FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — An Arlington woman has pleaded no contest to a charge related to the death of a patient who was burned after falling asleep near a fireplace.

23-year-old Anne T. Pavlik entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor charge in the death of 82-year-old Bernard Batten at a Fremont memory care center.

Investigators determined Batten awoke early on Feb. 12 and eventually sat in a chair. Pavlik, who as the only staffer on duty, didn’t notice he then pulled his chair near a burning fireplace and fell asleep.

She later found Batten was badly burned. He died the next day at a hospital.

An autopsy shows he died of natural causes and burns.

Pavlik will be sentenced Nov. 29 and faces up to a year in prison.

TEKAMAH, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have identified the man who died after driving near anhydrous ammonia that was leaking from an underground pipeline in northeast Nebraska.

The Burt County Sheriff’s office says 59-year-old Phillip Hennig of Tekamah, Nebraska, died after coming in contact with the chemical.

The leak in the pipeline operated by Magellan Midstream Partners, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was reported Monday evening about eight miles north of Tekamah, which is nearly 40 miles from Omaha.

Authorities are still trying to determine why the pipeline leaked.

Anhydrous ammonia is a farm fertilizer with suffocating fumes that cause breathing difficulty and irritation to eyes, nose or throat.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities arrested 26 men and 15 women in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa as part of an annual nationwide operation targeting human trafficking.

The FBI led a task force of law enforcement agencies in the three-day operation that ended on Sunday.

Police in Omaha, Lincoln, La Vista, Council Bluffs, Iowa and Glenwood, Iowa, all took part in the operation locally.

The names of the people arrested were not immediately available Tuesday.

The FBI says 82 sexually exploited children were recovered nationwide and 239 people were arrested in the operation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Public Schools board has given itself a March deadline to hire a new superintendent.

The board voted on Monday to approve a request for a proposal that will guide search firms in submitting their bids. Bids are to be submitted by Nov. 2.

The request for a proposal includes a tentative timeline for the search and the desired qualifications in a search firm.

Superintendent Mark Evans is retiring at the end of this school year. He was hired in 2013.

The board hopes to hire someone in March so the incoming superintendent can work with Evans on a transition plan before he steps down.

GREELEY, Neb. (AP) — A man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he burglarized the home of the brother of the late Nebraska punter Sam Foltz.

Thirty-eight-year-old Scott Davis, of Lennox, South Dakota, entered the pleas Monday in Greeley County District Court.

Authorities say Davis broke into the home of Jordan Foltz on Sept. 3 as the Foltz family attended a memorial for Sam Foltz at the Huskers’ home opener. Davis is also suspected in a theft at a Greeley construction site.

Davis’ next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 21.

TEKAMAH, Neb. (AP) — A pipeline operator has reported that a release of anhydrous ammonia fertilizer in northeast Nebraska has killed a man.

Magellan Midstream Partners, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, said in a news release Tuesday that the leak occurred late Monday evening in part of its 8-inch pipeline system near Tekamah. The cause of the leak is being investigated.

The company said other nearby residents were evacuated and some roads were closed.

The man’s name hasn’t been released.

Magellan says it’s notified local, state and federal authorities. A dispatcher said the Burt County sheriff was unavailable, and the phone rang unanswered at county emergency manager’s office. Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Jodie Fawl says a state emergency response team has been dispatched, but she had no other information.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Three elected officials in the Lincoln area are receiving substantial property tax breaks on their homes through Nebraska’s homestead exemption program.

Lancaster County Commissioner Larry Hudkins received a homestead exemption for a portion of his home and saved more than $2,700 this year under the state’s program that’s primarily intended to help low-income seniors.

Lincoln City Councilman Jon Camp and Southeast Community College board member Bob Feit each have homestead exemptions covering their entire home value under a new exemption for veterans with 100 percent service-connected disability. Camp saved nearly $5,500 and Feit saved more than $5,100 in property taxes using that program.

As elected officials, the three men make decisions affecting the local property tax rate in Lancaster County. Hudkins’ and Camp’s salaries are also funded by local property tax revenue.

REASNOR, Iowa (AP) — Authorities suspect arson in the latest burning of heavy equipment being used in the construction of the four-state Dakota Access pipeline in central Iowa.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office says the blaze late Saturday near Reasnor, Iowa, caused about $2 million damage to an excavator and three bulldozers. The equipment is operated by a contractor for Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners.

Opponents have for months been protesting the $3.8 billion, nearly 1,200-mile project pipeline, warning its construction could jeopardize water supply and damage cultural artifacts.

Another suspected arson of construction equipment happened on Aug. 1 at the same site, about 30 miles east of Des Moines.

No arrests have been made in either fire. The Iowa Fire Marshal Division and the FBI are investigating.