LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the wheat harvest is well underway in southern Nebraska.

The USDA says that as of Sunday, 13 percent of the state’s crop had been harvested, half the average of 26 percent by the date. The crop was rated 49 percent good or excellent.

Corn was rated at 72 percent good or excellent. Eight percent of the corn had begun silking, compared with the average of 14 percent by the date.

Topsoil moisture supplies were rated 3 percent very short, 20 percent short, 72 percent adequate and 5 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture supplies were rated 8 percent very short, 21 percent short, 68 percent adequate and 3 percent surplus.

UPDATE:

The 23-year-old woman who escaped from the Hitchcock County jail earlier today has been captured.

Hitchcock County Sheriff D. Bryan Leggott says Jessica Cole was located and arrested in the basement of a home less than a block away from the jail just before 7:30 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Cole, who was being held on pending felony drug charges, now faces an additional charge of felony escape.

__________________________________________

Hitchcock County officials are asking for the public’s help in locating a woman who escaped from jail.

According to a news release, 23-year-old Jessica Cole escaped between 2:45 p.m. and 2:55 p.m., on Tuesday.

Cole was in the jail’s exercise yard when she escaped.  Officials say she may have been cut when when she scaled the wall and razor wire, and therefore may seek medical attention.

Cole is 5’2″ tall and weighs 125 pounds.  She has green eyes and long brown hair.

Anyone with information should contact their local law enforcement agency or the Hitchcock County Sheriff at (308) 334-5444.

A Colorado man is being housed in the Lincoln County Detention Center after he was arrested on multiple warrants in North Platte.

At around 8:10 a.m., on July 8, officers with the North Platte Police Department responded to a residence in the 600 block of East 2nd Street, after receiving a report of two suspicious males entering a 5th wheel behind a residence.

Officers made contact with two male subjects and a female subject.

One of the men, 23-year-old Robert Pinson, of Colorado Springs, CO, was found to have multiple warrants in Nebraska.

Pinson was wanted in Dawson County on warrants for no operator’s license, two counts of leaving the scene of a property damage accident, two counts of possession of marijuana, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and theft.  He was also wanted in Gosper County for driving under suspension and possession of marijuana, and in Buffalo County for theft.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, Pinson was also on probation with a search and seizure clause in place.  Officers searched Pinson and found a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Pinson was jailed on the warrants, and cited for possession of marijuana.

Brown said the other subjects weren’t cited or because Pinson had permission to be at the residence.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska federal judge is again drawing attention because of his personal blog, this time for using an obscene reference to suggest that the U.S. Supreme Court should not have heard the Hobby Lobby case.

The high court’s June 30 ruling found that some businesses can, because of their religious beliefs, choose not to comply with the federal health care law’s requirement that contraception coverage be provided to workers at no extra charge.

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf weighed in Saturday on the ruling on his online blog, “Hercules and the Umpire.” In it, he references profanity in saying that the Supreme Court should shut up.

The post has drawn more than 250 comments on the judge’s site, many of them critical.