LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man accused of filing false federal tax returns says he’s a victim of politics.

Court records say a grand jury Tuesday indicted 62-year-old David Tarrence on four counts of filing a false tax return. A court document says Tarrence under-reported income from his Local Movers moving company for 2011 through 2014.

Tarrence said Friday that he never intended to under-report the income and has cooperated with the Internal Revenue Service. He blames government backlash for the prosecution, saying officials are getting even for his defiance in a Lincoln case.

Last month the city of Lincoln dropped its legal effort to recover lawsuit settlement money paid to Tarrence and Tamara Geis, who said police wrongly seized $224,000 in cash and coins from their home. The city lawsuit alleged Tarrence violated a confidentiality agreement.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An official for an Omaha homeless shelter says a casino proposed nearby in Iowa would be a problem for people the shelter serves.

The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska is moving toward opening a casino in Carter Lake, Iowa, which is about a mile from Open Door Mission.

Mission President and CEO Candace Gregory said studies show that homeless people are more likely to gamble than the general population. The community should consider the human cost of having the casino located so close to the shelter, she said.

“Open Door Mission has seen an increase in problem gambling since casinos came to the area in 1996,” Gregory said. “The costs of problem gambling have been, and will be, a growing burden on those vulnerable populations who can least afford the monetary and social losses.”

The casino will boost the area’s economy, said Tribe Chairman Larry Wright Jr.

“Both the courts and federal agencies of jurisdiction have affirmed the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska’s position that our tribal citizens have the ability, and more importantly the right, to develop our tribe’s sovereign land in a way that best serves our people and the community,” he said.

The National Indian Gaming Commission ruled in November that the tribe can construct the casino after a decade of lawsuits, appeals and legal reviews.

Council Bluffs City Attorney Richard Wade filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in December that challenged the gaming commission’s decision that the site qualifies as the tribe’s “restored lands.” The complaint also said a new casino would compete with existing state-licensed gambling facilities in Council Bluffs.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A study says a program in which Lincoln police refer people with mental illness for voluntary help has reduced the chance officers will need to take the same people into emergency protective custody.

The police department’s study looked into the department’s work with the Mental Health Association of Nebraska’s REAL program, which stands for respond, empower, advocate and listen. The program launched in 2011.

The partnership was created after a growing number of mental health investigations by Lincoln police and limited bed space at facilities for emergency protective custody, said Officer Luke Bonkiewicz.

More than 1,900 people had been referred to the program as of September, and 85 percent accepted services, according to the study. The study analyzed data from mental health calls made from 2008 and 2013. Those referred were 33 percent less likely to be taken into protective custody within two years, and 44 percent less likely after three years, the study found.

An officer can refer a person with an identified or suspected mental health issue to the association, Bonkiewicz said.

The association’s peer specialists then offer free, voluntary and non-clinical support. The trained staffers are typically people who have lived with mental illness themselves, he said.

The specialists listen to the person’s issues and help create a plan, which can include navigating legal processes, seeking grief counseling or figuring out financial issues, Bonkiewicz said. The program doesn’t always focus on medication, but aims to help someone struggling with mental illness before they’d need to be placed in involuntary treatment, he said.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A northeastern Nebraska attorney accused of misappropriating client funds has been disbarred after voluntarily surrendering his law license.

The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday accepted John D. Feller’s voluntary surrender of his license and found that he should be disbarred from practicing law in Nebraska, effective immediately.

Feller had a law practice in Beemer.

In response to a grievance filed against him, Feller stated that he knowingly chose not to contest the truth of the allegations made against him.

Feller did not immediately respond to a phone message left Friday at his Beemer office.

PIERCE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities responding to a plane crash in northeast Nebraska’s Pierce County found the pilot had died.

The small, single-engine aircraft went down Wednesday a little after 6:15 p.m., about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northwest of Pierce.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t yet released the man’s name or information about where he took off or was headed.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Hastings Mayor Corey Stutte says the city’s street superintendent is still employed after being arrested and charged in the assault of an Uber driver in Lincoln.

36-year-old Steven Kostner was arrested early Sunday after he was accused of pulling a knife on the driver, who was transporting Kostner. Lincoln police say the driver was able to run off and flag down a nearby officer.

Police say Kostner accused the driver of flirting with Kostner’s wife before pulling the knife. Kostner was charged Monday with making terroristic threats, which carries a prison sentenced of up to three years.

Kostner is Hastings’ street superintendent. Stutte says city administrators want to get more information about the circumstances of the incident before determining what action to take.

AUBURN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has ruled that prosecutors have presented enough evidence to try a man for first-degree murder in the case of a Peru State College coed who went missing more than seven years ago.

The ruling came Tuesday in the case of 36-year-old Joshua Keadle, accused of killing 19-year-old Tyler “Ty” Thomas.

Thomas disappeared Dec. 3, 2010, after leaving a party near the Peru State campus. Authorities say Keadle, a fellow student, told them he and Thomas had sex in his vehicle that night, and that Thomas threatened to report he had raped her.

The state issued a death certificate for Thomas in 2013, even though her body has not been found.

Keadle’s defense attorney had argued that without a body, there wasn’t enough evidence to even show Thomas had been murdered.

Keadle, already in prison for the 2008 rape of a 15-year-old girl, will be arraigned April 16.

WINNEBAGO, Neb. (AP) — Officials have confirmed that a mountain lion was spotted in northeast Nebraska’s Thurston County.

The Winnebago Wildlife and Parks Department says that a photo of the mountain lion was taken east of Winnebago on Thursday.

Landowner Matt Morgan says he found a deer carcass in a tree on his property earlier last week. He says a trail camera he set up caught a photo of the mountain lion as it walked past.

Mountain lions are native to Nebraska but were eliminated by the end of the 1800s. Mountain lions — also called cougars — started returning to Nebraska from neighboring states late in the 1990s.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln’s mayor says he wants to serve a fourth term.

Chris Beutler (BYET’-lur) said Saturday that he wants to continue the progress the city’s made during his time in office.

He’s the only candidate to formally announce intentions to be on the April 2019 primary ballot. He was first elected in 2007 and was re-elected in 2011 and 2015. Before becoming mayor, he represented District 28 in the Nebraska Legislature from 1979 to 1987 and from 1991 to 2007.

The elected city offices are officially nonpartisan.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police say a 12-year-old boy shot a nail from a BB gun into the chest of his younger brother.

The 7-year-old was shot Sunday afternoon. Lincoln police spokeswoman Angela Sands said Monday that the nail struck near the boy’s heart. She says his condition has stabilized at a Lincoln hospital.

The boys’ names haven’t been released.