LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 37-year-old Oxford, Nebraska, man has been sentenced to prison for sending sexually suggestive texts to someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl.

Richard Walls was sentenced Tuesday in Lancaster County Court to 6-to-8 years in prison.

He pleaded no contest last month to an attempted felony. Investigators say Walls was caught in a sting operation last fall in which a Lincoln police officer posed online as an underage girl. Police say Walls made contact with the undercover officer and eventually asked to take who he thought was a 15-year-old girl named Amy to Kansas and pay her $100 for sex.

Police say Walls was already a registered sex offender for a 2013 enticement conviction.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 3-year-old boy is recovering after his father found him floating face-down in a pond several yards from their home in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue.

Bellevue police spokeswoman Laurie Synowiecki says the boy’s parents were home when he left his backyard around 4:30 p.m. Thursday. His dad soon went looking for him when he noticed the boy was missing and then found him 60 to 80 yards away in the water. First responders say the boy was unconscious but breathing when they arrived.

The boy was taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where his condition has been upgraded to stable.

Police have not released the parents’ or the boy’s names.

WAUSA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an 18-year-old driver has been killed in a Knox County collision.

The accident occurred around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at a highway intersection south of Wausa. The Nebraska State Patrol says Sara Hubert, of Norfolk, was westbound on Nebraska Highway 59 when her vehicle was struck on the driver’s side.

The patrol says Hubert had failed to yield as required to a northbound vehicle on Nebraska Highway 121. It was driven by 17-year-old John Rosberg, of Wausa. It’s unclear whether he was injured.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge says an error he made during a synthetic marijuana case in Lincoln doesn’t justify a new trial.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf blamed himself Wednesday for a mistake made in the case of Allen Peithman, who faced a 14-count criminal complaint that alleged he sold synthetic marijuana at his head shop.

The complaint included allegations that Peithman violated his supervised release in an earlier drug case by participating in the alleged synthetic marijuana conspiracy.

Kopf said he mistakenly treated the supervised-release violation as a separate offense, rather than a sentencing enhancement, before Peithman was found guilty of six counts in March.

Kopf vacated the supervised-released ruling last month, but says it doesn’t warrant a new trial.

Peithman’s sentencing is set for June.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new name has been picked for a baby giraffe born last month at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium.

Officials say the giraffe born April 30 has been named Malcolm.

The name was picked through a public naming contest which took submissions through May 8. The winning name was announced Wednesday.

Zookeepers picked from nearly 3,360 submissions. The zoo will present the person who submitted the winning name with a giraffe-themed gift basket.

Malcolm is one of only 11 giraffes born at American zoos in the past year. He was born to 17-year-old Dottie and 8-year-old Jawara.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman has been given a year in jail for accidentally feeding some methadone to her grandson in Lincoln.

49-year-old Rose Rej was sentenced Tuesday. She’d pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child abuse. She was credited with 49 days already served.

Authorities say the Whitinsville, Massachusetts, woman accidentally grabbed a bottle containing methadone early on April 26 last year and filled it with milk to feed the 15-month-old boy, who was crying when he awoke. He was taken to a hospital later when he wouldn’t wake up.

Methadone is used to help wean people off heroin. Court documents say the baby tested positive for methadone at birth and that his mother had a past heroin addiction.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The Southwest Iowa Educational Foundation has awarded the first Kerrie Orozco Memorial Scholarship, named for Omaha Police Officer Kerrie Orozco, who was killed in the line of duty two years ago.

The first $500 scholarship was awarded earlier this month to Emma Seilstad of Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs. The gift comes from money raised in the aftermath of Orozco’s death to start the scholarship through the Pottawattamie County Community Foundation.

Orozco grew up in Walnut, Iowa, and lived in Council Bluffs at the time of her death.

She was fatally wounded on May 20, 2015, when Marcus Wheeler opened fire on officers in Omaha who were trying to arrest him. Wheeler was killed when another officer returned fire.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A three-judge panel will announce later this month the fate of a man convicted of killing four people in and around Omaha in 2013.

The panel will announce on May 30 whether Nikko Jenkins will get the death penalty or life in prison.

Jenkins was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder for the August 2013 shooting deaths in and around Omaha of Juan Uribe-Pena, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Curtis Bradford and Andrea Kruger in three separate attacks.

Kruger was his final victim. Prosecutors say Jenkins pulled Kruger from her car, shot her four times in the street and then stole her vehicle.

Jenkins pleaded no contest in 2014, but his sentencing has been delayed for years because of concerns about his mental competency.

YANKTON, S.D. (AP) — Authorities have identified a Nebraska man who died in a motorcycle crash in southeastern South Dakota’s Yankton County.

The Highway Patrol says 60-year-old Joseph Pinkelman, of Crofton, Nebraska, tried to pass a vehicle and collided with an oncoming car on U.S. Highway 81. The crash happened mid-day Saturday north of the city of Yankton.

Pinkelman was thrown from his motorcycle and died at the scene. The driver of the car wasn’t hurt.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A 25-year-old Bellevue man accused of child abuse in the death of his girlfriend’s toddler has made a plea deal.

Court records say Armond Floyd pleaded guilty Monday in Sarpy County District Court to intentional child abuse causing injury. Prosecutors had lowered the charge from intentional child abuse causing death. His sentencing is scheduled for June 12.

Prosecutors say Floyd put his hand over Imani Edwards’ mouth and nose for about 30 seconds on Nov. 13 because the child was crying. Court documents say Floyd told police he grabbed the almost-2-year-old by an arm and swung her into a wall.

He said he put her in a bathtub and left her unattended for about 10 minutes. She was face-down when he returned. She died in a hospital two days later.