LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln doctor has been accused of using patients and employees to obtain prescription drugs for his own use.
Federal court records say Dr. Jeffrey Fraser has been indicted on a weapons charge and a charge of obtaining controlled substances by fraud. He’s due in U.S. District Court for a hearing on July 11.
A phone listed for him rang busy during several calls Friday. The court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld a Lincoln man’s first-degree murder and other convictions and his life sentence for the 2016 shooting death of another man.
Anthony Wells was convicted in January 2017 for the shooting death of 25-year-old Joshua Hartwig. Police found Hartwig dead outside an apartment building north of downtown Lincoln. Investigators say Wells fired 13 rounds into a crowd outside the building following an argument with a woman, hitting Hartwig in the neck.
In his appeal, Wells argued the trial court made several errors, including a faulty jury instruction, and that his lawyer was so ineffective that it cost him a fair trial.
On Friday, the high court dismissed those arguments in affirming Wells’ convictions and sentences.
OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has approved a mountain lion hunting season for next year.
The commission voted Friday to resume the cougar-hunting season. Under the measure, eight mountain lions — including four females — may be killed within two areas of the Pine Ridge in northwestern Nebraska. That includes four cougars in an area north of U.S. Highway 20 and four in an area south of the highway. Only two females per area may be killed.
The commission will issue 320 permits for each area through a lottery drawing. The season will run from Jan. 1 through Feb. 28, and the use of dogs, baiting or trapping is banned.
If the limits have not been reached by Feb. 28, a limited number of permit holders will be allowed to hunt with dogs in an auxiliary season to run from March 15-31.
The commission’s move has faced some opposition, particularly from Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, who has fought to eliminate mountain lion hunting in Nebraska.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln’s fire and rescue department is looking into equipping its emergency crews with body armor.
Fire Chief Micheal Despain told the Lincoln Journal Star that the department is researching ballistic protection to potentially acquire vests and helmets to protect firefighters in an active shooter response. Lincoln Fire and Rescue has already purchased bulletproof medical bags and trained with local law enforcement agencies to prepare for active shooter situations.
“You never thought ambulance teams or medic teams would even need to wear body armor,” said Shawn Mayfield of Point Blank Enterprises at a recent vest demonstration in Lincoln. “But I guess that’s the way things are going.”
More fire departments around the county are buying bulletproof vests, according to manufacturers.
Despain doesn’t know of any recent stabbings or shootings involving the city’s emergency crews but he said there have been some close calls. Several paramedics have been assaulted, he said.
“We’re seeing more and more weapons out there,” he said.
Ballistic vests are covered under warranty for a certain number of years. The city will assume all liability after that if one fails to work or someone is injured or killed, Despain said.
The department estimates the vests would cost more than $200,000 total for the 250 firefighters.
The vests aren’t a top priority since the department is working to replace aging fire engines, Despain said. New fire engines are estimated to cost upward of $450,000 each.
“We need 11 fire engines yesterday,” he said. “We won’t be able to go to the (active shooter) incident if we don’t get that solved over time.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to let states collect sales tax from online purchases could lead to Nebraska putting the money toward property tax relief.
The high court ruled Thursday that states can force companies operating online to collect taxes, reversing decades-old decisions that had stymied efforts to collect sales taxes on many online transactions.
Gov. Pete Ricketts indicated that he’s determined to convert the potential revenue into local property tax relief, not state programming.
“Any increased revenue attributable to total enforcement of our sales tax laws must be steered toward property tax relief,” Ricketts said.
Sen. Tom Briese of Albion said he’ll introduce an internet sales tax bill next year to direct the additional revenue toward property tax relief.
Legislation to begin collecting online sales tax beginning July 1 was blocked by a filibuster earlier this year. The measure would have required online retailers to send customers a notice of their total taxable purchases unless the businesses collected the sales tax themselves.
Ricketts had recommended that the state wait for the Supreme Court decision as a compromise. Now state officials will have to wait until next year to begin collections.
State Sen. Dan Watermeier, a sponsor of the legislation, said he’s frustrated by the delay. The state could bring in up to $40 million more per year from taxing online sales, he estimated.
Nebraska Retail Federation President Jim Otto applauded the ruling as a move that levels the playing field between brick-and-mortar stores, which collect sales taxes, and online retailers, which often don’t.
“The Supreme Court has acted correctly in recognizing that it’s time for outdated sales tax policies to change with the times,” Otto said.
Otto said that Congress or state legislatures now need to set the threshold at which online retailers must collect taxes.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Visitors to six state recreation areas will be allowed to light off fireworks on July 4.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says those recreation areas include Branched Oak near Malcolm, Fort Kearny near Kearney, Pawnee near Emerald, Wagon Train near Hickman and those near Memphis and Fremont. Those parks will permit fireworks from 8 a.m. until midnight on July 4 only.
Signs at recreation areas will point the way to designated fireworks sites, and their boundaries will be clearly marked. Use of fireworks elsewhere in state areas or at other times is prohibited.
Only fireworks approved for sale in Nebraska are permitted, and visitors must pick up expended fireworks and deposit them in appropriate containers.
AUBURN, Neb. (AP) — A 36-year-old man charged with first-degree murder in the case of a missing Peru State College coed has pleaded not guilty.
Joshua Keadle entered the written plea Thursday in Nemaha County District Court. He’s charged in the disappearance and presumed death of 19-year-old Peru State College student Tyler “Ty” Thomas.
Keadle’s arraignment had been set for July 2, but his written plea waives that appearance. A trial date has not yet been set.
Thomas disappeared Dec. 3, 2010, after leaving a party near the Peru State campus. Authorities say Keadle, a fellow student, told them he and Thomas had sex in his vehicle that night, and that Thomas threatened to report he had raped her.
The state issued a death certificate for Thomas in 2013, even though her body has never been found.
Keadle is already serving prison sentence for the 2008 rape of a 15-year-old girl.
DOON, Iowa (AP) — An estimated 230,000 gallons (870,619 liters) of crude oil spilled into floodwaters in the northwestern corner of Iowa following a train derailment, a railroad official said Saturday.
BNSF spokesman Andy Williams said 14 of 32 oil tanker cars just south of Doon in Lyon County leaked oil into surrounding floodwaters from the swollen Little Rock River. Williams had earlier said 33 oil cars had derailed.
Nearly half the spill — an estimated 100,000 gallons (378,530 liters) — had been contained with booms near the derailment site and an additional boom placed approximately 5 miles (8.05 kilometers) downstream, Williams said. Skimmers and vacuum trucks were being used to remove the oil. Crews will then use equipment to separate the oil from the water.
“In addition to focusing on the environmental recovery, ongoing monitoring is occurring for any potential conditions that could impact workers and the community and so far have found no levels of concern,” Williams said.
Officials still hadn’t determined the cause of Friday morning’s derailment, but a disaster proclamation issued by Gov. Kim Reynolds for Lyon and three other counties placed the blame on rain-fueled flooding. Reynolds visited the derailment site Saturday afternoon as part of a tour of areas hit by recent flooding.
Some officials have speculated that floodwaters eroded soil beneath the train track. The nearby Little Rock River rose rapidly after heavy rain Wednesday and Thursday.
A major part of the cleanup work includes building a temporary road parallel to the tracks to allow in cranes that can remove the derailed and partially-submerged oil cars. Williams said officials hoped to reach the cars Saturday.
The train was carrying tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to Stroud, Oklahoma, for ConocoPhillips. ConocoPhillips spokesman Daren Beaudo said each tanker can hold more than 25,000 gallons (20,817 imperial gallons) of oil.
Beaudo said Saturday that the derailed oil cars were a model known as DOT117Rs, indicating they were newer or had been retrofitted to be safer and help prevent leaks in the event of an accident.
The derailment also caused concern downstream, including as far south as Omaha, Nebraska, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) from the derailment site. The spill reached the Rock River, which joins the Big Sioux River before merging into the Missouri River at Sioux City.
Omaha’s public water utility — Metropolitan Utilities District — said it was monitoring pumps it uses to pull drinking water from the Missouri River.
Rock Valley, Iowa, just southwest of the derailment, shut off its water wells within hours of the accident. It plans to drain and clean its wells and use a rural water system until testing shows its water is safe.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says sandbars along part of the Missouri River are again closed to protect the nests of endangered bird species.
The Corps says endangered interior least terns and threatened piping plovers nest on sandbars between Ft. Peck Dam in Montana and Ponca State Park in Nebraska.
The birds use the sandbars to lay their eggs and hatch chicks.
The number of sandbars on the Missouri River is limited this year because the water level is higher than normal.
The nesting season runs from mid-May through August.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Drivers are being urged to watch out for skimming devices on gas pumps that could be used to steal credit card information.
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture says drivers should watch for signs that gas pumps might have been tampered with before deciding which one to use.
Ken Tichota oversees the inspection of gas pumps across the state of Nebraska. He says it helps to choose pumps closer to an attendant.
Also, drivers can check to make sure the tamper-proof tape over the pump access panel is intact.
Skimming devices are attached to ATMs and gas pump credit card readers so criminals can steal card numbers and password information, create new cards and make cash withdrawals or purchases with the bogus cards.
