COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Police in Colorado say a stuffed toy helped save a 5-year-old girl’s life after she fell out of a third-story apartment window.

The girl broke her arm, but Colorado Springs police say she held on to the toy and it cushioned her fall Thursday night.

Police said the girl was playing in her room when she fell backward out her bedroom window. She dropped about three stories to the ground.

The girl was treated and released, and authorities ruled the fall accidental.

The toy was a Minion, small, yellow creatures popularized by the animated film “Despicable Me.”

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man whose tattoos linked him to two bank robberies in 2014 has been sentenced to more than four years in prison.

U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Gilg says in a news release Friday that 38-year-old Kevin M. Lee was sentenced to four years and nine months. He has been ordered to pay $1,400 in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release.

Lee was accused of entering two separate banks in Omaha in November and passing notes to tellers seeking money. Law enforcement linked him to the crimes when Lee was contacted on an unrelated matter and agents noted that tattoos on his fingers matched surveillance pictures from one of the bank robberies.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Hickman man accused of driving drunk when his car struck and killed a bicyclist south of Lincoln has been sentenced to 12 to 16 years in prison.

27-year-old Everett Hoesing was sentenced Thursday for the death of 57-year-old Douglas Dalke of Lincoln. He had pleaded guilty in June.

According to authorities, Hoesing’s vehicle struck Dalke on Sept. 2. Authorities say Hoesing’s blood-alcohol content tested at more than twice the legal limit to drive.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters are battling a blaze in a downtown Hastings business.

The fire began Friday morning at the Asia Market, across the street from Murphy’s Wagon Wheel.

The Hastings Fire Department has requested mutual aid from neighboring fire departments.

Some traffic in the area has been rerouted and lanes restricted on nearby streets.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says the actions of two deputies during an encounter last month that led to a man’s shooting were justified because their lives were threatened.

He said Wednesday that he has found no wrongdoing by deputies Wade Grim and Chad Miller after reviewing reports, interviewing witnesses and watching patrol camera footage of the June 23 encounter.

Authorities say the man had confronted deputies with a gun when he was ordered out of his vehicle. Investigators say a struggle over the gun ensued and a shot was fired from the man’s gun. Grim then shot the man, who was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Kleine says criminal charges are possible against the man, who remains hospitalized.

MADISON, Neb. (AP) — Fire has destroyed a house in the northeast Nebraska town of Madison.

The fire started around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. Madison firefighters who first arrived on the scene reported that the house was fully engulfed in flames. They were able to put out the blaze out in about 40 minutes.

The fire department thinks the fire started in the garage, but officials are still trying to determine what caused it.

Madison Fire Chief Tim Reeves says the house and everything in it — including a car in the garage — was destroyed.

No one was injured in the fire.

 

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska health department has confirmed the presence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes collected in the area.

The East Central District Health Department in Columbus — about 80 miles west of Omaha — found the virus in mosquitoes collected June 26 in Platte County.

The Department of Health and Human Services says there has been one human case of West Nile in Nebraska so far this year — a male between the ages of 14 and 25 somewhere in central Nebraska.

West Nile is transmitted to people through mosquitoes that feed on an infected bird. Most infected people have no symptoms or only mild flu-like symptoms. A small percentage develops a serious illness.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — An investigation of the Hall County Jail has begun following a letter sent to the Hall County Board of Supervisors by a retired jail employee voicing concerns about the jail’s operation and management.

Hall County Attorney Jack Zitterkopf said attorneys from a Lincoln law firm arrived in Grand Island this week to conduct interviews of jail staff and administrators.

Zitterkopf declined to say whether any jail officials have been put on leave during the investigation.

Zitterkopf confirmed the county’s receipt of a letter by a retired jail sergeant outlining the concerns, but has declined to release the letter, saying it’s part of an investigation and protected personnel file.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have identified a man found shot to death behind the wheel of a car on a northeast Omaha street.

Police said Thursday that 63-year-old Virgil Beard was killed in the shooting reported around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in northeast Omaha. Responding officers found a car with its windows shot out and Beard dead inside the vehicle.

Police canvassed the neighborhood looking for suspects and witnesses to the shooting.

Police did not announce any arrests in the shooting Thursday morning.