WINNEBAGO, Neb. (AP) — The Winnebago Tribal Council has taken steps to take over management of a hospital on a Native American reservation in northeastern Nebraska.

The council voted last week to initiate the process of taking control of the Omaha Winnebago Hospital.

The tribe hopes to assume operation of the hospital by July 1.

Self-governance allows Native American tribes to assume administration of federal programs. A steering committee has been formed to help the Winnebago Tribal Council prepare for the negotiations and eventual management of the hospital.

The move comes more than two years after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services terminated the hospital’s Medicare contract after the Indian Health Service and hospital officials failed to correct serious quality-of-care deficiencies the agency had found.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Workers are repairing a hydrogen leak at Cooper Nuclear power plant in southeast Nebraska after the problem was discovered in one of the turbines during maintenance.

Nebraska Public Power District spokesman Mark Becker says the small hydrogen leak isn’t in the power plant’s nuclear systems, and it doesn’t represent a safety threat.

The plant near Brownville, Nebraska, continued operating after the leak was found Tuesday morning.

Becker said the utility is working to repair the leak by the end of Tuesday. The hydrogen is used to help cool the turbine.

The utility notified regulators about the problem, and issued what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls a notice of unusual event.

NRC spokesman Joey Leford said the agency’s inspectors are monitoring the repairs.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say an Omaha woman has died days after suffering critical injuries in a crash.

Police say 67-year-old Laura Hogan died Monday at an Omaha hospital, where she was taken after the Saturday morning crash.

Police say a pickup truck hauling a dump-truck box stalled in a northbound lane of Interstate 480 around 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Investigators say Hogan tried to drive around the truck, but struck the rear bumper. She was taken to a hospital with a critical head injury.

The 26-year-old driver of the truck, who was outside of the vehicle, suffered minor injuries. He declined medical treatment.

FORT CALHOUN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 19-year-old Fort Calhoun man has died in a crash that occurred after he fled a police stop.

Washington County sheriff’s deputies Friday night stopped Jackson Potadle for speeding near Fort Calhoun High School.

Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson says deputies were preparing to search the vehicle when Potadle sped off. Robinson says Potadle lost control on a curve and drove into a ditch, where the vehicle hit a tree.

Potadle was pronounced dead at the scene.

LAUREL, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in the northeastern corner of Nebraska say a man has died in a one-vehicle crash.

The Cedar County Sheriff’s Office says the Friday afternoon crash killed 66-year-old Dennis Brodersen, of Coleridge. Deputies say the crash happened shortly after 4 p.m. when the pickup truck Brodersen was driving crossed the center line, left the road and hit a farm field entrance, flipping the truck.

Brodersen, who was wearing his seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials continue to investigate the cause of the crash.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former Lincoln police officer who left the force last month amid a sex assault investigation denies the charges against him.

An attorney for 54-year-old Gregory Cody said Thursday at a bond hearing for his client that Cody “strongly disputes” the allegations. Cody, who is charged with first-degree sexual assault, was released Thursday after posting $15,000 bond.

Investigators say Cody used his position of authority to coerce and force a 30-year-old mentally ill woman into sex dozens of times for more than a year.

The woman told investigators most of the assaults occurred while Cody was on duty and that they began last year after Cody released her rather than take her into emergency protective custody. She told investigators that Cody told her she would “owe him.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha firefighters are trying to determine what caused an inferno that consumed a large home in southwestern Omaha.

Fire crews were called to the residence just before 1 a.m. Friday and found the 10,000 square-foot (929.02 sq. meter) home fully engulfed in flames. No one was home at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported.

Omaha firefighters called for help from Waterloo, Gretna and Boys Town fire departments to battle the massive fire, which took more than two hours to contain.

Fire crews managed to keep the fire from spreading to an occupied horse barn on the property.

Fire officials say the more than $1 million home was a total loss.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Salvation Army in Omaha has kicked off its annual Tree of Light holiday charity campaign.

The public turned out Friday at midtown Omaha’s American National Bank for the lighting ceremony of the giant Christmas tree. A day earlier, the Salvation Army held another tree-lighting ceremony at American National Bank in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The ceremonies kicked off the Salvation Army’s red kettle driver, when bell ringers man the red collection kettles outside businesses in Omaha and Council Bluffs.

The campaign continues through Dec. 23.

The money collected during the six-week campaign supports Salvation Army programs and services throughout the year, including food pantries, housing, utility assistance, behavioral health services and education. All money raised through the Red Kettle Drive stays in the community where the funds are collected.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Police Department is looking to hire new officers over the next two years.

Applications will be accepted beginning Monday through Dec. 28. The city says it could hire nearly 100 new officers over the next two years as the city expands and a fifth precinct is added.

Applicants must be at least 21 before the completion of training and must have a valid current driver’s license. Qualified applicants must have graduated from high school or obtained a GED certificate and must be able to perform the physical requirements of the position. Mental and physical fitness will be determined by examination.

The department says new hires must work as uniform patrol officers for three years before becoming eligible for other opportunities.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon marijuana processor was arrested Thursday in Nebraska on drug trafficking allegations after deputies reported discovering about $1.1 million in cannabis extract in his U-Haul van during a traffic stop.

Oregon Liquor Control Commission spokesman Mark Pettinger said this was the first known case of a licensed Oregon marijuana supplier arrested for allegedly trafficking in another state.

38-year-old Richard Wilkinson of Damascus, Oregon, was stopped in Lincoln, Nebraska, for following another vehicle too closely.

Deputies searched the van when they smelled marijuana and discovered 25 pounds of the extract, sealed packages of marijuana, vials of hash oil and 3,500 marijuana seeds.

Deputies believe Wilkinson was heading to a state where medical marijuana is legal, Sheriff Terry Wagner said, but it’s still illegal in Nebraska.