SPRINGVIEW, Neb. (AP) — Repairs and repaving are expected to begin Monday on U.S. Highway 183 in north-central Nebraska.The Nebraska Transportation Department says the project runs from Springview north to the South Dakota state line. The work will include paving, grading and bridge and guardrail repairs.
Traffic will be maintained with lane closures and one-lane work zones. The project is expected to be finished in early November.
VALENTINE, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey reports that a minor earthquake shook rural areas near the Nebraska and South Dakota border around Valentine, Nebraska.
The service reports that a 3.5 magnitude earthquake occurred just after 2 a.m. Saturday about 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) northwest of Valentine in far north-central Nebraska. The National Weather Service says it received a few calls of some rumbling in Valentine.
There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Earlier this spring, several minor earthquakes were reported in Custer County, about 100 miles south of Valentine.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln could welcome an autonomous shuttle service using driverless buses as early as next spring.
The city is testing a “self-driving micro-transit system” with a $100,000 grant awarded by Bloomberg Philanthropies for participating in its 2018 Mayors Challenge.
Lincoln officials are looking into using electric streetcars to reduce traffic congestion in several districts. Lincoln could win up to $1 million in the process to put its concept into action.
Officials would implement an autonomous shuttle pilot program if the city makes it to the next round of the challenge, said Lonnie Burklund, the city’s assistant director for Public Works and Utilities.
“In terms of the street network, there’s honestly not a lot of infrastructure that has to be built or altered,” he said.
Developers, including French manufacturer Navya, have designed autonomous shuttles to integrate into the city’s traffic, Burklund said. The shuttle relies on GPS rather than cameras, keeping the vehicle within up to 3 centimeters of its desired path, said Aaron Foster, the commercial manager for Navya’s North American division.
The autonomous shuttle will automatically begin to slow if an obstacle enters its path, he said.
“In the worst cases, if it’s an immovable obstacle, like a downed tree, the safety attendant on board can use a controller to drive around it,” Foster said.
A safety attendant would be present on each shuttle, but the vehicle would also be monitored remotely.
City officials envision riders accessing the driverless shuttle service by using a cellphone app, which would prioritize riders by the timing of their request.
The city is compiling feedback and research on its self-driving system testing to submit to Bloomberg next month. Lincoln will likely find out later this fall if it’ll advance to the next phase.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A current and a former member of the Winnebago Tribe’s governing council have pleaded guilty to misusing federal money to pay themselves bonuses.
The Sioux City Journal reports that former councilman Amen Sheridan entered his plea Friday in Omaha’s federal court. Current member Jeff Miller pleaded guilty to the same charge on Thursday.
As part of agreements that both signed with prosecutors, Sheridan and Miller are both expected to be sentenced to five years of probation on Oct. 19. Miller must repay $40,213, and Sheridan must repay $13,404.
The two are part of a group of nine former council members charged with giving themselves bonuses out of $388,972 in federal money intended to provide health care to tribal members.
The Winnebago Reservation is located in northeastern Nebraska and northwestern Iowa.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska farmer has sued herbicide manufacturers, saying his neighbors’ use of the company products damaged his soybean crop last summer.
Shane Greckel filed the federal lawsuit last week against Monsanto and other companies whose products contain the herbicide dicamba.
Experts say problems have arisen with dicamba as farmers began to use it to kill weeds in soybean and cotton fields where specially engineered seeds had been planted to resist the herbicide. Because it can easily evaporate after being applied, the chemical sometimes settles on neighboring fields planted with seeds that are not resistant to dicamba.
Greckel says that’s what happened on his fields near Bloomfield.
Monsanto spokesman Jeff Neu told the Journal Star that the company hadn’t yet been served with the lawsuit but would review it.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — TreeHouse Foods says about 200 workers will be affected by the closing of its Omaha office.The company announced this week that it expects to finish the closure by the end of January and move the work to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and company headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. The closure is part of a business restructuring. The company also said it will provide separation pay and outplacement assistance.
Many of the 200 likely are former ConAgra Foods workers who worked for a ConAgra unit that TreeHouse bought in a deal announced in 2015. ConAgra had bought that unit — private-label food manufacturer Ralcorp — in 2013.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a 24-year-old man to prison for robbing a Lincoln bank branch.
Lancaster County District Court records say Roosevelt Q. Erving was sentenced Thursday to eight to 15 years. He’d pleaded guilty to the Sept. 25 robbery of a Union Bank branch. The judge credited him with 282 days already served.
His girlfriend, 27-year-old Danielle Lawson, faces aiding and abetting and other charges. She’s pleaded not guilty but is expected to change her pleas at a Sept. 6 hearing.
North Platte – First year Lady Knights basketball coach Jeff Thurman continues adding to the 2018-19 Lady Knight basketball team by signing Madisyn Francis, a transfer from Ranger College in Texas.
Francis, a 4’ 11” point guard played her high school basketball at North Shore High School in Houston, Texas. She graduated in 2017.
At Ranger, Francis played sparingly, averaging 1.8 points per game and 0.4 rebounds per game. She had a career high with 11 points against Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf.
At North Shore, during her senior season, Francis averaged 14.6 points per game and six rebounds per game. She also averaged 4.4 assists per game and 3.7 steals per game.
“I was told that a school in Nebraska was looking for players and that they gave the coach my name,” Francis said. “Coach Thurman contacted me and I liked his energetic approach.”
Francis is planning to major In nursing.
“Madisyn brings that sophomore leadership and junior college basketball experience that will be invaluable for our incoming freshman. Her ability to handle the ball and play off the ball with help us as well,” Thurman said. “She is a high-character student-athlete and we are very excited for her to join our program and institution.”
Francis joins Leilani Pinedo from Tucson, Ariz.; Alizea McClanahan, Katie Cox, Emily Joseph from Tampa, Florida; and Jordan Novinger from Centennial, Colo., in the 2018-19 recruiting class for the Lady Knights.
BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on a deadly tourist boat accident in Missouri (all times local):
12:30 a.m.
A Missouri sheriff says at least 11 people have now been confirmed dead after a boat carrying tourists on a lake in a popular vacation city capsized and sank.
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader says seven people have been hospitalized and five others remain missing. He says divers have ended their search of Table Rock Lake in Branson for the night.
The National Transportation Safety Board said on Twitter that investigators will arrive on the scene Friday morning.
Rader says stormy weather is believed to be what caused the Ride the Ducks boat to capsize Thursday night.
National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Lindenberg says the agency issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Branson area Thursday evening. He says winds reached speeds of more than 60 mph.
Branson is about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City and is a popular vacation spot for families and other tourists looking for entertainment ranging from theme parks to live music.
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9:50 p.m.
A sheriff in Missouri says a tourist boat has apparently capsized on a lake, leaving eight people dead and several others hospitalized.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader says the accident occurred Thursday night after a Ride the Ducks tourist boat reportedly sank on Table Rock Lake.
Rader says an off-duty sheriff’s deputy working security helped rescue people. He says recovery efforts are ongoing, with some passengers still unaccounted for.
A dive team is assisting.
Rader says weather is believed to have caused the boat to capsize
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has announced the retirement of State Fire Marshal Jim Heine and plans by state Energy Office Director David Bracht to leave that post next month.
Heine says he will retire effective Sept. 30, following 29 years of service. Ricketts says a search for a new fire marshal has begun.
Bracht will end his service on Aug. 1 to return to his private law practice, Kutak Rock, in Omaha.
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality Director Jim Macy will serve as interim director of the energy office.
