LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The superintendent of the Lincoln Public Schools says he learned long ago to separate himself from the immigration debate and focus on children.

About 200 unaccompanied minors from Central America are now in Nebraska.

Some outraged lawmakers sent a letter to the federal government asking for their names and whereabouts.

For Lincoln Superintendent Steve Joel, the issue echoes his experience running the Grand Island Public Schools in 2006. About 165 students had relatives who were detained and 25 had two missing parents after a raid at a meatpacking plant.

Joel guaranteed then that the schools would be a safe haven, a decision he’s proud of.

His current district says it’s not aware of any unaccompanied minors, but if they come, Joel says they’ll be educated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 49-year-old California man has been sentenced to a Nebraska prison for hauling hundreds of pounds of marijuana into the state.

Online court records say Julio Sanchez, of La Palma, California, on Thursday was given two to four years and was credited for 261 days already served. He’d pleaded no contest to attempted possession of controlled substances for sale. Prosecutors had lowered the original charge and dropped another in exchange for Sanchez’s plea.

The Nebraska State Patrol says 730 pounds of pot was found hidden in boxes of produce found inside a semitrailer driven by Sanchez, in November. The marijuana’s street value was estimated at $2.5 million.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man has been sentenced to six months in prison for computer fraud for breaking into databases of the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska State College System.

Daniel Stratman, who is 23, will be allowed to serve his sentence on work release. He also must serve a 3-year term of supervised release and pay more than $107,000 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg says in a statement a computer security breach was discovered in May 2012. An investigation led investigators to Stratman, then a senior at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

A search warrant of his residence and forensic examination of his computers verified that he had damaged the integrity of the protected computer systems and records maintained by the University of Nebraska and the Nebraska State College Systems.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln’s public safety director and an Omaha state senator are calling for an expansion of early education as a way to prevent crime.

Public Safety director Tom Casady and state Sen. Burke Harr spoke Thursday at the Justice and Law Enforcement Center in Lincoln.

Their remarks came with a new report from a Washington-based group, “Fight Crime: Invest in Kids.” The report notes that Nebraska has more than 5,000 adults incarcerated.

The group is part of the Council for a Strong America, an organization that promotes investments in child care and education programs.

Casady says children with a good start are less likely to struggle in school and turn to crime later in life.

PLAINVIEW, Neb. (AP) — Five public school districts in northeast Nebraska are considering merging, but so far officials are meeting in private to discuss the possibilities.

Reporters were turned away from Wednesday’s meeting of representatives from the Bloomfield, Creighton, Osmond, Plainview and Wausa districts.

None of the districts sent enough board members to the meeting to make it automatic that the meeting be public under state law.

Plainview News Publisher Brook Curtiss plans to file a complaint with the Nebraska Attorney General’s office over the closed meetings.

Plainview Superintendent Richard Alt says all of the districts involved will consider whether to make future meetings open to the public.

Minutes from the closed meetings are posted online afterward.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State liquor control regulators have suspended the liquor license of a Waterloo bar which served an 18-year-old man who died in a December 2012 crash.

The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission imposed a 35-day suspension for Waterloo Fire Barn Sports Bar and Grill. The commission had waited for the conclusion of criminal charges before acting.

One of the bar’s owners pleaded no contest to serving a minor and serving to an intoxicated person. Amanda Heiman, a server at the bar at the time, was convicted in February of serving to a minor and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Jacob Dickmeyer was killed in the crash. His blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit. Investigators found he had been drinking at the bar before the accident.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha day care owner accused of failing to report child abuse has been fined $500.

Thirty-nine-year-old Jennifer Schmaderer, owner of Grow with Me Day Care, was sentenced on Thursday. She’d pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge.

Authorities say Schmaderer didn’t report the 2012 actions of Sarah Cullen, a former employee at the day care. A report by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services says Schmaderer was told by other employees of four incidents in which Cullen was rough with children. Schmaderer’s attorney says her client misunderstood the law about reporting such incidents

In March Cullen was found guilty of child abuse resulting in death. A child under her care as a nanny in late February 2013 died after suffering a fractured skull and massive bleeding.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Kids who found a message in a jar discovered inside a rotting tree stump have unearthed memories for a former Lincoln city worker.

The jar was found last week by some day campers at Wilderness Park as they dug out the stump.

A note inside the jar said: “This tree was repaired June 3, 1983, by the forestry section of the city Park Dept. Take this note to the office.” And so they did, which led them to the story about how the jar got there.

Joe Haag said that he’d put the baby food jar inside a hollow of the ailing tree when he worked for the city. The tree survived until it was cut down last year.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A Columbus man and his girlfriend accused of abusing his 10-month son have made plea deals.

22-year-old Juan Trejo pleaded no contest to felony child abuse after prosecutors dropped two similar charges. Twenty-two-year-old Julie Staroscik pleaded no contest to misdemeanor negligent child abuse after the charge was reduced from a felony. They made their pleas on Monday.

Trejo’s sentencing date is Aug. 15. Staroscik’s is Aug. 25.

Authorities say Trejo fractured the boy’s skull this spring by throwing him to a floor when the baby wouldn’t stop crying. A doctor at Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha says the boy had about 20 fractures to his skull, ribs, arms and legs in various stages of healing.

Staroscik is not the boy’s biological mother.

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — An eastern Kansas man is charged with first-degree murder after an abduction and police chase ended in the death of a 5-year-old girl.

Thirty-year-old Marcus McGowan, of Atchison, was charged Wednesday with aggravated assault, two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, aggravated endangering of a child and trying to elude law enforcement officers.

Leavenworth County prosecutor Todd Thompson announced at a news conference that McGowan appeared in court early Wednesday and had the charges read to him. He is being held in the Leavenworth County jail.

Authorities say McGowan abducted Cadence Harris on Friday from a home they shared with the girl’s mother in Atchison. Cadence was found dead in McGowan’s car after a police chase ended with McGowan being shot when he pointed a gun at officers.