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Natural gas suspected in Lincoln explosion that injured 2

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln fire investigators say they believe natural gas caused an explosion that leveled a home and injured two people.

Fire investigators are seeking an internal cause for the explosion that destroyed the home Monday afternoon and damaged others nearby in southeast Lincoln.

A Black Hills Energy spokeswoman says Tuesday the utility has determined the explosion wasn’t due to the natural gas delivery system to the house’s gas meter.

The owners of the home, whose names haven’t been released, remained at a Lincoln hospital in critical condition.

The explosion shattered windows and knocked some neighboring homes off their foundations. Debris from the shattered home was scattered for blocks.

Neighbor Diana McCoy says she thought a plane hit her house: “The concussion of it was just incredible.”

Julian G. Carrizales Death Notice

Julian G. Carrizales, 71, of North Platte, died Aug. 12, 2017, at his home. Services will be at a later date. Cremation was chosen. Adams & Swanson Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Katherine (Frye) Dodson

Katherine (Frye) Dodson, 31, of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, passed away unexpectedly June 27, 2017, in Poland.

Katherine was born in Huntsville, Alabama, to Carolyn (Smith) and Jan Frye.

Katherine’s father was a career military officer, and Katherine greatly enjoyed being an “Army brat” and moving often, making new friends and seeing new parts of the world. She always looked forward to annual holiday visits to see her now deceased grandparents, Dolan and Pauline Frye, aunts, uncle and cousins in Chester. She moved with her family four times before entering elementary school in Great Britain. She also attended elementary schools in Virginia, Minnesota and Seoul, South Korea. In 2000, her family moved to Woodbridge, Virginia, where she attended Gar-Field High School, graduating with honors in 2004. She then attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduating in 2008 with a double major in international studies and conflict resolution, with a minor in Spanish.

In 2007, Katherine and her husband, John, were blessed with the birth of their son, Holden, and in 2011, their daughter, Caroline, was born. Katherine was a wonderful, dedicated and caring mother and wife. She always ensured the children received a good education while enjoying their many outside activities and friends. She worked numerous hours as a volunteer at Fayetteville Academy in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

In 2011, Katherine became a military spouse upon her husband John joining the Army. She settled effortlessly into Army living and truly enjoyed life at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. During John’s two combat tours in Afghanistan and a final unaccompanied tour in Korea, she provided loving care for the children for nearly three years by herself.

Katherine loved riding her bicycle, running, ice skating with Holden and Caroline, and walking her dog, Ranger. Her interests centered on international and political affairs, and she attended university studies in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while in college. She served two consecutive summers as an intern in Arizona Senator John McCain’s office and was also selected for an internship with the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.

She is survived by her loving husband, John; adored children, Holden and Caroline; parents; brother, Andrew (fiancé Blanca); and other family members and friends far and wide who will miss her deeply.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to a GoFundMe.com account under the title Honoring Katherine (Frye) Dodson.

Services will be at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 17, at the University of Nebraska, University Lutheran Chapel, 1510 Q St., Lincoln. Inurnment will be at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

Marion Belle Isom

Marion Belle Isom, 90, died Aug. 13, 2017, at Linden Court Nursing Home.

She was born in Seneca on Feb. 1, 1927, to Robert and Rena (Allen) Pearman. She grew up north of Seneca, where she attended a rural school until she attended high school in Mullen. She graduated in 1942 at the young age of 16. She obtained a special license to teach in a rural school north of Whitman upon graduating.

She attended college in Kearney and at Chadron State, receiving her bachelor’s degree from Chadron State College. She taught in Seneca and Mullen for the next 30 years prior to retiring.

On Feb. 18, 1950, she married her lifelong love, Paul Isom. Two sons were born to this union, Larry and Robb.

She enjoyed softball, bowling, reading, gardening and crossword puzzles, and she loved her beautiful Sandhills and spring wildflowers.

Marion was preceded in death by her husband Paul; parents; stepfather, Robert Neisius; brothers, Robert and Norman; sister-in-law, Betty; granddaughter, Amanda; and great-grandson.

She is survived by her two sons, Larry (Nancy) of Mullen and Robb (Peggy) of Las Vegas; nine grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson.

Memorials are suggested to Nebraska Retired Teacher’s Association, Cedarview Cemetery, Mullen United Methodist Church or the Seneca Historical Society.

Services will be at 1 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 18, at the United Methodist Church in Mullen. Burial will be at Cedarview Cemetery in Mullen. Visitation with the family greeting friends will be from 3-7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 17, at the Mullen Funeral Home, which is in charge of arrangements.

Life sentence for deadly Iowa jail escape

Wesley Correa-Carmenaty

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — The Latest on the sentencing of a man who killed a sheriff’s deputy and wounded another while escaping from a western Iowa jail (all times local):

11:10 a.m.

A man who pleaded guilty to murder and 11 other counts for killing a western Iowa sheriff’s deputy and wounding another during a jail escape has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

A Pottawattamie County District judge issued the sentence Tuesday after 24-year-old Wesley Correa-Carmenaty entered guilty pleas to first-degree murder, attempted murder, escape, kidnapping and other crimes. His trial was set to begin Tuesday, but his attorney informed authorities last week that Correa-Carmenaty would change his plea.

Authorities say Correa-Carmenaty had just been sentenced on May 1 to 45 years in prison in an unrelated murder case when he grabbed one of the deputies’ guns while being transferred to the county jail. He shot them both and used the jail van to escape.

He was recaptured that day in Omaha, Nebraska, after carjacking a woman at gunpoint.

___

10:20 a.m.

A judge has accepted the guilty pleas of a man charged with killing a sheriff’s deputy and wounding another while escaping from an Iowa jail.

Twenty-four-year-old Wesley Correa-Carmenaty entered the guilty pleas Tuesday to murder, attempted murder, escape, kidnapping and other crimes. His trial was set to begin Tuesday, but his attorney informed authorities last week that Correa-Carmenaty would change his plea in Pottawattamie County District Court in Council Bluffs.

Authorities say Correa-Carmenaty had just been sentenced on May 1 to 45 years in prison in an unrelated murder case when he grabbed one of the deputies’ guns while being transferred to the county jail. He shot them both and used the jail van to escape.

He was recaptured that day in Omaha, Nebraska, after carjacking a woman at gunpoint.

Judge tells city to provide disability pension to ex-officer

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has told Lincoln it must provide the disability pension a former police officer was previously denied.

Judge Lori Maret agreed with Jonna Conlon, her attorney and her physicians that her back injuries made it impossible for Conlon to continue her career as an officer.

Court filings say the city fired Conlon in June 2015 because she’d exhausted the time allowed on light duty for the ailment. She’d blamed her 25-pound duty belt for the back problems she developed in early 2014. Conlon’s subsequent request for a disability pension was denied, so she went to court.

The judge said that despite evidence Conlon had a preexisting degenerative back condition, medical findings linked her duty belt to the back injury.

Iowa woman gets life sentence in Omaha cold case killing

Shanna Golyar

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 42-year-old Iowa woman who was convicted of killing her romantic rival has been sent to a Nebraska prison for life.

A Douglas County judge sentenced Shanna Golyar in Omaha on Tuesday. She’d been found guilty of arson and first-degree murder after a nonjury trial. Prosecutors say she killed 37-year-old Cari Farver, who was last seen in Omaha in November 2012. Her body hasn’t been found.

Police say Golyar posed as Farver online and by phone for years after Farver’s disappearance and also posed as other people confessing to having killed Farver. An officer testified that Farver had been dating Golyar’s ex-boyfriend for some weeks when she disappeared.

Golyar’s lawyer argued that prosecutors presented no evidence that a homicide occurred: no body, no murder weapon and no crime scene.

Woman caring for pets accused of stealing from residence

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A woman who was taking care of a Columbus resident’s pets has been accused of stealing from the home.

Court records say 34-year-old Jennifer Carney, of Schuyler, is charged with felony theft. A phone listed for her rang busy during several calls Tuesday. Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her.

Carney was asked to feed the pets while the resident went on vacation. The resident discovered upon returning that $2,700 was missing from a fire safe lock box.

An arrest warrant affidavit says Carney acknowledged that she’d taken the money and had returned $250 when confronted by the resident.

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