September 2016 – Page 11 – North Platte Post Archive

Man guilty of killing woman whose body was found in tub

Posted on September 21, 2016

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Douglas County jury has found a 28-year-old man guilty of strangling an Omaha woman whose body was found in her bathtub last year.

Matthew Kidder was convicted Wednesday afternoon of first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon. He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison when he’s sentenced on Nov. 1.

Police say Kidder raped and strangled 28-year-old Jessyka Nelson on June 25, 2015. Kidder was a longtime friend of Nelson’s family.

Prosecutors say Kidder had been released from prison for the rape and choking of another woman when he killed Nelson.

Police say DNA from Nelson’s fingernails and the cellphone cord used to strangle her matched Kidder’s, and that his cellphone records showed he was at Nelson’s house the night she was killed.

Woman reports dog tangled with mountain lion in York County

Posted on September 21, 2016

WACO, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a woman has reported that her dog tangled with a mountain lion at her home south of Waco in York County.

The woman told the York County Sheriff’s Department Tuesday that she and her husband had heard a commotion outside the night before and that she saw her dog fighting an animal when she went outside to check.

She says the big cat ran off when her husband shined a light on it. The dog wasn’t seriously injured.

The woman is all but certain what she saw was a mountain lion, but the sighting hasn’t confirmed.

Authorities have taken several reports of mountain lions in the county, but most have not been confirmed.

Nebraska prisons to launch new sentence-calculating software

Posted on September 21, 2016

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s corrections department is launching new software that will calculate prisoner sentences automatically, reducing the risk of errors that could lead to an inmate getting released too early.

Department of Correctional Services Director Scott Frakes says employees will start using the software on Saturday and praised the technology as a way to improve accuracy and efficiency.

Frakes says he’s confident the software will help the department avoid the widespread sentencing errors under previous administrations, which resulted in hundreds of inmates not completing their full court-ordered sentences.

The new system can be adjusted to account for new court rulings and legislation that changes how sentences should be calculated. It’s the latest in a series of steps Frakes has taken to improve how the department operates.

Omaha council won’t make food trucks collect restaurant tax

Posted on September 21, 2016

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The City Council has rejected a proposal that would have required food truck operators to collect Omaha’s 2.5 percent restaurant tax.

The measure failed on a 3-4 vote Tuesday after members debated and rejected an amendment that would have lowered the tax rate.

Food trucks were exempted when the council approved the restaurant tax in 2010. In May restaurant owner Michael Henery sued the city, saying it’s not fair that food trucks don’t pay the tax. The lawsuit also says the tax is unconstitutional. Henery is seeking a $100,000 refund.

Mayor’s lawsuit filed in Lincoln budget battle

Posted on September 21, 2016

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A lawsuit filed by the mayor could force the Lincoln City Council to set a tax rate that would raise enough money to support the mayor’s budget next year.

A lawyer for Mayor Chris Beutler (BYTE’-lur) filed it late Tuesday afternoon. It’s aimed at settling the question of whether a council vote on the tax rate is purely ministerial and must correspond to the budget in place or whether the four Republican council members can set a different rate.

Beutler and the council Democrats have said the panel must approve a tax rate that fully supports the budget of record, in this case the budget Beutler submitted before vetoing the council’s revised version. The council’s Republicans have said the smaller budget approved by the Republican majority is the legal budget.

Ex-Nebraska Rep. Bill Barrett, who pushed farm issues, dies

Posted on September 21, 2016

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Longtime Nebraska politician Bill Barrett, who helped shape the nation’s farm policy during his 10 years in Congress, has died at age 87.

The conservative Republican was known for seeking consensus and compromise during his decade representing the western two-thirds of Nebraska in the state’s 3rd Congressional District.

Tami Reynolds of Reynolds-Love Funeral Home in Lexington said Barrett died Tuesday night at an assisted living facility in Lexington, his hometown.

Barrett was outspoken on farm issues and helped write the Freedom to Farm Act in 1996 that limited farm subsidies. He also tried to keep the federal government out of local water rights issues.

He served in the U.S. House from 1991 through 2000. Before that, he spent 12 years in the Nebraska Legislature, his final four as speaker.

HIGHLIGHTS: Lady Bulldogs sweep Kearney behind Mauch’s big night

Posted on September 21, 2016

The Hot Sheets (9.21.16): Don’t Stand So Close to Me

Posted on September 21, 2016

Edgar Norman Almond: Safekeep (Cheyenne County)

Madeline Marie May: Failure to Appear (x2)

Click Here To See Past Hot Sheets

This information is not a criminal history. Criminal charges are often dropped or reduced. All individuals included in this post are presumed innocent of crimes until proven guilty in a court of law. The North Platte Post assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, or completeness, of this information. Any person who believes information provided is not accurate may submit a complaint to admin@northplattepost.com.

North Platte Weather-September 21

Posted on September 21, 2016

Today

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the morning.

Tonight

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58. East wind around 8 mph.

Thursday

Partly sunny, with a high near 80. Northeast wind 8 to 11 mph.

Thursday Night

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58. East wind 9 to 13 mph.

Friday

A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Breezy, with a south southeast wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

Friday Night

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58.

Saturday

A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 77.

Saturday Night

A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 49.

Sunday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 68.

Sunday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.

Monday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 69.

Monday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.

Tuesday

Mostly sunny, with a high near 73.

Nebraska, Iowa get share of $28.4M federal education grants

Posted on September 20, 2016

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska and Iowa are getting a share of $28.4 million in U.S. Department of Education grants to help improve college and career readiness for historically underserved students.

The Advanced Placement grants announced on Tuesday were issued to 41 states as well as Washington, D.C., and will help defray the cost of taking advanced placement tests for students from low-income families.

The Nebraska State Department of Education will receive $42,138 in grant money. The Iowa Department of Education will receive $112,282.

Federal officials say subsidizing test fees encourages all students to take advanced placement tests and obtain college credit for high school courses, reducing the time and cost required to complete a postsecondary degree. The grants will pay all but $15 of advanced placement tests taken by low-income students.