GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A new president has been selected for Central Community College’s Grand Island campus.

Marcie Kemnitz has been dean of instruction for the entire college’s health sciences offerings since February 2009. Pending her approval by the college district board next month, Kemnitz will succeed Thomas Walker. He left to become president of Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

Before joining Central Community College, Kemnitz was an assistant professor in the Sanford School of Medicine at the University of South Dakota. She holds a doctorate and master’s from the University of South Dakota.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — A suburban Omaha city administrator has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an altercation in a dentist’s office.

The attorney for Bellevue City Administrator Dan Berlowitz entered the pleas Tuesday in Sarpy County Court in Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn). The misdemeanor charges are trespassing, disturbing the peace and assault.

Berlowitz has been placed on paid administrative leave.

A police report says Berlowitz poked a Bellevue dentist in the chest on June 21 and then pushed the dentist’s in a shoulder. Berlowitz’s attorney, James Schaefer, says Berlowitz felt threatened and says Berlowitz denies assaulting the dentist.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 46-year-old Omaha man who pleaded guilty last month to dragging an officer with his car has been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.

Robert Mello was sentenced Wednesday in Lancaster County District Court. Police say an officer had reached into Mello’s car on Feb. 4 to try to arrest Mello for shoplifting when Mello began driving forward and backward, dragging the officer.

The officer suffered minor injuries.

Mello pleaded guilty on June 28 to second-degree assault on an officer. He had asked for probation, but Judge Lori Maret sentenced him to eight to 12 years.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Fire officials say an explosion that leveled an Omaha house and killed one person was an accident.

Property inspector Clara Bender died at a hospital following the Monday afternoon blast that also heavily damaged four adjacent homes and injured two other people.

In a report released Wednesday, interim Omaha Fire Chief Dan Olsen says the gas started flowing into the house on Saturday after people moving a clothes dryer didn’t properly shut off a natural gas line to the appliance.

Authorities say the movers reported the smell of gas to the tenant, who called Bender’s cellphone and left a message to report the gas smell. Officials say it’s not known whether Bender received the message before she entered the house on Monday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln residents have gathered to discuss a proposal that would ban paper products from the city landfill.

Residents discussed Mayor Chris Beutler’s recycling plan during a three-hour public hearing Monday night.

The plan would allow business and homeowners to either take their paper products to the city’s free recycling sites or hire curbside recycling services. They city would ban corrugated cardboard from the landfill beginning in April 2017, restrict newspapers in 2018 and forbid other paper products in 2019.

The plan got passionate support from dozens of residents who believe recycling is an important moral duty that’ll promote a more livable environment. But it received equally passionate opposition from business owners who said it’ll raise housing costs for poor people and create a nightmare for landlords.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa trial for a former Nebraska jail employee facing child sex and pornography charges has been delayed.

The Council Bluffs trial of Shawn Beu has been rescheduled to begin Oct. 18 at the request of prosecution and defense attorneys. The trial was supposed to begin Tuesday.

Beu has pleaded not guilty to Iowa charges of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor, and related crimes. He’s also been charged in federal court with child pornography possession.

Beu, who lives in Council Bluffs, was a corrections sergeant at the Douglas County Jail in Omaha when he was arrested in March.

LESHARA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have identified the two people who were killed in a weekend plane crash in eastern Nebraska

The Saunders County Sheriff’s office says 61-year-old Ron Panting of Papillion and 27-year-old Michael Trubilla both died in Sunday’s crash.

Trubilla was an Air Force Captain from Reading, Pennsylvania, who was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. Panting was a flight instructor and a former chief of wing safety at Offutt Air Force Base.

The plane crashed in a soybean field near Leshara, Nebraska, around 3 p.m. Sunday. A witness reported hearing the engine sputter before the Beechcraft Baron crashed.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say they’ve made an arrest in the May shooting death of a man on a north Omaha street.

Omaha police said Tuesday that officers arrested 47-year-old Doloma Curtis on suspicion of being an accessory to the killing of 40-year-old Carlos Alonzo. An arrest warrant has also been issued charging 26-year-old Rolander Brown with first-degree murder and a weapons count.

Police say officers found Carlos’ body around 2:30 a.m. on May 28 after being called to the area for a reported shooting.

More than 10 years earlier, Carlos had been acquitted of murder in the 2001 death of his girlfriend, 17-year-old Teresa Windham.

GRESHAM, Neb. (AP) — Central Nebraska authorities say a 72-year-old man trapped Tuesday inside a grain bin has died.

Polk County Sheriff Dwaine Ludwig said rescue crews were called to the scene north of Gresham early Tuesday morning after Gary Neujahr was buried in corn inside the bin.

Ludwig says Neujahr’s body was recovered around 10:20 a.m.

York Fire and Rescue, Gresham Fire and Rescue and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.