GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Grand Island City Council has decided to outsource its ambulance billing service to a Fortune 500 company, though the cost of the contract hasn’t been disclosed.

The council voted 7-2 Tuesday to approve McKesson Corp.’s proposal to handle annual billing services for what has typically contributed about $1.2 million in ambulance revenue to the Grand Island Fire Department.

Councilman Mike Paulick voted against the plan, saying he’d prefer to keep the billing service local. And Councilman Roger Steele says he rejected the move after he found out McKesson refused to reveal its contract cost.

City Attorney Bob Sivick says the cost was confidential because the company’s billing formula is considered a trade secret, as protected under Nebraska’s open records law.

AURORA, Colo. (AP) — A suburban Denver 4-year-old came home from school disappointed, with untouched Oreos and a note from her teacher.

Preschooler Natalee Pearson told her mom Friday that she wasn’t allowed to eat the cookies in her lunchbox.

The note told parents to pack a nutritious lunch that includes a fruit, vegetable and healthy snack.

Natalee’s mother, Leeza Pearson, says she doesn’t agree with the decision by the Children’s Academy in Aurora.

She says Natalie also had a sandwich and cheese and that the school took things too far.

A spokeswoman with Aurora Public Schools says they gave Natalee a healthy alternative to the cookies.

Pearson says Natalee attends the private Children’s Academy as a public school student under the state’s preschool option program.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 24-year-old man has been given eight to 12 years in prison for injuring an 11-year-old Lincoln boy in a hit-and-run accident.

Court records say Jared St. Louis, of Staplehurst, also was sentenced on Wednesday to 60 days for driving under the influence. The sentences are to be served consecutively. He’d pleaded no contest and was convicted of felony failure to stop and render aid and to misdemeanor driving under the influence. The latter charge was lowered in exchange for St. Louis’ pleas.

Police say Dominic “Dom” Walker was riding his bike to Culler Middle School on Oct. 1 when he was hit by a pickup driven by St. Louis while running a red light. St. Louis drove away after the accident.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A group of Omaha businessmen are planning to transform a vacant movie theater into a recreational shooting range and firearms retailer.

The investors plan to convert the 50,000-square-foot Cinema Center building into the Omaha Gun Club, complete with classrooms for shooting and safety training, a cafe, VIP lounge area and gunsmithing services.

Mike Bazinet, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, says 30 to 40 so-called “guntry clubs” have popped up across the county over the past few years. The clubs emerged from a rise in firearms sales amid a national debate on gun control, as well as consumers’ expectation for more luxury.

Although firearms sales have leveled off, Bazinet says new gun owners are still looking to improve their shooting skills.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A man and wife will be tried together in a Nebraska courtroom, accused of fraudulently taking money from a farmer for an outbuilding that never was built.

Judge James Stecker agreed Monday to order a joint trial for 46-year-old Karla Nelson and her husband, 47-year-old George Nelson. They’ve both pleaded not guilty to felony theft.

Arrest affidavits say the two took more than $41,000 from a York County farmer who had seen a magazine advertisement for Baron Builders, which the ad said erected large outbuildings. Investigators say people representing themselves as employees of Baron Builders spent a day at the farm in May 2012 and erected a few wooden framing posts. They left some wooden framing materials on the ground but never returned.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 32-year-old man who police say twice struck his mother with an SUV in an attempt to evade an officer has been convicted in a related case.

Anthony Flud is scheduled to be sentenced June 15 after being convicted in Douglas County District Court on charges of theft and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest.

Authorities say he’d been sought on arrest warrants after being charged in late December with the crimes. A Bellevue officer has said that while speaking to Flud’s mother in a driveway in February, Flud drove the SUV that hit his mother. The officer said Flud struck his mother a second time and the officer’s patrol car before driving away.

Flud is charged in Sarpy County with assault, evading arrest and failure to render aid.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A charge against a Nebraska man has increased to first-degree murder in the strangling death of his estranged wife in Sioux City.

27-year-old Rogelio Pablo-Morales, of Hubbard, was charged Tuesday. He is accused of killing 21-year-old Margarita Morales, of South Sioux City, Nebraska, on April 19.

Pablo-Morales had been arrested on a second-degree murder charge. An attorney for the man didn’t return the newspaper’s calls seeking comment on the increased charge.

Court documents say Pablo-Morales told investigators a fight broke out when his wife told him he no longer wanted to be in a relationship. He said he wrapped his hands around her neck, and that his next memory was his wife not breathing.

First-degree murder is punishable by life in prison without parole.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man was sentenced in Lincoln to up to three years in prison following a traffic stop that turned up more than $400,000 last year.

30-year-old Jairo Cardenas entered a plea agreement to possession of money during a drug violation. He was sentenced Tuesday to serve at least 18 months before becoming eligible for parole.

Court records say Cardenas was stopped in March 2014 along Interstate 80 for following too closely. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office requested to search the vehicle, during which a police dog alerted deputies to the odor of drugs. Deputies then found $409,748 hidden under the passenger seat.

An attorney for Cardenas called the sentence “a little severe,” saying the vehicle that was searched didn’t belong to his client.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska man faces felony charges after being accused of torturing two family dogs at his home.

Barry Richey, of Papillion, has been charged with two counts of intentional cruelty to an animal. Court documents say the 56-year-old Richey tortured his two dogs, Mario and Bella, on April 20 by “repeated beating or mutilation” of the dogs. Court records say one of the dogs died as a result of the torture.

Richey was arrested Monday and released on $500 cash bond Tuesday. His preliminary hearing has been set for May 12.

A phone number listed for Richey rang unanswered Tuesday. His attorney, Jim Schaefer, was out of the office Tuesday and could not be reached for comment.

A message left for Sarpy County prosecutors was not immediately returned.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Production is expected to begin at a biodiesel plant in Beatrice later this year now that a massive retrofitting is underway and on schedule.

The plant was built in 2007 and purchased in late 2011 by Duonix Beatrice, a joint venture between Benefuel Inc. and Flint Hills Resources, which is a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc.

Michael Harris, Flint Hills Resources venture manager for the project, says the number of contractors on site each day is expected to increase this summer from between 70 and 100 contractors to between 200 and 250 contractors.

He said the goal is to begin production in the second half of this year and to produce 50 million gallons of biodiesel.

Nearly 50 employees will be hired when the plant is operational.