OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Teachers a middle school in Omaha will soon get two days for special disciplinary training to respond to persistent bad behavior at the school.

The Omaha school district is adding more administrators and hired a consultant to help reform procedures at Nathan Hale Magnet Middle School. Teachers at the school have complained this year of widespread discipline problems, including assaults on staff and other students.

Principal Darin Williams says the problems are due to a small group of students.

Parents and staff at a meeting Monday called for higher expectations, more parental involvement and greater diversity among teachers.

The school’s enrollment has nearly doubled this year with the addition of sixth-graders.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Elkhorn school board decided to promote Assistant Superintendent Bary Habrock to lead the growing district when current superintendent Steve Baker retires next year.

The district’s board decided Monday to promote Habrock, who has worked in the Elkhorn district for roughly two decades.

The 44-year-old has been assistant superintendent since 2009.

Board president John Marasco says Habrock’s vision for the future fit well with the board’s strategic plan.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A restaurant at Eugene T. Mahoney State Park is offering a Thanksgiving Day meal with traditional and nontraditional food items.

The restaurant will have a ham and turkey carving station, along with traditional holiday fixings. Hours for the meal are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost for adults is $25.95; meals for children ages 5 to 12 are $12.95. Kids age 5 and under eat free.

Reservations can be made by calling 402-944-2523.

Diners can extend their visit by making a reservation for a cabin or lodge room. Several activities are available, including hiking, an indoor activity fun center for kids and ice skating as weather permits.

More information about Mahoney State Park, including restaurant hours, is available at www.OutdoorNebraska.gov/mahoney.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — An 11-year-old boy who was struck by a van while trying to cross a Council Bluffs street has died.

Blake Smith’s family says he died at a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, on Saturday.

Police say Blake Smith ran in front of the van while trying to cross a street in Council Bluffs last Wednesday.

Authorities have not announced whether the driver will face any charges.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A group of neighborhood advocates are opposing a proposal to reduce the required distance between businesses that sell packaged liquor and nearby churches, homes and schools.

Lincoln attorney Mark Hunzeker is asking the city to reduce the distance from 100 feet to 50 feet. He is representing Walgreens, which can’t get an off-sale liquor license because it has a store 60 feet from a residential property.

Shawn Ryba of NeighborWorks Lincoln wrote a letter to Lincoln City Council, saying that a coalition of more than 25 neighborhood associations endorsed the current spacing requirement and believes it helps protect the quality of life in neighborhoods.

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission will take up the issue Nov. 30. It’ll eventually go to the City Council.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man convicted of killing four people in 2013 is arguing with his own lawyer and one of the judges who will determine whether he will face the death penalty.

A three-judge panel is scheduled to spend most of the week hearing evidence about whether Nikko Jenkins’ crimes warrant execution.

But Jenkins objected Monday to his lawyer presenting an IQ test that might disqualify him from execution.

The case will be the first opportunity for Nebraska’s death penalty to be imposed since voters voted to reinstate it last week.

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. Jenkins pleaded no contest to the charges.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln Police say a 13-year-old girl was hit by a truck and died while trying to cross the street on Saturday night.

The incident happened along West O Street around 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

The girl was walking with two friends when she was hit by a pickup truck headed east.

Lincoln school officials said the girl was Taylor Miller, who was an eighth-grader at Irving Middle School.

Irving Principal Jason Shanahan says crisis counselors will be at the school on Monday.

Police have not released the truck driver’s name.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Arctic fox named Jax has been taken from north Omaha home by animal control officials.

A 24-year-old woman had been keeping the fox as a pet. A city ordinance forbids possessing non-domestic animals within city limits. A fox is classified as a wild animal.

The woman bought the fox in June for $650 from a seller in Indiana. Mark Langan with the Nebraska Human Society says the woman was not cited because she was cooperative and “didn’t realize that she wasn’t allowed to have a fox.”

The humane society is working to place the fox in an out-of-state sanctuary.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert will seek a second four-year term.

That’s according to a campaign news release saying the mayor will announce her re-election bid on Monday.

The announcement will be made at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha, with former Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman introducing Stothert.

Stothert, a Republican, was the first woman to become mayor in Omaha when she defeated incumbent Mayor Jim Suttle in 2013.

Prior to that, she served on Omaha’s City Council.

Stothert had planned to announce her re-election bid earlier this fall, but postponed the event to recover from a back injury.