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Driver dies after being pinned between truck, trailer

ambulance-lightsOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver has died after being pinned between his truck and a trailer he was hooking to it at a south Omaha meatpacking plant.

Police and medics were called around 3 p.m. Thursday to the facility operated by Greater Omaha. Police spokesman Michael Pecha says the man was found next to a semitrailer. The man was pronounced dead later. His name hasn’t been released.

Greater Omaha spokesman Mark Theisen says the man was a driver for the company’s trucking subsidiary.

The company declined to comment on what caused the accident.

About 400 workers tied to nuclear plant in Blair to be fired

fort-calhoun-dryBLAIR, Neb. (AP) — A new filing with the Nebraska Department of Labor says about 400 Omaha Public Power District employees involved with the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant will lose their jobs by the end of 2019.

District spokeswoman Jodi Baker said the number of affected employees is an estimate. The utility expected to have a more precise figure as it creates a clearer plan for closing the plant.

The filing says the layoffs will occur in “several rounds.” The utility notified the first group of 58 employees on Sept. 1 that it would terminate their positions on Oct. 31, a week after the nuclear plant is scheduled to permanently halt operations.

The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant is 20 miles north of Omaha. It employed about 700 people at its peak.

Offutt Air Force Base selected as finalist for drone mission

offutt-air-force-baseOFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) — Offutt Air Force Base just south of Omaha has been selected as one of five finalists for location of a drone wing mission control unit.

Drones would be controlled from that site, but no aircraft would be assigned to Offutt.

The announcement that Offutt was chosen as one of the five finalists out of nearly 20 bases that applied to host the unmanned aerial vehicle mission follows the Pentagon’s decision in June to allocate $55 million to repair Offutt’s deteriorating runway.

Democratic state Rep. Brad Ashford of Omaha says the future of Offutt and the entire Omaha area will be strong if it’s selected for the new mission.

Gov. Pete Ricketts says the mission could help Offutt thrive for years to come.

Woman sentenced for taking newborn son from Norfolk hospital

Lacee Tuttle
Lacee Tuttle

MADISON, Neb. (AP) — A woman accused of kidnapping her newborn son from a Norfolk hospital has been imprisoned.

Court records say 34-year-old Lacee Tuttle, of Pierce, was given a year for violating a custody order and 90 days for negligent child abuse. Tuttle pleaded guilty last month after prosecutors dropped a kidnapping count. Authorities say Tuttle tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana while at the hospital, which is why custody was given to a state agency.

Judge Mark Johnson ruled at Tuttle’s sentencing Thursday that those sentences are to be served at the same time but will be served after her sentence of 180 days for unrelated convictions: theft and intentional child abuse. The records say Tuttle had a little girl with her when she was caught shoplifting from a store.

Former state worker indicted in federal child porn case

Jail-Bars-and-Cuffs_medium

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former security supervisor for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has been indicted on federal child pornography charges.

Online court records say Brian Farrar is charged with receiving child pornography on Dec. 1 and with possessing child porn on March 29. His attorney didn’t immediately return a call Friday from The Associated Press.

A Health and Human Services Department spokeswoman said Farrar was a security supervisor at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney and that’d he worked for the department from June 1996 through Thursday. She did not answer a question about whether he quit or was dismissed.

GM recalls 4M vehicles for air bag defect linked to 1 death

general-motorsDETROIT (AP) — General Motors Co. is recalling about 4 million vehicles worldwide to fix an air bag software defect that has been linked to one death.

The company said Friday that in rare cases, the car’s computers can go into test mode and the front air bags won’t inflate in a crash. The seat belts also may not function.

GM says the defect is linked to at least one death.

GM will notify customers and update the software for free.

The recall involves the 2014-2016 Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet SS and Spark EV; the 2014-2017 Buick Encore, GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Corvette, Trax, Caprice and Silverado; and the 2015-2017 Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban and Silverado HD, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL and Sierra HD and Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV.

NP woman accused of biting, throwing potted plant at boyfriend

Victoria Winder
Victoria Winder

A North Platte woman is facing a felony assault charge after police say she assaulted her boyfriend.

At around 11:55 p.m., on September 8, North Platte police responded to the report of a disturbance in the 2300 block of East Philip.

Officers met with a 42-year-old male who advised that he had been in a relationship with Victoria Winder for the last several months.

He indicated that Winder does not live at the residence but had come over and refused to leave.

After the male requested that Winder leave several times, even asking a neighbor for help, Winder allegedly grabbed the victim’s arm and bit him several times.  Police say, after the alleged biting, Winder threw a potted plant at the man and struck him in the arm.

Investigator John Deal said the victim had injuries which corroborated his account of the assault.

An officer made contact with Winder and placed her under arrest.  Deal said she refused to talk to officers and was taken to the Lincoln County Detention Center.

The charge was enhanced to a felony because Winder has a previous domestic assault conviction.

North Platte Weather-September 9

forecast graphic september 9 2016Today
Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 73. Southeast wind 6 to 16 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.
Tonight
Clear, with a low around 40. Northwest wind 6 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Saturday
Sunny, with a high near 75. West northwest wind 5 to 8 mph.
Saturday Night
Clear, with a low around 49. South wind 7 to 10 mph.
Sunday
Sunny, with a high near 87. South southwest wind 9 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
Sunday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 55.
Monday
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 71.
Monday Night
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48.
Tuesday
A slight chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66.
Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 45.
Wednesday
Partly sunny, with a high near 70.
Wednesday Night
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53.
Thursday
A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 77.

Authorities confirm woman’s death may be linked to Whiteclay

whiteclay-neLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a homicide that may be linked to Whiteclay, a Nebraska town that sells millions of cans of beer annually near South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Sheridan County Attorney Jamian Simmons confirmed the investigation Thursday into the death of Sherry Wounded Foot of Porcupine, South Dakota.

Simmons says Wounded Foot died of blunt force trauma to the head. Wounded Foot was taken from Whiteclay to a Pine Ridge hospital on Aug. 5, but Simmons says the ambulance crew that transported her didn’t see evidence of trauma. Whiteclay is known for having intoxicated people passed out in the streets.

Wounded Foot was later transferred to a Rapid City hospital. She was taken off life support Aug. 17 and driven back to the Pine Ridge hospital, where she died.

Wells Fargo fined $185 million for improper account openings

wells-fargoNEW YORK (AP) — Regulators are fining Wells Fargo $185 million for illegally opening millions of unauthorized accounts for their customers in order to meet aggressive sales goals.

The San Francisco-based bank will pay $100 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency created five years ago; $35 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and $50 million to the City and County of Los Angeles. It will also pay restitution to affected customers.

The CFPB says Wells Fargo sales staff opened more than 2 million bank and credit card accounts that may have not been authorized by customers.

In a statement, Wells Fargo said: “We regret and take responsibility for any instances where customers may have received a product that they did not request.”

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