KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Minden man has died in a car crash east of Kearney.
The crash was reported shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office says a southbound vehicle ran off a county road into a ditch, hit an embankment and rolled, ejecting the driver.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. He’s been identified as 37-year-old Richard Araujo.
He was alone in the car.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have rescued goats, rabbits, a tortoise, a dog and more than 200 chickens found on a Grand Island property.
The animals were seized Thursday and Friday. An animal control officer said some of the animals were dying as they were being moved. Several carcasses also were found, as well as chicken bones.
Officials say the property owner is being cited for the excessive number of animals on the property, their condition and the lack of shelter, food, and water.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Correctional Services Department says an inmate assaulted a staff member at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
The assault occurred a little after 7 p.m. Sunday. The department says the inmate refused the staffer’s request to return to a secure area and then attacked the staffer.
The department says the inmate hit the staffer several times in the face. The staffer later received several stitches to close a lip wound.
The names of those involved haven’t been released.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln will be able to maintain a program that serves as an alternative to jail for people arrested while extremely intoxicated.
The state Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to license the civil protective custody program run by The Bridge Behavioral Health nonprofit.
The unit would’ve closed if the state had denied its license because medical staff would likely refuse to work at an unlicensed facility, said The Bridge director Tammy Stevenson.
Police bring more than 3,600 people to the program annually to be detoxed. Clients include people arrested for drunken driving, trespassing or urinating in public.
The Bridge officials have agreed to moderate the program’s discharge policy to meet licensing regulations. The program currently holds clients in locked rooms for 24 hours or until their blood alcohol content is zero, which state licensure officials viewed as overly restrictive and unnecessary.
Staff members will now begin to release people when their BAC level drops to less than 0.08 percent, which is the state’s legal limit for driving.
Staff will use a discharge assessment list to evaluate clients for potential early discharge, Stevenson said.
Discharging clients earlier can be an issue because people with chronic alcohol problems can sometimes experience worse withdrawal systems as their BAC nears zero, Stevenson said. But clients will be encouraged to stay voluntarily at the program’s social detox unit, she said.
The program is a good alternative to transporting people to jail or a hospital, said Todd Wiltgen, the Lancaster County Board chairman.
“This is very welcome news,” he said. “We appreciate HHS’s work on renewing the license and are very relieved.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is looking into how to be removed from a national association’s censure list after being criticized for its handling of a confrontation between a university lecturer and a student recruiting for a conservative group.
University officials will form a committee and a panel this fall to examine campus policies and consider how to be taken off the American Association of University Professors’ censure list, The Omaha World-Herald reported . A censure serves as a formal rebuke of a university’s administrators and is typically tied to tenure and academic freedom issues.
The association placed the university on the list in June, saying school officials succumbed to political pressure by suspending and later firing lecturer Courtney Lawton for a confrontation last year. Lawton made an inappropriate hand gesture at undergraduate student Kaitlyn Mullen, who was recruiting on campus for conservative group Turning Point USA. Turning Point maintains a “professor watch list” of faculty deemed radically liberal.
Lawton also called Mullen a “neo-fascist.” Lawton was a graduate student lecturer and didn’t have tenure at the university.
“We do take this seriously,” said Jeff Rudy, president of the university’s Faculty Senate. “Any blemish on our reputation is not something that we relish.”
At least three conservative state lawmakers accused the university of being unwelcoming to conservative viewpoints.
Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts said that the incident “highlighted concerns about the liberal bent of academia.”
The academic group found that the university’s discipline had violated Lawton’s academic freedom. The association also said the graduate student was fired without getting a fair hearing.
An association representative said getting removed from the list requires changes in a university’s regulations, restitution or redress to the faculty members involved and an assessment of the university’s academic freedom.
There are currently 56 colleges on the association’s censure list.
According to authorities, Nathaniel Maxcy was killed Saturday afternoon when two jet skis collided.
According to a preliminary investigation, the operators of two jet skis were spraying each other with water and coming into close proximity with one another. Officials say it appears Maxcy drove directly in the path of another watercraft, and the two collided.
In total, Maxcy and two others, a juvenile passenger on his watercraft and the other operator, were ejected from the watercraft and into the water.
Maxcy and the juvenile passenger were transported to Ogallala Community Hospital where Maxcy was pronounced dead. The juvenile was released after receiving treatment for minor injuries. The operator of the other watercraft did not require medical attention.
The accident is under investigation by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, but authorities say alcohol does not appear to have been a factor in the crash. All three individuals were wearing life jackets.
Maxcy was currently living in Lincoln. The names of the other two individuals involved were not released.
Funeral services for Maxcy will be held on Thursday, August 23, at the First United Methodist Church in Ogallala.
Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP), along with the North Platte Police Department, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, and Nebraska Game and Parks, have arrested a man wanted in connection with multiple pursuits in the past week.
On Saturday, August 18, NSP responded to a report of a stolen vehicle near Sutherland. While investigating, authorities were able to identify the suspect as Shane Melton, 30, of North Platte. Melton had reportedly been involved in multiple pursuits with law enforcement recently.
Just after 10:00 a.m. Sunday, August 19, troopers were able to locate Melton and a stolen Dodge Ram pickup west of Lake Maloney, south of North Platte. Melton fled and led troopers on a pursuit, which was called off as the truck drove through fences and pasture. Multiple citizen reports then placed the truck at a residence on the 7000 block of West Buckboard Road.
NSP SWAT was called in to assist, as troopers had received information that Melton was possibly armed. SWAT conducted a search of the area and was able to take Melton into custody without further incident at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Melton was lodged in Lincoln County Jail on four outstanding warrants and additional charges of driving under suspension, possession of a stolen vehicle, flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving, obstruction, criminal trespassing, and criminal mischief.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s Department of Transportation is now accepting public comments on a draft statewide transportation improvement program for a four-year period.
Copies are available from each of the department’s eight district offices. The program covers the fiscal years 2019 through 2022.
The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration require each state highway agency to develop a program. The program must list all highway and transit projects that will use federal money, as well as all regionally significant transportation projects using non-federal funding sources. It’s updated every year on Oct. 1.
Federal law requires that all citizens and other interested parties get a reasonable opportunity to comment on the proposal and any potential amendments.
The public comment period began Wednesday and ends at 5 p.m. central time on Aug. 31.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Dog lovers can seek insight into their beloved pooch’s behavior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s new research lab.
The Canine Cognition and Human Interaction Lab will open for its first round of studies this fall, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. Pet owners can enroll their dogs in the program to have researchers study their behavior and decision-making.
“I’m very interested in a dog’s patience, and if can they control temptations that they face,” said Jeffrey Stevens, an associate psychology professor who created the research program. “Once we figure it out, we can train and develop some techniques that help dogs behave better.”
The research focuses on dog’s cognition, psychology, and interaction with humans. Cognition data will be helpful for training service or police dogs. Other research will show the pet’s impact on human behavior, such as stress.
Stevens decided to bring a canine research lab to Nebraska after taking a sabbatical in Austria. He was inspired by the behavioral dog lab at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln lab is nearly ready to open. It’s receiving its finishing touches, such as a potty-proof floor, and cameras are installed.
“We’re excited and very interested in researching about everyone’s dogs, just to learn as much as we can,” said Elise Thayer, a graduate student working in the program. “We are not done formulating all of our ideas, but come late September, the lab will be fully functional.”
About 150 dogs have already been enrolled in the program. There’s unlimited space with no applicant limit.
“The university has been extremely supportive for this; they really got behind me, invested in it and helped me out,” Stevens said. “I’m super excited to see how enthusiastic (everyone is) about the lab. A lot of folks are happy to try to understand aspects of their dogs.”
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a man walking in a downtown Omaha parking lot has been hit and killed, and the two people in the vehicle that ht him have been arrested.
Police say officers were called to the lot early Saturday morning for a person down and found 60-year-old Jeffrey Grieves fatally injured.
Investigators say Grieves was hit by a car that had just entered the lot. Police say the car briefly stopped, but then fled the scene.
Police later found the car and arrested the suspected driver, 19-year-old Orlando Santacruz-Navarro, on suspicion of leaving the scene of a fatal crash. A passenger, 20-year-old Jesus Dominguez-Navarro, was arrested on suspicion of tampering with evidence.
It’s not clear whether either man yet had an attorney by Saturday afternoon.
