SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska regulators have approved plans for a horse track and simulcast wagering facility at the site of the former Atokad Downs in South Sioux City.

On Thursday the Nebraska Racing Commission granted a license for South Sioux City Racing and Events Inc. The track is being developed by Ho-Chunk Inc., the economic development corporation for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Atokad Downs closed in 2012.

There will be a single day of live racing at the new, short track on Sept. 10. State law requires Nebraska tracks to hold at least one day of live racing to also offer simulcast bets from other tracks.

The South Sioux City complex also would be eligible to add casino gambling if voters were to approve gambling measures being proposed for the November ballot.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled that a knife with a blade longer than 3½ inches is indeed a deadly weapon that a Lincoln resident should not have had in his vehicle.

Court records say Bao Nguyen (bow wihn) was convicted of possessing drugs and carrying a concealed weapon and sentenced in 2015 to one to three years in prison. He didn’t appeal his drug conviction but did appeal the weapons count to the Nebraska Appeals Court and then to the Supreme Court.

Nguyen argued the state must prove he had deadly intent for the knife found in a sun visor of his vehicle.

On Friday, the high court said state statute made it clear that any knife with a blade longer than 3½ inches is a deadly weapon.

BOYS TOWN, Neb. (AP) — Boys Town National Headquarters will soon have a new statue to recognize that hardship isn’t exclusive to one race or gender.

Omaha sculptor Matthew Placzek is creating a new version of a statue of two brothers that currently sits at the entrance. The new statue is of an older boy carrying a smaller girl on his back. The girl is white, and the young man is black.

Boys Town was founded by Father Edward J. Flanagan in 1917 as an orphanage for boys. It has since grown into a pioneering nonprofit organization for troubled youth with 400 boys and girls living on the Omaha campus and about a dozen facilities around the U.S.

The new statue will be installed on the campus when the organization celebrates its 100th anniversary next year.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school told a judge he doesn’t want the Chicago attorney who was removed from his defense team reinstated.

Anthony Garcia wrote a letter to Douglas County District Judge Gary Randall that was filed Thursday.

Garcia says he doesn’t want Alison Motta reinstated despite the fact his legal team has asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to order that.

Randall removed Motta from the case after she made public comments days before Garcia’s trial was to begin that 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.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Relatives of a homicide suspect say he’s innocent of the allegations because he was at a family picnic when an Omaha woman was shot.

On Wednesday a judge ordered Michael Goynes held without bail while awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder and other crimes. Police say he fatally shot Barbara Williams during a drive-by outside an apartment building on April 25.

Deshawn Goynes and Allenzandra Valentine say their brother never left the family picnic and say they have photos of him there.

A murder charge against Goynes in a separate, 2015 case was dropped earlier this year because prosecutors had doubts about proving the allegation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A bomb squad has detonated a live explosive found near an office in west Omaha.

Authorities were sent to the area around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday after someone spotted the device. Investigators say it was cylindrical, wrapped in electrical tape and filled with explosive powder.

Authorities say it was detonated without incident or harm to anyone.

Police are investigating how the device got there.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A jury has awarded $2.64 billion to the family of a 19-year-old Peru State college student who disappeared in 2010, but the massive judgment likely won’t be collectable.

The verdict in Tyler Thomas’ disappearance is against Joshua Keadle who is the last person to have seen Thomas alive.

The 34-year-old Keadle is in prison for an unrelated rape conviction. Authorities say Keadle made several statements that led investigators to believe he was involved in Thomas’ disappearance, but he has not been charged.

The family’s attorney, Vince Powers, says the ruling holds Keadle accountable and affirms the value of Thomas’ life.

Thomas’ body was never found, but a death certificate was issued in 2013.

The family’s lawsuits against the Nebraska State College Board of Trustees were dismissed.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a retired University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor who died after being pulled from a YMCA pool in Lincoln.

Police identified the man as 66-year-old Allan McCutcheon. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that McCutcheon was a University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor and chairman of survey science. He was also a professor of statistics and survey research and methodology at the UNL-Gallup Research Center in Lincoln, and he had been the founding director of that center.

Officials say McCutcheon retired from the university last year but had been around campus often helping his successor.

Police say a lifeguard and other swimmers found the Lincoln man unresponsive Tuesday morning in the Cooper YMCA pool. He was pronounced dead later at a hospital. An autopsy has been ordered.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln will soon see trolleys again after a more than 70-year absence.

The city’s public transit bus system, StarTran, plans to buy two compressed natural gas trolleys and three buses with a $2 million federal grant.

City transit manager Mike Davis says StarTran uses 13 compressed natural gas buses on its routes on the University of Nebraska’s campus and that they generate 20 percent less greenhouse gas than regular buses.

The new trolleys will have rubber tires and operate like a bus instead of riding on tracks or being attached to overhead trolley wires.

StarTran has issued a request for proposals for the trolleys, which will run on a route that goes through downtown. StarTran hopes to begin using them in early 2017.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Members of an Omaha family have changed their minds about settling a lawsuit filed against the city and have asked the City Council to vote against the deal.

The lawsuit was filed after the March 21, 2013, arrest of three brothers. A video taken by a neighbor shows an officer grabbing one of the brothers from behind and throwing him to the ground.

Members of the Johnson family Tuesday asked the City Council to vote against the up to $90,000 settlement they’d reached during mediation in federal court. Sharee Johnson said she and others didn’t realize their oral agreement was binding on them. She says the family members want their day in court.

The council voted to delay a decision.