OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials say the city of Omaha will have about $6.1 million more than originally projected by the year’s end due in part to an increase in sales tax revenue.

The mayor’s office said on Thursday that the projections are based on figures from the first half of the year.

The sales tax revenue is expected to be $2 million over budget and motor vehicle taxes are up $1 million. Spending is estimated to end at $3.8 million under budget, with nearly half of that coming from unspent funds by the police department.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Federal authorities have awarded $9.8 million to the Central Nebraska Regional Airport to create a passenger terminal.

The Federal Aviation Administration awarded the grant for the $14.2 million terminal. The airport’s executive director made the announcement on Thursday.

Construction crews will break ground next month and the nearly 34,000-square-foot building is expected to be completed in 2016. The administration office and covered parking area will be demolished to make room for the terminal.

An airport board chairwoman says the terminal is the biggest project at the site since the airport’s construction. It will replace a 60-year-old terminal.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — The Columbus Public School District has decided to disband its high school computer labs and equip every student with a MacBook Air laptop.

Superintendent Troy Loeffelholz says the nearly 1,200 Columbus High School students should be outfitted by the end of the semester due to a digital initiative district officials approved this week. The computer labs only hold about 120 students.

He says the technology will help students control their own learning pace.

The district will purchase the laptops from Apple over a four-year period at a total cost of $1.2 million. The technology director says the budget will not increase partly because the district discontinued an iPad lease agreement.

The district is expected to also consider providing laptops or iPads to elementary students.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A 24-year-old man has been found guilty of helping his mother stab her boyfriend’s 68-year-old mother.

Jurors found Andrew J. Casterline of Guide Rock guilty on Thursday of first-degree murder, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony and burglary in the death of Virginia Barone.

Casterline’s mother, Shelley, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder. She’ll be sentenced later this month.

Barone’s body was found partially covered by boards in her home last fall. Prosecutors argued Andrew Casterline helped his mother attack Barone, who was stabbed twice in the back and 20 times in the chest and torso.

Shelley Casterline says she had a bad relationship with Barone. She says they were arguing before Barone’s death.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 28-year-old man has been killed following a head-on car collision near Lincoln.

The Lancaster County Sheriff says Abraham Raymundo was driving southbound early Thursday near Lincoln when his car was hit head-on by an SUV traveling northbound. Authorities say the SUV was trying to pass another vehicle driving in the same direction.

Raymundo, of Crete, was flown to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. A 19-year-old passenger in his car was also taken to a hospital, but additional information was not released.

The driver of the SUV was not hurt. Sheriff Terry Wagner tells the Lincoln Journal Star (bit.ly/1rgztxo) that no citations have been filed, and the case remains under investigation.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska bomb squad has disposed of a decades-old mortar shell bequeathed by a recently deceased World War II veteran.

Omaha police were contacted Thursday by someone who was gifted the World War II explosive and wondered if it was dangerous. The caller said the veteran was a relative. The mortar shell was stored in an apartment garage.

Police say the bomb squad inspected, secured and disposed of the 60 mm shell.

No injuries were reported.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for receiving and distributing child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Gilg said in a news release Thursday that 31-year-old Jeffrey R. Rongish was given a 78-month term. He will be under supervised release when he completes his sentence, and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Authorities say a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy used an undercover computer in October to detect a computer at Rongish’s Omaha home that offered to share child pornography.

Agents later recovered thousands of images of child pornography from a computer at the home. The ages of the children in the images ranged from infant to teenager.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have arrested an 18-year-old in connection to a fatal jewelry store shooting in Omaha.

Milton B. Dortch was booked into jail Thursday on suspicion of first-degree murder, robbery and use of a weapon to commit a felony. Court records don’t indicate if Dortch has an attorney.

Police were sent to JR’s Jewelry & Gifts on Wednesday following reports of a shooting. The store’s owner, 71-year-old James Minshall, was found with several gunshot wounds. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Police say the shooting was part of a botched robbery.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A psychiatrist says he doesn’t know why a mentally ill prisoner was released from custody, giving him the chance to kill four people in Omaha.

Dr. Eugene Oliveto told a legislative committee Thursday that he had recommended Nikko Jenkins be placed in a state psychiatric hospital prior to the shooting deaths, but his suggestion wasn’t followed.

Jenkins was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in April. Lawmakers have launched an investigation into the state’s handling of the case.

Oliveto says it was obvious to him that Jenkins was mentally ill and dangerous, and he disputed arguments by state psychiatrists that Jenkins is faking his symptoms. Oliveto says Jenkins consistently described the same delusions, including an Egyptian god in his mind who ordered him to kill people.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — About 2,000 eighth-graders have been asked whether a school should be able to discipline a student for making an inappropriate comment online even if it didn’t happen at school.

But they had to answer the constitutional question in 140 characters or less.

A group of University of Nebraska law students on Wednesday taught the nation’s governing document in U.S. history classes in Lincoln. They used the social media website Twitter as a way to help start a discussion among the teens about how the Constitution affected their lives.

Each class that participated came up with a tweet that was later posted onto the project’s Twitter account @UNL_CLEP.