LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A proposal to be considered by the Lincoln City Council would let retailers place shotgun and rifle ammunition on aisles for easy customer access.

Current Lincoln law requires all ammunition to be stored behind counters, so that store employees must respond to customers’ requests. The proposal going before the council next would eliminate that restriction.

Guns and handgun ammunition still would have to be placed behind counters, requiring help from store workers.

Public Safety Director Tom Casady says the change was requested by Scheels.

Manager Louie Sikich of the Lincoln Scheels said at a public hearing this week that it is an expense for retailers and an inconvenience for customers, who like to read the information on the ammo boxes before making purchasing decisions.

GENEVA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska company has been cited for 10 health and safety violations, including three classified as willful.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Wednesday that it has placed the Geneva-based Bioiberica Nebraska in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program. OSHA proposed $101,200 in penalties for the alleged violations, including a failure to protect workers from machine parts during service and maintenance.

OSHA says an investigation found workers were exposed to serious amputation risks and the threat of electrocution, burns, crushing, lacerations or fractured body parts. Willful violations are committed with intentional or voluntary disregard for the law, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

OSHA also cited the facility for using hazardous chemicals without proper worker training.

A company phone rang unanswered on Wednesday.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Gage County officials will spend more than $13,700 to upgrade security equipment at their detention center.

The Board of Supervisors approved the funding at its Wednesday meeting. Board members were told that the technology will help close gaps in the current system. The upgrade was prompted by vandalism and inmate suicides.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Doug Klaus says authorities currently aren’t able to monitor some areas around the facility. Klaus says high-definition cameras will also make it easier for deputies to identify suspects.

Current surveillance equipment helped deputies catch a man who recently threw rocks at the jail to get his ex-girlfriend’s attention. Three windows were broken in the process, and at least one other jail window was broken in a previous incident.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld a jury decision against a Lincoln law firm that was seeking a bigger share of fees paid a California lawyer.

Former Lincoln lawyer Dan McCord argued in his lawsuit that he should have been paid $562,500 more than the $2.25 million he was paid. McCord said he was supposed to receive 25 percent of the fee paid to Michael Piuze, of Los Angeles. The two represented Penny Shipler, who was partially paralyzed after a 1997 Lincoln accident. Shipler eventually settled her safety issues lawsuit against General Motors for $22.5 million.

In July 2012 a jury sided with Piuze. McCord appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

The high court ruled against McCord last week, saying his arguments were meritless.

ELK CREEK, Neb. (AP) — The Canadian mining firm exploring a Nebraska deposit of a rare mineral used to make steel plans to meet with landowners Wednesday.

NioCorp Developments says top officials from the company will update landowners on the project and talk about their plans for the next year.

NioCorp resumed drilling samples from beneath the ground near Elk Creek last month for the first time since 2011. There are two drilling rigs working on the site.

The U.S. 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 tons of niobium rests several hundred feet below the ground, but it’s not yet clear whether a mine will be built.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lincoln firefighters union has challenged the fire chief’s order to use a pickup instead of a firetruck to respond to some medical calls.

The union filed a grievance two weeks ago after Chief John Huff sent a directive about the truck on May 12. He told captains at Station No. 1 to use what’s called the alternate response vehicle or report why they didn’t.

City Public Safety Director Tom Casady says the pickup isn’t being used as often as it should be used.

City officials say the pickup is a more cost-effective way to get paramedics to patients more quickly. But union leaders say the savings are minimal and come at the expense of safety.

WASHINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A garbage truck driver has found a body at the landfill for the Omaha area.

Authorities say the driver spotted a limb or two in his rear-view mirror as he dumped his load around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday at the landfill southwest of Washington.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Glandt says investigators know where the truck had been earlier that morning but declined to share the information. Glandt said the person hadn’t been dead long and was fully clothed. Glandt wouldn’t say whether the body was that of a male or female.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Thursday.

MADISON, Neb. (AP) — A Madison man has made a plea deal with prosecutors who say he brandished a BB handgun at three students at Northeast Community College in Norfolk.

23-year-old John Ertzner pleaded no contest to making terroristic threats, a felony. Prosecutors will recommend a one-year sentence in return for Ertzner’s plea. His sentencing is scheduled for July 24.

Officials say Ertzner approached three students on March 7. They say he followed them on a campus road and stopped next to them when they stopped, pointing a gun at two of them.

Ertzner told an investigator he mistook the three for other men who’d chased him earlier in Norfolk. He said he’d put his BB pistol on his car console but didn’t point it at the students.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 26-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the shooting of a 6-year-old Omaha girl on her birthday.

Authorities say Eddie Poe is accused of being an accessory to a felony. Investigators have not described what role they think Poe played in the shooting of Taelor Fentress last Thursday.

Douglas County Jail records say Poe remained in custody on Wednesday, pending $7,500 bail. Online court records say Poe also was wanted on a bench warrant for not appearing at a court hearing on misdemeanor drug and driver’s licensing charges.

The little girl has left a hospital after surgeries. A bullet that went through a screen door at a house in northeast Omaha passed through her cheek and nose.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State troopers in southeastern Nebraska have gotten a grant to conduct drunken driving checks and high-visibility patrols.

Troopers in Saline County will hold the special enforcement this weekend, beginning Friday and running through Sunday in an effort to reduce the potential for serious injury and fatal crashes.

The special enforcement effort is paid for, in part, with a $3,100 grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety.

Capt. Lance Rogers, based in Lincoln, says the patrol hopes that by increasing its presence, it hopes motorists are reminded to wear their seat belt and avoid driving impaired or distracted.