Lincoln, Neb. – The Nebraska football team practiced for two hours in the Hawks Championship Center on Thursday. Offensive Coordinator Danny Langsdorf spoke with the media following practice. Continue reading “Quarterbacks Progressing as Spring Practice Rolls On”
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The trial of one of Omaha’s most notorious crimes will be delayed after a judge ruled that the out-of-state defense lawyers lost their authorization to work in Nebraska.
The local lawyers who were working with the Chicago defense lawyers defending former doctor Anthony Garcia were allowed to withdraw from the case Thursday.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine had filed a motion seeking to remove the Illinois lawyers after Alison Motta falsely told reporters that DNA evidence exonerated Garcia.
Garcia is charged in the 2008 deaths of the 11-year-old son of Creighton University pathologist William Hunter, as well as the family’s housekeeper. Garcia’s also charged in the 2013 deaths of Creighton pathologist Roger Brumback and his wife.
Garcia’s trial had been scheduled to begin on Monday.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Part of the Wilkinson Wildlife Management Area in Platte County has been closed temporarily because three whooping cranes are using the area.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the cranes have been at the park since March 25, so the eastern third of the park has been closed off.
The commission routinely closes off areas once whooping cranes are found.
The birds’ total wild population of about 300 individuals migrates through Nebraska each fall and spring between wintering sites along the Texas coast and breeding areas in northern Alberta.
They are protected by state and federal endangered species laws. Penalties for killing, possessing or harassing whooping cranes may include fines of up to $50,000, up to a year in jail, or both.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have reached a compromise on a property tax package aimed at farm and ranch land owners.
A watered-down version of the bill won first-round approval Thursday after more than six hours of debate. Some lawmakers initially opposed the measure, arguing that it would create budget hardships for the state next year and complaining that it does nothing for people who don’t work in agriculture.
The measure introduced on Gov. Pete Ricketts’ behalf would provide $20 million for tax credits directed at farm and ranch land owners. Existing tax credits for residential and commercial property would remain unchanged.
An earlier version that was scrapped would have allocated $30 million and imposed new budget restrictions on community colleges, which rely on property taxes.
ATLANTA (AP) — A new government report shows no change in how common autism is among U.S. children.
About 1 in 68 school-aged children have autism or related disorders. That’s the same as when health officials checked two years earlier.
The lack of change is noteworthy because autism estimates had been steadily increasing. In 2007, the government estimated only 1 in 150 children had autism.
For decades, autism meant kids with severe language, intellectual and social impairments and unusual, repetitious behaviors. But the definition has gradually expanded and now includes milder, related conditions. The causes of autism are still not known.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report Thursday. CDC officials say it is too soon to know if the figure has stabilized.
CAIRO, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a pickup driver has been killed in a collision with a semitrailer in south-central Nebraska.
The accident occurred around 8:30 Thursday morning about 2½ miles south of Cairo (KEH’-roh) at the intersection of West Airport Road and Nebraska Highway 11. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office says the semitrailer rolled onto its left side, spilling some of its contents onto the highway. The semi’s driver suffered only minor injuries.
The names of both drivers and other details about the accident have not been released. The pickup driver was described as a man from rural Buffalo County.
North Platte – The North Platte Community College Knights Softball team will host the Trinidad State Junior College Lady Trojans in a doubleheader on Friday, April 1, at the Wayne A. Dowhower Softball Complex. Continue reading “NPCC Knights Softball to Face Trinidad”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Efforts are underway to improve a transit service that’s been providing weekday rides to residents in rural Lancaster County for nearly 35 years.
The transit service’s new manager, Mitch Sump, is seeking ways to make it more useful and better known. He’s also trying to battle misconceptions that the service is just for seniors, is limited by income and is only for medical appointments and grocery shopping.
Anyone, regardless of age and income, can utilize the door-to-door service for $2 per ride.
Sump says the service currently averages about 29 passengers per week, but it has the capacity to do more.
This year’s budget is expected to be about $80,000.
YORK, Neb. (AP) — Inmates at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women start preparing to reintegrate into the community as soon as they arrive at the York prison.
The facility hosts groups that offer housing, employment, encouragement, counseling and other support services twice a year in an effort to make the transition successful for inmates.
Unit administrator Steve Hunzeker says about 150 inmates who are eligible for release or parole prior to July 2017 were given the opportunity last week to seek services from 15 agencies that set up booths as part of the prison’s re-entry fair.
Among the groups offering information to the inmates was a Christian-based shelter called the Living Water Rescue Mission in York.
Another group, Compassion in Action, offered pre-release education to the inmates.
YORK, Neb. (AP) — York County commissioners are discussing mowing crops that have been wrongfully planted in county rights of way such as roadside drainage ditches.
The plantings raise issues of safety as the plants grow and hamper motorists’ vision at rural intersections.
Commissioner Paul Buller said at a commissioners meeting earlier this week that “some of the same people have been doing it for years.”
A warning and information letter that would be sent to farmers is being drafted for commissioners to consider at their next meeting.
