LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Authorities have released the name of a man killed by a carbon monoxide buildup at a mobile home in north Lincoln.
On Thursday police identified the man as 57-year-old Ruben “Javier” Moreno Campos.
Police and medics were called to the home around 3 a.m. Wednesday. Fire Battalion Chief Jim Bopp has said a first responder’s carbon monoxide detector went off while there. Bopp also said Black Hills Energy workers blamed the deadly gas buildup on a water heater venting problem.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Federal officials have approved Nebraska’s plan to reduce by 50 percent over the next decade the number of students who are not proficient in core subject areas.
A U.S. Education Department news release said Tuesday that the Nebraska plan “establishes ambitious but attainable long-term goals in alignment with its strategic vision and direction.”
The federal Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to devise systems that identify schools needing help and outline plans for intervention.
The act replaced the No Child Left Behind law, giving states more flexibility in creating their accountability systems.
Schools deemed “In Need of Comprehensive Support and Improvement” will qualify for federally funded improvement activities under the Every Student Succeeds Act. That includes money for professional development, teacher evaluations and strategies to hire, train and retain teachers.
ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — Federal officials have awarded an $18.3 million grant for work on the Heartland Expressway project in the Nebraska Panhandle.
The office of U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., announced the grant in a news release Tuesday.
The Nebraska Department of Transportation will use the money to convert to four lanes a nearly 15-mile (24-kilometer) segment of U.S. Highway 385. That stretch runs north to Alliance from the state 62A junction.
The Heartland Expressway project includes four-lane highways spanning nearly 500 (805 kilometers). The expressway would connect Denver and Rapid City, South Dakota, running through Nebraska, and also connect to Interstate 25 in Wyoming.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a buildup of carbon monoxide gas has killed one person and caused three others to be hospitalized in Lincoln.
Police and medics were called to a north Lincoln home around 3 a.m. Wednesday. Officer Angela Sands says four people found there were taken to a hospital, where one of them died. No names have been released.
Fire Battalion Chief Jim Bopp says a medic’s carbon monoxide detector went off at the home. Bopp also says Black Hills Energy workers blamed the deadly gas buildup on a water heater problem.
BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Police in an Omaha suburb say they’ve been unable to find a woman whose husband says he killed her.
Bellevue police Capt. Tom Dargy says the 37-year-old man told officers what he’d done after surrendering Tuesday evening. Investigators obtained warrants to search the man’s home, but they didn’t find the woman or her body.
The man was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. Court records don’t show that he’s been formally charged.
LUSHTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man was killed when he was struck by a vehicle while jogging along a road in York County.
The York County Sheriff’s Department says 55-year-old Mark Kliewer was struck around 6:25 a.m. Wednesday, about a half-mile (1 kilometer) east of Lushton.
Sheriff Dale Radcliff says the vehicle driver immediately called 911 about the accident. Radcliff says the driver reported that he didn’t see Kliewer on the road. The sheriff didn’t disclose the driver’s name.
Kliewer lived in rural Lushton.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a 20-year-old California woman has died after being hit by a car on the northwestern edge of Omaha’s Creighton University campus, where she was a student.
Omaha police say Vindhay Puttagunta, of Folsom, California, was walking with a man along a street around 1 a.m. when he sat down on a retaining wall. Police say Puttagunta lay down in the middle of the street in an attempt to get the man’s attention. Investigators say she was still lying in the street when a sedan ran over her without stopping.
Puttagunta was taken in extremely critical condition to Nebraska Medical Center, where she died.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A day after announcing that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions would visit Omaha this week, the Justice Department now says that Sessions will not make the trip to Omaha.
Sessions had been set to appear with law enforcement officials in Omaha on Thursday for an announcement about plans to combat the opioid crisis.
A spokesman for the office of U.S. Attorney for Nebraska said Wednesday that Sessions had a family emergency, keeping him from traveling to Omaha. Officials did not elaborate on the nature of the family emergency.
The news conference will still be held Thursday, with Gov. Pete Ricketts, U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Joe Kelly and Robert Patterson, acting director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, attending.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha father has been arrested, accused of leaving his two young sons in a van overnight while he got drunk in a bar and left with a woman.
Omaha police say they were called early Saturday morning about a van left running in the Benson Library parking lot. Arriving officers found two boys, ages 4 and 5, and a dog in the van.
Police say their father, 28-year-old Charles Bibbs, had left them there around midnight Friday to go to a bar. Bibbs told police he planned to be at the bar for a couple of hours, but forgot about the boys and spent the night with a woman he met. A strong thunderstorm swept the area while the boys were alone in the van. Police say they were cold and hungry, but otherwise unharmed.
Just hours before leaving the boys, Bibbs had been released from prison for a fourth-offense drunken driving conviction.
He is being held on $75,000 bail on two counts of felony child abuse.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska has won a $92 million grant from the U.S. military.
Officials said Wednesday that five-year grant is the biggest research grant in the university system’s history and is an affirmation of the work already done by the university system’s National Strategic Research Institute.
System spokeswoman Melissa Lee says the award is more of a contract extension than a typical research grant. It extends the $84 million grant the system was awarded by the military in 2012.
The National Strategic Research Institute has worked several projects, including improving a vaccine for the poison ricin; developing vaccines for anthrax and other diseases; improving metals on military vehicles; the psychology of terrorist groups; and using laser technology to find explosives.
