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County judge based in Grand Island set to retire

judgeshipGRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A county judge based in Grand Island is set to retire at the end of the month.

Nebraska court administrators say 9th Judicial District Judge Philip “Mac” Martin Jr. is retiring on Jan. 31 after 25 years on the bench, which serves Hall and Buffalo counties.

Martin is a former president of the Nebraska County Judges Association and has served on numerous judicial committees throughout his career. He mentored new judges from across the state through the County Judges Education Committee for several years, training many of the judges who are on the bench today.

The first step in replacing Martin will be for the Judicial Resources Commission to call a meeting to determine whether, based on judicial workload statistics, his retirement creates a judicial vacancy.

Nebraska spring turkey hunting permits now available

wild-turkeyLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Spring turkey hunting permits are now available in Nebraska.

The state Game and Parks Commission says the hunting permits are on sale now. Hunters can buy up to three permits with a limit of one turkey per permit.

Officials say Nebraska offers prime turkey hunting with populations of the birds in every county of the state.

The spring archery turkey season opens March 25. The youth shotgun season starts on April 8, and the regular shotgun season starts April 15.

All spring turkey seasons close May 31.

‘Hidden Figures’ keeps orbit at top; Affleck, Scorsese flop

box-officeNEW YORK (AP) — The crowd-pleasing NASA drama “Hidden Figures” has topped the box office for the second straight week, while a pair of high-priced prestige releases sputtered.

Estimates on Sunday say “Hidden Figures,” a tale about African-American mathematicians in the 1960s space race, sold $20.5 million in tickets in North American theaters over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Fox anticipates it will make $25.3 million when Monday is included.

In a crowded field that included the “Star Wars” hit “Rogue One,” the Oscar favorite “La La Land” and the surprisingly strong supernatural thriller “The Bye Bye Man,” several big-name directors flopped.

Ben Affleck’s period crime thriller “Live By Night” earned a mere $5.4 million. Martin Scorsese’s Christian epic “Silence” took in just $1.9 million.

Sponsor of failed casino petition drive sues polling company

gamblingOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The main sponsor of a failed proposal to allow casino gambling in Nebraska is suing the polling company that failed to gather enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot last year for $1.3 million.

Ho-Chunk Inc. has sued Omaha-based Northstar Campaign Systems over the failed petition drive.

Ho-Chunk, which runs a casino near Sloan, Iowa, is the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska’s economic development corporation.

Northstar officials say the company didn’t do anything wrong and will fight the lawsuit.

Last summer, organizers of the casino petition submitted 119,666 signatures for the proposed constitutional amendment, but more than 41,000 signatures were rejected either as duplicates or because petition signers weren’t registered voters in the county listed.

Icy conditions contribute to fiery crash on I-80 in Nebraska

state-patrol-logoBUFFALO COUNTY, Neb. (AP) — Officials believe icy conditions contributed to a fiery crash involving two semitrailer trucks on Interstate 80 in central Nebraska.

The Nebraska Roads Department closed 15 miles of I-80 after the trucks crashed shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday. The crash happened about nine miles west of Kearney.

Pictures of the crash show the trucks on fire along the road, but the Nebraska State Patrol says no one was hurt.

I-80 reopened by in the area by noon Sunday, but officials still urged caution.

Highways in central Nebraska were covered by ice. Most of the ice accumulation is expected in eastern Nebraska and Iowa later Sunday into Monday.

Ice accumulations of one-quarter to three-quarters of an inch appear likely, making driving dangerous and threatening to bring down tree limbs and power lines.

Nowhere left to run away to: The final days of the circus

ringling-brothers-circusSARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Goodbye to death-defying feats — daring young men (and women) on the flying trapeze, whip-wielding lion tamers, human cannonballs. Goodbye to the scent of peanuts and popcorn, the thrill of three rings, circus music.

Send out the clowns. The Big Top is coming down — for good.

On Saturday, officials of the company that owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it will close in May, ending a 146-year run that dates back to a time before automobiles or airplanes or movies, when Ulysses S. Grant was president and minstrel shows were popular entertainment.

What killed the circus? Mostly, the “Greatest Show on Earth” doesn’t seem so great in an era of Pokemon Go, online role-playing games and YouTube celebrities.


ELLENTON, Fla. (AP) — From New York to Wisconsin to London and beyond, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has performed for millions of fans during its 146-year reign as one of the world’s biggest big tops.

The show, which is closing down permanently because of declining ticket sales, has its roots in a spectacle that began two decades before the U.S. Civil War — equal parts freak show, zoo and museum. In 1881 it officially became the circus that generations grew up watching and saw many evolutions over the years, most recently with its decision to retire its elephant acts.

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— 1841 — Phineas Taylor Barnum buys Scudder’s American Museum in New York City and renames it Barnum’s American Museum, which was something of a zoo, museum, lecture hall and freak show. It was filled with artifacts and items from around the world. The museum later burned down. Barnum also took his show on the road as “P.T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling American Museum.”

— 1881 — Barnum partners with James A. Bailey and James L. Hutchinson for “P.T. Barnum’s Greatest Show On Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger’s Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United,” later shortened to the “Barnum & London Circus.”

— 1882 — The Ringling Brothers — Alf, Al, Charles, John and Otto — performed their first vaudeville-style show in Mazomanie, Wisconsin.

— 1884 — The Ringling Brothers Circus begins as a traveling performance.

— 1887 — The official Ringling touring show became the “Ringling Bros. United Monster Shows, Great Double Circus, Royal European Menagerie, Museum, Caravan, and Congress of Trained Animals.”

— 1895 — The Ringlings decided to branch out to New England, which was already the territory of P.T. Barnum. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, the two circuses “agreed to divide the U.S. rather than compete head-to-head. The Ringlings established their headquarters in Chicago while Barnum and Bailey stayed in New York.”

— 1907 — After the death of James Bailey, the Ringlings buy Barnum and Bailey. They keep the circuses separate, and the Wisconsin Historical Society wrote that by the 1910s the Ringling Bros. Circus had more than 1,000 employees, 335 horses, 26 elephants, 16 camels and other assorted animals that traveled on 92 railcars. The Barnum and Bailey Circus was roughly the same size.

— 1919 — The two circuses merged and became known as “Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows.”

— 1927 — John Ringling moves circus headquarters to Sarasota, Florida.

— 1967 — Irvin Feld, a music and entertainment promoter, buys The Ringling circus and formally acquires it in a ceremony held at the Colosseum in Rome.

— 1985 — Kenneth Feld, Irvin’s son, becomes the owner of Feld Entertainment and the circus after his father dies.

— 2016 — Feld Entertainment announces it will retire elephants from its circus shows. The animals are moved to its Center for Elephant Conservation in Polk County, Florida.

— 2017 — Feld Entertainment announces that it will close the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Omaha firefighter charged with attacking woman allowed to see son

Sean Brenner
Sean Brenner

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha firefighter accused of slapping, shoving and threatening to kill a woman on Christmas morning will be allowed to visit his young son.

A judge allowed the visits during a hearing Friday for 45-year-old Sean Brenner. Brenner waived his right to a preliminary hearing on felony child abuse and terroristic threats charges. Trial on the charges will be set later. His preliminary hearing on a misdemeanor domestic violence count has been set for Feb. 10.

The woman reported that during an argument, Brenner slapped her several times, punched her and shoved her into a countertop. She also says he put a kitchen knife to her throat and threatened to kill her, her son and himself.

Brenner has been placed on leave.

Man found guilty in Lincoln shooting death

jury-boxLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man charged in the shooting death of a 25-year-old Lincoln man has been convicted of first-degree murder.

A jury found 34-year-old Anthony Wells guilty Friday of murder and several weapons counts for the death last year of Joshua Hartwig.

Police say they found Hartwig dead outside of an apartment building north of downtown Lincoln in January 2016. Prosecutors say that following an argument with a woman, Wells fired 13 rounds into a crowd outside the apartment building, hitting Hartwig in the neck.

Wells faces life in prison when he’s sentenced on March 28.

Bounds: NU facing need to cut $50 million over next 2 years

Hank Bounds (Couresy UNL)
Hank Bounds (Couresy UNL)

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds says more cuts to state aid and salary and benefits increases over the next two years will require NU to cut more than $50 million from its budget by 2019.

Bounds says the university system is already convening committees on the matter and plans to look at potential cuts and tuition increases at the Jan. 27 NU Board of Regents meeting.

On Thursday, Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed a more than $12 million cut to the university system next year. Bounds says NU is also looking at a 10 percent increase in health insurance costs in each of the next two years. He says collective bargaining negotiations could add another $28 million in costs.

Lotter challenging Nebraska 3-judge method on death penalty

John Lotter
John Lotter

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man convicted in the murder case that inspired the 1999 movie “Boys Don’t Cry” is challenging Nebraska’s three-judge method for determining death sentences.

Attorneys for John Lotter argue that he had a right to have jurors, not judges, weigh his fate when he was sentenced in 1996 to death. The attorneys cite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that struck down Florida’s death penalty process, saying it gave too much power to judges to make the ultimate decision.

Lotter was condemned for his role in the 1993 slaying of Teena Brandon, a 21-year-old woman who lived briefly as a man, and two witnesses, Lisa Lambert and Philip DeVine, at a rural Humboldt farmhouse.

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