BRAINARD, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man died after striking a parked car in eastern Nebraska.
The crash occurred a little before 5:00 a.m. Saturday. The Nebraska State Patrol says Donald Nichelson’s vehicle struck the car in Brainard, and he died later at a Butler County hospital.
Authorities say Nichelson lived in Dwight. They believe Nichelson had been drinking alcohol before the crash.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha authorities are investigating the fatal stabbing of a 54-year-old man.
Terry Deperkins was found injured Sunday afternoon in a grassy lot in northeast Omaha. Police say he died later at Nebraska Medical Center.
Police have been looking for woman dressed all in pink who witnesses say was arguing with Deperkins before the stabbing. No arrests have been reported.
LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A man suspected of bank robberies in five states has pleaded not guilty to unrelated charges in Nebraska.
Richard Gathercole entered the pleas Monday in Dawson County District Court to two counts of possessing stolen firearms and one of theft or receiving stolen property. A trial starting date of Aug. 12 was set.
Authorities believe Gathercole is the man they call “the AK-47 bandit,” who’s robbed banks in California, Idaho, Iowa, Nebraska and Washington.
Nebraska court documents say Gathercole was arrested June 20 at a gas station near Lexington, Nebraska. A sheriff’s deputy had spotted a pickup truck there that Kansas authorities had reported stolen by a man who’d fired at but missed a state trooper.
LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A murder trial remains on hold while waiting for doctors to evaluate the competency of the primary suspect.
Jose Regalado-Mendez is waiting for an evaluation of his mental health at the Lincoln Regional Center.
Regalado-Mendez is charged with first degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony in connection with the death of Jose Hernandez.
The remains of Hernandez were found Dec. 12 near a farmhouse north of Lexington.
Prosecutors say they believe Regalado-Mendez shot to Hernandez in October and then hid the body.
DURANGO, Colo. (AP) — A judge has set bail at $1 million for a Colorado man who was arrested in the 2012 death of his 13-year-old son.
Mark Redwine was arrested in Washington state and appeared in court Monday for the death of Dylan Redwine, whose remains were found about 10 miles from the father’s southwestern Colorado home in 2013.
The boy had traveled to be with his father for a court-ordered visit the previous Thanksgiving. Mark Redwine and the boy’s mother had gone through a contentious custody battle.
An indictment says blood found in Mark Redwine’s home matched Dylan’s DNA, and a cadaver dog picked up the scent of a body on the father’s clothes and in his truck.
Mark Redwine has denied any involvement.
Carol A. Walther, 69, of North Platte, died July 22, 2017, at Centennial Park Retirement Village. Services are pending at Carpenter Memorial Chapel.
A 20-year-old man if facing several felony charges after he allegedly ran from North Platte police on Sunday night.
At around 9:32 p.m., officers received information that Austin Shelly was near the area of Third and Chestnut Streets, and had an active warrant for failure to appear.
As officers arrived in the area, Investigator John Deal says Shelly took off running near the Lincoln County Courthouse at Fourth and Jeffers Streets.
Deal says Shelly eventually gave up and was taken into custody. Officers located a baggie of pills, later identified as Methylphenidate Hydrochloride, near where Shelly had stopped running.
Additionally, officers found brass knuckles in Shelly’s pocket. Deal says brass knuckles are considered a deadly weapon.
In the end, Shelly was transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, felony carrying of a concealed weapon, felony resisting arrest, felony destruction of evidence and contempt of court.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The office of Gov. Pete Ricketts has issued an emergency declaration because of the abnormally dry conditions in Nebraska.
The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency said in a news release Friday that the proclamation activates provisions of the state’s emergency operations plan and lets the agency address unmet needs caused by dry conditions and the resulting wildfires.
Agency assistant director Bryan Tuma says officials are concerned about the need for resources “that will quickly mitigate wildfire outbreaks.”
Under the proclamation, the agency may replenish the state’s inventory of fire retardant material used by aircraft for fire suppression and lets the agency use money from the governor’s emergency fund to handle any wildfires.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reminding the public that some sandbars in the Missouri River between Nebraska and South Dakota are closed to recreational use to keep endangered bird species’ nests safe.
The Corps says endangered interior least terns and threatened piping plovers are currently nesting on sandbars around the Fort Randall Dam in South Dakota and Ponca State Park in Nebraska. The birds use the sandbars to lay their eggs and hatch chicks.
Corps Senior Program Manager Mark Harberg says closed sandbars are marked with signs warning the public to keep out of the area, but that some signs have been vandalized.
The nesting season runs from mid-May through August.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An ongoing partnership between fraternities, sororities, advisers and university staff has launched at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to find the path toward a national model of Greek life.
The initiative called #GreekVitality launched in April amid a wave of fraternity suspensions resulting from high-profile violations of the university student code of conduct.
Phi Kappa Theta President Benjamin Hintz says that bringing individual Greek houses together and pointing them to a shared goal will help refocus the system on its original mission.
Beta Theta Pi board member Mike Wortman says that frats need to be more deliberate in their recruiting, while upperclassmen and alumni must be aware of how they model appropriate behavior to new members.
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