LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say residents rescued one boy and four others escaped by themselves after being swept away by rainstorm runoff in Lincoln.

Four boys playing in a culvert were carried away Thursday evening when the water rose to their waists. Lincoln police say three got out after only a few yards but the fourth boy was taken about two blocks before he made it out of the water.

In a separate incident, two neighbors rescued a boy who’d been swept away when he tried to pick up a nickel he’d spotted on the ground.

Authorities say none of the boys required medical treatment.

AURORA, Neb. (AP) — A November trial has been scheduled for a Nebraska man who police say was recruited to kill another man’s wife.

Court records say 30-year-old Derrick Shirley, of Bradshaw, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Hamilton County District Court in Aurora. He’s charged with conspiracy to commit murder. His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 28.

Nebraska State Patrol investigators say 38-year-old Robert Honken paid Shirley $400 to kill Honken’s wife. They say Shirley did surveillance around the woman’s Hamilton County home but never tried to kill her.

Honken has pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Authorities say he also tried to hire another person, but that man turned out to be an undercover officer.

Honken’s trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 14.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Donors have pledged $150,000 needed to renovate and restore a historic pedestrian bridge in Omaha.

City Councilman Pete Festersen and local resident Nick Manhart announced the donations for the Dodge Street pedestrian bridge Wednesday. Festersen thanked Manhart and his fellow Friends of the Bridge advocates for securing the more than 100 donations.

Combined with $150,000 in city bridge maintenance funds, the donations hit the total of $300,000 needed to finish the project. Construction will be completed as soon as 2017 in time for the green, curvy span’s 50th birthday in 2018.

The bridge connects two local parks and provides a safe passage across Dodge Street for cyclists, walkers and students of the nearby University of Nebraska at Omaha and St. Margaret Mary campuses.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police say the driver of a dump truck involved in a fatal west Omaha crash last month has been charged with one count of misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide.

Police say 59-year-old Ronald Nootz, of Bellevue, was driving the truck the morning of July 22 when he ran a red light and hit a small SUV, killing its driver, 75-year-old Noel Lammers, of Omaha.

The maximum penalty for the misdemeanor charge is a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Nootz’s case was not yet listed in online court records Thursday. It is not known whether he has an attorney in the case.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska fisheries biologists are investigating the cause of a fish die-off in a central Nebraska reservoir.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said in a news release Thursday that dead carp have been reported at Davis Creek Reservoir south of North Loup.

The commission says a viral infection is the expected cause of the die-off, and samples have been taken to verify the cause.

The reservoir remains open to fishing, and no other species of fish have been impacted. Anglers should expect to see significant numbers of dead and decaying carp at the reservoir, with the possibility of more distressed fish dying in the coming days.

ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) — The National Weather Service says a weak tornado briefly moved through a rural area between Lincoln and Omaha on Thursday.

The weather service in Valley, just west of Omaha, says the tornado hit just before 5 p.m. Thursday near Ashland as strong thunderstorms moved across the southeastern and eastern portions of Nebraska.

The Saunders County Sheriff’s Department says no injuries or damage have been reported from the tornado.

The weather service says it expects to gather more information on the tornado later Thursday or Friday.

WAHOO, Neb. (AP) — An Osceola man is scheduled to be sentenced next month for his role in a Saunders County collision that killed an engaged couple.

Online court records say 43-year-old Douglas Cerny pleaded no contest Thursday to two misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide. His sentencing is set for Sept. 29.

Authorities say Cerny ran a stop sign Jan. 24 at an intersection with U.S. Highway 77, west of Wahoo. Cerny’s vehicle collided with one being driven by 29-year-old Jessica Thomas. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Thirty-two-year-old Tanner Hauck, who was in the vehicle with Thomas, died several days later.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska man has pleaded guilty to stealing from a casino in Winnebago.

Mark Hannan, of South Sioux City, entered the plea Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. He’d previously pleaded not guilty to the charge: theft by an employee of a gaming establishment on Indian lands. His sentencing is set for Oct. 31.

Court documents say that from Nov. 1 through Feb. 15, Hannan stole the money while working at the Native Star Casino, which is owned and operated by the Winnebago Indian Tribe of Nebraska.

NEWMAN GROVE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man has died after the tractor he was driving overturned in northeast Nebraska.

The accident occurred Tuesday evening on private land just northeast of Newman Grove. Madison County deputies sent to the scene say Ronald Konz, of Lindsay, died after the tractor overturned into a creek. Investigators think he was moving hay bales at the time.

The accident is being investigated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gage County has appealed a jury’s verdict awarding more than $28 million to six people who were wrongfully convicted in the 1985 slaying of a southeast Nebraska woman.

The appeal was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln. The county wants a judge to set aside the verdict or order another trial.

The appeal argues there wasn’t enough evidence to find for the six people who spent a combined 77 years in prison in the death of 68-year-old Helen Wilson before DNA testing cleared them in 2008. It also says the jury was tainted by statements that the six were innocent and says the $28.1 award was excessive.

The six have become known as the Beatrice Six. An attorney for them has declined to comment about the appeal.