OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Fremont area water utilities appear prepared to handle any contamination from a proposed Costco chicken plant, but water experts urge residents not to let their guard down.

Costco is looking to create a slaughterhouse in Fremont and develop a regional poultry farming network to provide chicken to its stores. The retail giant plans to contract with farms to raise around 17 million chickens at a time.

Opponents of the project have warned about possible resulting water contamination. They point to areas in southeastern United States with similar projects, where chicken manure gets into waterways, killing marine life and threatening businesses.

Des Moines Water Works CEO Bill Stowe says there should be a balance of economic growth and environmental issues “because the water is precious.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of a woman who was fatally wounded and a man who was injured in an Omaha shooting.

Police say officers were sent to Creighton University Medical Center around 1:40 a.m. Thursday after a private vehicle arrived there with the two shooting victims. Police say the woman has since died but the man is expected to survive his wound.

Police identified the dead woman as 23-year-old Ashlyn Higgins. The injured man was identified as 27-year-old Parris Stamps.

Homicide investigators are poring over a northeast Omaha site for clues and any witnesses. No arrests have been reported.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha zoo officials say a mountain lion that was shot and captured at one of Omaha’s busiest intersections in 2003 has died in captivity.

Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium says the puma, named “Omaha,” died Wednesday morning after a long battle with kidney disease.

The 108-pound, 7-foot long male cat captured national attention when it was spotted in a residential park near 114th Street and West Dodge Road. Police and zoo officials converged on the area and tranquilized it. But before the drug took effect, the cat lunged at an officer and was shot in a hind leg. After surgery, it recovered and remained at the zoo.

Then-zoo director Lee Simmons said he believed the puma followed a creek into the city, feeding on rabbits and dogs.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — A report released by Bix Ox Energy says an ongoing sewer odor is not primarily because of wastewater from the company’s plant, but rather the below-code plumbing in dozens of South Sioux City homes.

According to the report released Tuesday, most of the homes reporting “rotten eggs” sewer odors either have insufficient or broken plumbing systems or are sharing a wall with other units that have below-code plumbing. Engineering firm Black & Veatch began testing last week for sulfur-related compounds in the homes that could be causing the odors.

Bix Ox converts organic waste into methane gas, and went online at Roth Industrial Park in September. Shortly after going online, many residents that share a sewer line with the park began complaining of the odor. About two dozen residents were displaced from their homes, and a dozen still remain in hotels.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A nonprofit is opening a drop-in center in downtown Lincoln for homeless and runaway youth.

Cedars will open the Youth Opportunity Center in a former hair salon Feb. 1.

Cedars Executive Director Jim Blue says the new center is expected to serve about 750 teenagers annually. Staff and volunteers will work to guide the youth toward having permanent living conditions and community services access.

Blue says the number of young people living on their own seems to be increasing. Cedars street outreach program manager Christina Lloyd says many young adults who are too old for foster care aren’t comfortable with looking for help alongside older adults.

Lloyd says the goal is to make the center a “safe space” for teens.

DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (AP) — Both men charged with killing and dismembering another Nebraska man have pleaded not guilty to murder and related crimes.

Eighteen-year-old Brayan Galvan-Hernandez made his pleas Tuesday in Dakota County District Court in Dakota City. His trial is set to begin May 9. Online court records say 26-year-old Andres Surber entered his pleas Dec. 29, but the records don’t show that a trial has been scheduled.

The two are accused of shooting to death 41-year-old Kraig Kubik, of Emerson. Parts of his body were found in a car and in a creek about 4 miles away. Authorities say Surber and Galvan-Hernandez had gone to Kubik’s trailer home Nov. 1 and demanded that he give them a car that once belonged to Surber.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The City Council has approved an ordinance that will allow the creation of entertainment districts in Omaha.

The council voted 7-0 Tuesday to pass the proposal. Under it, people will be able to drink alcohol outdoors in the districts. They will have several eateries that will open into a common area for dining and drinking.

The areas must operate under one promotional organization or have a common owner.

Representatives of Aksarben Village and the Capitol District say their areas will apply.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A 38-year-old woman has been given 10 to 16 years in prison for having sex with a teenager at a York facility for troubled children.

Online court records say Jamie Bishop, of Seward, was sentenced Monday in York County District Court. She’d pleaded no contest to felony sexual assault of a minor.

Court documents say Bishop was a staff member when she and the 15-year-old had sex several times in his room or on the grounds at Epworth Village from January to July 2015. She bore a child in December 2015, and authorities say DNA tests prove the boy’s paternity.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have decided not to prosecute a man whose vehicle fatally struck an Iowa woman in southeast Nebraska.

Nineteen-year-old Merzedes Hart, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was killed late Jan. 13 as she crossed U.S. Highway 6 northeast of Lincoln. The vehicle that hit her continued on. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says Hart and two friends had been at a nearby strip club.

A news release from Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that investigators concluded the vehicle driver did nothing to cause the accident and left the scene only because he thought his vehicle had struck a deer. The 51-year-old man, Ricky Phillips, of Lincoln, was cited for driving with a suspended license.

Hart was a student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and was on the track team.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln will continue to keep its downtown theater protection policy that prohibits large multiscreen movie theaters elsewhere in the city.

The City Council voted Monday to retain the more than 30-year-old rule allowing six-screen theaters in larger regional shopping areas. The larger theater complexes will only be allowed in the downtown area.

Councilman Roy Christensen wants to end the downtown protection to allow more competition. But other council members who like the protection say the theaters boost business downtown.

Theater experts say allowing large multiscreen theaters in regional areas would likely put a smaller east-central Lincoln theater out of business.

The policy began in 1984 as part of an effort to make downtown Lincoln an entertainment destination.