A Delaware store manager is suing the Boy Scouts of America and the Mormon church over childhood sexual abuse committed by the scoutmaster at his church-run troop.

Melvin Novak’s lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Philadelphia. It charges that newly released Boy Scout “perversion files” show the organization hid abuse claims for years.

Novak’s abuser, Vance Hein, is in prison for a parole violation related to his 1999 conviction in Novak’s case.

The 28-year-old Novak says the abuse made him “a quitter” when it came to school and jobs and plunged him into years of substance abuse. The Newark, Del., man has also quit the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who report sexual abuse, but Novak agreed to make his name public in an effort to publicize the crime and prevent other abuse.

A law enforcement official says the suspect in the Oregon mall shootings is 22 years old and has no prior criminal record.

The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak about an ongoing criminal investigation.

Police say the gunman who opened fire on shoppers at the mall in Portland on Tuesday had no connection to the two people he fatally shot and wanted to kill as many people as possible. Police have not released the gunman’s identity of the gunman.

Nebraska is offering a new mobile app that lets users know of places to fish and hunt around the state.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the app allows users to purchase permits and provides the latest news and calendar events from the agency.

Other features include information on regulations, maps, species guides and state records.

The free app is available for Apple and Android users at https://outdoornebraska.gov/multimedia.asp#mobileApps.

 

Omaha police have towed 188 illegally parked vehicles from city streets in an effort to clear streets for snow removal.

In a news release issued Tuesday, the Omaha Police Department says it recently conducted a citywide sweep of unlawfully parked vehicles for towing, with each of the four police precincts participating.

The department says dead-storage vehicles violating local storage laws were tagged for removal, and towed after 48 hours if they were still in violation. Unregistered vehicles were towed immediately.

Officers tagged more than 430 vehicles, issued tickets for more than 200 violations and towed 188 vehicles.

The National Weather Service reports there is a chance of snow in Omaha on Saturday.

The condition of former President George H. W. Bush remains stable at a Houston hospital, where he is being treated for a bronchitis-related cough.

Bush has been in the Methodist Hospital for almost three weeks. Spokesman George Kovacik said Wednesday that the ex-president’s condition has not changed. No additional information was provided.

The 88-year-old Bush also spent about week in the hospital in early November for the same ailment, described by doctors as non-life threatening.

Bush and his wife, Barbara, split their time between residences in Houston and Kennebunkport, Maine.

Five of the highest-ranking officials at the University of Nebraska will appear together a lunch event in Omaha.

The group will appear at a Rotary lunch at the Field Club at noon. The University of Nebraska’s President J.B. Milliken will be joined by the chancellors of all four university campuses.

Each of the five men will talk briefly about the university before the group takes questions.

The chancellors include the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Harold Maurer, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Harvey Perlman, the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s John Christensen and the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Doug Kristensen.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command says North Korea appears to have launched “an object” into Earth orbit, but neither the missile used nor debris from the launch are a threat to North America.

NORAD officials said U.S. missile warning systems detected and tracked the launch at 7:49 p.m. EST Tuesday. The missile was tracked in a southerly direction.

NORAD said initial indications were that the first stage of the rocket fell into the Yellow Sea and that the second stage fell into the Philippine Sea.

Quoting a NORAD news release: “Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit. At no time was the missile or the resultant debris a threat to North America.”

NORAD is based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

 

Japan’s Foreign Ministry says it has registered a “strong protest” with North Korea over its rocket launch.

It said Wednesday that Tokyo also immediately requested consultations on the launch within the U.N. Security Council.

 

China is expressing its unhappiness that Pyongyang tested a long-range rocket despite deep concerns over the launch among its neighbors.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters Wednesday: “We express regret at (North Korea’s) launch in spite of the extensive concerns of the international community.”

Hong says China “believes U.N. Security Council reaction should be prudent and moderate and conducive to maintaining stability and avoiding escalation of the situation.”

Hong said dialogue and negotiations are the way forward. He says he hopes relevant countries will keep calm and maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula.

An Omaha mother says her 18-year-old daughter was sleeping at her grandmother’s house when she was fatally shot.

Police say Tre’Veona Smith was shot around 3:45 a.m. Sunday. One of the bullets that came through a window hit Smith in an arm and lodged in her heart. She died later at a hospital.

Tre’Veona Smith was a senior at Omaha’s Northwest High School. Her mother says the young woman wanted to be a lawyer.

Delgracious Smith says she wouldn’t wish her pain on her “worst enemy” and that police need to find her daughter’s killer.

No arrests have been reported.

A former University of Nebraska-Lincoln student is facing federal criminal charges because prosecutors say he hacked into a database of more than 650,000 student, alumni and employee records last spring.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that 22-year-old Daniel Stratman made his initial court appearance last week.

Prosecutors say Stratman, who was studying computer science and math, accessed a protected computer without permission. The database that was broken into held records from the University of Nebraska’s campuses and the Nebraska State College System.

Officials have said they don’t believe any of the sensitive information in the database was downloaded.

Stratman’s attorney, Bob Creager, declined to comment. Stratman faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he is convicted.

Officials say aviation fuel was pumped into cars after it was mistakenly delivered to three New Jersey gas stations.

Authorities closed a station in Lawrence, and two in Hamilton after the error was discovered.

Mercer County spokeswoman Julie Willmot tells The Times of Trenton the stations will remain closed until all underground storage tanks, lines and filters are emptied and cleaned.

State officials are investigating how the mistake happened.

Several cars stalled on Friday when a gas station in Keyport and one in Manasquan unknowingly pumped jet fuel into their tanks.