Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol have arrested two people and seized 170 pounds of marijuana and other THC products during a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in Omaha.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. today, a trooper observed an eastbound 2008 Toyota van driving with a registration violation near mile marker 449 on I-80. During the traffic stop, an Omaha Police Department K9 detected the presence of a controlled substance inside the vehicle.

A search of the vehicle revealed 170 pounds of marijuana, 2.5 pounds of THC shatter, and more than 3,000 THC vape pens. The estimated street value of the drugs is more than $500,000.

The driver, Timothy Pardon, 50, and passenger, Crystal Pardon, 35, both of Trail, Oregon, were arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and no drug tax stamp. Both were lodged in Douglas County Corrections.

There were two children in the vehicle who were placed in protective custody.

###

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The future of Lincoln’s skywalk system is the subject of legal uncertainty after the project’s original contracts expired and plans for a downtown shopping mall were dropped.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Chief Assistant City Attorney Chris Connolly says city staff and the original skywalk system’s building owners are discussing how the skywalks should be handled in the future. City staff will be considering whether the downtown skywalks are a useful system for the city to maintain.

Lincoln’s original skywalk system was built in the late 1970s and early 1980s to connect five blocks in the city’s downtown, providing an indoor pathway. Additional walkways were added later.

Contracts covering construction, continued maintenance and public access within the original system have expired or will soon end.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — An arraignment has been scheduled for a Hastings man accused of driving while intoxicated when his vehicle ran into a pedestrian, killing him.

Adams County Court records say 46-year-old Nen Lam is charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence and two related DUI crimes. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Lam. The arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.

The accident occurred around 3:40 a.m. on Oct. 14 in Hastings. Police say 27-year-old Anthony Epp was fatally struck as he was either walking or skateboarding on the street. He lived in Hastings.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Prosecutors say they don’t intend to file charges for the death of a man shot when a friend’s gun went off while the friend was cleaning it in an Omaha suburb.

The shooting occurred Oct. 5 at an apartment in Bellevue . Sarpy County authorities say the bullet from the semi-automatic handgun struck 26-year-old Eric Niedbalski in a shoulder. He died later that night at Nebraska Medical Center. He lived in Bellevue.

Chief Deputy Sarpy County Attorney Bonnie Moore said Wednesday that “it doesn’t appear that there was any criminal wrongdoing” on the part of 27-year-old Benjamin Morrison, who was cleaning the .45-caliber handgun.

BLENCOE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Nebraska woman driving south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 29 in western Iowa has collided with an oncoming vehicle. The crash killed both drivers.

The Iowa State Patrol says 40-year-old Angela Bender, of Omaha, Nebraska, was driving the southbound minivan late Wednesday night when the collision occurred near Blencoe in Monona County. The other driver killed was identified as 51-year-old Carolyn Klimper, who lived in Fort Morgan, Colorado.

Three other people in Klimper’s vehicle were injured.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an Iowa man rescued his dog before other people came to his rescue after he and the dog broke through lake ice in northeast Nebraska.

The Dakota County Sheriff’s Office says the dog, Jake, broke through the ice on a private lake northwest of Dakota City on Wednesday morning. He’d chased after a goose that had been shot. Thirty-year-old Andrew Sedivy, of Sioux City, Iowa, went after his dog and got him out but also broke through into the frigid water.

Sheriff’s deputies, the landowner and other hunters used a canoe to get Sedivy out of the lake and back to dry land, where he and Jake were later treated for their dunking.

BATTLE CREEK, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver died after his sport utility vehicle ran into the back of a farm machine in northeast Nebraska’s Madison County.

The accident occurred around 8 p.m. Tuesday on U.S. Highway 275, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) northeast of Battle Creek. The Madison County Sheriff’s Department says the SUV driven by 68-year-old Douglas Rakowsky struck the rear of a combine driven by Mark Freudenberg, of rural Madison.

Rakowsky was pronounced dead at the scene. He lived in rural Battle Creek. It’s unclear whether Freudenberg was injured.

The accident is being investigated.