BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Developers of a $3.8 billion, four-state oil pipeline have agreed to halt construction near an American Indian reservation in southern North Dakota until a federal court hearing next week in Washington, D.C.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is suing federal regulators for approving permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline that will move oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Tribal officials filed the lawsuit last month against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The tribe argues the pipeline would affect drinking water for residents on the reservation and disturb sacred sites outside of it.

The tribe’s request for a temporary injunction hearing is slated for Wednesday.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners said Thursday it will temporarily stop work near the reservation but that work continues in other parts of the state.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 17-year-old boy has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in the shooting death of one Lincoln man and the wounding of another.

Court records say the pleas were made Wednesday in Lancaster County District Court. The Associated Press generally doesn’t name juveniles accused of crimes. His trial is scheduled to begin the week of Nov. 7.

Investigators say he fatally shot 32-year-old Christopher Coleman and left 21-year-old Jerry Griffis Jr. paralyzed from his wounds on April 18. The boy also is facing unrelated robbery charges.

Three other people have been charged in connection with the robbery and shootings.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln authorities say a 20-year-old man was hospitalized in critical condition after a tree branch fell on his head.

The accident occurred around 4 p.m. Wednesday in central Lincoln. Neighbors told authorities that the branch fell as the victim and another man were cutting down a yard tree.

Authorities have not released their names or other details.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Gage County has hired a legal firm to examine insurance coverage in a recent ruling involving six people who were wrongly convicted of the 1985 rape and homicide of a Beatrice woman.

Gage County Board of Supervisors Chairman Myron Dorn said Joel Bacon and Joel Nelson, of Keating O’Gara law firm in Lincoln, have been hired to determine if the county is covered in the case.

The Nebraska Intergovernmental Risk Management Association became the county’s carrier nearly 20 years ago. Association officials have previously said coverage typically doesn’t extend for something that took place before it joined the insurance pool.

Gage County has appealed the verdict awarding more than $28 million to the six people who were wrongly convicted.

Dorn says the contract with the firm will cost about $7,600.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Police Department says internal investigations have found that two officers violated policies and procedures.

The department announcement Wednesday said it wouldn’t disclose the nature of any discipline pending or received by Officers Thomas Deignan and Bryan Kulhanek. The officers have declined to comment.

The department said last month that Kulhanek had posted potentially inappropriate content on his Facebook page. He’d said the Black Lives Matter movement is racist and is against white officers.

Officials say Deignan threw a teenager to the ground as he attempted to book her into the Douglas County Youth Center on May 15. The 16-year-old suffered a fractured eye socket. The State Patrol says it found no evidence of criminal conduct, and prosecutors have agreed.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A financial industry watchdog organization has fined former Nebraska quarterback Jerry Tagge for breaking rules about borrowing money from clients.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Tagge $2,500 and suspended him for two months. He went on suspension July 19.

Tagge is executive vice president of Tagge Rutherford Financial Group, which has about $800 million in assets under management. He led the University of Nebraska to consecutive college football national championships in 1970 and 1971.

His attorney, John Shaw, issued a statement that said in part: “We are pleased to reach a settlement which places this matter behind us permanently.”

The authority says Tagge borrowed $125,000 from a customer in 2009, violating authority rules and those of his financial firm. The money’s been repaid.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Seven of nine former Winnebago Tribal Council members charged in federal court with theft of tribal funds have pleaded not guilty.

The seven entered pleas in Omaha’s federal court on Monday. They include former council chairman John Blackhawk and former council members Darwin Snyder, Thomas Snowball Jr., Louis Houghton, Lawrence Payer, Charles Aldrich and Ramona Wolfe. Travis Mallory is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 24, and arraignment for Morgan Earth has not yet been set.

Prosecutors say they conspired to enrich themselves by siphoning $327,500 over two years from the tribe’s WinneVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa, in the form of gift certificates and pre-paid debit cards issued by the casino.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Demolition has begun on a 62-year-old auditorium in Omaha that has been the scene of political rallies, graduation ceremonies, concerts and sporting events.

Crews began tearing down the Civic Auditorium on Tuesday morning.

The Omaha City Council approved a $3.1 million contract with Illinois-based DeNovo Constructors Inc. in February to demolish the building.

The project was stalled in March after the contractor encountered financial issues. The city ended the contract and made a claim to the bonding company.

The company that holds the bond then chose St. Louis-based Spirtas Wrecking Co. to perform the demolition.

Omaha’s Parks and Recreation director, Brook Bench, says the building is expected to be completely demolished around the end of the year and that Spirtas will finish grading the ground in the spring.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Air Force is investigating the death of an airman at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha.

Officials say the body of Airman 1st Class Rhianda Dillard was found Aug. 1 in her base dormitory. A preliminary autopsy report did not say what killed her, but toxicology testing has not been completed.

Offutt spokesman Drew Nystrom would not say Wednesday whether investigators suspect a crime led to Dillard’s death.

An airman suspected of desertion has been interviewed about Dillard. Air Force Office of Special investigations spokeswoman Linda Card said the airman has not been charged with anything related to Dillard’s death. Card says the man is only one of several people being questioned about Dillard.

Dillard had been at Offutt since March 14 and was from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha has committed $250,000 to continue its fight against a tree-killing insect.

The council approved the $250,000 contract Tuesday with an Underwood, Iowa, company, Holland & McKee, to treat the trees menaced by the emerald ash borer.

Parks director Brook Bench says the city will spend $4.67 per inch of tree up to $250,000. Bench estimated that several thousand trees will undergo the treatment. He says parks employees already have taken down about 1,000 other ash trees.

Officials hope to save up to 5,000 of 11,000 ash trees on city property, including parks and golf courses.

Emerald ash borers are native to Asia and were first spotted in the U.S. in 2002. They’ve killed millions of ash trees since.