OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha teacher is one of 17 nationwide to receive an EPA award for environmental education.

The Environmental Protection Agency says Kristine Denton won a presidential innovation award for her work at Omaha’s King Science and Technology Magnet Middle School.

The honor comes with $2,000 for Denton’s professional development and $2,000 for environmental education at her school.

Denton has worked with King students to build indoor aquaponic farming systems and used those systems to raise produce to donate to a local homeless shelter.

Besides the 17 award winners, the EPA also named 15 teachers honorable mentions.

NIOBRARA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. attorney’s office says a northeast Nebraska woman has been sentenced to probation and community service after her conviction for stealing money from the Santee Sioux Indian Reservation.

The attorney’s office announced Tuesday that U.S. District Court Judge Joseph F. Bataillon sentenced 53-year-old Lila Mechaley, of Niobrara, to five years of probation and 200 hours of community service. He also ordered her to repay $16,726 to the Village of Santee.

Mechaley was convicted of stealing the money from March 2010 through June 2012, when she worked as village clerk.

She had been writing checks to herself and forging the name of the village board chairman.

A village board official discovered the theft after reviewing bank statements and cancelled checks related to a grant awarded to the Village of Santee.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A shuttered Kansas processing plant that made a treated ground beef product critics dubbed “pink slime” plans to reopen next week with limited operations amid rebounding sales.

Beef Products Inc. said Tuesday it plans to start collecting fresh beef trimmings at its Garden City facility on Monday to support its Dakota City, Nebraska, operations.

The Kansas plant is the first to reopen since the South Dakota-based company closed three facilities over the 2012 controversy about the meat.

Beef Products will rehire 40 to 45 workers for two shifts of fresh beef trimmings collection and a third- shift cleaning crew at its Garden City location.

Some 236 workers at the Garden City plant lost their jobs in 2012 amid the dustup over a meat product called lean, finely textured beef.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has allowed a compromise that will see the state’s psychiatric hospital staff treat a man found too mentally unfit to undergo sentencing for killing four people.

But Nikko Jenkins will not be housed at the state’s psychiatric hospital. Instead, Lincoln Regional Center doctors will treat Jenkins at a Lincoln prison, where he will be housed.

Douglas County District Judge Peter Bataillon said at a hearing Tuesday that the hospital staff will be solely responsible for restoring Jenkins to competency so he can participate in a hearing before a three-judge panel that will determine whether he receives the death penalty.

Bataillon allowed the compromise after officials testified Tuesday that the Lincoln Regional Center lacked proper security to house a dangerous killer.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Public Schools has had in the past two years a sharp increase in new students born in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Thousands of children from those countries have streamed into the U.S., saying they’re fleeing gang violence and poverty.

Records show that last year the Omaha district enrolled 100 students from those three countries who hadn’t enrolled in the district before and had been in the U.S. less than a year. That was four times as many as in the 2011-12 school year.

District officials say they don’t know whether the children entered the U.S. legally and can’t say for sure whether they are among the 214 unaccompanied minors that federal officials say came to Nebraska between Oct. 1 and June 17.

OSMOND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a northeast Nebraska motorcyclist who died in a collision with a semitrailer.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office identified the motorcyclist as 36-year-old Anthony Higgs, of Plainview.

The crash occurred around 8 a.m. Monday on Nebraska Highway 121 just south of Osmond. Deputies say the northbound motorcycle struck the southbound semitrailer as the trucker was attempting to make a left turn off the highway.

The 61-year-old driver of the semitrailer was not hurt. He was identified as Daniel Hoffman, also of Plainview.

 

WINNEBAGO, Neb. (AP) — A Winnebago man has been sentenced to probation for forcibly resisting a police officer last year.

U.S. Attorney General Deborah R. Gilg said in a news release Monday that Chief United States District Court Judge Laurie Smith Camp sentenced 59-year-old Richard Brownrigg to five years of probation. He must also pay a special assessment of $100.

Authorities say Brownrigg resisted the arrest of a Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer in November. Brownrigg was accused of leading the officer on a high-speed car chase before the officer stopped him.

Brownrigg was also accused of trying to drive away from the officer once he was stopped. Authorities say the officer dove into the vehicle and turned off the engine, and Brownrigg physically resisted the officer’s attempts to arrest him.

OSMOND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a northeast Nebraska man has died in a motorcycle crash involving a semitrailer.

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office says the crash happened Monday morning on Highway 121 near the community of Osmond.

Authorities say the motorcycle struck the semitrailer as it was attempting to make a left turn. The driver of the motorcycle, a 37-year-old man from Plainview, was killed.

The 63-year-old driver of the semitrailer was not hurt. Authorities have not released the drivers’ names.

ELK CREEK, Neb. (AP) — The Canadian mining firm exploring a deposit of a rare heat-resistant element in southeast Nebraska says the latest samples are some of the most promising yet.

NioCorp Developments said Monday that tests of some of its latest drilling samples showed relatively high concentrations of niobium.

The company already added a third drilling rig that will help expedite this summer’s exploration of the site near Elk Creek, Nebraska.

The U.S. currently imports nearly all the niobium that’s used in this country to harden steel and make it more heat-resistant for industrial uses.

NioCorp previously estimated that more than 100 million tons of niobium rests several hundred feet below the ground. The company is trying to determine if it will be profitable to build a mine.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A girl accused of stabbing a fellow student at a Lincoln high school last year has entered a no contest plea to a felony assault charge.

The 17-year-old entered the plea Monday in Lancaster County District Court as part of a deal reached with prosecutors. Charges of first-degree assault and use of a deadly weapon were dropped.

A no contest plea acknowledges there is sufficient evidence to convict but is not an admittance of guilt. The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify juveniles accused of crimes.

Police say the teen used a hunting knife and a claw hammer to attack a 17-year-old girl in a bathroom at Lincoln Pius X High School in October 2013. The girl was hospitalized and survived the attack.

Sentencing is scheduled on Oct. 16.