OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A long-awaited national cemetery for U.S. military veterans and their families south of Omaha will be dedicated this week before accepting its first burials this fall.

The Omaha National Cemetery will be dedicated Friday at an off-site ceremony in Sarpy County.

Cemetery director Cindy Van Bibber says the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is expected to complete an initial segment of the property to be used for in-ground casket and cremation burials as early as September.

Once complete, the entire 236-acre cemetery will serve the burial needs of more than 112,000 veterans in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

National cemeteries provide burial spaces for honorably discharged veterans, their spouses and eligible dependents at no charge.

ROYAL, Neb. (AP) — Experts will be available Saturday at Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park to help people identify fossils and ancient artifacts.

The 2016 Fossil and Artifact Identification Day will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. People may bring just single items or whole collections for identification.

The park sits two miles west and six miles north of Royal in northeast Nebraska’s Antelope County. Valid Nebraska State Park permits are required for vehicles and can be purchased there.

Call 402-893-2000 or visit http://www.ashfall.unl.edu for more information.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man serving a life sentence for the 1986 killing of his girlfriend will remain behind bars after the Nebraska Supreme Court rejected his motion for postconviction relief.

The high court on Friday said a lower court was not wrong to dismiss Courtney Starks’ motion without holding an evidentiary hearing. Starks was convicted in 1987 of first-degree murder and a weapons count for the killing of Linda Wierzbicki.

In his postconviction motion, Starks argued that his lawyers failed to claim prosecutorial misconduct during his trial. Starks claims that police coerced a confession from him by showing him graphic photos of Wierzbicki’s body, then lied at trial about showing him such photos.

The high court says the lower court’s review of the trial record was enough to discount Starks’ arguments.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have identified a driver killed when his speeding car struck a vacant building in southeast Omaha.

Police say 33-year-old Armando Armas was killed in the 12:15 a.m. Friday crash.

Police say Armas’ car was one of two vehicles speeding east on Q Street when it left the road and struck the building at the intersection with South 37th Street.

Armas was pronounced dead at the scene. Police believe he and the driver of the other vehicle were drag racing when the crash occurred.

Police are looking for the other vehicle and driver.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver died after his car struck a building in southeast Omaha.

The accident occurred about 12:15 a.m. Friday. Police say the car was one of two vehicles speeding east on Q Street when it left the road and struck the building at the Q Street intersection with South 37th Street.

The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. His name hasn’t been released.

Police are looking for the other vehicle and driver.

DAVID CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a crop-dusting pilot has died in the crash of the plane he was flying in eastern Nebraska.

The crash was reported just after 3 p.m. Thursday, about three miles northeast of David City.

The pilot was pronounced dead at the scene. The Butler County attorney’s office identified him as 37-year-old Ragnar Emrich, of Dorchester.

The crash is being investigated.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A 51-year-old York man who wrongfully received unemployment pay has been given four years of probation.

Court records say Timothy Ballard also was sentenced Monday to 90 days in jail, in 30-day increments, unless waived by the court. The judge also ordered Ballard to pay $150 a month toward restitution of $7,040. Ballard pleaded no contest after prosecutors lowered the theft charge.

The Nebraska Labor Department says in court records that Ballard filed weekly claims for unemployment pay for 60 weeks, between Feb. 7, 2012, and Feb. 7, 2015. The department says Ballard reported no earnings for those 60 weeks but actually was working and being paid during 32 of them.

STANTON, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska school board member has been found not guilty of charges related to animal cruelty.

Court records say a judge acquitted 44-year-old Kirk Van Pelt after a nonjury trial Thursday in Stanton. Van Pelt had been charged with aiding and abetting cruel mistreatment of an animal and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child.

Police had said he played a role in the torture of a cat and an opossum. Four juveniles convicted in the case were sentenced to probation and community service. His attorney said there was no evidence that Van Pelt aided any crime or encouraged any delinquency.

Van Pelt is a member of the Stanton Community Schools board.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The city of Lincoln will save more than $570,000 through an agreement to share emergency radio system assets with the state.

Lincoln public safety director, Tom Casady, says the city will operate its new 911 radio system using the Nebraska computer core and will be able to use the statewide radio system for communication, which will be particularly helpful in rural parts of the county.

Through the agreement, the state will be allowed to use Lincoln’s new radio system, which offers better communication service inside the urban area.

Casady said Lincoln will save money now and in the future since it won’t have to buy the core or pay for maintenance in five to 10 years.

The city and state won’t exchange any money in the arrangement.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found in a downtown parking garage.

Police say the body was found around 6:30 a.m. Thursday on the floor of the garage connected to the DoubleTree Hotel.

Officials say the body was found between a wall and a parked pickup.

Police blocked at least one entrance to the garage while collecting evidence.

Authorities had not released the man’s name or any other details about his death by late Thursday afternoon.