OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investigators have determined the cause of a fire at an Omaha auto repair garage that sent one person to the hospital.

Omaha Fire Battalion Chief Tim McCaw says fuel vapors ignited by a water heater caused the fire Monday at a building owned by A-1 United Heating and Cooling, near the northeast corner of 50th and F streets. Fire officials closed off streets in the area to contain the blaze.

Dispatchers say the injured person was taken to Nebraska Medical Center in critical condition for treatment of burns. The person’s name and current condition haven’t been released.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A 78-year-old man has been accused of sexually abusing two girls.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says 78-year-old Merlin Jensen, of Avoca, was arrested April 3 and remained in custody without bond as of Tuesday.

According to a criminal complaint, Jensen is accused of inappropriately touching 7- and 4-year-old girls and exposing himself to them. The complaint says Jensen gave the 7-year-old girl a vibrating toy and attempted to have sex with her at least once.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Jensen to request comment on his behalf.

Jensen is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has sentenced the wife of an Omaha man convicted of killing four people to two to three years in prison.

24-year-old Chalonda Jenkins pleaded guilty Monday to a felony terroristic threat charge and a misdemeanor resisting arrest charge. She was given credit for 92 days already served in prison.

Her husband, Nikko Jenkins, is awaiting a June death penalty hearing. He was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting to death Juan Uribe-Pena, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Curtis Bradford and Andrea Kruger in the 10 days after his release from prison in July 2013.

Prosecutors allege Chalonda threatened to kill a Bellevue police officer’s family and damaged a car. She was arrested in January. Three additional charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha authorities say one person is dead and another remains trapped inside a railroad tank car after a reported explosion.

The incident was reported Tuesday afternoon near the BNSF rail yard in Omaha.

Omaha Fire Battalion Chief Tim McCaw said one man was found lying on the ground near the tank car. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

McCaw says a second worker was trapped inside the tank car, and firefighters weren’t immediately able to reach him because of concerns about the chemicals in the car.

An employee at a nearby body shop tells the Omaha World-Herald that he heard what sounded like two trains colliding and then saw flames shooting into the air.

No fires were reported but officials evacuated the area.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Allegations of possible ticket quotas are being raised by some Omaha police officers after a captain sent an email to address low ticket numbers since a new electronic filing system was implemented.

A captain in the Omaha Police Department wrote an email to staff asking them to speak with officers who issued less than eight tickets in March. The captain wanted to address disparities in the number of tickets officers were filing based on monthly reports.

John Wells, the police union president, said most of the police complaints he’s received center on the eight tickets mentioned in the email. Officers are concerned the language in the email goes against state law that prohibits minimum numbers of traffic tickets and citations.

A police spokeswoman said the action requested by the captain is legal because it does not put any requirements on officers.

SCHUYLER, Neb. (AP) — A federal safety agency has begun investigating the death of a man who was hit by a chain while working near Schuyler in eastern Nebraska.

Twenty-six-year-old Craig Anderson, of Columbus, was killed on April 9 while trying to free a cement truck that had gotten stuck near Lake Socorro, just west of Nebraska Highway 15. Anderson was driving a payloader when a tow chain snapped and he was struck.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release Tuesday that Anderson was working for Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix Co., of Columbus, which previously has been cited for safety violations and paid a total penalty of nearly $8,900.

A company representative didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press, seeking comment on the agency’s investigation.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have taken into protective custody a man who fell from an overpass onto a truck that had stopped below on Interstate 80 in north Lincoln.

The 25-year-old man was seen hanging from a Superior Street span around 7 p.m. on Monday. He landed on a westbound semitrailer that had halted, and he suffered only minor injuries.

Police say the man was having a mental health crisis.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — An 18-year-old from Plattsmouth has entered the equivalent of a guilty plea to a vehicular homicide charge for a collision that fatally injured her 7-year-old sister.

The young woman entered a plea of admission on Monday, and a judge told her to live at home and continue therapy.

The driver was 17 when the accident occurred on Jan. 13, so her case is being handled in Sarpy County Juvenile Court. The Associated Press is not using the sisters’ names, because the AP generally doesn’t name juveniles accused of crimes.

Prosecutors say she failed to yield and her vehicle was struck when she tried to turn west off northbound U.S. Highway 75. Authorities say the teenager’s sister was taken to an Omaha hospital, where she died on Jan. 19.

SUTTON, Neb. (AP) — A 22-year-old Sutton man has been killed in a crash off Nebraska Highway 14 in Clay County.

The accident occurred early Saturday morning about six miles from Sutton. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office says Eddy Garcia was driving south in his pickup near Road 318 when his truck ran into a roadside ditch, went airborne and rolled several times, ejecting Garcia.

Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash is being investigated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln fire officials say a roofing crew caused a three-alarm fire that broke out at a downtown strip mall.

Authorities say everyone escaped the Monday blaze before flames gutted most of the building that’s valued at $635,000.

The Lincoln Journal Star says thick, black and brown smoke spilled across part of the downtown area as crowds gathered to watch firefighters on ladders and on the ground battle the fire.

The Lincoln Fire and Rescue battalion chief says a building inspector will have to examine the structural integrity of the building before a city fire investigator can get inside.