PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A former youth pastor in Omaha has been accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Court records say 34-year-old Klint Bitter waived his right Wednesday to a preliminary hearing, and his case was forwarded to Sarpy County District Court in Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn) for trial. A trial date hasn’t been set.

Bitter remains in jail, pending $1 million bail. His attorney, Thomas Petersen, would say only that Bitter is cooperating and had surrendered as authorities requested.

Authorities say he’d found the girl in an online classified ad for an 18-year-old girl and had sex with her in February. Bitter has said he had asked the girl whether she was underage.

Officials say Bitter was youth pastor at Christ Community Church in Omaha but was fired after he was charged.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say the vehicle involved in a fatal hit-and-run crash in Omaha has been found.

Police had been searching for the vehicle and its driver since it slammed into a man before dawn on Oct. 2 on a central Omaha street.

The crash killed 34-year-old Anh Tuan Phan, who lived in Omaha. Officers dispatched to the scene found the man near the curb in the northbound lanes of 72nd Street. He was taken to an Omaha hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police did not announce any arrests Wednesday when the news of the found vehicle was released. Police say investigators are actively following up leads and that the case is still under investigation.

MILLARD, Neb. (AP) — No injuries have been reported after a small plane made an emergency landing at the Millard Airport near Omaha.

The plane made an emergency landing Tuesday night.

Officials say the pilot, who was the only person on the plane, had taken off from Millard Airport earlier in the evening and was returning when he realized that his retractable landing gear was not working.

The pilot was forced to land the plane on its belly.

Emergency crews responded, and the airport was shut down until nearly 9:45 p.m., when the plane was removed from the runway.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a fire that destroyed an apartment building in northern Lincoln was likely started by a cigarette carelessly tossed outside the building.

The blaze at the Black Sand Apartment Homes was reported around 5 a.m. Wednesday, and more than a dozen firetrucks eventually were dispatched as flames leaped from the roof.

Officials say the fire caused $2.5 million in damage and displaced more than 50 people living in the 30-unit building.

No residents were injured, but two firefighters suffered minor injuries while fighting the blaze.

The fire was brought under control by 6:15 a.m.

Firefighters say the apartments were equipped with water sprinklers, but none were located in the area where the fire started, allowing the fire to grow.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha federal prosecutors say a man has been charged in a three-count indictment in a child pornography case.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Omaha says Steven Carlson is charged with production of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography. All of the incidents are reported to have occurred last year.

If convicted of all counts, Carlson faces up to 90 years in prison.

It was not clear whether Carlson yet had an attorney, and he could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A squirrel is being blamed for a power outage last week in Grand Island.

Travis Burdett, the city’s assistant utility director, says a squirrel caused the Friday outage that cut power to more than 800 customers, including parts of downtown. Power was restored after about 20 minutes.

Burdett says squirrels cause such larger outages only a couple times a year. The animals don’t chew on anything but instead typically cause a problem by climbing a pole and getting between a transformer casing and the electrified lines.

The result typically kills the squirrel.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lincoln City Council has voted to remove drivers for ride-hailing companies from city requirements that taxi drivers must meet.

The council voted 5-1 Monday to remove Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing company drivers from city oversight. The city will continue to do background checks on taxi drivers, require physicals and test the drivers’ knowledge of Lincoln.

The state Public Service Commission requires ride-sharing companies to do background checks on their drivers. The commission audits those companies.

Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister had supported removing ride-hailing company drivers from city oversight, citing the cost of doing background checks on hundreds of drivers. Taxi company owners wanted the city to continue to background checks on their drivers and wanted the same rules for ride-hailing company drivers.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Latest on the case of a Nebraska man charged with assisting in his girlfriend’s suicide (all times local):

1 p.m.

A friend of a Florida woman who flew to Nebraska to kill herself says the woman never mentioned to him that she had been diagnosed with cancer.

Kenny Johnson, of Orange City, Florida, said Tuesday that 38-year-old Alicia Wilemon-Sullivan was a hard-working single mom who only ever mentioned pain in her feet.

Johnson says Wilemon-Sullivan texted him on July 31 to tell him she was going on vacation and needed him to watch her children until Aug. 3. He says he met her at the airport and she gave him $200 and her truck keys.

He says she was “bawling” and told him it was because she was going to miss her children. Three of the four still lived with her.

Authorities say she killed herself in a wooded area near Weeping Water, Nebraska, on Aug. 1. Her boyfriend Matthew Stubbendieck told investigators she had told him she had late-stage cancer.

He is charged with helping her kill herself.

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12:50 p.m.

An investigator says a Nebraska man accused of helping his Florida girlfriend kill herself was “pretty convincing in his interviews” that he believed she had cancer of the lymph nodes.

Lt. Larry Burke of the Cass County sheriff’s office said Tuesday that Matthew J. Stubbendieck appears to have accepted 38-year-old Alicia Wilemon-Sullivan’s word that she had late-stage cancer. But he says the 41-year-old Stubbendieck never contacted the authorities while he and his girlfriend were planning her death.

Burke says authorities don’t believe the Orange City, Florida, woman had cancer because an autopsy found no tumors. The cause of death was undetermined, but the autopsy found no sign of blunt force trauma and concluded that cuts on her forearms and wrists appeared to be self-inflicted.

Wilemon-Sullivan also had alcohol, painkillers and cold medicine in her system.

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7:50 a.m.

Investigators say a Nebraska man facing an assisted suicide charge in his Florida girlfriend’s death said he believed she had stage-four cancer, but an autopsy didn’t find any tumors.

Cass County sheriff’s deputies charged 41-year-old Matthew J. Stubbendieck, of Weeping Water, last week in the death of 38-year-old Alicia Wilemon-Sullivan of Orange City, Florida.

Authorities said Stubbendieck reported that Wilemon-Sullivan had killed herself and led them to her body Aug. 5 in a wooded area near Weeping Water, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Omaha. They said the couple arranged for Wilemon-Sullivan to fly to Nebraska from her home near Orlando to kill herself on Aug. 1.

Investigators say Stubbendieck believed his girlfriend had stage-four cancer in the lymph nodes of her neck, armpit and stomach. But an autopsy didn’t find any cancerous masses or tumors.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A murder charge has been filed in the case of a missing Peru State College student who disappeared nearly seven years ago.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s office says that 36-year-old Joshua Keadle has been charged with first-degree murder, accused of killing 19-year-old Tyler “Ty” Thomas.

Thomas disappeared in the early morning hours of Dec. 3, 2010, after leaving a party near the southeast Nebraska campus. Authorities say Keadle, a fellow student, told them he and Thomas had sex in his vehicle that night, and Keadle later told investigators 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. The attorney general’s office declined to comment on whether Thomas’ remains or any new evidence had been found.

Keadle is currently serving 15 to 20 years for the 2008 rape of a 15-year-old girl.