(AP) — Lincoln police say an officer has been assaulted by the driver of a car pulled over for a traffic violation.

Sgt. Duane Winkler says the stop occurred a little before 3 a.m. Monday on the southeast side of downtown Lincoln.

Winkler says officer Luke Bonkiewicz (BAHNK’-uh-wihtz) had already called for backup when he asked the driver to get out of the vehicle. A fight began when the man got out. The arriving officers found the two still fighting behind a nearby apartment building and arrested the driver.

The officer and driver were treated at a hospital and released. The driver is in Lancaster County Jail now, and police spokeswoman Katie Flood says possible charges against him include drug and firearm possession and assault on an officer.

(AP) — Attorney General Jon Bruning says the state had no choice but to settle lawsuits filed by two men who were falsely accused of killing a southeast Nebraska couple in 2006.

Bruning on Monday defended the Nebraska State Patrol investigators who were involved in the case, but argued that going to trial would have cost the state more than a settlement. He blamed former Douglas County CSI Director David Kofoed, who served prison time for evidence tampering in the case.

Matthew Livers and Nicholas Sampson were charged in the 2006 slayings of Wayne and Sharmon Stock in Murdock. The men spent months in jail before being cleared of murder charges. They sued the State Patrol, Douglas County and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, saying their constitutional rights were violated.

(AP) — A developer has abandoned plans to convert three historic Grand Island buildings into a luxury hotel because he couldn’t raise the needed $12 million.

Zachary Zoul says his Hospitality Advisors Group won’t buy the three buildings that were going to be part of the hotel.

The plans to create the luxury Nebraskan Hotel out of Grand Island’s Masonic Temple, the Bartenbach building and the former Rexall Drug building were announced with fanfare in May.

But the developer couldn’t find enough investors.

So Charles and John Anson, who bought the Masonic Temple out of foreclosure last year for $55,000 will return to their original plan to create high-end loft apartments.

(AP) — Nebraska is once again participating in a national effort to keep old and leftover prescription drugs off the streets.

Attorney General Jon Bruning announced that take-back sites throughout the state will accept medications on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The annual event is intended to fight accidental poisonings and prescription drug abuse. Advocates say improper disposal can also contaminate groundwater.

Participating sites include Lincoln’s Neighborhood Pharmacy, the Fremont Area Medical Center, Columbus Community Hospital, St. Francis Memorial Hospital in West Point, St. Francis Medical Center in Grand Island and York General Hospital.

(AP) — Two Utah men have been stripped of their positions as Boy Scout leaders after they posted a video of themselves purposely toppling an ancient rock formation in a state park.

A northern Utah Boy Scouts council announced Monday that the men involved in the Oct. 11 event at Goblin Valley State Park have been removed from their posts. The news release doesn’t name the men, but Glenn Taylor and Dave Hall have taken responsibility for what happened.

They say the rock formation was loose and they feared it was dangerous. They were leading a group of teenage Boy Scouts on a trip when it happened.

The Boy Scouts of America condemned the men’s actions last week, and said action could be taken after a review of the incident.

(AP) — Police say the view from space helped them bust a medical marijuana garden with too many plants in Southern Oregon.

Authorities received a tip that 50-year-old Curtis W. Croft was bragging about all the pot he was growing on his property outside Grants Pass. Investigators went to Google Earth to find out what they could see.

Authorities say online satellite images taken in June showed dozens of plants in neat rows, so the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement Team sent up an aircraft for a closer look and checked state medical marijuana records.

They showed Croft was registered to grow for five people, which amounts to 30 mature plants. Authorities say a police raid in September seized 94 plants.

Croft was arraigned on drug charges last week and released.

(AP) — An eastern Nebraska man was seriously injured in a weekend crash involving a combine and a train.

Authorities say 66-year-old Layne Meyer of Hooper was driving a combine to his brother’s farm on Saturday when a mechanical failure caused it to roll down a hill. The combine came to a rest on railroad tracks, where it was struck by a Burlington Northern-Santa Fe train.

Dodge County Sheriff Steven Hepsen says the combine’s brakes may have stopped working because of a hydraulic leak. The combine was knocked into a ditch, where it overturned. Meyer was ejected from the cab. He was flown to an Omaha hospital in critical condition.

Meyer was travelling west on County Road G in Dodge County. The train was traveling north.

(AP) — Omaha police are looking for a man who robbed a comic book store at knifepoint Monday while wearing a Darth Vader sweatshirt.

The robbery happened at the Dragon’s Lair comic store in central Omaha Monday morning.

Police say the suspect showed a knife and demanded merchandise from the store.

He fled once he received the merchandise.

(AP) — Landowners in several northeast Nebraska natural resources districts won’t be able to drill new irrigation wells next year because of groundwater concerns.

The Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District decided to ban new wells unless they fit one specific exception.

The only new wells allowed will be ones where landowners apply for permission to irrigate up to 10 acres to complete a full circle for pivot irrigation.

The Lower Loup and Upper Elkhorn Natural Resources Districts had already decided not to allow any new wells next year. And the Lower Niobrara NRD has issued a 180-day moratorium on wells.

(AP) — Lincoln police say a 41-year-old man ordered his dog to attack a 9-year-old boy, so the boy wouldn’t be able to defend his mom against the man’s assault.

Lincoln Police Capt. Don Scheinost said Cedric Fowler was arrested after the incident on Saturday night.

Police say Fowler was arguing with a woman when he kicked her and caused her to fall down a flight of stairs.

When the woman’s son tried to intervene, police say Fowler’s dog bit the boy on the hand.

Then the boy ran to neighbors and called police.

Fowler was being held in jail Sunday facing several charges.