OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The owner of a dog in Omaha has been cited for animal cruelty for allegedly leaving the dog outside in freezing weather.

Animal control officers received a complaint that the dog was left outside of a home on Dec. 6. The National Weather Service says the high temperature that day was 12 degrees.

Officials say the animal was shivering and lacking proper shelter, food and water. A chain on its neck had to be surgically removed.

The Nebraska Humane Society says the dog, names Pouncer, is recovering at the shelter.

Additional information about the owner has not been released.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Four schools in Iowa and Nebraska will receive $25,000 grants from U.S. Cellular because they won an online contest.

The top twenty vote getters in the contest will each receive $25,000 to use however they see fit.

The winners include schools that are small and large. For instance, Dubuque Lutheran School in Dubuque and Valley Lutheran High School in Cedar Falls, Iowa, both have fewer than 50 students.

The other Iowa winner was Immaculate Conception/St. Joseph School in Gilbertville, Iowa.

The Nebraska school that won is St. Pius X/St. Leo School in Omaha. It is the fourth Omaha Catholic school to win the contest.

HEBRON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 61-year-old man has died after firefighters found him unresponsive inside his burning house in southeast Nebraska.

Firetrucks were dispatched around 10:30 p.m. Monday to the Hebron home. Firefighters found Anthony Wiedel inside. He was taken to the Thayer County Health Services hospital in Hebron, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy was ordered.

Officials say Wiedel was alone in the home.

Investigators say the fire began in the basement. The cause is being investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police are investigating a shooting that killed a 34-year-old man.

Police officers found Virgil Dunn lying on a sidewalk around 10 p.m. Tuesday with a gunshot wound.

Dunn was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Police said he died at the hospital on Wednesday.

Police released few details about the shooting itself. Witnesses told police they saw two people running from the area before officers arrived.

LYONS, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska town of Lyons is getting $255,000 to help a business expand.

The Nebraska Department of Economic Development said Monday that the money will help create 10 full-time jobs.

Lyons will loan the money to Brehmer Manufacturing to help the company build a 10,000-square-foot addition to its facility. The company also plans to buy some new equipment.

The company makes custom metal products for agricultural use.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The former director of the Lincoln YWCA is scheduled to be sentenced in February on another theft conviction.

Online court records say 42-year-old Denise Serrett pleaded no contest on Tuesday and was convicted. The felony carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.

Serrett, who also is known as Denise Scholl-Serrett, had resigned in February days before she was sentenced to probation for stealing from a former employer.

In the YWCA case, she was accused of embezzling more than $34,000 between December 2011 and February. YWCA officials audited the nonprofit’s books after learning that Serrett had stolen thousands of dollars from Omaha-based property management company DEI Communities, where she had been vice president of human resources.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln couple are eagerly awaiting the release of their four babies from a local hospital.

The two girls and two boys were delivered by cesarean section on Saturday. Their parents, Ashley and Brian Meyers, have another child at home, a kindergartner.

Doctors have told the proud parents that Aubrey Sue, Sam Arnold, Cole Jeffrey and Macie Anne Marie are healthy but must remain in an intensive care unit until probably the end of January. At birth they ranged in weight from 4 pounds down to just over 3 pounds. They arrived about two weeks before their planned delivery.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska has purchased a $750,000 home in Lincoln for NU’s president to use.

The University of Nebraska Foundation said Wednesday it had purchased the approximately 7,000-square-foot home in southwest Lincoln with private funds.

The university used to provide a house to its president. That home burned down in 1996.

The home will be used for a variety of university events and provide guest quarters and private quarters for J.B. Milliken and his family.

The university has been providing an annual housing allowance of $24,000 to Milliken.

It wasn’t immediately clear what will happen to Milliken’s housing allowance now, and university officials didn’t immediately respond to a message Wednesday morning.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Dave Heineman has appointed a retired U.S. Air Force colonel to an open seat in the Nebraska Legislature, only days after his first pick withdrew amid questions about his nonpayment of campaign finance fines.

Heineman announced Wednesday his appointment of retired Col. Tommy L. Garrett, of Bellevue, to finish the term of former state Sen. Scott Price. Price resigned in November.

Garrett, 59, is the founder and president of a Bellevue company that specializes in defense contracting.

On Friday, Heineman had announced his appointment of Patrick M. Shannon, of Bellevue. Within hours, Shannon withdrew his name, saying his father in Oklahoma had suffered a heart attack.

The withdrawal also followed news that Shannon owes the state $16,000 for campaign-disclosure violations during an unsuccessful bid for the Legislature in 2004.