OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha city park workers and volunteers plan to wrap ash trees throughout the city to help raise awareness of the emerald ash borer threat.

The Omaha Parks Foundation and City of Omaha Forestry Division will work with volunteers on the effort.

Following a news conference Saturday in Seymour Smith Park, volunteers will spread out through the park, Abbot Drive, Memorial and Elmwood Parks, Regency Parkway and Ramble Ridge Park, where they will wrap nearly 1,000 ash trees on city rights of way and parkland over a week.

Emerald ash borers are native to Asia and were first detected in Michigan in 2002. Authorities have said the insect has killed more than 50 million ash trees since in the United States and have been found in at least 20 states.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge says a 42-year-old Lincoln man who twice was ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial in his wife’s slaying is now competent.

Kent Burklund is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Bettina Burklund. She was found dead in the couple’s home in April 2014.

Retired Judge Jeffre Cheuvront (shehv-ROHNT’) made the ruling Wednesday, based on an April 30 report by a doctor at the state psychiatric hospital in Lincoln. A trial date has not been scheduled.

Another judge ruled in August last year and again in February this year that Kent Burklund was incompetent for trial. But that judge also said a doctor at the state hospital reported there was a substantial likelihood that Burklund’s competency could be restored.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Douglas County prosecutors say an autopsy shows a boy thrown into the Elkhorn River on the eve of his fifth birthday drowned.

The autopsy says Josue Ramirez-Marinero, whose tiny body was pulled from the river Monday, showed no signs of injury or trauma.

Police say Josue’s 25-year-old half brother, Roberto Martinez-Marinero, threw the boy into the river on May 5 because the boy had witnessed his mother’s killing at the hands of Martinez-Marinero. Police reports say he would have turned 5 on May 6.

Police say Martinez-Merinero also told investigators he had killed his mother, Jesus Ismenia Marinero, on May 5. Her body was found in a southeastern Omaha ditch.

Martinez-Marinero is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. His girlfriend, 24-year-old Gabriela Guevara, is charged with being an accessory.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Three people have been taken to a Hastings hospital as a precaution following a natural gas leak at a discount department store.

A forklift hit a heater inside a Walmart at Hastings on Friday, causing the leak.

Hastings Fire Chief Kent Gilbert says employees worked to keep customers safe. He says the building was evacuated, then ventilated.

Gilbert says the three taken to a hospital were treated because they had smelled the gas. Natural gas is colorless and odorless, but an odor is added to it as a safety measure to help people detect leaks.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 71-year-old Omaha man has been hospitalized for a gunshot wound received when his son’s gun accidentally fired.

Police say Donald Dober was taken to Creighton University Medical Center on Thursday. He’s expected to survive.

Officers say the man’s son was handling the weapon when it fired. Officers at the scene say the bullet went through a wall before hitting Dober.

Police say Dober’s son has not been arrested or charged.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An 8-year-old Lincoln boy who had hallucinations and who tested positive for methamphetamine has been taken from his mother.

A judge on Thursday ordered the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to take temporary custody of the boy and two siblings.

Court documents say the boy told an investigator about awakening Tuesday and seeing “bugs crawling everywhere and stuff dripping from the ceiling.” The boy says the hallucinations continued at school, where staffers called his family.

The documents say a subsequent urine test confirmed the presence of meth and other amphetamines.

The investigator says the boy’s mother showed signs of meth use when she was contacted. She declined to take a drug test. She has not been criminally charged or arrested.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 22-year-old Fremont man has been given two days in jail and two years of probation for vehicular homicide.

Online court records say Kyle Swatzell was sentenced on Thursday in Douglas County Court. He’d pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge.

Authorities say Swatzell was driving a semitrailer on Nebraska Highway 36 on Sept. 11 last year when he ran a stop sign and hit a sport utility vehicle, killing its driver, 36-year-old Ryan Boelman, of Bennington.

Swatzell’s two days of jail are to be served on Sept. 11 this year and next year. He was fined $1,000 and must perform 100 hours of community service. Judge Sheryl Lohaus also revoked Swatzell’s license for two years.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A July sentencing has been scheduled for a 57-year-old Florida woman convicted of drowning a puppy in a south-central Nebraska airport restroom.

Cynthia Anderson, of Edgewater, Florida, pleaded no contest on Thursday and was convicted of cruel neglect of animal, resulting in its death. She faces up to five years in prison on the felony charge. Her sentencing is set for July 30.

On Jan. 23 Anderson was barred from boarding a flight at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport in Grand Island because the puppy was so young and not properly contained.

Authorities say Anderson then was seen entering the restroom. Another woman soon reported finding a dead Doberman puppy in a toilet.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The bird flu outbreak that reached Nebraska earlier this week has spread to a second farm in the northeast corner of the state.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture said Thursday that a second flock of 1.8 million chickens in Dixon County is infected.

The original farm where the disease was found earlier this week had 1.7 million chickens. All the chickens on both farms, which are owned by the same producer, will be killed to help limit the spread of the disease.

State Agriculture Director Greg Ibach says officials have established a perimeter around both farms.

Ibach says the spread of the disease is unfortunate, but not unexpected. The disease has been difficult to contain in other states.

Officials say the bird flu doesn’t represent a significant human health risk.