OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha families are getting early warning about school bus cutbacks scheduled to begin in fall 2017.

Letters were mailed last week to parents of students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade who could be affected.

Over the next several weeks, families whose eligibility for busing could change in 2017 — an estimated 1,800 students — will receive notices from the district. The notices will say that, based on the families’ current addresses, their students won’t be provided school bus rides to their current schools in the 2017-18 school year.

School officials say they want families to have plenty of time to absorb any busing shifts.

The school board approved the overhauled student assignment plan in June. The plan affects only elementary and middle school students.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in eastern Nebraska have arrested a man in connection to an attack against a good Samaritan on Christmas Eve.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says 30-year-old Bryan K. Reiber, of Lincoln, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of aiding and abetting terroristic threats. Court records do not list any attorney.

Chief Deputy Jeff Bliemeister says Reiber is one of two men suspected of attacking Joel Schrader on Thursday. Schrader said he was helping the men after they knocked on his door and sought help for car trouble.

Schrader says he went outside to look at their car before the men assaulted him and threaten to shoot him.

Authorities say the men escaped but left behind Reiber’s cellphone. Officials are still looking for the second man.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 28-year-old man faces first-degree murder and weapons charges in the stabbing death of a 34-year-old in Omaha.

Omaha police say they arrested Courtney Moore following an investigation into the death of Johnny K. Moore. Police say they responded to the reported stabbing just before 3:30 a.m. Sunday in north Omaha. Moore was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police say they’re still investigating.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say more than $4,000 worth of guns and jewelry were stolen from a Lincoln pawn shop.

AAA Ultimate Pawn was burglarized early Sunday morning. Assistant Lincoln Police Chief Brian Jackson says the incident was reported around 5 a.m.

Jackson says investigators believe the burglar got into the shop by damaging the back door.

Store employees were still taking inventory of the missing items Sunday afternoon, but Jackson says the total loss exceeded $4,000.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has dismissed a federal discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee at a Lincoln pharmaceutical plant.

Joel Padin was a former director of operations at the Novartis plant in Lincoln.

U.S. District Judge John Gerrard on Wednesday granted Novartis Consumer Health Inc.’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit in which Padin accused the company of discrimination, creating a hostile work environment and retaliation.

The judge said in his order that Padin, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, failed to produce sufficient evidence to prove his claims.

Padin alleges that a site controller relayed employee complaints about him speaking Spanish, and also asked him why he was hiring so many Puerto Ricans. Novartis denied the allegation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a person found dead in northeast Omaha was a 51-year-old man.

Omaha police identified the man Sunday at James E. Bailey. Bailey was found Saturday around 11:30 a.m. at 27th and Wirt streets.

The death has been ruled suspicious and the police department’s homicide unit is investigating. Police say Bailey’s next of kin has been notified.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — The Adams County Courthouse in Hastings will be more secure when it opens for the new year.

Officials restricted access to the courthouse’s south entrance. Visitors who enter the building when it opens Jan. 4 also will have to walk through an X-ray machine and metal detector monitored by security guards. One guard will be armed and the other won’t.

Adams County Supervisor Scott Thomsen says officials studied the issue for more than two years before making the security upgrades. They follow enhanced security implemented recently at the city building.

The county paid about $40,000 for the X-ray machine and $5,000 for the metal detector. The annual cost of the security guards will be about $100,000.

Supervisors awarded additional money for cameras and security doors.

___

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Volunteers hope that by spreading seeds, they can help monarch butterflies thrive in the future.

Earlier this month, volunteers spent two day spreading milkweed seeds over 50 acres of brown grass dotted with a few bare trees. They hope that by growing milkweed at the spot owned by the Nebraska Public Power District near Beatrice, they can help reverse an estimated 90 percent decline in monarchs.

Much of the drop is blamed on a lack of habitat.

Tom Weissling, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor of entomology, notes that Nebraska sits in the monarch flyway for the annual treks between Canada and Mexico. That makes additional habitat especially important in Nebraska.

The milkweed seeding cost about $30,000, which was covered by several groups.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 36-year-old woman hiding from deputies was caught after she fell through the ceiling of an adjoining duplex unit in Lincoln.

Kristina Frerichs was taken to a hospital after her fall Wednesday and then to jail. Online records say she remained there Friday. Attempts to reach Frerichs’ attorney were unsuccessful.

Deputies say they saw Frerichs through a window at her residence but couldn’t find her when the duplex owners let them in. Deputies say residents on the other side of the duplex soon reported that someone had fallen from the attic through the ceiling of their living room. Frerichs was found hiding at the bottom of a nearby staircase.

Court records say Frerichs was sought on warrants stemming from four felony drug possession convictions in three cases.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — At the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, even the animals shared in the holiday spirit.

In keeping with a zoo holiday tradition, on Thursday keepers presented their animals with treat-filled presents.

Zoo director John Chapo said the treats are an enrichment for the animals, and “the keepers have a great time with it.”

Carson and Tenzing, two of the zoo’s red pandas, found bamboo, bananas and apples in their box. Ranney, the snow leopard, savored meatballs. A naked mole-rat feasted on baby pears.