OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Supreme Court has vacated a manslaughter conviction and sentence in the case of a man who argued he was essentially convicted twice for his role in the 2007 drunken driving death of a rural Nebraska high school volleyball coach.  Authorities say Herchel Huff was drunk and speeding when he hit and killed Kacey Jo Warner of Arapahoe as she was jogging with her 3-year-old daughter. Huff pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years.  But a Furnas County jury later convicted him of motor vehicle homicide in Warner’s death, and he was sentenced to another 45 years. Huff appealed, saying the two convictions for the same death amounted to double jeopardy. The state’s high court agreed, but
upheld his motor vehicle homicide conviction and sentence.

BENKELMAN, Neb. (AP) – Amtrak says a small number of passengers have been taken to hospitals after a train carrying about 175 people derailed in Nebraska. Amtrak says the California Zephyr train ran into some equipment on the tracks and derailed around 8 a.m. near Benkelman, not far from the state’s borders with Kansas and Colorado. Two locomotives and the first three of 10 passenger cars left the tracks. Some of the cars tipped onto their sides but there was no fire. Amtrak spokesman Mark Magliari says he can’t confirm the exact number of injuries but says none are believed to be life-threatening. Dundy County Hospital spokeswoman Sandy Noffsinger says seven patients are being treated there. She confirms none of those injuries are considered to be life-threatening.