GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — An effort to get some new Grand Island businesses to file overdue personal property schedules has backfired.

Hall County assessor Jan Pelland told the Hall County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that she asked her staff to prepare the schedules for the businesses, supply inflated values and then send them to the businesses with directions to correct the values and send the schedules back.

Six of the businesses didn’t notice the valuations — and Pelland says she didn’t check — so the values were reflected on tax bills sent out in December. That’s when they noticed.

Pelland took full responsibility for the office action, and the board voted 7-0 Tuesday to reduce those inflated personal property values by nearly $5.3 million.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has refused to reinstate an attorney for a former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school.

On Wednesday, the court rejected an appeal by Anthony Garcia’s attorneys to let Allison Motta rejoin his defense team. A Douglas County judge removed Motta from the case after she made public comments about DNA evidence days before Garcia’s trial was to begin. The judge says the comments violated ethical rules and could have swayed a jury.

Garcia has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors say he was motivated by revenge over professional grudges, including his being fired from Creighton University’s pathology department.

Earlier this month Garcia told the judge in a letter that he didn’t want Motta reinstated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters have been battling flames at a longtime grocery store a few blocks from downtown Lincoln.

Firetrucks were dispatched a little before 2:15 a.m. Thursday to Ideal Grocery on South 27th Street. Investigators say flames reached upward of 30 feet and some were still visible 2½ hours after the first alarm.

No injuries have been reported.

The store opened in 1920. Battalion Chief Jeremy Gegg told the Lincoln Journal that he would call it “a total loss at this point.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha nonprofit has been awarded more than $1.4 million by the federal government to provide housing for the homeless in certain Nebraska counties.

The Metro Area Continuum of Care for the Homeless received the grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide supportive housing for the homeless in Pottawattamie, Douglas and Sarpy counties.

Funding will go toward rental assistance, as well as the local homeless management information system.

The organization’s assistant director, Lisa Vukov, says that mental health and substance abuse treatment and other support services will also receive aid.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln school officials say hail and rain from a storm last week caused extensive damage to a middle school that’s under construction.

The May 9 storm punched fist-sized holes into 80,000 square feet of roofing at the future Moore Middle School. It received the most damage among schools in the Lincoln district.

Hail beat through the school’s roofing and insulation while rain poured through still-open windows.

Construction workers patched up some of the holes, but district officials said Tuesday the damaged roof will need to be replaced as it covers a third of the total space. Other schools in Lincoln received minor damage.

Officials say insurance will cover what they estimate to be a six-figure damage cost.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man suspected of setting off an explosive device in a Lincoln park has been arrested after nearly two dozen more devices were discovered in his home.

Witnesses at Tierra Park say the man set off the device around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and then went to the house. No injuries have been reported, although several dozen schoolchildren were at the park on a field trip.

Police say they obtained a search warrant and then found 21 more improvised explosive devices that they don’t think were fashioned at the home. Authorities are trying to determine whether the man is connected to mailbox bombings around the city.

Online court records don’t show that the man has been charged.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha City Council has accepted a lawsuit settlement that the people who filed the lawsuit want out of.

Members of the Johnson family changed their minds about settling the lawsuit alleging excessive force by police officers and on May 3 asked the Omaha City Council to vote against the deal. Sharee Johnson said she and the others didn’t realize their oral agreement was binding. She said the family wants its day in court.

The agreement calls for the city to pay $6,000 to each of the five family members who filed the lawsuit and to pay up to $60,000 toward their attorney fees.

The council delayed the decision until Tuesday and then voted 7-0 to approve it.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — A former Dodge County assessor convicted of stealing from the county has been given probation.

27-year-old Brittny King also was ordered to repay $106 and provide 120 hours of community service. In March King was found guilty of two misdemeanor theft counts. The judge told King at Tuesday’s sentencing that she’d serve 90 days in jail if she violated the terms of her 12-month probation.

Court records say King used a county-issued credit card on two occasions to buy fuel for her personal vehicle.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say 46 living cats and 10 dead kittens have been removed from a Lincoln home.

Police responded to the home last week after a UPS driver reported that the home smelled like someone may have died inside. Officer Katie Flood says a woman who lives at the home allowed officers to walk through the home, and they found cats and the home to be in general disarray. The woman was told she had a week to clean up the home and that police would follow up.

Sgt. Randy Clark says 46 cats were taken from the home Monday, along with 10 dead kittens.

Animal Control Manager Steve Beal says that the cats are with the Capital Humane Society. Beal says no citations have been issued, and an investigation is ongoing.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former Lincoln high school math teacher has pleaded no contest to driving drunk for the third time.

42-year-old Terry Harms, of Cortland, entered the plea Tuesday. The charge stemmed from a December traffic stop, during which Lincoln police smelled alcohol on Harms.

Police say his blood alcohol level registered at 0.165 percent — more than twice the legal limit to drive in Nebraska.

Court records show Harms was convicted of drunken driving in 2007 and 2011.

He worked as a substitute teacher for Lincoln Public Schools and as a part-time teacher at Lincoln North Star. School district officials say Harms has resigned.

He will be sentenced July 1.