The state Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to license the civil protective custody program run by The Bridge Behavioral Health nonprofit.

The unit would’ve closed if the state had denied its license because medical staff would likely refuse to work at an unlicensed facility, said The Bridge director Tammy Stevenson.

Police bring more than 3,600 people to the program annually to be detoxed. Clients include people arrested for drunken driving, trespassing or urinating in public.

The Bridge officials have agreed to moderate the program’s discharge policy to meet licensing regulations. The program currently holds clients in locked rooms for 24 hours or until their blood alcohol content is zero, which state licensure officials viewed as overly restrictive and unnecessary.

Staff members will now begin to release people when their BAC level drops to less than 0.08 percent, which is the state’s legal limit for driving.

Staff will use a discharge assessment list to evaluate clients for potential early discharge, Stevenson said.

Discharging clients earlier can be an issue because people with chronic alcohol problems can sometimes experience worse withdrawal systems as their BAC nears zero, Stevenson said. But clients will be encouraged to stay voluntarily at the program’s social detox unit, she said.

The program is a good alternative to transporting people to jail or a hospital, said Todd Wiltgen, the Lancaster County Board chairman.

“This is very welcome news,” he said. “We appreciate HHS’s work on renewing the license and are very relieved.”

The 36-year-old father on Thursday was given 60 days behind bars — with credit for one day served — and 18 months of probation. He’d been found guilty of child abuse and assault.

The Associated Press isn’t naming the man in order to protect the boy’s privacy.

The boy told police that his dad was upset with him because he’d come home late and wasn’t where he was supposed to be after school. He reported that his father pinned him down on a bed and slapped him and punched him several times.

The judge noted that the father had been drinking and smoking marijuana before confronting the teenager.

Police said Friday that federal marshals and local police arrested 19-year-old Covarrubias Saturnino in Sioux City, Iowa.

Earlier this week, Omaha police arrested 37-year-old Antwan Lovejoy on charges of first-degree murder and two weapons counts.

Officers responded around 6 a.m. Sunday to investigate a report of shots fired at the store. They found 27-year-old Andrew Peek lying between gas pumps suffering from a gunshot wound. Peek later died at Nebraska Medical Center.

Police say store surveillance video shows Lovejoy shooting Peek and then Lovejoy and Saturnino fleeing in Peek’s car.

PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man has drowned in a Plattsmouth in southeastern Nebraska.

Emergency crews were called Friday morning to Beaver Lake for a report of a possible drowning.

Officials say 70-year-old Kirk Caven was pulled from the water after Beaver Lake Marina employees spotted him floating in the water. Authorities say Caven had been trying to launch his fishing boat from a boat ramp when it drifted away, and he swam after it without wearing a life jacket.

The employees called 911 and used their boats to help pull Caven from the water. Caven was pronounced dead at a Bellevue hospital.

Cedar County District Court records say 26-year-old Derrik Nelson pleaded not guilty Monday to vehicular homicide, manslaughter and other charges. The June 29 crash last year near Fordyce killed Jessi Anderson, a South Dakota State University student.

The records say Nelson’s 65-year-old father, J. Douglas Nelson, has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor accessory charge.

The records say Derrik Nelson was driving the ATV after consuming alcohol for several hours before the crash. Prosecutors say his father disassembled the ATV after the crash in an effort to hide evidence.

The two men live in Yankton, South Dakota.

Valerie Stevens, of Eagle, was given 15 months in a U.S. prison. The judge also told her at her sentencing Tuesday in Lincoln that she must serve three years of supervised release when she leaves custody and must pay more than $222,000 in restitution.

She’d pleaded guilty one count of wire fraud.

Court documents say Stevens was working as an office manager at Lincoln Family Wellness when she used business credit cards to obtain money and property for herself and others under false pretenses. The crime occurred between Jan. 11, 2011, and Oct. 17, 2016.