(AP) — Nebraska Republican Congressman Lee Terry says his legislation to fund the country’s poison control centers has been signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Terry, who represents Nebraska’s Omaha-centric 2nd District, calls his bipartisan measure “common-sense legislation.”

He says the centers offer expert advice and “peace of mind to nearly 3 million families each year at the moment the unthinkable happens and a loved one ingests a poisonous substance.”

Terry says the measure also provides cost savings by eliminating unnecessary trips to the emergency room.

(AP) — A 39-year-old northeast Nebraska man has been charged with vehicular homicide and drunken driving in the crash death of a passenger in his pickup.

Russell Roberts Jr., of Homer, has bonded out of Dakota County Jail. A public phone listing for Roberts couldn’t be found. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.

Authorities say 28-year-old Tiffany Schmitt, also of Homer, died after being ejected Sunday during the rollover crash on a county road four miles west of Homer. The Dakota County sheriff’s office says Roberts and two other passengers were hospitalized.

Roberts’ next court hearing is scheduled for Feb. 18.

(AP) — A judge declared a mistrial in the case of a man charged in the 2012 shooting death of a man outside a west Omaha nightclub.

Douglas County District Judge Duane Dougherty declared the mistrial Friday in the first-degree murder trial of 25-year-old Avery Tyler after hearing from a juror.

Tyler is accused of killing Delayno Wright outside the Halo Ultra Lounge on Sept. 3, 2012.

A juror reported that after a witness testified he recognized Tyler as being involved in the shooting, another juror leaned toward him and said something like, “this thing’s done.”

The mistrial means Tyler must wait several weeks before again standing trial. It will cost the county at least $6,600 in jury duty pay, witness transportation fees and staff pay.

(AP) — Omaha police have arrested a sixth man in connection with a neighborhood shooting tied to the death of a 5-year-old girl.

The Omaha Police Department said in a press release Friday that 21-year-old Jacob J. Brown faces a felony charge of theft by receiving. Court records do not list an attorney.

Brown is suspected of being involved in the theft of a vehicle in December. Police believe the car was later used in a Jan. 15 shooting in north Omaha involving several people. A stray bullet from the shooting hit 5-year-old Payton Benson about a block away.

Authorities have arrested five other men in connection to the stolen vehicle or the neighborhood shooting. They face various theft and gun charges.

No arrests have been made in Payton’s death.

 

(AP) — Propane prices in the Midwest have soared in recent days, leading consumers, retail suppliers and political leaders to ask whether there is more at play than supply and demand.

The spike has been blamed on a supply problem caused by farmers using propane-fueled equipment last fall to dry wet grain, as well as a bitterly cold winter and the temporary shutdown of a major supply pipeline in December.

But Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley has asked the Federal Trade Commission for more oversight of the propane market “to prevent possible anti-competitive behavior or illegal manipulation.”

Terry Davis, owner of Country Propane in Milo, Iowa, says his average residential customer would have paid about $800 to fill up a 500-gallon tank two weeks ago. On Friday, the cost soared to about $2,000.

(AP) — A 51-year-old man has been given four to seven years in prison for attempted bank robbery in Lincoln.

Online court records say Terrance Vogel, a transient, was sentenced on Thursday. He’d pleaded guilty after prosecutors reduced the charge from robbery. The judge also gave Vogel credit for 169 days already served in jail.

Police say Vogel was arrested on Aug. 6 just outside a Great Western Bank branch, carrying more than $8,000 he’d gotten from a teller.

(AP) — A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit targeting Nebraska’s denial of driver’s licenses for immigrants who came into the country as children with their families.

Retired Judge Jeffre Cheuvront (shehv-ROHNT’) on Wednesday rejected the state’s request.

The state argued that the Department of Motor Vehicles was obligated to follow state law, which the department says bars issuing to licenses to people who aren’t in the country legally. But federal law allows the young people to stay in the country as part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process.

Cheuvront said that “while it is true that there is no constitutional right to a driver’s license, it is equally true that such a license cannot be denied based on an unlawful classification.”

(AP) — Authorities have decided not to prosecute a Nebraska woman who accidentally left her 2-year-old child in a cold car parked outside a South Dakota workplace.

The girl was taken to a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital on Jan. 7 and soon released. She’d been dressed warmly and was sitting calmly in her car seat when her mother found her in the car after rushing out of her Dakota Dunes workplace.

Authorities say Anna Salas, of South Sioux City, told deputies she didn’t realize the girl was in the car until the girl’s father called after 5 p.m. that day to say the girl wasn’t at her day care.

The South Dakota prosecutors in Union County said the incident was an accident and noted that child welfare officials found no issues.

(AP) — A service has been held for a 5-year-old Omaha girl killed by a stray bullet.

More than 200 people gathered Thursday at Clair Memorial United Methodist Church for Payton Benson. The young girl’s picture was on projector screens, a church program and several T-shirts.

Payton’s mother, Tabitha Manning, thanked attendees for coming to her daughter’s “last party” so they could celebrate her life.

Payton died Jan. 15 after a stray bullet entered her north Omaha home. Authorities say the bullet was connected to a shooting about a block away that involved multiple people, weapons and gunfire.

Several Omaha leaders attended the service, including Mayor Jean Stothert and several city council members.

(AP) — Two parents charged with keeping their four young boys in a filthy Denver apartment have both pleaded not guilty to felony child abuse charges.

Wayne Sperling and Lorinda Bailey arrived separately for their arraignment on Thursday in Denver. They stood before the judge, separated by their two lawyers, and they did not speak to each other during the hearing.

The case is not headed to trial anytime soon. Defense attorneys and prosecutors will discuss motions at a hearing on April 18.

The boys, ages 2 to 6, were removed from their parents’ home in October. Court documents say the children could communicate only in grunts, were malnourished and weren’t toilet trained.

A doctor told authorities one of the children reeked of cigarette smoke, prompting a welfare check.