An Omaha police officer is recovering after being bitten and punched by a 19-year-old woman who didn’t want to follow instructions.
Officer James Shade says police were called to a west Omaha apartment building around 2 a.m. Saturday because a man wanted a woman removed from his apartment.
Officers escorted the woman out and told her to leave, but that’s when she attacked Officer Michael Decker.
The woman was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an officer and possessing drug paraphernalia.
(AP) — A Hastings ethanol plant that announced in February that it would temporarily shut down will not reopen.
The Ag Processing Inc. cooperative said Friday that it is permanently shutting down the 55-million-gallon-a-year plant, citing the plant’s age and high utility costs associated with running it.
Officials had cited a slowdown in the economy, high corn prices and low oil prices for the temporary shutdown.
Matt Caswell, vice president of corporate relations with AGP in Omaha, said the company didn’t see “any turn-around in the industry anytime soon.”
Most of the plant’s 43 employees found jobs within AGP’s other operations in Hastings. AGP also operates a soybean processing plant, vegetable oil refinery and an AminoPlus production facility in the city.
APG says none of those facilities have been impacted by the ethanol plant’s closure.
The first application period for big-game hunting permits begins Monday and runs through June 7.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says that for deer, residents and nonresidents may apply for one permit in any one draw unit. The draw units are Republican Mule Deer, Platte Mule Deer Conservation Area, Platte Whitetail, Frenchman Mule Deer Conservation Area and Frenchman Whitetail.
Residents and eligible landowners may apply for one antelope buck or either-sex firearm permit or one muzzleloader permit.
Residents and eligible landowners may apply for one elk permit.
Residents have preference over nonresidents in the application process. The permits will be drawn in mid-June.
All remaining big-game permits will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning July 8.
(AP) — Eligible landowners are being urged to enroll cropland affected by the 2011 Missouri River flood into two federal land conservation programs to take advantage of flood habitat recovery funds.
The Missouri River Post Flood Habitat Recovery Program provides eligible landowners incentives for enrolling cropland into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program and Continuous Conservation Reserve Program.
All lands eligible for CRP and CCRP located on the 500-year Missouri River Floodplain are eligible for the flood recovery program. There will be a one-time incentive payment of $100 per acre for each CRP acre enrolled with Farm Services Agency.
The next general signup is May 20-June 14. Landowners interested should contact Scott Luedtke at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission at 402-471-5561 or scott.luedtke(at)nebraska.gov.
(AP) — Nebraska landowners who want to create or protect habitat for wildlife are invited to tour well-managed lands in the state.
The Nebraska chapters of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are hosting tours of 17 different locations in the state this spring and summer.
The tours began Thursday with a cedar tree removal project near Linwood. The final event is a rangeland management workship on Aug. 16 in Holt County.
The tours are meant to show habitat management practices in action and provide information on how landowners can take part in conservation programs.
More details about the free tours are available online at www.nebraskapf.com . Anyone interested in attending can register by calling Pam Grossart at 308-850-8395.
(AP) — The beef-processing company that makes the product that critics call “pink slime” continues to struggle more than a year after the initial stories on the lean bits of beef that Beef Products Inc. produced.
The Dakota Dunes, S.D., based company lost 80 percent of its business after the uproar over what BPI calls lean finely textured beef.
The meat BPI separated from trimmings and treated with ammonia to kill bacteria was widely used in hamburger, but consumers objected to it after media reports depicted it as unsavory.
The private company closed three of its four plants, scrapped expansion plans in South Sioux City and eliminated more than 700 jobs. Those won’t return soon.
With a shot at the No. 2 seed at the Big Ten Tournament on the line, the Nebraska baseball team (25-28, 15-9 Big Ten) was unable to take care of businesson Saturday afternoon at Hawks Field. The Huskers dropped a 19-9 decision to the Michigan Wolverines (29-25, 14-10 Big Ten).
The Huskers could do no worse than the No. 3 seed in the tournament coming into the game and will face the No. 6 seed Wolverines in the opening round of the tournament, as the Wolverines punched their ticket with the win on Saturday at Hawks Field.
The two teams will play the second game of the tournament on Wednesday at 3:35 p.m. in Minneapolis, Minn., at Target Field. No. 4 Illinois and No. 5 Minnesota will play the opener at 12:05 p.m. on Wednesday.
Nebraska’s offense put up nine runs for the second straight game on Saturday and registered double-digit hits for the fifth straight game with 10 on the afternoon, but were unable to keep up with the Wolverine offense. Husker pitching gave up a season-high 19 runs on season-high 23 hits, the first time all season the Huskers have given up 20 or more hits.
Five Wolverines notched at least three hits on the day, including a four-hit game from both Travis Maezes and Cole Martin.
Sophomore Pat Kelly produced three hits for the second straight game, ending the series with a 7-for-14 performance at the plate with five RBIs. Chad Christensen was the only other Husker with a multi-hit day, as the totaled his 239th and 240thcareer hits, tying him with Alex Gordon for ninth all-time in Nebraska history.
Michigan jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with three runs in the first and a run in the second. The Huskers answered in the bottom of the fourth with a four spot, with NU stringing together three-straight two-out singles.
Needing a win to qualify for the league tournament, the Wolverines combined to score 10 runs over the fifth and sixth inning that put them ahead 14-5. Michigan put the game away for good with five runs in the top of the eighth.
The Huskers never stopped fighting, as NU plated four runs in the bottom of the ninth after entering the inning in a 19-5 hole.
The Huskers will head to Minneapolis on Monday and practice at Target Field on Tuesday in preparation for the league tournament. Greg Sharpe and Lane Grindle will have the call of every game of the tournament on the Husker Sports Network, including for free on Huskers.com. The Big Ten Network will also carry every game of the tournament live.
(AP) — Public safety officials in Connecticut say about 50 people have been hurt after two commuter trains collided outside New York City. Four of those injuries were deemed serious.
No fatalities were reported following Friday evening’s collision near Fairfield on the Metro-North Railroad.
The rail line referred to it in a news release as a “major derailment.”
A spokesman for public safety officials in nearby Bridgeport says about 250 people were on the two trains that collided after one derailed.
The railroad says a train that departed New York City’s Grand Central station en route to New Haven derailed. A westbound train on an adjacent track then struck the derailed train.
Some cars on the second train also derailed as a result of the collision.
Amtrak suspended service indefinitely between New York and Boston.
Lawmakers are planning to review why few Nebraska students who receive free and reduced-price lunches also participate in the federal funded breakfast program.
Of students who take part in the lunch program, the Food Research and Action Center finds only two states have fewer students who also eat free or reduced-price breakfasts. The group finds that four out of 10 students who participate in the lunch program aren’t part of the breakfast program, even though the income requirements are the same.
Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln has asked legislative staff to study the matter to see whether there are barriers to participation.
The Legislature’s Education Committee will hear public testimony on the issue later this year. Depending on what’s found, Avery said he may introduce legislation next year.
