LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Board members for a natural resources district have begun the process of removing a colleague who wants to remain on the board despite being out of the country until June, teaching in China.

The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District board on Wednesday voted against excusing Steve Larrick’s absence from the meeting.

Larrick represents west Lincoln on the board. He’s asked his colleagues on the board to excuse his absences until June. But state law doesn’t allow the board to grant a sabbatical or extended leave.

If a director has more than two consecutive unexcused absences from monthly meetings, a board can, after a public hearing, declare the seat vacant.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A Sarpy County sheriff’s deputy accused of a sex assault at a sports bar has been fired.

Rick Wheeler had appealed his firing to the county’s Merit Commission last week, but Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov says Wheeler lost.

The 53-year-old Wheeler has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for March 13.

Wheeler was a sergeant who’d worked 26 years for the Sheriff’s Office.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline are vowing to overturn a state law that let former Gov. Dave Heineman approve the route, regardless of what happens at the federal level.

Jane Kleeb of the group Bold Nebraska said Wednesday that landowners will continue their lawsuits challenging the state’s 2012 pipeline-siting law. The law allowed pipeline builder TransCanada to bypass Nebraska’s Public Service Commission, which is independent of governors.

Some Nebraska landowners and environmental groups are urging President Barack Obama to reject a presidential permit for the oil pipeline. Kleeb says Obama doesn’t have to wait because of what’s happening in Nebraska, because the route will be challenged regardless.

Kleeb and other groups that have been in contact with the White House say a decision could come in early March.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — The city of Ferguson is attracting a large pool of applicants to police jobs, including minority candidates seeking the position left vacant by the resignation of Darren Wilson, the officer who fatally shot Michael Brown.

About 1,000 people applied for a dispatcher’s job, and 50 to 60 have applied for two patrol officer jobs. Two additional openings are expected soon from pending retirements.

Mayor James Knowles III says many black officers from neighboring towns are among the applicants.

After Brown’s death, Ferguson came under fire for having a mostly white police force in a town that is two-thirds African-American. A grand jury cleared Wilson of wrongdoing.

Knowles says the city was seeking more minority candidates long before the shooting, and city leaders have redoubled those efforts.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The leader of a Kansas commune that received millions of dollars in life insurance payouts from dead members has been convicted of murder in the drowning death of a female member.

A jury on Wednesday found 55-year-old Daniel Perez guilty of first-degree premeditated murder for 2003 death of Patricia Hughes at the suburban Wichita compound that was home to the commune. Her death was considered an accident until 2011, when a woman who was 12 at the time told authorities the death was staged.

He also was found guilty of all 27 other counts, including rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, sexual exploitation of a child and making false information.

Perez testified during the trial that he was innocent of all the allegations.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut dentist has been charged in the death of a patient who was having 20 teeth pulled and several implants installed.

Enfield police say 45-year-old Rashmi Patel turned himself in Tuesday on a misdemeanor count of criminally negligent homicide and a felony count of tampering with evidence. Patel has offices in Enfield and Torrington.

State authorities say Patel’s patient, 64-year-old Judith Gan, of Ellington, died at a hospital last February after her oxygen levels dropped while under sedation after she had her teeth pulled.

Gan’s death prompted the State Dental Commission in December to suspend Patel’s license pending a comprehensive review of his practice.

Patel and his attorney didn’t immediately return messages Wednesday. He has denied wrongdoing.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha hospital spokeswoman says a 74-year-old man who was injured in a Bellevue traffic accident remains in critical condition.

Joseph Sypal was hit around 3 p.m. Monday while walking across Harvell Drive at Fairfax Road. The Omaha television station says the area was briefly closed to traffic during the investigation. The vehicle driver wasn’t injured.

Nebraska Medical Center spokeswoman Jenny Nowatzke told The Associated Press on Wednesday morning that Sypal is being treated at the Omaha hospital.

LOUISVILLE, Neb. (AP) — A derailment of several railroad cars has spilled tons of coal just west of Louisville (LOO’-ihs-vihl) in eastern Nebraska.

The accident occurred around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. No injuries have been reported.

It’s unclear when all the coal will be picked up and train traffic resumes on the tracks.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southern Missouri woman is jailed without bond on federal charges that she tried to hire someone to kill her sister.

Federal prosecutors in Springfield charged Leta Faye Douglas of Houston, Missouri, last week with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

Authorities allege that Douglas told her ex-husband in Nebraska that she questioned her sister’s handling of the finances of the women’s parents.

Investigators say Douglas asked her former husband to help her hire someone to kill her sister for $2,000. But the former husband, who had been divorced from Leta Douglas for 18 years, notified Nebraska authorities.

A message left Tuesday with Douglas’ court-appointed public defenders was not immediately returned.

She is scheduled for a detention hearing Thursday in Springfield.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal agency has issued the producers of the long-running TV show “Cops” a letter offering guidelines that might have prevented the shooting death of a crew member last summer in Omaha.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the guidelines Tuesday after investigating the Aug. 26 shooting. The agency didn’t issue any citations or penalties.

Audio technician Bryce Dion was killed while filming an attempted armed robbery at a fast-food restaurant.

In a letter to Langley Productions, OSHA called for additional training and safety instruction that might prevent future injuries and deaths.

“Cops” is a reality TV show that has depicted law enforcement officers in action since it premiered in 1989.

Langley Productions released a statement saying it intended to implement the recommendations.