Four cities have told the state they’re interested in hosting the new Nebraska veterans home.
The four cities are Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney and North Platte.
The new home will replace the 125-year-old veterans home in Grand Island.
Rodney Anderson is administrator of the State Building Division says the communities will be given information about site evaluation and selection. They have until June 11 to submit proposals.
Authorities say a Missouri man died after his minivan rammed a garbage truck in northeast Nebraska.
The Nebraska State Patrol says the accident occurred a little before 10 a.m. Monday on U.S. Highway 20, about a half-mile west of Jackson.
The patrol says the minivan crossed the center line and clipped a semitrailer before striking the garbage truck.
The minivan driver was pronounced dead at the scene. He was identified as 46-year-old Rex Dodd, of Bethel, Mo.
Officials say the garbage truck driver, 41-year-old Troy Lane, of Sioux City, Iowa, was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City. He’s been released.
The semitrailer driver wasn’t injured.
(AP) — Jason Collins describes himself this way, “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.”
With those words, posted today on the Sports Illustrated website, Collins became the first active player in any of the four major U.S. professional sports to come out as gay. He’s now a free agent after a half-season with the Washington Wizards but says he’d like to continue his NBA career.
Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant tweeted his support of Collins, saying, “Don’t suffocate who you are because of the ignorance of others.”
Former tennis star Billie Jean King, who confirmed she was gay in the early 1980s, says, “We’ve got to get rid of the shame.” And she says Collins “is going to help that” and “help give people courage to come out.”
Collins has also heard support from the White House, and from former President Bill Clinton.
Momentum has been building toward this sort of announcement. Two NFL players were outspoken in their support of gay-marriage amendments during last year’s elections.
The topic made waves during Super Bowl week when san Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver said he wouldn’t welcome a gay member of his team. And a fellow player estimated that at least half of the NFL’s players would agree with what he said, at least privately.
(AP) — The Nebraska volleyball program has lost another player.
Coach John Cook announced Monday night that rising sophomore Alexa Strange is returning to her home state of California and will focus on playing beach volleyball. Cook says he wishes her the best.
Strange was the only setter on the Cornhuskers’ roster this spring. Strange played in 25 matches last season as a right-side hitter.
Last week Cook announced Hayley Thramer would miss her senior season because of a knee injury. Thramer is the fifth starter from last season who will be missing. Three seniors graduated, and libero Lara Dykstra transferred.
(AP) — Sgt. 1st Class Greg Robinson has become the first amputee to complete Army air assault school, a course so grueling his prosthetic leg broke down twice over the 10 days spent rappelling down ropes, marching long distances and navigating obstacle courses.
Each year thousands of soldiers are physically and mentally tested at the Fort Campbell , Kentucky school. Instructors said Robinson accomplished all that others did and trainers cut him no slack even though he lost part of his right leg in Afghanistan in 2006.
The 34-year-old noncommissioned officer from Elizabethtown, Ill., graduated Monday.
War wounds from Iraq and Afghanistan and the Boston Marathon bombing have highlighted the challenges to recovery amputees face.
Robinson, a platoon sergeant, says he was determined to complete the same program soldiers under his command must confront.
A false alarm sparked fear of a possible chemical spill in Union Pacific’s Bailey Yards in North Platte on Monday.
Sirens sounded and text messages were sent after an employee overreacted.
Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the employee overreacted when they saw some kind of discharge coming from a tank car. However, it was discovered that the tank car was in a routine venting process.
Employees and residents are on high alert after a tank car filled with chlorine derailed just east of Bailey Yards last Monday.
On April 26 at around 10:27 p.m., North Platte Police responded to a residence in the 100 Block of West 9th, after receiving a report of a burglary.
Officers learned that two of the residents had returned home to find Tonya Fuentes in their home loading up a bag with groceries and alcohol.
When confronted, Fuentes told the residents that her sister lived in the house. However, the sister was not present and no one had given Fuentes permission to enter the house and take the items.
By the time police arrived, Fuentes had left the residence.
At 11:33 p.m. that same evening, Officers were called to a disturbance in the 1100 Block of North Bailey. Upon arrival, police found Fuentes and another subject yelling at each other in the street.
Fuentes was arrested for the Burglary that had occurred earlier, as well as the home invasion.
She was charged with Burglary and Disturbing the Peace and was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.
A 36-Year-Old North Platte man has been charged with Felony Child Abuse.
On April 26, North Platte Police were called to meet with a local school counselor after a 10-year-old student was found to have a bump on her head.
Following an investigation, police learned that there had been a disturbance at the girl’s home the previous night, which also involved her 16-year-old brother and her father, Kevin Hawkins.
Investigators conducted interviews with both children, and determined there was probable cause to arrest Hawkins for Felony Child Abuse.
He was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.
A North Platte man has been charged with multiple felonies after making threats with a rifle.
North Platte Police responded to the report of a disturbance at a local residence.
Police say that at around midnight on April 19th, Cortney Hansen, 33, went to his ex-girlfriend’s house in North Platte where she and her children were sleeping. Hansen had reportedly been drinking and brought a large caliber rifle with him to the home. He remained at the home and began making suicidal threats, as well as threatening others with the rifle.
Hansen was taken into custody around 10:00 a.m., by police.
He was then evaluated by medical staff for an unknown medical condition and was later hospitalized.
The Lincoln County Attorney’s office obtained a warrant for Hansen’s arrest and he was jailed on charges of Making Terroristic Threats, Use of a Weapon to Commit a Felony and Felony Child Abuse.
A weekend fire at a central Nebraska hospital caused significant damage to both of its ambulances.
The fire happened Sunday morning at Phelps Memorial Health Center in Holdrege.
Both of the hospital’s two ambulances were parked in the garage at Phelps Memorial when one of the ambulances caught fire.
Hospital administrator Mark Harrell says all the patients were evacuated within eight minutes after the fire was found. They were able to return to their rooms later Sunday.
But Harrell says one ambulance is a total loss and the other sustained heavy smoke damage. He estimated the damage at $500,000.
An electrical problem in one of the ambulances is believed to have caused the fire, which started near the vehicle’s battery.
