cleared the Colorado Legislature and is headed to the governor’s desk, where it’s expected to be signed.

The bill won final passage Tuesday on a 39-26 House vote, with two Republicans joining all Democrats to approve it.

Once the measure is signed, Colorado will join eight states that have civil unions or similar laws. Nine states and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.

The bill’s approval marks a significant political shift in a western state that traditionally has had deep conservative roots but has become more moderate over the past decade.

Colorado voters banned gay marriage seven years ago. That means civil unions are the only option for gay couples in the state, but a U.S. Supreme ruling on gay marriage laws could change that.

 

An Iowa police officer has rescued an unconscious driver by pulling him from his burning car.

Urbandale police spokesman Randy Peterson said Tuesday that Officer Zac McDowell wasn’t injured Sunday night when he saved 18-year-old Ian Waseskuk. The officer’s dashboard camera shows McDowell opening the car’s passenger door, reaching in and grabbing Waseskuk to pull him away from the flames.

Police say Waseskuk was driving in circles, doing “doughnuts,” in a church parking lot across from his home in suburban Des Moines when his car hit an air conditioning unit.

Peterson says Waseskuk will be charged with misdemeanor reckless driving when he leaves Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Hospital spokesman Gregg Lagan says Waseskuk is in fair but stable condition.

A federal appeals court has rejected a child pornography victim’s effort to get nearly $1 million in restitution from a Lincoln man convicted of having pictures depicting her abuse.

A woman named only as “Vicky” in court filings has documented $1.2 million in losses from the distribution of the images and has filed for restitution in more than 200 federal criminal cases across the country. She has collected nearly $272,000.

A Nebraska court ordered she be paid nearly $20,000 by Robert Fast, who was convicted in 2011 after investigators found child pornography at his home, including images of Vicky.

Fast appealed, and the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the restitution. Upon re-sentencing, Fast was ordered to pay $3,333. She appealed, and the 8th Circuit on Monday rejected it.

Authorities have captured two murder suspects and a third inmate who escaped from a southeast Missouri jail overnight.

Missouri Highway Patrol Trooper Clark Parrott says the three men were caught Tuesday afternoon while authorities were checking a salvage yard where one of the suspects used to work.

The men — Matthew Brandon Cook, Kade Reaves Stringfellow and Rodney Joe Green — were found inside the cab of a truck and were taken into custody without incident.

The men had walked about five miles to get to the salvage yard after escaping around 11:30 p.m. Monday from the Butler County Jail in Poplar Bluff.

Jail employees discovered the inmates were missing a short time later.

Parrott says the men are being interviewed. He didn’t have any information about new charges.