(AP) — Police believe a man killed when his van crashed into a guard rail in west Omaha was speeding at the time.

Omaha Police Sgt. Joseph Collins said in a news release that the crash happened just after 11 p.m. Friday. Investigators say the van was westbound on West Dodge Road and was trying to enter the Dodge Expressway at 120th Street when it hit the guard rail. The van flipped onto its roof, and the driver was partially ejected.

The driver, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

(AP) — An Omaha man who spent two years in prison for killing his wife in 2009 has been awarded half of her $150,000 life insurance policy.

Patrick Cain was sentenced in April 2011 for manslaughter in the death of his wife, Evelyn. Prosecutors say she died of blunt-force trauma to the head after Cain pushed her down a flight of stairs during an argument.

State law says a person who “feloniously and intentionally” kills a spouse is not entitled to the deceased spouse’s life insurance payout. Cain argued there was no evidence that he intentionally killed Evelyn.

The insurance company asked a federal court to determine whether Cain or Evelyn’s family should collect.

Last week, the case was dismissed when Cain and his wife’s estate agreed to split the $150,000 payout.

(AP) — Prosecutors are checking allegations that at least three guards had sex with inmates at the Douglas County Jail in Omaha.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says his office is involved but declined to comment further.

County Corrections Director Mark Foxall says “staff misconduct was identified” and that the staffers involved no longer work at the jail.

Federal and state laws bar police officers or jail guards from having sex with people under arrest or in custody. The state law says consent cannot be used as a defense.

(AP) — A Platte County Court judge fined a former Columbus teacher $500 after he pleaded no contest to attempting to procure alcohol for an 18-year-old former student.

Judge Frank Skorupa followed prosecutors’ recommendation and fined 31-year-old Aaron Sasges for supplying the teen with alcohol on Feb. 23 on a rural Butler County road.

Sasges pleaded no contest in exchange for prosecutors reducing the charge.

The judge also told Sasges it “wasn’t a very smart thing to be riding around with an 18-year-old girl drinking alcohol.”

The teen was a former student at Scotus Central Catholic High School in Columbus, where Sasges taught business and computer classes. He also coached basketball and track.

He resigned from the school at the end of the 2011-2012 school year.

A growing number of people who have saved cellphone messages of dead loved ones as a source of comfort are becoming victims of technology upgrades and policies that are silencing those voices forever.

Lisa and Tom Moore of Terre Haute, Ind., spent $1,700 over the past five years to preserve their 19-year-old daughter’s voice mail greeting following her death in a 2008 car crash.

But Alexis Moore’s greeting was deleted during a Sprint upgrade that her family didn’t learn of until it was too late.

Other victims include a widow of an Army major killed in the 2009 massacre at Fort Hood and a Washington state man who lost his mother to cancer.

Experts say voice recording can help people maintain a connection to those who’ve died.

(AP) — The U.S Department of Education has named five Nebraska schools as 2013 National Blue Ribbon Schools.

The schools were chosen among 286 nationwide. The award is based on academic excellence and success in closing achievement gaps.

The schools are Burwell Elementary School in Burwell, Ord Elementary School in Ord, Wakefield Elementary School in Wakefield, Wisner-Pilger Elementary School in Wisner and St. Patrick’s Catholic School in Elkhorn.

The department will honor the schools at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. in November.

(AP) — A 32-year-old man wanted on several warrants has been captured in northeast Nebraska’s Elkhorn River.

Authorities say officers were sent to check on a suspicious man and vehicle at a park south of Norfolk on Thursday afternoon. The man drove off as officers approached. The vehicle soon went into a field, where the driver got out and ran into a tree line along the Cowboy Trail.

Several other officers, a Nebraska State Patrol aircraft and two police dogs were deployed for a search. When one of the dogs got near the man, he ran into the river. An officer followed him into the water and captured him.

The man was identified as Brent Goeken, of Ainsworth.

(AP) — Calvin Parker Jr. says he met an unidentified flying object and its occupants on the banks of a river in coastal Mississippi 40 years ago.

Today, the 58-year-old man is still grappling with his encounter with what he says were gray, wrinkly-skinned, crab-clawed creatures.

The Oct. 11, 1973, Pascagoula (PASS-kuh-GOO’-luh) incident made headlines, sparked UFO sightings nationwide and became one of the most widely examined cases on record.

Parker’s friend and fishing buddy that night, the late Charles Hickson, never tired of telling the story to anyone who listened until he died in 2011.

But Parker says it turned his life upside down. He tried to dodge the spotlight for decades, moving frequently before returning to Mississippi’s Gulf Coast in recent years.

(AP) — A 12-year-old girl has been applauded for donating her birthday money to Nebraska veterans.

Eastern Nebraska Veterans’ Home says Olivia Graesser, of Bellevue, recently donated $670 to veterans at ENVH.

Olivia told her family and friends that she didn’t want presents for her birthday in September. She wanted to donate money for a pizza party for veterans and others unable to eat out at a restaurant.

Olivia’s family says the girl was inspired to give the money after visiting the veterans’ home when she was 7 years old to deliver Valentine’s Day cards.

Jeff Smith, ENVH’s administrator, says Olivia will be the guest of honor at a pizza party scheduled on Nov. 12.

(AP) — Authorities in Beatrice are investigating why a pickup truck drove across a courthouse lawn, collided with a dumpster and crashed into a garage complex.

The Beatrice Police Department says 30-year-old Nathan Diekman was driving around 1:30 a.m. Thursday when his car jumped the curb and proceeded on its path. Damage included a tree and several vehicles in the garage.

Beatrice Police Sgt. Brian Carver says Diekman was at a local bar earlier in the evening but he was not intoxicated. Carver says Diekman may have experienced a medical episode before the crash. Diekman was taken to a local hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening.

Residents and Gage County courthouse workers spent a part of Thursday morning picking up debris left by the accident.