(AP) — Authorities say two women have been killed following a three-vehicle crash near Blair in eastern Nebraska.

Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson says a vehicle southbound on Highway 133 crossed the center line Wednesday morning and sideswiped a northbound car. The southbound car ended up in the northbound lanes and collided head-on with a third vehicle.

29-year-old Sara Jorgenson and 47-year-old Joanne Roche were killed. Both women were from Kennard.

Fifty-two-year-old Helen Langdon and 74-year-old Ronald Roche were injured and taken to area hospitals. Information about their conditions has not been released.

(AP) — Authorities are battling a large brush fire near a recreational lake in north Omaha.

Multiple fire crews are working to contain the blaze, which began late Wednesday afternoon near Glenn Cunningham Lake.

The station reports no structures are immediately in the path of the fire. No injuries have been reported.

Omaha television station WOWT says the fire as spread to multiple trees in the area, and motorists have reported seeing smoke in the air for several miles.

Authorities have not released additional information.

A traffic stop for speeding on Interstate 80 near the 27^th Street Exit, in Lincoln, Lancaster County, led to the arrest of two California residents and the seizure of 44 lbs. of marijuana.

Around 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, January 28, a trooper initiated a traffic stopped of an eastbound, 2012 Toyota Prius, after an NSP aircraft clocked the vehicle traveling 81 mph in a 65 mph zone.  A check of the driver’s operating license indicated he was wanted on an outstanding warrant out of California.  Upon contacting the passenger in the vehicle, the trooper smelled a strong odor of marijuana.  A probable cause search of the vehicle led to the seizure of 44.3 lbs. of marijuana. The marijuana was contained in three duffel bags in the rear cargo area of the vehicle.

The driver, David J. Azaria, 23, Los Angeles, Calif., and a passenger in the vehicle, Christophe J. Clasquin, 21, Beverly Hills, Calif., were both lodged in the Lancaster County Corrections, each on a charge of Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Deliver.

(AP) — A 51-year-old registered sex offender in Omaha has been returned to prison for another child sex crime.

Online court records say Harold Shipley Jr. was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 to 40 years in prison. Records say Shipley had sexually assaulted a girl several times starting in August 2012. The records also say Shipley enticed three children into his apartment on the east side of Omaha on Feb. 26 last year and molested a 7-year-old girl.

Shipley pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault of a child after prosecutors lowered the charge and dropped four others.

Shipley is listed on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry. He was convicted in 1998 of sexually assaulting a child and was released from prison in 2000.

(AP) — A 54-year-old truck driver from Delaware has been convicted of misdemeanor vehicular homicide in the crash death of a 2-year-old Nebraska boy.

A Lancaster County jury convicted Leamond Pierce on Tuesday. Pierce, of New Castle, Del., was charged after a December 2011 accident that killed 2-year-old Aidan Curry, of Bellevue, an Omaha suburb. Officers say Pierce was driving a semitrailer that ran into the rear of a car that had just entered Interstate 80 in eastern Nebraska. The boy was riding in the car.

Authorities say Pierce eluded authorities after he was charged. The Nebraska charge triggered possible parole violations in Delaware, and Pierce was found and arrested in O’Fallon, Ill., in August last year. Pierce is on parole after serving 13 years for a 1981 killing in Delaware.

(AP) — Four men earlier arrested in connection with a neighborhood shooting that led to the death of a 5-year-old Omaha girl now face charges directly tying them to the girl’s death.

Omaha police said the four Omaha men were booked on the new charges Wednesday morning in the Jan. 16 death of Payton Benson.

Police have said the little girl was eating breakfast in her family home when she was struck by a stray bullet.

Police say 20-year-old Vincent Hicks has been booked on suspicion of first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy and three felony weapons counts, and 22-year-old Adonus Moses has been booked for criminal conspiracy to commit murder second-degree murder. Also, 18-year-old Jaylen Montgomery now faces three weapons counts, and 21-year-old Jacob Brown faces two weapons charges.

(AP) — The Lincoln-based Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital has bought the land for a new $93 million Omaha location and chosen the architect.

Madonna said Monday that it bought 20.8 acres of land just west of Village Point Mall in west Omaha for the facility.

The new hospital is now planned to include 250,000 square feet and a pediatric rehabilitation unit will be part of the project. Madonna officials expect the facility to be completed in 2016.

Originally, officials said they wanted to build a 200,000-square-foot facility.

The 110-bed facility will be designed by the DLR Group of Omaha in association with Michael Graves and Associates and the Page design and engineering firm.

(AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for a string of bank robberies in Nebraska and Iowa.

U.S. Attorney Deborah R. Gilg said in a news release Tuesday that 53-year-old Cameron Mitchell will be required to pay more than $74,000 in restitution for the robberies.

Prosecutors say Mitchell robbed seven banks in Omaha, Lincoln, and Council Bluffs between June and August of 2012. Mitchell was accused of walking into bank lobbies armed with a handgun, and taking money from teller drawers.

Mitchell will be required to serve five years of supervised release after his sentence.

(AP) — A bill that would keep third graders from moving to the next grade if they don’t meet reading standards faced opposition at a hearing in the Nebraska Legislature.

Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha introduced the bill, which was presented to the Education Committee on Tuesday.

Parents and those representing education associations were among the opposition to the bill. A former state board of education member testified in support of the bill and two people testified in a neutral position.

Lautenbaugh says the bill comes from education reform efforts that were successful elsewhere, particularly in Florida.

The bill would also establish a grading system for school performance and would provide for alternative ways to earn a teaching certification.