Robert Edward Lannon, age 70 of North Platte, passed away Monday March 25, 2019 at his home.
Bob was born October 17, 1948 in North Platte to Edward and Katherine (Leonard) Lannon. He attended St. Patrick’s Catholic Schools before transferring to North Platte Public Schools, graduating with the class of 1968. He entered the US Army in 1968 and after his discharge was married to Sheila Speck. To their union Kim, Jason and Tara were born. He went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad first as a brakeman, then as a conductor, retiring in 2001. Bob had a great sense of humor that he shared with everyone. He enjoyed Husker football, the mountains, and taking long drives. He also enjoyed his job, was a train enthusiast, and was interested in WWII and read many books. He spent time watching his kids’ and grandkids’ activities and loved his family most of all.
Robert is survived by his children Kimberly Baxter of Scottsbluff, Jason (Carma) Lannon of North Platte, Tara Joneson of San Diego, CA; grandchildren Warren (Mikayla) Lannon of North Platte, Brandon Baxter of Hasting, Kaitlin Lannon of Colorado Springs; siblings Jane (Max) Monroe of Marietta, GA, Mary Lannon of Aurora, CO, Tom (RaeEllen) Lannon of North Platte, Ann (Brian) George of Stafford, VA, Jim (Nancy) Lannon of Colorado Springs; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents Edward Lannon and Katherine Wilkinson; step father Harley Wilkinson; grandson Alexander Lannon; and sister Nancy (Robert “Mac”) McDonald.
Memorials are suggested in his name and online condolences may be shared at www.adamsswanson.com. Christian Wake Services will be 7:00 p.m. Thursday March 28, 2019 at Adams and Swanson Funeral Home. Mass of Christian Burial will be 2:00 p.m. Friday March 29, 2019 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church with Reverend Josh Brown as Celebrant. Burial will follow at Floral Lawns Memorial Gardens. Visitation will be from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Thursday at Adams and Swanson Funeral Home which is in charge of arrangements.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Drones will be among the tools scientists and students will use later this year and next to study supercell thunderstorms that can spawn tornadoes in Nebraska and other Plains states.
The study is scheduled to begin field work May 15 and cover the Great Plains, from North Dakota south to Texas, and Iowa west to Wyoming and Colorado.
More than 50 scientists and students will use four drones, a manned aircraft, eight trucks equipped with meteorological instruments, several mobile radar systems, and sophisticated weather balloons to collect data on supercell thunderstorms. Participants hope the data gathered will improve the detection of tornadoes and reduce the number of false-alarm warnings.
The four universities involved: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Colorado, University of Oklahoma and Texas Tech University.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Nebraska State Patrol trooper has lost her lawsuit against the state alleging that she and other women were put through a medically unnecessary and invasive pelvic exam during the hiring process.
Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon ruled Brienne Splittgerber didn’t have enough evidence and dismissed her lawsuit, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
“There is no evidence in the record, other than plaintiff’s bare hearsay and foundationless assertions, that the physical standards are medically inappropriate or that the examining physician inappropriately conducted the examination,” Bataillon wrote.
Splittgerber sued in 2017, alleging that she had to undergo a vaginal and rectal physical examination to check for a hernia and hemorrhoids before being hired in 2015. The exam was performed by a male doctor the state patrol selected, and men weren’t required to go through the examination, the lawsuit said.
Splittgerber complained to her superiors after being told by her family doctor that there was no legitimate medical purpose for the exam. She was told an investigation was underway but was disturbed that female patrol candidates from subsequent recruitment classes continued to be sent to the same doctor to submit to the exams, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also alleged that the state patrol tried to cover up wrongdoing and created a hostile work environment for Splittgerber after she complained. Splittgerber resigned from the patrol in May.
Bataillon said there was no evidence that similar exams weren’t conducted on male candidates. He said there was also no evidence of a hostile work environment or a cover-up, noting that a report about the complaint was issued and policy was adjusted to allow job candidates to request a doctor of a specific gender or have their own doctor perform the exam.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force said on Wednesday that it needs $4.9 billion in extra funding over the next three years to rebuild and repair two key bases heavily damaged by natural disasters.
The call for emergency funding comes amid debate between the Trump administration and Congress over the White House’s proposal to repurpose billions of dollars in military construction money to help extend a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The money sought by the Air Force — $1.2 billion this year and $3.7 billion in the 2020 and 2021 budget years — would have to be approved by Congress. Wilson said that if Congress does not take action by May or June the Air Force will have to put off dozens of construction and other improvement projects and perhaps take other cost-saving measures.
Tyndall, which is a fighter base, took a direct hit from Hurricane Michael last October. Offutt, home to U.S. Strategic Command headquarters, which oversees the nation’s nuclear forces, was damaged by Missouri River flooding.
The Marine Corps says it sustained about $3.5 billion in damage at Camp Lejeune and surrounding facilities in North Carolina from Hurricanes Michael and Florence. Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, wrote in a recent memo that a number of unexpected costs, including hurricane damage and unplanned deployments to the U.S.-Mexico border, are forcing the Marine Corps to cancel training exercises.
WEST POINT, Neb. (AP) – A mistrial has been declared in a northeast Nebraska murder case.
Cuming County jurors had heard nine days of testimony regarding the second-degree murder and other charges against Derek Olson before the mistrial was declared Tuesday. Prosecutors say Olson and his father, Jody Olson, killed 64-year-old Ernest Warnock on March 10, 2017, at Warnock’s home in Rosalie.
The judge said the mistrial was warranted because a former Nebraska State Patrol investigator mentioned a lie detector test taken by Jody Olson. The judge says Jody Olson’s testimony is key, so it’s important that jurors not be swayed by the fact that a witness took and may have passed a test.
Jody Olson pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder and agreed to testify against his son as part of a plea deal.
Derek Olson’s second trial is scheduled to begin May 6.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say a high school student died when his pickup truck crashed just east of Columbus.
The accident occurred around 2 a.m. Tuesday on a gravel road about a mile east of Columbus city limits. The Platte County Sheriff’s Department says Juan Cordero was headed east when his pickup ran off the roadway into a roadside ditch and rolled, coming to rest on its top.
Authorities say Cordero was a senior at Lakeview Junior-Senior High School in Columbus, where principal Steve Borer described him as a “super nice kid.”
PHOENIX (AP) — NFL owners voted down a proposal to replace the onside kick with one play from scrimmage, and tabled a suggestion to require each team to have one possession in overtime regardless of what happened on the first series of the extra period.
Owners will next take up the overtime topic again at their May meeting.
Team owners are tweaking Pass interference. Whether flagged or not, pass interference can be challenged by coaches and reviewed by officials next season.
NFL team owners voted Tuesday on a one-year trial basis to include those often-controversial penalties in the officiating replay review system. Coaches still will have two challenges per game, and in the final two minutes of a half or fourth quarter or for all of overtime, the replay official can order a review of offensive or defensive pass interference.
The major change — owners traditionally have been highly reluctant to include any penalties in the replay process — stems from an egregious missed call in the NFC championship game that likely led to the Rams making the Super Bowl and the Saints falling short.
The NFL has also awarded nearly a quarter-million dollars to two companies seeking to enhance protection provided by helmets. Windpact, founded by former NFL cornerback Shawn Springs, is receiving $148,820 to tailor its padding technology, called Crash Cloud, for use in Schutt’s helmets. Auxadyne was awarded $86,688 to advance its XPF material, an energy absorber that becomes more dense upon impact. The company will use this unique material, the only commercially available of its kind, to create a football helmet padding system that can reduce the impact to an athlete’s head.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a prison department staff member in Lincoln suffered a fractured jaw during an attack by an inmate.
The assault took place Monday night at the Nebraska Correctional Services Department’s Diagnostic and Evaluation Center in Lincoln. The department says the inmate punched the staffer several times in the torso and head before other staff members could restrain the inmate.
The injured staff member’s injury was diagnosed Tuesday.
No names have been released. The incident is being investigated.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nigerian man has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for his role in a fraud that cost U.S. businesses more than $6 million, including two in Nebraska that lost more than $163,000.
Pelumi Fawehinmi was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Omaha. The amount of restitution he must pay is to be determined. He’d pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
Prosecutors say Fawehinmi provided information to other people who used compromised email accounts to send “spoofing” emails purporting to be from senior executives to business employees, requesting wire transfers. The business employees, fooled into thinking the requests were legitimate, wired money as directed in the emails.
Fawehinmi was arrested in New York when he arrived for a visit from his home in Nigeria.
(AP)–Flooding that has hit parts of the Midwest hard has nearly paralyzed an American Indian reservation in southern South Dakota, swamping roads, trapping people in homes and cutting off water supplies to thousands.
The situation on the sprawling Pine Ridge Reservation was improving Tuesday, but two weeks of severe flooding could put the Oglala Sioux tribe in recovery mode for months, if not longer, and deal a serious blow to its economy, President Julian Bear Runner said.
“This is going to have a devastating effect on us, I feel,” he said. “The tribe is utilizing any and all of its resources to try to help the communities that have been impacted.”
The prairie reservation is roughly the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined and is home to nearly 20,000 people, about half living in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Heavy snowfall and a rapid melt this month led to overland flooding, swollen creeks and rivers, swamped roads and broken water lines.
“Pine Ridge is like a desert when it comes to resources,” said Peri Pourier, a tribal member and state representative. “We’re using horses to get out to communities that are away from the main roads. We have elders out there that are just isolated.”
Bear Runner, 33, said it’s the worst flooding he has seen and that some tribal elders say they haven’t seen so much water since they were children. He said the tribe was still on the “borderline” of emergency Tuesday with floodwaters receding, but many tribal members still don’t have easy access “to pharmacies, medication, grocery stores, anything to help sustain themselves.”
The tribe estimates as many as 8,000 people have had water supplies disrupted and another 2,000 have been hampered or trapped by floodwaters. Three people who suffered medical problems died before ambulances slowed by floodwaters could get to them, the tribe said, though it released no other details.
Gov. Kristi Noem sent National Guard soldiers to the reservation over the weekend to help distribute drinking water after floodwaters washed out a rural waterline. The state also sent a water rescue team to help move some tribal residents from isolated homes.
The soldiers ended their work Monday after the water line was repaired and water service restored. They distributed about 9,500 gallons of water in seven communities.
The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs also has provided manpower and equipment. The agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on its efforts.
Bear Runner said the tribe hasn’t had time to estimate the amount of damage or detail what repairs will be needed.
“I’m hoping if the state and federal government help out to the best of their abilities in assisting us, I suppose we can have this (recovery) done in a matter of months,” he said. “But without necessary equipment, if we have to do it on our own, it could take up to a year.”
Also Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a statement saying it’s assessing two Superfund sites in states affected by the flooding. The EPA identified the Superfund sites as the Nebraska Ordnance Plant in Mead, Nebraska, and the Conservation Chemical Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. Superfund is a law that gives the EPA funding and authority to clean up contaminated sites.
The Mead site operated as a munitions plant from 1942 to 1956 and its disposal of radioactive waste and other chemicals led to groundwater contamination. The EPA said it has not found evidence that any hazardous contaminants were released by the flooding.
The federal agency added that it will evaluate the sites further as floodwaters recede.
Elsewhere in the flood-fighting Midwest , levees shored up by sandbags were keeping the surging Missouri River at bay east of Kansas City. About 140 volunteers were sandbagging to protect a school in Norborne, Missouri. The Mississippi River was expected to flood some parks and railroad tracks as it crested Tuesday in Hannibal, Missouri.
Flooding along the Missouri River and its tributaries has caused at least $3 billion in damage and contributed to at least three deaths. Floodwaters are receding but the National Weather Service forecast says significant rain is possible later in the week.
To the north, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday said people should be on guard for localized flooding but that ideal snowmelt conditions have lessened fears of catastrophic flooding.
“I don’t want anybody to let their guard down (but) when it comes to the actual boots on the ground and the organization, very confident,” Walz said of flood preparations.
The weather service is expecting moderate to major flooding in the Red River Basin of northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, and sandbag-filling efforts are underway in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area. However, the two cities have implemented significant flood-fighting measures in the last decade.
“If we had the same water levels (in Moorhead) that we had back in 2011, we would need (3 million) sandbags today to protect that critical infrastructure,” Walz said. “We need a little over 100,000 now.”
