COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A 22-year-old Columbus man accused of seriously injuring the 4-month-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend will stand trial on a felony child abuse charge.
22-year-old Francisco Villatoro is set to be arraigned June 26 in Platte County District Court.
Villatoro was arrested last month after calling 911 to report that the baby was choking. The infant was taken to Columbus Community Hospital and then transferred to Omaha Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha.
Doctors say the infant suffered a head injury. Police say it happened as Villatoro was caring for the child while his girlfriend was at work.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court had upheld the first-degree murder conviction of a former Omaha gang member.
The high court on Friday upheld the conviction last year of Marcus “Cricket” Escamilla for the 2013 shooting death of Kenneth Gunia outside of a downtown Omaha apartment. Escamilla was sentenced to life plus five years for a weapons count.
Escamilla appealed, claiming that there was a lack of evidence of premeditation to sustain his conviction for first-degree murder.
But the Nebraska Supreme in a unanimous ruling disagreed, finding no merit in Escamilla’s arguments.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 25-year veteran with the Nebraska State Patrol is suing the agency and its new leader, accusing Col. Brad Rice of torpedoing his career over a long-held grudge.
Trooper Todd Steckelberg, of Elkhorn, is seeking damages for lost wages and damage to his reputation. He says Rice still holds a grudge over a complaint Steckelberg filed against him years ago.
Steckelberg says Rice recently kept him from being transferred to the governor’s protection detail, even though he was the most qualified candidate.
Rice came under fire after Gov. Pete Ricketts nominated him earlier this year to lead the agency. Rice served on an interview panel that denied several promotions to a female sergeant, who successfully sued for gender discrimination.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police have identified a man they say died following a report of an assault in eastern Omaha.
Police say officers were called to 24th and Harney streets shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday to investigate an assault. When they arrived they found 54-year-old Timothy Rasmussen, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say the man had no apparent wounds, and investigators do not yet know the cause of death.
No suspects have been named.
The Omaha Police Department’s homicide unit is investigating the death.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eduardo Rodriguez pitched capably into the seventh inning, Mookie Betts had a career-best four hits and the Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 7-3 on Friday night.
Rodriguez (3-1), who gave up nine runs in 4 2-3 innings in his previous start against Toronto, allowed one run and six hits in 6 1-3 innings. Alcides Escobar’s RBI-double in the fifth was the first run he allowed on the road in 18 1-3 innings.
The Red Sox batted around in a five-run second inning, which included an RBI-single by Betts. Blake Swihart contributed a two-run double, while Mike Napoli drove in two runs with a single.
Betts is 13 for 22 in his past five games, raising his average to .267.
Boston’s Hanley Ramirez hit his 14th home run in the fifth.
DENVER (AP) — Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer and Taylor Jungmann threw six innings to help the Milwaukee Brewers snap a six-game losing streak with a 9-5 victory over the scuffling Colorado Rockies on Friday night.
Aramis Ramirez added a solo shot as the Brewers rediscovered the long ball after hitting only one homer in their losing streak. They had two off Jorge De La Rosa (4-3) in a three-run first inning.
Ben Paulsen finished a homer shy of the cycle for the Rockies, who have lost five straight.
Relying almost exclusively on his fastball, Jungmann (2-1) handcuffed Colorado’s potent offense before losing steam. The right-hander allowed four runs and eight hits.
A bull rider competes at the 2015 Buffalo Bill Rodeo. The rodeo, an inductee into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, kicks off the ten days of NebraskalandDays activities in North Platte. Photo by George Hipple.
North Platte, Neb. (June 19, 2015) – After competition at the third night of the Buffalo Bill Rodeo, several cowboys slipped into the money, coming in second and fourth place in their respective events.
North Platte played host to several top fifteen cowboys, including bareback rider Seth Hardwick and saddle bronc rider Heath DeMoss. Hardwick, Laramie, Wyo., and currently fourth in the world in his event, scored 81 points to hold the fourth place spot in the rodeo so far. He rode Queen Molly, a little bay horse owned by Beutler and Son Rodeo Co., the stock contractors for the rodeo. “I’d heard from a few guys she was a little bucky. But it’s Bennie’s (Beutler) pen, and I guess they’re all like that,” he said.
The 26 year old cowboy is having the best year of his rodeo career, and if he can stay away from injuries and keep in the top fifteen in the world, he’ll be headed to his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December. He credits it to not being injured, working out more, and drawing good bucking horses. He’s had a good start, winning second at San Antonio, Texas earlier this winter and winning the Champions Challenges at Redding, Calif., and Spanish Forks, Utah. But there’s no letting off the pedal now. The North Platte rodeo “pretty much starts our Fourth (of July) run, so I’ll rodeo till the end of September, for the most part. A guy can just about go to a rodeo every day, if he wants,” Hardwick said. “We try not to do that, because you can get too tired, but we go to plenty of them.”
Lincoln, Neb. – Nebraska volleyball senior Alicia Ostrander is one of 36 athletes who will head to New Orleans, La., for the U.S. Collegiate National Team (CNT) program that will train and compete in conjunction with the USA Volleyball Girls’ Junior National Championships from June 21-29.
For the fourth consecutive year, USA Volleyball will have its U.S. Collegiate National Team program (formerlyknown as U.S. Women’s National A2 Team) represented at the USAV Girls’ Junior National Championships.
The Bob Devaney Sports Center will have a new and improved look for the upcoming 2015 Nebraska volleyball season. As part of an effort to enhance the fan experience, the University of Nebraska Athletics Department and Husker volleyball program announced a new center-hung video scoreboard, a new sound system and completion of the exterior siding of the Devaney Center in 2015.
The high-definition video board by Daktronics will hang directly over the center of the Devaney Center court. The board is trapezoidal in shape and will be 13’6″ tall and 28′ wide on the two sides. The ends of the board are 13’2″ wide on top and 9’5″ wide on bottom.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A 22-year-old Columbus man accused of seriously injuring the 4-month-old daughter of his live-in girlfriend will stand trial on a felony child abuse charge.
