(AP) — A former Hall County prosecutor has been named to fill an open district court judgeship in eastern Nebraska’s 5th Judicial District.

The office of Gov. Dave Heineman says he’s selected 43-year-old Rachel Daugherty, of Grand Island. She’s been in private practice in Grand Island since 2000. She holds a law degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln law school.

The opening was created by the retirement of Judge Michael Owens, who was appointed to the post in 1996.

The 5th Judicial District covers Boone, Butler, Colfax, Hamilton, Merrick, Nance, Platte, Polk, Saunders, Seward and York counties.

(AP) — A Nebraska civil liberties group is now representing a Lincoln man arrested by police last month for handing out religious pamphlets outside Lincoln’s Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska says Larry Ball was exercising his First Amendment rights. The ACLU filed a motion Monday in Ball’s casing requesting that the charges against him be dismissed.

The 76-year-old Ball was arrested March 15 after refusing police orders to stop handing out the fliers as the Nebraska Boys State Basketball Tournament was being played inside the arena.

Ball and the ACLU say Ball was on a public sidewalk and was therefore free to hand out fliers. Police and city prosecutors dispute that Ball was on public property.

A hearing in the case has been set for Wednesday.

(AP) — A 31-year-old Nebraska man has been convicted of murder in the knifing death of a Columbus man.

The office of Attorney General Jon Bruning said in a news release that 31-year-old Eric Henry was found guilty Tuesday by a Platte County District Court jury in Columbus.

Henry was one of three people prosecuted for the May 2013 slaying of 51-year-old Steven Jorgensen during a botched robbery.

Last month 32-year-old Kimberly Henderson, of Columbus, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Twenty-seven-year-old Quentin Critser, of Lincoln, pleaded guilty in December to second-degree murder and agreed to testify against his co-defendants. Henderson and Critser are awaiting sentencing.

(AP) — Seven-year-old Max Vertin has a disease that is weakening his muscles, but not his imagination.

Make-A-Wish Colorado says Max, who loves to pretend to fly like a superhero, soared Tuesday at an indoor skydiving facility near Denver called SkyVenture Colorado. The Hastings, Nebraska boy donned a yellow-and-red Iron Man costume and red helmet and broad smile for his wind tunnel adventure.

Max and his two brothers have Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that primarily affects boys, often manifesting itself when patients are very young and causing their muscles to slowly deteriorate.

Until recently, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, patients did not survive much beyond their teens, when the disease begins to affect the heart and respiratory muscles. Life expectancy has been increasing because of advances in cardiac and respiratory care.

(AP) — A judge has given final approval to a $2 million state settlement with the family of a Lincoln woman who was struck and killed by a state prison van driven by an inmate.

The settlement will go to the husband and son of 47-year-old Joyce Meeks, who was killed in the crash on June 25 in Lincoln. Last month legislators approved the payment as part of the state’s annual claims bill.

The inmate driver, Jeremy Dobbe, was seen speeding and swerving erratically before he struck Meeks’ vehicle. Dobbe was driving to transport inmates as part of a state work-release program.

The lawsuit by Meeks’ husband, Leonard Meeks, and son, Martell Buchanan, alleges that Dobbe was under the influence of alcohol, drugs or some other intoxicating substance.

(AP) — A Nebraska man has been given 25 years in prison for sexually abusing girls ages 7 and 8 in western Iowa.

64-year-old John Schondelmeyer, of Bellevue, Neb., was sentenced on Monday. He’d been found guilty of two counts of sex abuse and two counts of lascivious acts with a child.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says Schondelmeyer was in the process of moving to Fayetteville, N.C., when he was arrested Oct. 17, 2013, at his Nebraska home.

Schondelmeyer will be transferred to Nebraska, where he faces more child sex charges.

(AP) — Lincoln council members have approved a new ordinance that will require all outdoor clothing donations boxes and huts to list the names of every nonprofit organization and private company that receives money or clothing from the donations.

The disclosure ordinance adopted Monday will provide some information without violating First Amendment rights of the companies or nonprofits.

Last May the council banned for-profit donation boxes after Linc-Drop Inc. placed about 70 donation huts in Lincoln. The company gives 10 percent of the clothing sales proceeds to the March of Dimes.

Linc-Drop filed a lawsuit, saying the ordinance violated its free speech rights. In February a federal judge said the lawsuit likely would succeed and barred the city from enforcing the ordinance passed in May.

(AP) — Authorities say an 18-year-old has been fatally shot at a park across a street from Omaha’s Benson High School.

An Omaha police news release says officers were sent around 9:10 p.m. Monday to investigate shots at the Gallagher Park pool parking lot. They soon were advised that two people with gunshot wounds had arrived at Methodist Hospital.

One of the wounded men was pronounced dead a short time later. He’s identified as Tielor (TYE’-lur) Williams, of Omaha. The other man is identified as 22-year-old Joshua Schmitt, also of Omaha.

No arrests have been reported.

(AP) — First Lieutenant Kelly Requa (REE-kwa) is breaking new ground at Fort Bragg.

She’s one of a small number of female lieutenants brought into the 3rd Battalion of the 321st Field Artillery Regiment to lead a cannon platoon at the North Carolina base.

For the women, the integration into the once men-only artillery platoons means more pressure and scrutiny. For the men, it means more training for sexual-assault prevention and awareness, and more lectures on respect, team building and moral character.

By January 2016, the U.S. military must open all combat jobs to women or explain why any must remain closed. The Army in November began assigning female officers to lead the cannon platoons and plans to open other jobs, including those of crew members within field artillery units.

(AP) — Authorities in eastern Nebraska say two men tried to steal more than a dozen televisions from a hotel under construction.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says the men were arrested Sunday near a Marriott hotel, after an intrusion alarm was triggered.

Deputies say 19-year-old Tanner Pohlmeier was taken into custody at a nearby car dealership, after he was spotted running from the hotel. Another man, 21-year-old Juan F. Garibay, was stopped in a vehicle about two blocks away. Authorities say he was seen driving away from the scene.

The televisions were recovered.

Pohlmeier faces charges of burglary and obstruction. Garibay faces charges of burglary, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Court records do not list attorneys.