(AP) — Police have identified a man found dead Friday night inside a parked car as 19-year-old Julius Vaughn.

Omaha police say officers responded to a report of a man down around 9:40 p.m. Friday and found Vaughn inside a car parked outside of an apartment complex in southeast Omaha.

Police have not said how Vaughn died, but firefighters told the Omaha World-Herald that he had been shot to death.

Police say they are investigating Vaughn’s death as a homicide.

Police are asking anyone with information about the shooting or victim to contact Crime Stoppers at 402-444-7867 or at www.omahacrimestoppers.net. Police may also by contacted by texting “OPD” to 274637 or by using the mobile app “Tip Submit.”

(AP) — Rural mental health care is just one of the topics that will be discussed during breakout sessions at the Rural Futures Conference.

The conference will be held Nov. 3-5 at The Cornhusker hotel in Lincoln.

Other topics will include youth retention and recruitment, entrepreneurship, service learning and civic engagement, rural land use, as well as general session for participants to discuss topics not specifically addressed elsewhere on the conference agenda.

Registration is available at ruralfutures.nebraska.edu/conference, where people also will find the entire conference agenda.

Registration costs $150, but a discounted rate of $40 is available for high school and college students.

 

(AP) — Relatives, friends and neighbors have gone to the rescue of a 49-year-old eastern Nebraska farmer who was injured in a four-wheeler accident.

The voice of Jon Stopak shook with emotion Thursday as he watched 120 acres of his corn crop harvested.

Stopak was injured a little more than two weeks ago, suffering nine broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Stopak’s friend Jeff Lehr organized the volunteers who descended on Stopak’s farm near Duncan.

Lehr says he was happy to help and thinks Stopak would have done the same for him, had he been injured.

Duncan is about eight miles south of Columbus.

(AP) — A Nebraska man who withdrew money from a bank account of his sister after she died has been given 20 to 60 months in prison.

Online court records say 57-year-old Rande Nelson, of Lincoln, used ATMs to take more than $7,600 from the account after she died in December. An arrest warrant affidavit says Nelson was seen on security video making withdrawals 26 times between Dec. 26 and Jan. 7.

Nelson had pleaded no contest to felony theft. He was sentenced on Thursday in Lancaster County District Court.

(AP) — A medical examiner has ruled that a Texas woman who was found by her son dead in a freezer died after taking methamphetamine and other drugs.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s report released Thursday says 38-year-old Shannon Herrin Huddleston apparently grabbed a coat before crawling into the freezer in her garage on Aug. 8.

A few hours later Herrin’s teenage son opened the freezer looking for food, and discovered his mother dead inside.

The report says Herrin died of the toxic effects of methamphetamine. It says hypothermia also contributed to Herrin’s death. Her death has been ruled accidental.

(AP) — A federal air marshal has been arrested and accused of taking cellphone photographs underneath women’s skirts as they boarded a plane at Nashville International Airport.

Nashville police say Adam Bartsch was on duty on Southwest Airline Flight 3132 on Thursday when a witness noticed he was taking the photos and grabbed his cell phone. Police say the witness notified a flight attendant and Bartsch was taken off the flight and charged with disorderly conduct.

Nashville station WKRN-TV reports the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday afternoon that Bartsch was removed from duty and the TSA is assisting with the investigation. The agency said it’s in the process of suspending or terminating Bartsch’s employment.

Bartsch is due in court Nov. 14.

(AP) — A Lincoln man has admitted robbing two banks in Nebraska and one in western Iowa.

According to court records, 53-year-old Cameron Mitchell made his guilty pleas Thursday in a federal courtroom in Lincoln after making a deal with prosecutors.

While being questioned by U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Zwart, Mitchell acknowledged robbing a Union Bank branch in Lincoln on July 16, 2012, a First National Bank branch in Omaha on Aug. 13, 2012, and an American National Bank branch in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Aug. 24, 2012.

Prosecutors say Mitchell carried a small-caliber gun during each robbery.

Mitchell agreed that restitution of more than $74,000 would be ordered as part of his sentence. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 14.

(AP) — Authorities say a Lincoln woman who would leave a room so she couldn’t hear her 2-year-old scream while being punished has been jailed.

Online court records say 23-year-old Barbara Laver on Thursday was sentenced to 180 days. She’d made a deal with prosecutors and pleaded no contest to attempted negligent child abuse.

State workers had found bruises and scratches on Laver’s 2-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son in January. Her live-in boyfriend, 28-year-old Patrick Austin, was later charged with felony child abuse and has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say she tried to protect Austin by lying about what happened to her daughter.

His next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.

(AP) — The Gage Area Growth Enterprise board has fired the executive director it hired just last year.

The board voted on Thursday to dismiss Bill Demuth. Neither board members nor their attorney would say what led to Demuth’s ouster.

Demuth began the job on Sept. 4 last year after signing a two-year contract. He also declined to comment about the board’s decision.

The city of Beatrice and Gage County government contribute $100,000 annually to economic development through the agency.

(AP) — A Kansas truck driver has been sentenced for vehicular homicide stemming from a crash in south-central Nebraska.

According to court records, 47-year-old Victor Allende (uh’-YEHN’-day) was given 270 days in jail and fined $500 last week. He’d pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge.

A court affidavit says Allende, of South Bend Township, Kan., was eastbound on U.S. Highway 6 east of Hastings on April 24 and was following too closely behind another truck when the other truck stopped for a train crossing.

The affidavit says Allende’s semi rammed the other truck, pushing it into the path of an oncoming pickup driven by 52-year-old Neal Sahling. Sahling, of Wood River, was killed.