OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police say the officer who shot a man suspected of stabbing two other people has six years on the force.

She was identified in a department news release as Angela Lydon.

The shooting occurred around 6:30 a.m. Sunday at a home in southeast Omaha, after officers were sent there to handle a report about a disturbance.

Officers say they found 38-year-old Jennifer Hickman outside the home with critical injuries and then encountered a 42-year-old man with a knife. Police say Lydon fired and struck the armed man once. Then officers found 63-year-old Walter Hickman with knife wounds.

The Hickmans and the man who was shot were taken to a hospital for treatment. They are expected to survive their wounds.

No officers were injured.

CAMDEN, Maine (AP) — A retired Kansas schoolteacher accused of pushing his wife off a cliff in Maine is going on trial on attempted murder charges.

Jury selection begins Monday in Rockland in the case of 71-year-old Charles Black, who now lives in Salt Lake City. He is also charged with two counts of elevated aggravated assault and three counts of aggravated assault.

Prosecutors say Charles Black tried to kill Lisa Black by hitting her on the head with a rock before pushing her off Maiden Cliff in Camden Hills State Park in April 2011. Law enforcement officials say there was a dispute over a $4 million inheritance from Lisa’s father.

Lisa Black survived after falling a short distance and sought help. Black is banned from staying in town during the trial.

GUTHRIE, Okla. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey has recorded seven small earthquakes shaking central Oklahoma in a span of just about 14 hours.

They ranged from magnitude 2.6 to 2.9 and were centered in the Guthrie, Jones and Langston areas, 15 miles to 30 miles northeast of Oklahoma City. The USGS said the quakes were recorded between 7:57 p.m. Saturday and 9:51 a.m. Sunday. No injuries or damage were reported.

Those follow four other quakes, including a 4.3-magnitude temblor near Langston recorded shortly after noon Saturday. The other Saturday morning quakes ranged in magnitude from 2.9 to 3.2.

The Oklahoma Geological Survey has said the state is experiencing unprecedented earthquake activity and that his agency is closely monitoring it to determine whether the quakes are a natural phenomenon or are man-made.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are investigating whether an Omaha police officer was correct to shoot a man after he stabbed two other people.

Police were called to a neighborhood in southeast Omaha around 6:30 a.m. Sunday to deal with a man with a knife.

Officers encountered a 38-year-old woman outside the home with critical injuries, and then they met the 42-year-old man with a knife.

During the confrontation, one officer fired her weapon and wounded the man. Then officers found a 63-year-old man with knife wounds.

Three people were taken to the hospital for treatment, but they are all expected to survive.

The police officers were not hurt. The officer who discharged her gun is on paid leave while the incident is investigated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A pillow fight that set off a college dorm sprinkler system led to the evacuation of five floors of Schramm Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Campus on Friday night.

Campers staying at this week’s Christ in Youth Conference got in a pillow fight just after 11 p.m. Friday and hit a sprinkler on the fifth floor, setting off the sprinkler system.

UNL Police Officer Greg Byelick says police and firefighters arrived to find all five floors damaged from water coming out of a sprinkler head on the fifth floor.

The group was relocated to Abel and Pound halls for the remainder of its stay.

Byelick says there is not yet an estimate on the damage.

PILGER, Neb. (AP) — Midwest Bank has announced it will rebuild its branch in Pilger, destroyed last month by a tornado that leveled much of the northeast Nebraska town.

Doug Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Midwest Bank, said that while the bank’s physical presence in the community has been temporarily interrupted, its support for the community and Pilger residents has not changed.

While Midwest Bank is in the planning process for a new full-service facility in Pilger, a location in neighboring Wisner has been selected that will be remodeled and opened to serve clients in the area.

The Wisner location is expected to be open for business by late August.

NELIGH, Neb. (AP) — The Antelope County Sheriff’s Office has issued arrest warrant charging two Nebraskans with cattle theft.

The warrants were issued for 27-year-old Benjamin Johnson, of St. Edward, and 22-year-old Rebecca Robbins, of Lyons. Both are accused of selling about $100,000 worth of cattle that didn’t belong to them from an Antelope County farm.

The livestock has since been returned.

Anyone with information where either Robbins or Johnson can be found is asked to contact the Antelope County Sheriff’s Office at 402-887-4224.

 

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP)–Eastern Nebraska’s Platte County is considering levying a lodging tax to create a fund to improve local attractions.

The Platte County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing Tuesday to discuss creating a 2 percent tax to be collected at hotels, motels and campgrounds in the county. The hearing will be held at the Platte County Courthouse.

If approved, the lodging taxes collected would be used to make improvements at county attractions. Such improvements were made with a similar, short-lived tax implemented about a decade ago. That money went to a new scoreboard at the Columbus Aquatic Center and wheelchair lifts at the Platte County and St. Michael’s historical museums.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to stealing a red-footed tortoise last year from the Lincoln Children’s Zoo has been sentenced to 180 days in jail.

25-year-old Michael Sullivan was sentenced Friday.

The tortoise named Captain Hook went missing in March 2013 from her enclosure. Zoo officials say they didn’t report her stolen or missing because they thought she would turn up.

But zoo officials say they received an anonymous tip in June that someone had stolen the tortoise and was keeping it as a pet.

A woman at the address where the tortoise was found said Sullivan showed up — covered in tortoise poop — around 3 a.m. one day and gave her daughter the tortoise as a present.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — State health and environment officials have issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae in Rockford Lake near Beatrice in southeastern Nebraska.

The alert was issued following tests on the lake’s water earlier this week. Signs have been posted at the lake urging people not to swim there.

Officials say the alert will continue for at least two more weeks. People can still use the lake’s public areas for camping, picnics and other outdoor activities.

Skin exposed to the toxin can develop rashes and blisters. Someone who drinks water containing the toxin is at risk for headaches, nausea and muscular pain.