The Nebraska State Patrol has bestowed its Honorable Service Award on two troopers injured in the line of duty.

Trooper Timothy Flick, Troop E-Scottsbluff and Trooper Brian Detlefsen, Troop B-Norfolk were presented their awards by Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Colonel David Sankey.  The awards were presented in each individual troop area during recently held winter troop meetings.

Trooper Flick was honored for his actions during the June 12, 2012 armed robbery and standoff at the Thiele Pharmacy in Alliance.  Trooper Flick was wounded in the torso and arm by gunfire from the robbery suspect.

Trooper Detlefsen was honored for his actions during a December 18, 2012 incident involving an individual using a tractor to destroy property in rural Antelope County.  Trooper Detlefsen’s patrol vehicle was rammed by the tractor at a high rate of speed, causing the airbags to deploy.  Trooper Detlefsen suffered a laceration to his head requiring medical treatment.

“Each of these situations was very different,” said Colonel David Sankey, Superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol.  “Yet the response from both of these officers demonstrated their bravery, courage and self-sacrifice in the face of danger and in the protection of others.”

The Nebraska State Patrol’s Honorable Service Award was established to bestow recognition to commissioned officers who, while in the performance of their duties, are injured or killed while encountering deadly force or bodily harm.

Authorities say a passing driver who stopped to investigate a damaged tree in southwest Washington found two young Oregon girls injured in a car crash that killed their mother.

The Washington State Patrol estimates the car driven by 26-year-old Jessica Marie Rath of Astoria, Ore., hit the tree sometime early Wednesday morning.

The crashed vehicle wasn’t visible from State Highway 401 south of Naselle.

Trooper Russ Winger said it’s likely the 4-year-old girl pulled her more seriously injured 2-year-old sister from the car and covered both of them with a blanket. The overnight temperature was in the low 40s.

The girls were taken first to an Astoria hospital, where their father met them. Winger says the 2-year-old was airlifted to a Portland hospital.

The trooper says the mother had driven Tuesday night to the Hoquiam, Wash., area to pick up her fisherman husband but then headed south when she found out her husband’s boat was headed elsewhere.

The Scotts Bluff County Board of Commissioners chairman says he’s willing to talk about consolidating police services with the cities of Scottsbluff, Gering and Terrytown.

County board chairman Mark Masterton says that with Scottsbluff and Gering both having vacancies in the offices of their police chiefs, and the county’s chief deputy, Jim Gaspers, about to retire, it’s a good time to discuss combining the departments.

According to local media, the Scottsbluff City Council on Tuesday night asked staffers to look into consolidation even as the city moves forward with a search for a new police chief.

Scottsbluff Mayor Randy Meininger says consolidation is a good idea if it results in better service and can put more officers on the streets for the same amount of money.

A 34-year-old Massachusetts man has been sentenced to prison in Nebraska.

Hokming Chan, of West Roxbury, Mass., on Wednesday was given two to four years according to the Associated Press. He’d been convicted in October of possessing marijuana for sale. The Nebraska State Patrol says nearly 80 pounds of pot was found in a vehicle that Chan had been driving on Feb. 4, 2011, in Lincoln.

Chan had requested a new trial, alleging errors by an interpreter Chan needed because he speaks only Cantonese. The judge rejected the request and sentenced Chan to prison, giving him credit for 144 days already served.

Chan’s co-defendant, Wade Tang, also of West Roxbury, was sentenced to one to two years in prison in January 2012 after pleading guilty to pot possession.

Police officers searching for drugs at a Southern California home instead found a backyard altar adorned with a human skull and other bones last weekend.

The Associated Press reports that the altar included statues of Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde, both of which are often associated with the drug trade. A resident of the home told police she practices the Caribbean religion of Santeria.

Pasadena police Lt. Tracey Ibarra says police plan to run a DNA database check in case the bones belong to a missing person or were involved in a criminal case.

Chicken and goat bones were also found at the altar.

Human bones can be legally obtained. No drugs were found in the search and no charges have been filed.

A New York mom was charged with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child after she allegedly hired strippers to perform at her 16-year-old son’s  birthday party.

Judy H. Viger, 33, from Gansevoort, N.Y., which is north of Albany, paid for  two female adult entertainers to perform intimate dances for birthday party  attendees, which included five who were younger than 17.

Photos from the reportedly appeared online. At least one photo  showed a woman clinging upside down to what was described as a seated teen, the  report said. Police said several kids at the party got lap dances.

The party appeared to be a large affair. Reports indicate there were 80 adults  and teens at the event.

A Kansas couple suspected in a high-speed chase and shootout with police in Nebraska now face charges.

Michael Engstrom and Jamie Russell had their first appearances in Johnson County Court on Wednesday and were denied bail. Engstrom was charged Tuesday in neighboring Pawnee County with two weapons counts and a robbery count. Russell, who also goes by the name Jamie Engstrom, was charged with robbery.

Authorities also suspect Engstrom in a double shooting in Topeka, Kan., on Feb. 13 that killed 35-year-old Ricky Mitchell and wounded a woman. Police believe Engstrom robbed a convenience store in Pawnee City hours later.

Authorities say that when police later tried to stop the couple’s car, Engstrom fired on officers, wounding one, and began a high-speed chase that ended when his car became stuck.

The trial of Bellevue’s former police chief on a gun charge is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

John Stacey is facing a misdemeanor gun charge for loaning a handgun to Gretna’s former City Administrator Colleen Lawry, who did not have the proper handgun certificate.

Stacey’s lawyer James Martin Davis has said Lawry was capable of owning a gun, but she neglected to apply for the $5 county permit.

Lawry was sentenced to six months in jail in December on theft charges, and prosecutors dropped the gun charge against her. She is scheduled to testify at Stacey’s trial.

Stacey was placed on leave last May for an unrelated case and retired later that month.