CENTER, Neb. (AP) — A man accused of killing his wife in northeast Nebraska has been formally charged with first-degree murder.

Knox County Sheriff’s officials say 66-year-old Phillip Privett made an initial court appearance Friday via video.

Court documents show deputies were called to the Privetts’ home in Verdigre early Monday where they found 66-year-old Linda Privett dead. Deputies say Phillip Privett also was in the home, visibly shaken and telling officers that he shot his wife in the face.

He is being held at the Nebraska State Penitentiary on $1 million bail and could not be reached for comment Saturday. Prosecutors say they will not seek the death penalty.

His preliminary hearing has been set for Nov. 6.

OAKDALE, Neb. (AP) — The village clerk of Oakdale in northeast Nebraska has been arrested on suspicion of taking money from village accounts.

31-year-old Megan Brandt is charged with theft by unlawful taking and unauthorized use of a financial transaction device. She was arrested Thursday and remained in the Antelope County Jail on Saturday on $100,000 bond.

An arrest affidavit says bank records indicate Brandt signed and forged numerous checks from city accounts in 2013 and 2014 made payable to her or her husband. The total amount came to more than $27,000. Brandt is also accused of making unauthorized withdrawals from city accounts using an ATM card.

Online court records do not show that an attorney has been appointed for or hired by Brandt.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has lost his lawsuit seeking $500,000 for injuries he said he suffered when he was thrown around in the back seat of a police cruiser.

A Lancaster County District judge dismissed Kirk Botts’ lawsuit Wednesday, saying Botts failed to first file a claim with the city, as required by law.

Botts, who represented himself in the lawsuit, accused the Lincoln officer who arrested him in 2012 on a domestic assault allegation of handcuffing him and putting him in the back seat unrestrained before driving recklessly, speeding and taking corners too fast.

Prosecutors later dropped the domestic assault charge against Botts after a key witness recanted.

ALBION, Neb. (AP) — School officials in north-central Nebraska are pushing for a nearly $13 million bond issue aimed at renovating the district’s school buildings.

Boone Central Public Schools officials have been asking patrons to learn about the proposal before the Nov. 4 election.

The plan calls for an addition and extensive renovation of the high school and elementary school in Albion, as well as adding safety and security measures at the middle school in Petersburg.

In 2012, Boone Central voters soundly rejected a nearly $21 million plan that would have built a new high school and remodeled the existing high school for middle schoolers.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Four University of Nebraska-Lincoln fraternity members charged in the alcohol death of another member have been released from jail on personal recognizance bonds while they await prosecution.

The four students have each been charged with a felony count of procuring alcohol for a minor resulting in death.

Eighteen-year-old Clayton Real was found dead at the FarmHouse Fraternity house near campus on Sept. 5. Affidavits show he died of acute alcohol intoxication.

The four fraternity members charged appeared in Lancaster County Court on Friday, with each being released on the condition that they show up for all their court dates.

Those charged are 21-year-old Vance Heyer, 19-year-old Thomas Trueblood, 21-year-old Cory Foland, and 22-year-old Ross Reynolds.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man who had argued that his lawyer should have challenged as unconstitutional an anti-gang violence law has lost his appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

The high court on Friday affirmed a lower court’s denial of postconviction relief for Ricky Sanders.

Sanders was convicted of firing a gun at an Omaha home in 2011 under a law passed in 2009.

In his motion, Sanders said his lawyer should have argued that the law was unconstitutional special legislation, because it pertains only to drive-by shootings in Omaha, Lincoln and 30 other cities where nearly all of the state’s African-Americans live.

But the high court said a lawyer can’t be found deficient for not raising “every conceivable” constitutional claim.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Law enforcement officials say four Rhode Island boys ranging from 9 to 14 years old robbed and beat a man in Providence.

The attorney general’s office says the four face first-degree robbery charges after using a wooden object and rocks to beat a 45-year-old man after demanding money.

The Providence Journal reports that Victor Boj told police he was approached by the youths Tuesday evening.

Police quickly located the four — two 13-year-olds, a 14-year-old and a 9-year-old. They remain held at a youth facility after appearing Wednesday in Family Court.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska community college is one of nine schools nationwide that will receive part of $1 million in grants to recruit and train veterans to drive.

The federal Transportation Department recently announced the grants to help train veterans to be commercial truck drivers or school bus drivers.

Metropolitan Community College in Omaha will receive $47,614 to support its program.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx says veterans who may have driven large vehicles during their military service are excellent candidates to become commercial drivers.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have charged three people in connection with the death of man in a south Omaha neighborhood.

The arrests Friday came after an investigation into an early morning shooting Saturday that left 23-year-old Jose Fabila dead.

Police say in a news release that 24-year-old Kevin Mejia was charged with 2nd degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony.

Officers also charged 24-year-old James Vega with shooting at an occupied dwelling and 21-year-old Jessica Gusman with accessory to a felony.

They were being held in the Douglas County jail.

It wasn’t clear whether they have attorneys.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has again denied a request for freedom by a woman sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 group slaying of a teenage friend in Bellevue.

Niccole Wetherell was among six people between the ages of 16 and 20 involved in the murder of 19-year-old Scott Catenacci, who was stabbed at least 57 times in a city park. Wetherell, now 34, pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in 1999. She lost her direct appeal in 2000.

The high court later denied her first appeal for postconviction relief. After losing her second postconviction motion, she appealed, arguing that the lower court should have appointed an attorney for her and that her life sentence is unconstitutional.

On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court found no merit to her arguments.