(AP) — The author of a book about a Nebraska serial killer executed in 1996 has filed a lawsuit to see the condemned man’s drawings.

Author Mark Pettit, a former investigative reporter, says the drawings of John Joubert reportedly depict Joubert’s fantasies to kill more children. Joubert was sentenced to death for killing two young boys in the Bellevue area in the 1980s.

Pettit is the author of “A Need to Kill: The True-Crime Account of John Joubert, Nebraska’s Most Notorious Serial Child Killer.”

Pettit’s lawyer filed the lawsuit Thursday to try to force the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to release the drawings, which has refused to do so citing confidentiality laws.

Pettit’s lawsuit says the public has a compelling right to see them.

(AP) — A southeast Nebraska man has been sentenced to prison for a second offense of failing to register as a sex offender.

30-year-old Damien Roland, of Beatrice, was sentenced Wednesday in Gage County District Court to up to three years in prison.

In March, Roland was sentenced to three years of probation for failing to register.

Roland’s attorney, Jerry Shelton, says Roland registered as a sex offender while he was jailed for the first offense in March and believed that he would not have to register again until October. He is required to register in April and October every year.

Roland served more than four years in prison for a 2007 conviction of third-degree sexual assault of a child.

(AP) — Prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against a former Verdigre village clerk who was fined $6,000 last week by the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission for abusing public office.

Alisha Bartling had faced three theft charges in Knox County Court. But Thomas Herzog, the Holt County attorney who had been named a special prosecutor, dropped the charges on Wednesday.

Last week, Bartling was fined for making a housing loan to herself and her husband. The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission also found she had made loans to her husband’s business and brother-in-law and failed to keep accurate records of the loans or enforced timely payments on them.

Bartling, who was named the 2011 Outstanding Clerk of the Year, agreed to the fine.

(AP) — Omaha police have arrested the sister of a man who is accused of killing four people in August.

Authorities said Thursday that they had charged 23-year-old Erica Jenkins with first-degree murder and weapons charges. Jenkins is accusing of helping her brother kill 22-year-old Curtis Bradford, a man he met in prison, on Aug. 19.

Jenkins’ brother, 26-year-old Nikko Jenkins, is charged with four counts of murder. He is accused of killing Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz and Juan Uribe-Pena on Aug. 11, and shooting to death Andrea Kruger on Aug. 21.

Erica Jenkins was already in custody on other charges. Her younger sister, Lori Sayles, was arrested as an accessory to murder.

Police have also arrested Nikko Jenkins’ uncle, 51-year-old Warren J. Levering.

(AP) — Authorities say they have arrested nearly 250 people in the Omaha area following a 15-week operation that targeted gang violence, narcotics and sex offenders.

The operation announced Thursday involved the U.S. Marshals Service, Omaha police’s gang unit and the Metro Fugitive Task Force.

Officers made 249 arrests, including 72 of people with gang affiliations. Authorities seized 67 firearms and confiscated drugs with a street value estimated at more than $400,000. Officers also recovered more than $68,000 in cash.

Authorities conducted compliance checks on 149 registered sex offenders, resulting in four arrests.

(AP) — NASA’s Curiosity rover has sniffed Martian air and there’s no sign of methane.

That’s the conclusion from a new study released Thursday in the journal Science. On Earth, the gas is linked to living things, released when animals digest.

Scientists say the lack of methane in Curiosity’s experiments does not bode well for the search for microbial life underground.

Curiosity landed in Gale Crater near the Martian equator last year. For the first eight months, it used a tiny laser to sample the air, but came up empty-handed in the search for methane.

This contradicts previous observations from orbiting spacecraft and Earth-based telescopes that found plumes of methane on Mars.

Curiosity is headed toward a mountain and will continue to hunt for methane during the long drive.

(AP) — The Hall County Sheriff’s Office says two gibbons reported missing from a Doniphan home earlier this week have been found in Florida.

The small, black-and-white primates were taken from Nancy Stephens’ home sometime before dawn on Monday. Stephens has owned Caylee and Cody since they were babies. She studies behavioral sciences, but the animals are also her pets. She told police they are valued at $25,000 each.

A news release from the Hall County sheriff says the gibbons were found early Thursday morning in Fort Myers, Fla. Two 20-year-old men were arrested on suspicion of having stolen property.

The release says Stephens is making arrangements for the return of the primates to Nebraska.

(AP) — A Grand Island official arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after a hit-and-run crash has been sentenced to six months of probation.

51-year-old Jaye Monter, of Cairo, pleaded no contest Wednesday to driving under the influence and failure to stop. Both counts are misdemeanors.

Monter is the finance director for Grand Island. In exchange for her pleas, prosecutors dropped misdemeanor charges of operating a vehicle to avoid arrest, refusal to submit to test and refusal to submit to a preliminary breath test.

Monter was also ordered to pay $1,800 in fines and court costs.

She was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after a sheriff’s deputy witnessed her rear-end another vehicle June 7 on Highway 2, then drive off.

(AP) — A former worker at a Nebraska center for developmentally disabled adults is asking for a change of venue and for a new judge.

Matthew Pangborn’s attorney filed motions Wednesday seeking to move the abuse trial to another county and asking Gage County District Judge Paul Korslund to recuse himself.

Pangborn was convicted last year of nine counts related to the alleged abuse of residents and sentenced to 15 to 23 years in prison. But in July, the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Pangborn, saying prosecutor should not have been allowed to submit a chart of Pangborn’s alleged abuses for the jury to use during deliberations.

Gage County Attorney Roger Harris is opposing the motions.

(AP) — A 39-year-old Columbus man will stand trial on two counts of distributing child pornography.

Edward Johnson waived his right to a preliminary hearing and his case bound over Wednesday for trial. Johnson’s arraignment in Platte County District Court has been set for Sept. 27.

Police arrested Johnson earlier this month after received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that led to a five-month investigation.

Police say Internet records show that an online account belonging to Johnson was used to post photos of child pornography.

Johnson continues to be held at the Platte County jail on $150,000 bond.