OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 15–year-old boy is facing two first-degree murder charges for his role in the shooting deaths of two Omaha teens.

The 15-year-old was charged Monday in connection with last Wednesday’s fatal shooting of 18-year-old James Star and 17-year-old Brandon Phelps. He is being held at a juvenile detention center without bail.

Two other teens boys, ages 17 and 18, have been charged with conspiracy to commit a felony in connection with the shootings.

The Associated Press typically does not name juveniles charged with crimes.

Prosecutors says the teen suspects were trying to buy guns before the shooting began.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A crash between a church van and another vehicle just north of Colon has killed one person and injured about seven more.

Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz says a northbound church van carrying about 12 passengers tried to make a U-turn and crashed into a southbound vehicle around 8 p.m. Monday on Nebraska 109.

One person inside the other vehicle died and the other was taken to a local hospital in critical condition.

About half a dozen passengers from the van were taken to local hospitals with injuries that aren’t considered to be life-threatening.

A firefighter directing traffic also sustained an injury that’s not life-threatening.

Stukenholtz says officials are working to identify everyone involved. The person who died hasn’t been identified pending notification of family members.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Stuhr Museum Foundation has received more than $1 million over the past 18 months.

Foundation Executive Director Kevin Hendrix calls the amount “once-in-a-generation” giving.

The foundation has received nearly $1.1 million since July 2014. Hendrix says that amount hasn’t been matched since before 2000.

Hendrix says the money came from gifts from the estates of Fran Cronin, Marval Hornady and Gloria Wolbach.

Hendrix says the money isn’t going toward one big project. In fact, the money won’t be immediately spent, but instead be added to the museum’s endowment to help provide for its future.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Board members of school district in Grand Island have approved a policy to randomly drug test students who participate in extracurricular activities.

The Northwest school board approved the policy Monday. It is set to go into effect at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.

Superintendent Matt Fisher said at the board’s meeting that a third party would be needed to randomly select names of students to be tested and to carry out the examinations. He also said that the district still needs to decide what method of testing it will use and how many times per year it will hold tests.

Fisher told the board that once details have been solidified, changes will be made to the student handbook.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Douglas County prosecutors have lost their bid to get more time behind bars for an Omaha man sentenced to 30 to 35 years in prison for strangling his girlfriend and then dumping her body in an open grave

The Nebraska Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the sentence, saying prosecutors failed to show a judge was too lenient in sentencing 21-year-old Mikael Loyd earlier this year. After credit for time already spent in jail, Loyd could be paroled by the time he is 34.

Loyd pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in the August 2013 death of 19-year-old Melissa Rodriguez.

The appeals court said that while the sentence was not the maximum of life in prison, it “is well beyond the statutory minimum of 20 years.”

HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (AP) — Sheriff’s officials say two teen girls have been arrested for investigation of making a credible threat against their suburban Denver high school.

Authorities on Tuesday didn’t reveal details of the threat but did say the charges against the two 16-year-olds could include conspiracy to commit murder.

Douglas County sheriff’s spokeswoman Lori Bronner said authorities were alerted to the plot on Saturday via a text-a-tip program developed for schools.

She said the teens took a substantial step toward completing the act at Mountain Vista High School but declined to elaborate.

Bronner says authorities consider the case contained with no continuing threat.

Mountain Vista was one of many campuses closed in Colorado because of snow.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A number of former Lincoln police officers are making new careers in the Lincoln public school system.

Joe Wright is among them. The former Lincoln police captain said he was hired three years ago as the security director at Lincoln Public Schools. And he recently hired another 15-year police department veteran for a newly-created position: security coordinator.

Currently, four former Lincoln police officers are high school campus supervisors in Lincoln. And they’re not alone in making the move from the squad to the school. Two former officers are para-educators, a former LPD employee is now a custodian and one former officer is a computer programmer for the district.

TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) — The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed at least one death in a crash just north of Tecumseh.

The sheriff’s department says the crash happed around 3 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of state Highways 41 and 50 north of Tecumseh.

Official have not released any other details, including the name of the person killed.

A witness to the crash says the crash involved a semitrailer and another vehicle.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man faces a felony charge after police say he made false bomb threats in an online chat to a bank employee.

The Lincoln Journal-Star reports that the 22-year-old man was arrested on a charge of threatening to use an explosive Friday.

Police say the man was talking about closing his Union Bank account with a Lincoln branch employee through an online chat Dec. 2.

Police believe the conversation became aggressive and that he started sending sexually explicit photos to the employee before saying there was a bomb at the bank branch that would detonate in two hours.

Police and fire rescue responded to the incident but did not find a bomb.

Police tracked down the man by using the suspect’s computer IP address.