LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has appointed a state employee as the next executive director of the Nebraska Crime Commission.

Don Arp Jr. will fill the role vacated by Darrell Fisher, who retired as the commission’s director after 33 years with the state. Ricketts announced the appointment Wednesday in a news release.

Arp has led “operational excellence initiatives” for the state since 2016, first for the Center of Operational Excellence and then for the state’s Division of Children and Family Services. He also worked with the crime commission, the Nebraska State Patrol crime lab and other state agencies to help them improve their performance.

Arp will start in his new job on Feb. 18. He will earn $95,000 a year.

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — A new online retailer of outdoors gear has opened for business, owned and operated by former Cabela’s employees.

Highby Outdoors launched its website Monday and is based in Sidney, the home of Cabela’s before being purchased by Bass Pro Shops in a $4 billion deal finalized in September 2017.

Highby Outdoors is owned by former Cabela’s employees Matt and Molly Highby, and he says all of the company’s employees formerly worked for Cabela’s. The new company will sell online only for now but hopes to later add retail locations and catalog operations.

Springfield, Missouri-based Bass Pro Shops had sued the two Highbys, alleging their plans for Highby Outdoors violated noncompete agreements. Bass Pro lost its bid for an injunction to stop the Highby Outdoors launch.

A North Platte man is facing charges after police found him passed out behind the wheel, parked in someone else’s front yard.

At around 4:31 a.m., on Wednesday, an officer on patrol in the 1600 block of West Philip Avenue, observed a vehicle that appeared to have driven off the roadway and had struck a vehicle parked in a driveway.

The officer approached the vehicle and found the 36-year-old male driver unconscious with the car still running.

After attempts to wake the driver up failed, the officer gained entry to the vehicle through the sliding glass window in the back of the vehicle and was able to wake the man.

The officer reported that when the man awoke, he grabbed the wheel, thinking he was still driving. The man was said to be stumbling, slurring his speech and had bloodshot eyes. He also had a baggie containing Ambien and Xanax.

When the officer attempted to administer field sobriety tests, the man refused but submitted to a portable breath test for alcohol, which was negative.

At this time, police say the man began making suicidal statements and it was learned that he had intentionally overdosed on prescription drugs and he stated to police that he planned to drive around until he killed himself.

The man was immediately placed in emergency protective custody and transported to Great Plains Health for observation.

Officer Beth Kerr said he was cited for driving under the influence of drugs, driving under revocation and refusal to submit to a chemical test.

The damage to the vehicles was estimated to be around $1,000. Officer Kerr says the man is a North Platte resident but is currently homeless.

The Post is not releasing the man’s name because of his threats to commit suicide.

CHAPPELL, Neb. (AP) — A murder charge has been filed against a woman accused of stabbing a man outside a mobile home in the Nebraska Panhandle.

Deuel County District Court records say 49-year-old Susan Glenn was charged Friday with first-degree murder and a weapons crime. A woman who answered the phone Tuesday at her attorney’s office said there would be no comment from the attorney. Glenn’s next court hearing is scheduled for Feb. 21.

Glenn had been charged with assault and use of a weapon.

The court records say a witness who’d been standing outside the home talking to Robert Mick on Jan. 13 in Chappell was on the phone with 911 dispatchers when Glenn came out of the residence, stabbed Mick and fled in her car. He died four days later.

The records say she’s acknowledged to investigators that she stabbed Mick.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Backers of an effort to legalize medical marijuana in Nebraska have filed formal paperwork for a statewide ballot campaign.

Nebraskans for Sensible Marijuana Laws submitted their proposed constitutional amendment Tuesday to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office.

State Sens. Anna Wishart and Adam Morfeld, of Lincoln, are co-chairing the effort to place the issue on the 2020 ballot.

Wishart has introduced a bill that would allow lawmakers to legalize the drug for medicinal purposes, but it faces stiff opposition from state and local law enforcement, Gov. Pete Ricketts and prominent Nebraskans including former Husker football coach Tom Osborne.

Legalization supporters have said they will pursue the ballot campaign if lawmakers don’t pass a measure this year.