NORTH PLATTE – Water levels along the North Platte River are remaining stable, but flood damage from heavy rainfall earlier this week is still impacting areas of Lincoln County. North Platte and surrounding areas are and have been receiving a reprieve from heavy rainfall the past few days. Levels along the North Platte River in North Platte have fallen to 7.38 feet and are forecast to stay near 7.4 feet through Tuesday June 28. While the river level is stable, the Lincoln County Department of Roads reports Antelope Road from O’Fallons Road to Bubble Road is closed. Also most roads west of Range Road and north and south of Walker Road west to the west county line have been damaged.

NORTH PLATTE – North Platte Public Schools is among ten recipients of a $10,000 Blue Health Advantage Wellness Grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska. According to North Platte public schools foundation business manager Stuart Simpson, the district will use the money to encourage all middle school and elementary school students to walk to school. The students who walk to school the most will have a chance to win an iPod or a bike. Methods to keep count of how often the students walk are still being discussed.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – A grand jury has cleared two North
Platte police officers who fatally shot a 60-year-old man who
brandished knives as he attacked the officers in the lobby of the
police station.
North Platte television station KNOP is reporting that the
decision Wednesday cleared officers Rick Harms and Gary Hovey in
the shooting of Marlon Johnson on March 25.
Authorities say Johnson entered the building around 2:30 a.m.
and started a fire in a recycling bin. He attacked the officers
when they responded. They fired their stun guns, but he continued
attacking. They then shot him with their handguns.
State law requires a grand jury investigation whenever someone
dies in police custody or while being apprehended.

LEXINGTON – A second suspect in a Lexington robbery has turned himself him. Two Lexington men are suspects in an alleged armed robbery in a rural Lexington home on May 29. The victims identified Walter Rojas-Argueta as the suspect. Rojas-Argueta was arrested on May 31 and identified his accomplice as 16 year old Luis Alfredo Rodriguez. Rodriguez turned himself in Wednesday and will be charged with burglary and two counts of first degree false imprisonment. Rojas-Argueta has been charged with two counts of robbery, use of a firearm to commit a felony, and two counts of false imprisonment.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – For the first time in nearly a month,
a section of U.S. Highway 30 east of North Platte is open.
A stretch of the highway reopened Wednesday morning
after being closed since May 26 by flooding on the North Platte
River. A breach in a levee along the river let water flow down a
creek and across the highway.
Crews had to repair the levee, then fix the highway before it
could open.
Travelers can now use the highway east of North Platte to
Maxell, a distance of about 17 miles.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) – A 45-year-old Bellevue man has been given
60-to-90 years in prison for stabbing to death his roommate.
Darrell White had been convicted in March of second-degree
murder and use of a weapon. Prosecutors say White stabbed
45-year-old Todd Berg after a drunken dispute in White’s apartment
in Bellevue on Sept. 21 last year.
Court records say White was given 50-to-70 years for the murder
conviction, 10-to-20 years for the weapons conviction. Records say
the sentences are to be served consecutively.
White plans to appeal.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Union Pacific and the nation’s other major
freight railroads are defending their business and pricing
practices at a Washington D.C. hearing.
The Surface Transportation Board began a two-day hearing on
railroad competition Wednesday to consider whether new regulations
are needed.
UP CEO Jim Young planned to tell the board that if new
regulations are imposed on railroads, the industry will reduce its
spending on track and equipment that helps fuel the economy. And
jobs will be cut.
Mining, utility, industrial and agricultural companies have
complained that freight railroads charge excessive shipping rates
when customers have no other shipping option.
Oxbow Mining even filed a federal lawsuit this month against UP
and Burlington Northern Santa Fe accusing the railroads of
conspiring to raise prices. Both railroads have denied any
wrongdoing.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A Republican financial analyst says he will
challenge U.S. Representative Lee Terry in the 2012 primary
election.
On Wednesday, Brett Lindstrom of Omaha announced his candidacy
for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.
Lindstrom cites what he calls a “lack of political courage to
meaningfully address the very real problems our nation faces” for
his decision to challenge Terry, a seven-term incumbent.
The 30-year-old Lindstrom was born in Lincoln and raised in
Omaha. He was a walk-on, backup quarterback for the Huskers from
1999-2003.