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Nebraska restaurant accused of allowing sexual harassment

GRETNA, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska restaurant faces accusations that it allowed a supervisor and workers to sexually harass a teenage female employee.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit Thursday against El Vallarta, a Mexican restaurant in Gretna.

The lawsuit says the teen was subjected to repeated, inappropriate comments about her body when she worked at the restaurant between 2016 and 2017. It alleges the manager, Hector Barron, knew about the harassment and grabbed the teenager’s buttocks at work.

The agency alleges that when the teen reported Barron’s conduct, he showed up unannounced at her home several times and tried to confront her.

A man who answered the restaurant’s phone said he was busy and asked a reporter to call back later.

Ricketts open to sending more soldiers to Mexican border

Gov. Pete Ricketts

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts says he’s willing to send more Nebraska National Guard troops to the United States-Mexican border to supplement the ones that are already there.

Nebraska has 48 soldiers who were already deployed to work along the border in August and October at President Donald Trump’s request. Ricketts made the comments on Friday as four migrant caravans make their way toward the U.S.

Nebraska has deployed troops to the border over the years to help support the federal government’s security missions. Their deployment wasn’t related to Trump’s recent request to add more troops along the border. They aren’t participating in any federal enforcement operations in the field.

Ricketts says the state is “ready to send additional troops to aid this mission if called upon.”

Nebraska corrections director names new chief of staff

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s corrections director has appointed a new chief of staff who will oversee many of the department’s operations.

Scott Frakes announced Friday that Laura Strimple began the job earlier this week. Strimple previously served as the department’s communications director and an assistant Nebraska secretary of state under Secretary John Gale.

Strimple began her career in broadcasting and worked in both Lincoln and Omaha for more than 15 years as a news producer.

She fills a vacancy left by Dawn-Renee Smith, who was recently promoted from chief of staff to deputy director for programs at the Department of Correctional Services.

Omaha man in prison for drunken crash to be resentenced

BC-NE–Injured Girl-Father
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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has ordered that a man imprisoned for drunkenly causing a crash that severely injured his young daughter be resentenced.

The high court on Friday rejected Benjamin Thompson’s appeal arguments to suppress evidence and also upheld his 12-to-15 year sentence for a fifth-offence drunken driving conviction.

But it said Thompson’s trial court erred in sentencing him to a total of 10 years on other counts — including negligent child abuse and failure to render aid — because it didn’t give a minimum and maximum range as required by state law.

Police say Thompson was drunk and had his three daughters in the car when he ran a red light and collided with another vehicle in October 2016. He sped away and was later found dumping alcohol containers in a trash can. His three injured daughters were still in the car.

The crash left his then 8-year-old daughter in a persistent vegetative state.

Omaha mother charged in baby’s bathtub drowning

Hanin Alnajjar

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 28-year-old Omaha mother has been charged in the bathtub drowning last month of her 9-month-old baby.

Hanin Alnajjar appeared in a Douglas County courtroom Thursday to face a charge of negligent child abuse resulting in death.

Prosecutors say Alnajjar’s 9-year-old daughter told police that her mother left the baby and a 2-year-old in the bath alone with the water running. Police say the baby was found face up in the tub. Alnajjar’s daughter told police the water was running onto the baby’s face.

Alnajjar’s surviving children have been taken from her custody. Alnajjar is being held on $250,000 bail.

Police say man found shot to death at central Omaha hotel

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police are investigating the shooting death of a man in central Omaha.

Police say officers were called to the Sonesta Suites hotel just before 2:30 a.m. Wednesday for reports of a shooting.

Arriving officers found 31-year-old James Middlebrook dead inside an upstairs unit.

Police say a person of interest was taken into custody for questioning on Wednesday, but no arrests had been announced by Thursday afternoon.

300 pounds of marijuana, THC products seized in traffic stop near Lodgepole

Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol arrested an Oregon man and seized more than 300 pounds of marijuana and 60 pounds of other THC products during a traffic stop near Lodgepole on Interstate 80.

At approximately 12:10 p.m. MDT, a trooper observed an eastbound Dodge Caravan driving with expired registration near mile marker 79 on I-80. During the traffic stop, the trooper detected the odor of marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.

A search of the vehicle revealed 309 pounds of marijuana, 46 pounds of THC edible products, 14 pounds of THC shatter, 80 grams of THC syrup, and 2,000 THC vape cartridges. The street value of the illegal products is estimated at more than $1,000,000.

The driver, Ryan Kirk, 33, of Medford, Oregon, was arrested for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession of controlled substances, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp. Kirk was lodged in Cheyenne County Jail.

1 man killed in 3 vehicle Halloween morning crash in Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a man has died in a three-vehicle crash in north-central Omaha.

Police say the crash happened Wednesday morning at Maple and 94th streets when a sport utility vehicle began weaving, went over a curb and crossed two lanes of traffic and across a center median before hitting a pickup truck and a car traveling the opposite direction.

Forty-nine-year-old Kenneth Evans of Omaha, who was driving the SUV, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are investigating whether a medical condition suffered by Evans led to the crash.

The driver of the pickup suffered a knee injury, and the driver and a passenger in the car were uninjured.

Authorities: 2 siblings killed in northwest Nebraska crash

CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a brother and sister were fatally injured during a rollover crash in the northern Nebraska Panhandle.

The accident occurred Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning on the northwest side of Chadron. Dawes County Attorney Vance Haug says the wreckage was found about 7 a.m. Wednesday. Investigators are trying to determine what caused the crash.

Haug says 21-year-old Megan Campbell died at the scene and her brother, 32-year-old Donald Nelson, was pronounced dead later at Chadron Community Hospital. They both lived in Chadron.

Lincoln man accused of stabbing person with pitchfork

Michael Staska

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police have arrested a Lincoln man accused of stabbing another man with a pitchfork.

The stabbing happened Thursday morning during an argument between the two men. Police say officers found a 65-year-old man on the front porch of a Lincoln apartment bleeding from his forearm. The victim told officers he and his fiance were at the apartment of 55-year-old Michael Staska when he and Staska began arguing.

Police say Staska told the victim to leave, but wanted the fiance to stay. Staska told police he used the pitchfork to “shoo” the victim from the apartment.

Police say the older man suffered puncture wounds to his left arm and lower back. Staska was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault and use of a weapon.

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