COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Another person has been sentenced in connection with the distribution of a powerful synthetic opioid that led to the death of a Council Bluffs man.

Federal prosecutors say 24-year-old Amalia Pandis, of Carter Lake, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl that caused death.

Pandis was also ordered to serve five years’ supervised release once she’s out of prison.

Prosecutors say Pandis was part of a drug trafficking ring responsible for obtained fentanyl from a source in China and selling it western Iowa and eastern Nebraska.

The investigation into the group began in June 2015, when police were called to a Carter Lake home and found the body of 20-year-old Diego Lemus. Police learned a second man had been hospitalized for a fentanyl overdose.

NORTH BEND, Neb. (AP) — Eastern Nebraska officials say a Columbus woman has died after her vehicle hit a train at a railroad crossing.

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office tells the Fremont Tribune that 54-year-old Debra Kessler was traveling northbound on a county road around 9 p.m. Wednesday when her minivan and the train collided at a crossing about three miles west of North Bend.

Firefighters removed Kessler from the van, and she was flown by a medical helicopter to a Fremont hospital, where she later died.

Officials say Kessler was alone in her vehicle and was not wearing a seatbelt.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Grand Island police say officers have arrested two men suspected of using or possessing dozens of credit or debit cards encoded with stolen card information.

Police said Thursday that Rafael Figueredo Hidalgo faces 119 counts of felony forgery and 22 counts of felony and misdemeanor criminal possession of a financial transaction device. Andres Aguila Carrasco faces 84 counts of felony forgery and 20 counts of felony and misdemeanor criminal possession of a financial transaction device

Hall County Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Carrasco. Hidalgo’s attorney in a separate case, Andrew Hanquist, said Thursday that it wasn’t clear whether he was going to represent Hidalgo in the new case and declined to comment.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A city-county commission is planning to use a nonprofit to develop a potentially $120 million juvenile justice center in Omaha.

The Omaha-Douglas Public Building Commission wants a nonprofit to handle the hiring of construction and management firms for the project, the Omaha World-Herald reported. Public officials will oversee the nonprofit, named the Douglas County Unified Justice Center Development Corp.

The county hopes to create juvenile and family courtrooms and related services to replace cramped quarters in the Douglas County Courthouse, though no specific proposal has been made. The commission intends to issue up to $120 million in bonds for the project. The building commission would own the facilities and the county would rent them out.

Mary Ann Borgeson, chair of the nonprofit’s board, said the corporation is already considering Omaha businesses and investors to be involved in the project. All contract work will need to be approved by the county and the commission, she said.

Using a nonprofit allows the project to include private donations, Borgeson said.

“This is big, this is huge, if it goes forward,” Borgeson said. “We wanted to use a successful model, one that would keep us on top of things, that would keep us accountable, that would keep everything on time and on budget.”

County Board member Jim Cavanaugh has criticized the project as not being open to public scrutiny or discussion.

“There’s going to be lots of eyes and lots of conversation to make sure everything and everybody stays on task, on time and on budget,” Borgeson countered. “I’m not worried about that at all.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Creighton University student accused of slashing a fellow student’s neck has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years’ probation.

Twenty-year-old Christopher Wheeler was sentenced in Douglas County District Court on Wednesday. He pleaded no contest in April to second-degree assault. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a charge of use of a weapon to commit a felony.

Police have said Wheeler entered the dorm room of a 19-year-old student he didn’t know in February 2017 and swiped at her neck with a pocketknife, scarring the woman but not seriously injuring her.

Wheeler had sought to argue that his fraternity hazed him into a state of intoxication so severe that it caused his actions, but a judge ruled last month that he could not use that defense.

AURORA, Neb. (AP) — The son of actors Sean Penn and Robin Wright has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in his Nebraska drug case.

Twenty-four-year-old Hopper Penn and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Uma Von Wittkamp, were arrested during a traffic stop on April 4 on Interstate 80 in southeastern Nebraska.

The Nebraska State Patrol says a search of their vehicle turned up 14 grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills and 3 grams of psychedelic mushrooms.

Both were initially charged with felony drug possession. Court records show they later pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of attempt of a felony. Each was ordered to pay $1,000.

A no-contest plea allows a defendant to not admit guilt but acknowledge that there’s enough evidence for a conviction.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A man from Omaha, Nebraska, faces life in prison if he’s convicted of kidnapping and other charges after police say he held several people at gunpoint and beat some of them inside a Council Bluffs apartment.

36-year-old Derrick West-Jones has been charged with six counts of kidnapping, three counts of aggravated assault, domestic abuse and other drug and weapons counts.

Police say he pulled a gun early Monday after a disturbance in the apartment and would not let anyone leave. Police say he also pistol-whipped and beat some of them with a wrench. Police say the people were held captive about two hours.

Two people were taken to hospital for their injuries.

West-Jones is being held on $1 million bail in the Pottawattamie County Jail.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s CenturyLink Center will be getting a new name in September: CHI Health Center Omaha.

CHI Health announced Wednesday that it had acquired the naming rights in a deal with the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority board, which operates the publicly owned arena and convention center. CHI Health operates hospitals in the Omaha area and is part of Catholic Health Initiatives, a national nonprofit health system based in Englewood, Colorado.

The 20-year deal will cost CHI Health almost $24 million.

The facility opened in 2003 as the Qwest Center and was renamed in 2011 after CenturyLink acquired Qwest.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A woman accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from a Lincoln church day care program has been sentenced.

Online court records say 36-year-old Amanda Haumont was given two years of probation at her sentencing hearing Monday. She’d pleaded no contest to theft after prosecutors lowered the charge.

Authorities say Haumont was paid overtime after she lied about the hours she worked as director of Little Lambs Child Development Center at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church and also didn’t deposit some cash paid by a woman whose daughter attended the day care. The theft was estimated at more than $21,000.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — There haven’t been any volunteers to answer calls for help in a fire and rescue district near Lincoln three times this year, and it could happen again.

The Southwest Fire and Rescue needs at least 10 more volunteers to cover the district serving more than 75 square miles (194 square kilometers) west and southwest of Lincoln, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

Assistant Chief Adam Powers said it’s the first time in his 18 years working for Southwest that the station has let calls go unanswered, requiring a neighboring squad to respond. The district has seen its number of volunteer and EMTs drop almost by half to 21 since Powers joined, he said.

Volunteers are retiring or aging out while fewer new members are replacing them, Powers said. The district’s land area has also seen its population increase from 4,200 in 2000 to more than 4,500 this year.

“The constituents in our district get a hell of a deal for free. We hang our hat on that,” Powers said. “But if we can’t get people to volunteer, we would have to request a raise in our tax levy to fund someone being around the station during the day to take those calls.”

Losing volunteers is a common issue for many of the nearly 375 volunteer departments in Nebraska, said Bill Lundy, secretary-treasurer of the Nebraska State Volunteer Firefighters Association.

“But a lot of people don’t realize that in the state of Nebraska, if you call 911 for medical or fire, 80 percent of those (calls) are being responded to by volunteer fire departments,” Lundy said.

Southwest Fire and Rescue posted an online survey last week seeking input from its patrons and sharing information about operating a volunteer squad over such a large area. The district plans to hold several town hall meetings to share survey results and solicit feedback in September.