SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters in western Nebraska say a late-night house fire was caused by fireworks.
The fire in Scottsbluff occurred late Saturday — the first night a local ordinance allows people to shoot off fireworks for the July 4 holiday.
Scottsbluff Fire Capt. Dan Hubbs says no one was injured, as the residents were not home at the time of the fire.
Hubbs says fireworks were shot into some bushes around the home, and the fire climbed up the eaves and into the attic. He estimated that about 25 percent of the attic space was damaged by fire.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new state reemployment program championed by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has won a national accolade.
The National Foundation of Unemployment Compensation and Workers Compensation honored the program at a recent gathering in Kansas City, Missouri. Ricketts was presented with the J. Eldred Hill Jr. Award for excellence in public policy.
Nebraska’s first-in-the-nation program requires jobseekers who receive unemployment benefits to enroll in a personalized “reemployment plan” through the state Department of Labor. Staff members work with the unemployed person to identify their goals and connect them with other services that could help them find a new job.
Jobseekers also have to post a resume on the state’s employment services system, which employers can search.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) â Christmas comes early for Gov. Pete Ricketts, and it lasts through most of the year.
The governor reported more than 400 gifts last year from constituents, friends, business associates and lobbyists. The list of items he received includes a cape, red clown’s nose, a rugby shirt and Ronald Reagan candy jar.
Other gifts were more expensive, including five flight packages valued at more than $1,000 for trips to Washington and meetings of the Republican Governors Association.
Jack Gould of the group Common Cause Nebraska says such gifts serve no public purpose and should be restricted to trinkets valued at less than $5.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says one person is dead following a two-vehicle, late-night crash in north Omaha.
The sheriff’s office says the crash occurred around 10:45 p.m. Friday on Sorenson Parkway.
A preliminary investigation shows that a westbound car rear-ended another car at a high speed. The car that was hit was carrying three people, and a person in the front passenger seat died at the scene. The driver and a back seat passenger were taken to a hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.
The driver of the car that rear-ended the other also suffered minor injuries.
The names of those injured have not yet been released.
An autopsy has been ordered. Investigators are looking into whether speed and alcohol contributed to the crash.
CLARINDA, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines man has been arrested after police say he traveled to southwestern Iowa and shot his older brother twice.
41-year-old Aaron Kubly was arrested Thursday night after police say he walked uninvited into his brother’s house and started shooting.
Police say 45-year-old Jason Kubly, of Clarinda, was shot in both legs. He was flown to an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital for treatment and is expected to survive.
Police did not give a suspected motive for the shooting. Aaron Kubly was found soon after the shooting on a Clarinda street. He was arrested and charged with attempted murder, burglary and assault.
He remained in the Page County Jail on Saturday on $100,000 bond and could not be reached for comment.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An anti-smoking group behind Omaha’s indoor smoking ban passed in 2006 is commemorating the ordinance’s 10-year anniversary by calling for the ban to expand to the outdoors.
The group, GASP, announced at a news conference Friday that it seeks to have smoking banned in all of Omaha’s city parks and other outdoor city property.
In a written release, the group says it wants the outdoor ban “to protect children not only from breathing secondhand smoke, but from seeing people smoking or spitting tobacco, because children copy what they see adults do.”
The group pointed to an Iowa law that requires some outdoor events like concerts to be smoke-free.
A Colorado man is dead following a Saturday afternoon crash near North Platte.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, troopers were called to a crash involving several vehicles at Mile Marker 175 on Interstate 80, about two miles west of North Platte.
It was determined that a Ford Explorer was traveling eastbound when the vehicle crossed the median and collided with a westbound Infiniti sedan.
Troopers say the Explorer then went airborne and collided with a semi pulling a fuel tanker.
The collision caused the tanker to rupture and spill fuel on the roadway.
The male driver of the Infiniti, identified as a man from Colorado, was pronounced dead at the scene. At least two other people were transported to Great Plains Health.
The crash remains under investigation and the names of those involved were not released.
Interstate 80 was closed between North Platte and Hershey until just after 6:00 p.m.
We’ll provide more information when it’s available.
United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Angel F. Garcia, 37, formerly of North Platte, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 70 months in prison by United States Senior District Judge Richard G. Kopf, for receipt and distribution of child pornography. Following his release from prison, Garcia will serve 5 years on supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender.
In March of 2015, while conducting an investigation, law enforcement officers of the North Platte Police Department observed an IP address making known child pornography files available for sharing. Further investigation determined that Garcia was the subscriber to that IP address. In April 2015, a search warrant was executed at Garcia’s residence in North Platte. Officers performed an on-scene preview of a computer located in Garcia’s bedroom and found thousands of child pornography images and videos. Garcia admitted to officers that he had in fact downloaded and viewed child pornography from the internet.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
This case was investigated by the North Platte Police Department.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The warden at a Nebraska prison where two inmates escaped is retiring.
The Department of Correctional Services announced Friday that Mario Peart is stepping down from the helm of the Lincoln Correctional Center, effective July 1.
Peart was reassigned to the department’s central office after convicted sex offenders Armon Dixon and Timothy Clausen escaped from the Lincoln prison earlier this month. Both have been recaptured. Director Scott Frakes has said the inmates escaped because staff members failed to follow security procedures.
Peart worked in the department for 39 years in a variety of roles at the Lincoln Correctional Center and the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Frakes says Peart requested to retire. He extended his appreciation to Peart for his years of service.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Firefighters in western Nebraska say a late-night house fire was caused by fireworks.
