OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a motorcyclist has been killed in a collision with a semitrailer in northeast Omaha.

The accident was reported a little after 8:50 p.m. Tuesday. Police say the northbound motorcycle struck the right rear of the semitrailer, which was turning left.

The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. Police identified him as 47-year-old Christopher John, of Omaha.

The truck driver was identified as 44-year-old Dave Conklin, of Fremont.

The collision is being investigated.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Grand Island City Council has voted in favor of hiring a 30-year employee of the local police department as the next police chief.

The City Council voted 9-0 to approve Mayor Jeremy Jensen’s pick of Robert Falldorf as the next police chief.

Falldorf will begin his duties Monday with a salary of more than $114,000. He replaces current Chief Steve Lamken, who retires Friday.

Jensen says Falldorf can bring consistency to the department, where he has worked since 1986. He has served as a police officer, sergeant and captain.

Falldorf says his goals as police chief include fostering better communication between the department’s three divisions and continuing to reach out to the community through special programming and events.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) —Authorities in Orlando, Florida, are still searching for a 2-year-old boy who was dragged into the water by an alligator near Disney’s upscale Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and are hoping for the best.

Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Williamson said at a Wednesday morning news conference that it’s still being considered a search and rescue operation and additional deputies will be joining the search.

The boy was with his family on vacation from Nebraska. The family of five was wading in the water of the Seven Seas Lagoon on Tuesday night when the alligator came out of the water and attacked.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says the boy’s father tried to rescue him but was not able to.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Five companies working on a Lincoln apartment complex have been cited for federal workplace safety violations.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Tuesday that it found multiple safety hazards at the construction site in the 1800 block of P Street.

Federal safety investigators observed seven workers exposed to fall hazards up to five stories high at the three-building complex.

The companies cited were East Framing Inc. of Grimesland, North Carolina; South Georgia Framers of Statesboro, Georgia; America’s Best Siding of Fort Collins, Colorado; Aspen Heights of Austin, Texas; and ProCon Construction Services LLC of Ailey, Georgia. The companies face combined fines of $115,000.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska corrections officials say an inmate who tried to escape from an Omaha youth facility was caught before he could get out of his housing unit.

Officials say the youth was able to hide in a commons area because a unit caseworker failed to conduct a formal count. Another staff member found the youth, who was placed in a restricted housing unit.

Department officials say the inmate never came close to approaching the facility’s perimeter and the public was never in any immediate danger. The incident is under investigation.

Department director Scott Frakes says the agency will not tolerate failures to adhere to basic security practices.

The Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility is a maximum, medium and minimum security facility.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting several women in Omaha has pleaded no contest to two counts of sexual assault.

Christopher Ennis reached a plea agreement with prosecutors Monday. He had faced six counts of first-degree sexual assault, one count of attempted first-degree sexual assault and one count of strangulation.

Prosecutors say Christopher Ennis attacked as many as seven women over three years as they walked alone. Ennis is accused of grabbing the women from behind and dragging them behind bushes or buildings before raping them.

Ennis is scheduled to be sentenced in September. He faces up to 100 years in prison.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found in western Omaha.

A Cox Business Services’ employee spotted the body around 6:40 a.m. Monday near an entrance to the Cox building.

A police spokesman could not say whether the woman’s death was being investigated as a homicide. No arrests have been reported.

The woman’s name hasn’t been released.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The widow of a man who killed a police dog during a 25-hour standoff with law enforcement at his Omaha home is seeking money for damage done to the house.

Ann Siewert filed a tort claim notice in the Douglas County Clerk’s Office seeking more than $64,600.

Law enforcement officers had a standoff with Mark L’Heureux on Jan. 22 and 23 after deputies went to the house to serve a Douglas County Board of Mental Health warrant ordering a psychiatric evaluation of L’Heureux. The officers tried to get L’Heureux out of the house by using noise grenades, tear gas and water.

L’Heureux was arrested and died 10 days later. An autopsy report says he died due to water on the brain, low levels of sodium and chloride in his blood.

STANTON, Neb. (AP) — A Stanton woman has been accused of stealing from a youth sports fund in Stanton.

The Stanton County Sheriff’s Office says Elaine Stallbaum has been arrested on felony theft charges. A phone listed for her rang unanswered Tuesday morning. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could speak on Stallbaum’s behalf.

The Sheriff’s Office says Stallbaum is accused of taking more than $17,000 from the Stanton Community youth sports fund that she ran.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Another trial starting date has been scheduled for a former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school.

On Monday, a judge set the starting date as Sept. 26 for Anthony Garcia. The 43-year-old has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and related charges.

Because of legal wrangling, Garcia has had five trial starting dates since his arrest in July 2013.

Garcia is charged in the March 2008 slayings of Dr. William Hunter’s 11-year-old son, Thomas Hunter, and the family’s housekeeper, Shirlee Sherman, as well as the May 2013 killings of Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary. Prosecutors say Garcia was motivated by revenge over professional grudges, including his being fired from Creighton University’s pathology department.