SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — A 70-year-old businessman from South Sioux City has been sentenced to about a year in prison after pleading guilty to drug and money laundering charges.

Frank Firoz pleaded guilty last year in U.S. District Court in Omaha to conspiracy to sell drug paraphernalia and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors say he and others intended to sell chemical compounds found in synthetic marijuana and a designer drug known as bath salts.

He’s been sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison. Firoz owned several head shops called Exotica in Lincoln, Omaha and South Sioux City.

Federal agents seized nearly $900,000 from bank accounts, his home and his stores.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police are warning drivers to beware of thieves as they run their unattended cars, waiting for them to heat up.

Two drivers discovered their cars had disappeared Monday after they started them up and left them alone to get warm. Officer Katie Flood says in both instances, the driver returned minutes later to find their vehicles missing.

Authorities say at least five such robberies have happened this year in the area.

Flood urges drivers to remain with their vehicles as they heat up despite cold temperatures so as to avoid the risk of theft.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska opponents of the Keystone XL oil pipeline say they’ll continue to fight the project even though the state’s Supreme Court allowed its planned route to stand.

Omaha attorney Dave Domina said Monday that landowners on the route can challenge the project again once pipeline developer TransCanada uses eminent domain to get access to their property. Domina says such cases could take two to three years to resolve.

The court on Friday ruled against three landowners who tried to invalidate Nebraska’s pipeline-siting law. Four judges deemed the law unconstitutional, but the other three wouldn’t review the issue, saying the landowners lacked legal standing. Five were needed to overturn it.

A TransCanada spokesman says offers to landowners will expire this week, at which point the company can begin eminent domain proceedings.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A 72-year-old man has been beaten by a man who broke into his home in western Iowa.

Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says the man entered a house in the rural Honey Creek community north of Council Bluffs around 9 p.m. on Sunday. Danker says the man wore a black ski mask, black jacket and hood and used a weapon of some sort to beat Robert Bogar. Bogar’s wife was not injured.

The man left the house without taking anything. Bogar was taken to a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.

No arrests have been reported.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 58-year-old Grand Island man has died after his car rammed into the back of a garbage truck.

Grand Island police say the accident happened around 6:15 a.m. Monday on West Highway 30. Police say Leo Mostek was driving east when his car struck the back of an eastbound truck that was waiting to turn left. Mostek, of Grand Island, was declared dead at the scene. The truck driver was taken to a hospital for treatment of back pain.

The accident is being investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha authorities say a 35-year-old man was able to snatch the gun away from his attacker but was shot in the process.

Police say Orlando Zenteno was in critical condition on Sunday at an Omaha hospital but is expected to recover.

His alleged attacker has been arrested on suspicion of felony assault and use of a weapon to commit a felony. The 31-year-old man from Omaha is awaiting an appearance before a judge.

Officers found Zenteno after responding to early Sunday morning reports about a shooting. Zenteno told police that he and the 31-year-old were fighting and that he was shot while taking the gun away.

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts doctor cured of Ebola says he’s returning to the West African country where he contracted the deadly virus to help his overworked hospital colleagues.

Dr. Rick Sacra (SAY’-cruh), says he won’t normally be working directly with Ebola patients in Liberia but occasionally could be asked to do so. Doctors say he’s now immune to the disease.

Sacra’s wife, Debbie, says she’s glad he’ll only be gone about a month and understands his decision to return.

Sacra spoke Monday at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where he’s a professor. He travels to Liberia on Thursday.

He contracted Ebola in August and was released from an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital in September.

Sacra has worked for years at ELWA, a hospital in the Liberian capital run by the North Carolina-based Christian organization SIM.

WAVERLY, Neb.–  A weekend crash on Highway 6 near Waverly in Lancaster County, led to the arrest of a Waverly man for felony 3^rd offense driving under the influence.

Just before 9:00 a.m., Sunday, January 11, the Nebraska State Patrol responded to a crash on Highway 6, near the Waverly I-80 westbound off-ramp.  The investigation into the crash indicated a 2005 GMC Envoy, ran a red light, striking a 2004 Ford delivery van on the driver’s side. The van was turning left onto Highway 6 from the westbound I-80 exit ramp.

The driver of the Envoy, Matthew J. Runge, 30, of Waverly, was arrested and lodged in the Lancaster County Corrections on a charge of Felony 3^rd Offense Driving Under the Influence and Possession of Marijuana less than an Ounce.

The driver of the delivery van, Scott A. Spompinato, 44, of Ralston, was not injured.  Both drivers were wearing seat belts.

NORTH BEND, Neb. (AP) — Officials have made some adjustments to a proposed highway corridor in eastern Nebraska.

The Nebraska Department of Roads met recently with residents in Dodge County to discuss the proposed U.S. Highway 30 expressway alignment. A new proposal would allow more irrigation systems to keep operating.

Farmers and others met with officials in October and expressed concerns, including available land for irrigation.

Dodge County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Missel says landowners walked away from the Thursday meeting in North Bend feeling better about the project.

The nearly $140 million project involves converting highway between Schuyler and Fremont into a four-lane expressway. Construction is scheduled to begin between 2016 and 2019.

PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters in Plattsmouth say ice formed by frigid weather blocked their access to water during a recent fire.

Plattsmouth Assistant Fire Chief Bill Dudek says a house fire Friday night required the volunteer firefighters to hook onto a fire hydrant. But when they tried to tie in, they noticed it was frozen with a block of ice.

Dudek says firefighters were able to find water in another nearby fire hydrant. They eventually contained the fire, which appears to have started in the house’s attic.

Five people in the house escaped safely with no injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation.