LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of an Omaha man serving life in prison for killing another man during a home burglary.

The court on Friday upheld the life sentence of 25-year-old Endre Turner.

Turner was convicted of first-degree murder and a weapons count last year for the 2011 shooting death of 21-year-old Richard Harrison. Police say Harrison’s mother discovered his bloody body in a closet on Sept. 29.

Prosecutors said during Turner’s trial that he killed Harrison to keep Harrison from being able to identify him to police.

The Supreme Court acknowledged that officers who interrogated Turner misrepresented the potential punishment he could face, but concluded that his confession was still voluntary and not coerced.

WATERLOO, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a motorcyclist killed early Friday in a head-on crash with a pickup was an off-duty Omaha firefighter, and the truck driver likely faces criminal charges.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says the crash happened near 240th and Pacific Streets, just south of Waterloo, around 12:20 a.m. Friday when the southbound truck crossed the center line, hitting the motorcycle head-on.

Investigators say 37-year-old Scott Petersen was killed instantly. The Omaha Fire Department says Petersen was a hazardous materials technician who had been with the department for more than seven years. The married father also was a member of the state Urban Search and Rescue Team.

The truck driver, from Fremont, was not hurt. Police believe he may have been drinking alcohol before the crash.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An anti-abortion group that displays graphic signs of aborted fetuses is targeting Omaha-area high schools.

The Abolitionist Society of Omaha has been demonstrating outside several high schools this year, including Millard West, Millard North, Bellevue East and Bellevue West High Schools. The group equates its fight against abortion to the effort to abolish slavery.

Group founder and director Tim Locklear says the group demonstrates outside schools to target young people. Locklear says a large number of high school students nationwide experience unplanned pregnancies and that high school is a time when students’ views on abortion are being formed.

Some students and parents have been upset by the protests and graphic signs, but officials say the protesters have a right to congregate.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska faculty members are voicing their opposition to a proposal to limit or even eliminate faculty and student participation in the hiring of senior administrators.

The university’s Regents Board is considering changing its bylaws to exclude students and faculty from consideration in hiring campus administrators, including chancellors, vice chancellors and deans.

The proposed chance comes as the university looks to replace J.B. Milliken, who left the NU president’s post last month to become chancellor of the City University of New York.

UNL Faculty Senate President and biology professor Ken Nickerson says faculty senate members only learned of the proposed changes within recent days.

Nickerson says the restrictions should pertain only to the presidential search — not to other academic administrative positions.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a 57-year-old man who died after being pulled from an Omaha mobile home fire set the blaze before shooting himself.

Police say Craig Fuhrer died earlier Wednesday morning at the Nebraska Medical Center.

Emergency crews were called just after midnight to Maplewood Estates in northwest Omaha, where firefighters saw light smoke coming from Fuhrer’s home. Inside, firefighters found Fuhrer injured in a back bedroom.

Paramedics took Fuhrer in extremely critical condition to the hospital, where he died.

Late Thursday, police said it appeared Fuhrer had used an accelerant to start the fire, then shot himself.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Nebraska leader has been killed in a hit-and-run near his Hickman home.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says 62-year-old Gregory Nicklas was killed Thursday night as he walked his dog.

Nicklas’ wife found her husband badly injured near the end of their driveway. He died at the scene.

Sheriff Terry Wagner said authorities need help from the public to find a suspect or suspects in the case.

Nicklas was the co-founder and co-CEO of Christian Heritage, a group that cares for abused and neglected children in the state.

HUMBOLDT, Neb. (AP) — State officials have issued a health alert at a recreation area in Richardson County.

The state Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release Friday that the alert is for toxic blue-green algae at Kirkman’s Cove Recreation Area.

Samples taken earlier this week at Kirkman’s Cove were above the state’s threshold.

Officials say the alert will continue at the lake for at least two more weeks because testing will require two consecutive weeks.

The alert means designated swimming beaches are closed. Recreational boating and fishing, as well as camping and other outdoor activities, are still permitted.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lancaster county authorities have confirmed an altercation between deputies and a man at a home in southeast Lincoln.

Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said deputies were serving a notice to the man Friday to vacate the premises. He says deputies kicked in the door.

A locksmith present during the incident tells the newspaper that gunfire was exchanged during the incident.

A message left Friday for the sheriff’s office has not been returned.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 31-year-old Lincoln man accused of stabbing his estranged wife more than a dozen times in November has pleaded no contest to several felony charges.

Robert Haggan is set to be sentenced June 30. He pleaded no contest Tuesday to first-degree assault, use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, violation of a protection order and third-degree domestic assault.

The assault and weapons charges each carry penalties of up to 50 years in prison.

Authorities say that on Nov. 23, Haggan showed up at his wife’s home with a bat and a knife after she filed for divorce. Police say he kicked in the door and stabbed her 14 times in her neck, shoulder, arm and torso. She survived the attack.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman who rear-ended a Lincoln police car last year while drunk has been sentenced to 180 days in jail and her driver’s license revoked for 15 years.

35-year-old Calli Lounsbury was sentenced Thursday after pleading no contest to third-offense drunken driving.

Prosecutors say that around 2:30 a.m. on June 3, Lounsbury ran into the back of Officer Cole Jennings’ squad car as it was stopped at a red light.

Jennings took Lounsbury’s license and told her wait until another officer arrived, but prosecutors say after waiting about five minutes, Lounsbury backed up and drove off.

She was later stopped and arrested. Her blood alcohol level tested at more than twice the legal limit to drive.