(AP) — A federal judge has allowed lawyers representing six people wrongly convicted in a 1985 Nebraska murder to go ahead with an appeal of his decision to dismiss Gage County from the six’s wrongful prosecution lawsuit.

Such appeals are usually allowed only after a final decision has been reached in a lawsuit. But the lawsuit against three sheriff’s officials ended in January with a mistrial.

Lawyers for the six plan to try the case again. The six served a combined 77 years in prison before DNA testing exonerated them in 2008.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf said Monday it would be a waste of judicial resources to wait until the end of the second trial before appealing the dismissal of the county and others.

A medical group of epilepsy experts is calling on the federal government to reconsider classifying marijuana as a dangerous drug so its impact on seizures can be studied.

The American Epilepsy Society issued its statement on Monday. It notes that there have been several reported cases of pot treating seizures but not enough scientific study has been performed to show whether the drug works and is safe.

That research is hard to perform while marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 substance by the federal government.

The statement also backs off a previous warning that patients not use marijuana. Now the society advises careful consultation with epilepsy specialists in all treatments.

(AP) — A woman traveling through eastern Nebraska has been accused of having more than 55 pounds of marijuana.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says 23-year-old Adriana Landeros was taken into custody on Monday following a traffic stop on Interstate 80.

Authorities say Landeros, who was headed to Chicago, consented for the department’s K-9 unit to search her vehicle. It turned up 57 pounds of marijuana. It was located in a suitcase in the hatch of the rented vehicle.

Landeros faces charges of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and no tax stamp. Court records do not list an attorney.

(AP) — A 54-year-old Gretna woman already serving time for tax evasion has pleaded guilty to stealing the $4.1 million on which she didn’t pay taxes.

Caroline Richardson made her plea Monday in Douglas County District Court in Omaha. Her sentencing is scheduled for March 18. She faces up to 10 more years in prison. She’s already serving a five-year term.

Prosecutors say Richardson stole from Omaha-based Colombo Candy and Tobacco in 2010 and 2011 while working as company controller. Prosecutors say she used the money to gamble at Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Colombo has sued Ameristar, saying the casino knew about Richardson’s job and her approximate salary and should have known Richardson was gambling with ill-gotten money.

(AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a local immigration ordinance that closely resembles the measure approved by voters in Fremont.

The justices on Monday declined to take up appeals from the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, Texas, or the city of Hazleton, Pa., of lower court rulings that blocked their rental-housing regulations. Both ordinances were intended to keep people who are in the country illegally from finding housing in town.

Kris Kobach, an attorney defending Fremont, says parts of the Fremont and Farmers Branch ordinances are identical. Kobach says the decision not review the Farmers Branch case suggests the justices won’t hear the lawsuit filed against Fremont.

The Supreme Court held in 2012 that immigration is primarily a matter for the federal government.

(AP) — Gov. Dave Heineman says he’s opposed to any use of public money to transport Nebraska prisoners to marriage ceremonies with other inmates.

The governor on Monday called it “an outrage” that two state prisoners from different facilities are trying to marry while incarcerated.

His comments came in response to questions about a lawsuit filed against the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the department on behalf of 42-year-old Paul Gillpatrick and 33-year-old Niccole Wetherell.

Gillpatrick is serving 55 to 90 years in Lincoln for second-degree murder. Wetherell is serving a life prison sentence in York for first-degree murder.

The department has refused to transport either of them for an in-person wedding, although they have offered to pay the transportation costs.

(AP) — Charges against a 37-year-old York man have been changed because blood test results have been thrown out.

Otis Newcomb had already pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide with a prior conviction for driving under the influence. he is now charged with felony manslaughter, tampering with physical evidence and second-degree assault.

At a recent hearing, a judge ruled that sheriff’s deputies had no probable cause to request a blood test for Newcomb.

Authorities say the van Newcomb was driving on Nov. 2 crossed the center line on U.S. Highway 34 about two miles west of York, striking another vehicle. Thirty-one-year-old Lauren Akerson was a passenger in the other vehicle, and she was fatally injured. She was from Aurora.

(AP) — Research led by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln chemist has led to the discovery of a new material with many possible uses.

The material could serve as a solid lubricant and provide a way to store carbon dioxide. It may also provide important clues about the composition of planets.

European researchers announced in 2011 that they had discovered a new substance when they combined dry ice and quartz under high pressure. But they weren’t able to determine the material’s crystal structure, and the question caught the attention of UNL chemist Xiao Cheng Zeng and his colleagues. Zeng and his team spent almost a year modeling possible structures.

The findings were reported in the Feb. 27 issue of Physical Review Letters X, an online journal of the American Physical Society.

(AP) — A northeast Nebraska man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for a 2012 shooting that left another man paralyzed.

29-year-old Jordan Beehn was sentenced Friday for first-degree assault and tampering with a witness.

Prosecutors say Beehn shot Jorge Alberto Zepeda-Flores in the face after he tried to break up a fight between Beehn’s wife and another woman outside a Norfolk bar.

Beehn later encouraged his wife in a letter from jail to convince witnesses to change their stories.

Zepeda-Flores is now confined to a wheelchair, and his family members must care for him.

(AP) — A 22-year-old Lincoln man shot in self-defense last year by the father of his ex-girlfriend has pleaded no contest to making terroristic threats.

Jeffery Stotler Jr. pleaded no contest Friday in Lancaster County District Court. He faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced in May.

Authorities say a 50-year-old Bennet man shot Stotler last year with a .22-caliber rifle after Stotler kicked in the man’s back door. Police say Stotler had attacked the man’s 18-year-old daughter, left, then came back and kicked in the door.

Prosecutors determined Stotler was shot in self-defense.