COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man has been sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for escaping last year from a federal halfway house in western Iowa.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa says 28-year-old Keith Wayne Page, of Omaha, was sentenced Thursday to 16 months in prison for escape, to which he pleaded guilty in January.

Officials say Page failed to return to CH Inc., a residential re-entry center in Council Bluffs, in early September after being granted a job-seeking pass. Page was arrested in Omaha in December on a federal arrest warrant.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — A man accused of leaving his bulldog puppy on a hot apartment balcony, leading to its death, has been cited on suspicion of animal cruelty.

The Nebraska Humane Society says the 52-year-old owner faces a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty, which carries a sentence of up to a year in jail.

Nebraska Humane Society officials were sent to the Bellevue apartment complex earlier this month and found the 16-month-old dog’s carcass. There was food and water on the balcony, but the dog was left in direct sunlight with no shade on a day when the heat index was 97 degrees (36 Celsius).

Veterinarians say the dog’s death was “consistent with signs of heatstroke.” Experts say a bulldog’s shortened snout makes it harder for the animal to eliminate heat by panting.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Garland man charged with misdemeanor vehicular homicide has taken a plea deal in Lancaster County.

Court records say 68-year-old Gary Jacobsen pleaded no contest Tuesday in a Lincoln courtroom. Prosecutors dropped a related charge in exchange for Jacobsen’s plea. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 29.

Prosecutors say Jacobsen was driving a truck, headed west with a load of rock on Dec. 6, when he pulled across U.S. Highway 77 just north of Lincoln and struck a southbound semitrailer. The semi rolled onto its side and erupted into flames.

Authorities say the semi’s driver, 21-year-old Brandon Gerdes, died at the scene. He lived in Osmond.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee has been charged with burglarizing the service office in Wood River and stealing property from the service and cash from Crane Trust.

John Cochnar is charged with felony burglary and theft. His attorney didn’t immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press.

Authorities say he broke into the service’s field office at the Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center on March 21 to steal property. Authorities also say he took $508 from the visitor center’s donation box.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A prosecutor plans to reveal the findings of an investigation into the death of a mentally ill Nebraska man whom police officers beat, dragged and shocked with a stun gun a dozen times.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine is expected to disclose Wednesday whether his office will charge the two former Omaha officers who confronted 29-year-old Zachary Bearheels on June 5 at an Omaha convenience store.

The Omaha Police Department fired the officers, Scotty Payne and Ryan McClarty, earlier this month on the recommendation of Police Chief Todd Schmaderer.

Officials say Bearheels died after the officers shocked him 12 times with a Taser, punched him and dragged him by his hair.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has granted a convict’s request for DNA testing on untested evidence that he says could show he didn’t kill a Lincoln woman in 1988.

Herman Buckman was convicted of shooting to death Denise Strawkowski and sentenced to life.

Last September he filed an appeal for DNA testing on her underwear as well as items from her car, where her body had been found. Last week a Lancaster County district judge granted the motion despite prosecutors’ objections.

In 2004 the state Supreme Court rejected Buckman’s request for a new trial based on another DNA testing issue. The high court agreed with a district judge who said that, considering the evidence presented at trial, the test results would not have changed the verdict.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Lawsuits have been filed against an Omaha day care that had employed a man who’s been imprisoned for molesting toddlers there.

Court records say an attorney representing children called Jane Doe No. 1 and Jane Doe No. 2 and their parents were filed Tuesday in Douglas County District Court in Omaha. The lawsuit names La Petite Academy and Mark Mays, who’s serving 26 to 60 years for sexual assaults of children and pornography production.

The lawsuit says La Petite’s managers should have known that Mays posed a substantial risk to the children. He’d been fired from two previous jobs for putting children on his lap.

La Petite officials declined to comment on the litigation but said its employment practices and care protocols meet or exceed state and federal requirements.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Prosecutors say an Omaha man killed earlier this month was shot after he discovered that $11,000 in methamphetamine he intended to buy was fake.

A Douglas County prosecutor disclosed the detail Wednesday at a bond hearing for one of four people charged in the July 7 shooting death of 40-year-old Billy Walker at an apartment complex.

A prosecutor said Wednesday that 37-year-old Jason Rankin and another suspect sought to sell a substance they said was meth to Walker. Police say Rankin shot Walker during a disturbance that began when Walker discovered the “meth” was fake.

Rankin, who is charged with first-degree murder, was ordered held without bond.

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — The U.S. State Department is warning tourists going to Mexico about reports of tainted or substandard alcohol causing drinkers to become sick or pass out.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel recently reported about travelers becoming sick after drinking alcohol at Mexican resorts. In January, a 20-year-old Wisconsin woman vacationing in Mexico with her family died after she was pulled from a resort pool.

The State Department added the warning to its travel site for Mexico on Wednesday. The warning advises tourists to drink in moderation and to stop and seek medical attention if they begin to feel ill.

A State Department spokeswoman tells The Associated Press that U.S. citizens also should contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate in Mexico if that happens.

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FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two people have been killed in separate Dodge County motor vehicle accidents.

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office says 64-year-old Robert Belsky, of Dodge, died Saturday evening when his car ran off a county road and struck a power pole north of Dodge.

The office also says 34-year-old James Albert, of North Bend, died Sunday afternoon when the sport utility vehicle he was in collided with another vehicle on a county road northeast of North Bend.

Albert was a passenger in the SUV driven by 28-year-old David Mills, of Morse Bluff. Mills and the other driver, 26-year-old Christopher O’Connor, of North Bend, were flown to an Omaha hospital.

Both crashes are being investigated.