OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Douglas County judge is not budging from his order to keep his courtroom gun-free — despite concerns by uniformed Omaha police who’ve been barred from entering with their service weapons.

District Judge James Gleason says he is aware of the concerns of Omaha police, who have said that their service weapons are a required part of their uniform.

But Gleason said in a recent written response to Omaha police authorities that he has had a no-guns rule in his courtroom for almost 13 years, and the first time an officer objected was at a Dec. 14 hearing.

Gleason says the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is solely responsible for security at the courthouse.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say they are investigating the death of a man whose body was found Friday in a vacant Omaha house as a homicide.

Omaha police say the body of 54-year-old Derek DeWolf was found around 12:30 p.m. Friday in a house near 15th Street and Willis Avenue in east Omaha.

The house had been damaged at one time by fire.

Police have not disclosed how DeWolf died, and no arrests have been made.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Frigid temperatures and strong winds have led weather officials to warn Iowa and some Nebraska residents of dangerously low wind chills this weekend.

The National Weather service says temperatures in the single digits Saturday in northern and eastern Nebraska and the northern half of Iowa will feel like 15 to 25 degrees below zero because of strong winds. The service says the dangerous wind chill is expected to last through Sunday morning.

Weather officials warn that wind chills that low can lead to frostbite within minutes for any exposed skin.

Residents are asked to stay in heated areas and bundle up if they must head outside.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 2-year-old boy has nearly drowned in a Lincoln bathtub.

A police spokeswoman says the child’s stepmother reported stepping away from the tub for a couple minutes to check on another child Thursday night. The woman says the toddler was under the water when she returned.

Police spokeswoman Katie Flood says Officer Aaron Peth arrived at the home within minutes of a 911 call and gave the toddler CPR until medics arrived. The boy then was taken to a hospital.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled that a Lincoln man can’t be retried on an attempted sexual assault charge because a jury has already cleared him of some of the allegations made by prosecutors.

The court issued its ruling Friday in the case of Curtis H. Lavalleur, who was convicted of first-degree attempted sexual assault but acquitted of first-degree sexual assault. His conviction on the attempted sexual assault charge was overturned in 2014.

Prosecutors filed an amended charge against Lavalleur last year, alleging that he attempted to penetrate his accuser when he knew or should have known she was incapable of resisting.

Lavalleur’s attorney argued that a jury in his earlier trial had already rejected the argument that Lavalleur knew or should have known his accuser was incapable of resisting.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — A Dodge County man who fatally shot his daughter’s former boyfriend has been convicted of manslaughter.

Authorities say the man had confronted 22-year-old Tyler Childs, of Fremont, in July when Childs tried to visit his former girlfriend at her parents’ home two miles northeast of Fremont.

Forty-three-year-old Walter Campo is scheduled to be sentenced March 14. Campo pleaded no contest Thursday and was found guilty of manslaughter after prosecutors dropped a felony weapons charge.

Campo faces from one to 20 years in prison.

___

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Police Department has determined that an officer’s use of force was justified as he tried to break up a high school fight last month.

The department excused Officer Nick Caniglia for punching a Millard South High School student multiple times Dec. 17.

Video footage examined during the investigation shows Caniglia intervening with the fight and getting punched in the head by the 17-year-old student.

Canglia responded with punches, ordered the student to the ground and handcuffed him.

The department says the students involved were attempting to cause injury and that the fight was ongoing when Canglia intervened, despite numerous attempts to stop it.

The student who punched Canglia wasn’t charged for assault on an officer because the student confessed, saying he wasn’t aware he was hitting an officer.

<iframe src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bb9VtoTepWE” width=”650″ height=”480″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”></iframe>

NORTH BEND, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska man has reported that someone sheared 15 inches of hair off the tails of his colt and one of his ponies.

Bruce Tompkins, of North Bend, filed a report Sunday with the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office. Tompkins says a horse’s tail is its only defense against flies.

Since making the report he’s learned that horse hair can be worth up to $400 a pound. Tompkins said that, among other things, the hair can be used for charms, hat bands, violin bows and hair extensions for show horses.

The Nebraska Humane Society has reported a similar theft in northeast Nebraska.

RED OAK, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced after pleading no contest in December to raping a 14-year-old girl multiple times.

The 38-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 to 25 years in prison on a first-degree sexual assault charge and 10 to 15 years on another charge. The sentences will run consecutively.

Police documents say that the man molested and had sex with the girl over a three-year period.

The girl told a social worker at her middle school about the incidents. The teacher contacted the police, who arrested the man.

The girl said during a forensic interview at the Child Advocacy Center that the assault began when the girl was 12 and escalated to rape in March 2014.