Gov. Pete RickettsLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has unveiled a plan to promote Nebraska abroad, increase trade with other countries and attract more foreign investment.
Ricketts announced the plan Wednesday with members of the Nebraska Governor’s Council for Foreign Relations, a group he established last year.
The plan calls for more international trade missions over five years and a focus on specific countries that are likely to partner with Nebraska. It also recommends creating a network of “Nebraska goodwill ambassadors” to tout the state overseas. The group also plans to work with Nebraska’s universities and colleges and the Nebraska Tourism Commission.
The council includes officials from state agencies and industry groups.
Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol have arrested a woman following a pursuit on Interstate 80 Wednesday afternoon.
The incident began at approximately 3:30 p.m. when an NSP Investigator responded to a crash on I-80 near mile marker 284. The crash occurred when a blue Pontiac G6 ran into the rear of a semi.
The investigator, driving an unmarked NSP vehicle, arrived on the scene quickly and began checking for injuries. While the investigator was checking on those involved in the crash, an occupant from the Pontiac stole the investigator’s vehicle and started traveling westbound.
Troopers in marked NSP units arrived on the scene to assist with the crash and also pursued the stolen vehicle. The driver continued at a high rate of speed and refused to stop. Spike strips were utilized multiple times on the vehicle during the pursuit. The vehicle came to a stop in the north ditch near mile marker 253 and the female driver was taken into custody.
Toni White, 24, of Chariton, Iowa, was transported to the hospital to be checked for potential injuries. When released, she will be arrested for motor vehicle theft, felony flight to avoid arrest, and driving under the influence of drugs. Other changes may be added pending results of the initial crash investigation.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A large federal law enforcement operation conducted Wednesday targeted businesses in Nebraska and Minnesota that officials say knowingly hired — and mistreated — immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.
The investigative arm of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement — Homeland Security Investigations — led the operation that saw about a dozen businesses and plants raided and the arrests of 14 business owners and managers and more than 130 workers. Most of the arrests occurred in northern Nebraska and southern Minnesota. Several of the businesses were in O’Neill, Nebraska, a town of about 3,000 about 160 miles (260 kilometers) northwest of Omaha. Officials said they were still looking to take three owners or managers into custody as part of the operation.
Special agent in charge Tracy Cormier described the operation as one of the largest in Homeland Security Investigations’ 15-year history.
“I would say the amount of criminal warrants that are being executed will be one of the largest for HSI,” she said. “I’m not aware of a bigger one.”
Between 350 and 400 federal, state and local law enforcement officers worked together on the arrests, she said.
The focus of the operation is unusual in that it targeted business operators for arrest. Most immigration raids have targeted workers suspected of being in the country illegally.
“The whole investigation was initiated, basically, because we knew that these businesses were cheating these workers and cheating taxpayers and cheating their competition,” Cormier said.
The businesses engaged in a scheme that used fraudulent names and Social Security numbers to employ people in the country illegally, she said. The businesses used “force, fraud, coercion, threat of arrest and/or deportation” to exploit the workers, Cormier said. The business that hired out the immigrants also forced the workers to cash their paychecks with that business for an exorbitant fee, officials said, and withheld taxes from workers’ pay without paying those taxes to the government.
“It kind of reminds us of the revival of the old ‘company store’ policy, where it used to keep the coal miners indebted to the company for all kinds of services … like check cashing,” she said.
Dozens of workers suspected of being in the country illegally also were arrested, Cormier said. Some will be issued notices to appear before an immigration judge and released, while those with criminal backgrounds will remain in ICE custody.
The raids come as President Donald Trump’s administration has been carrying out high-profile enforcement actions against employers who hire illegal labor.
Dozens of workers were arrested at a meatpacking plant in rural Tennessee in April, followed by agents rounding up more than 100 employees two months later at an Ohio gardening and landscaping company.
Immigration officials have also beefed up audits of companies to verify their employees are authorized to work in the country. Officials opened 2,282 employer audits in the first seven months of this fiscal year, many after audits at 100 7-Eleven franchises in 17 states in January.
Civil rights organizations in Nebraska were quick to denounce Wednesday’s operation.
“The ACLU condemns this ongoing campaign of misery that targets immigrants, disrupts local businesses and separates families,” Rose Godinez, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska, said in a written released Wednesday morning after news reports of a raid at O’Neill Ventures, which grows tomatoes in huge greenhouses.
Immigrant advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed released a similar statement saying, “Senseless raids like these today leave long-lasting damage across entire communities.”
Whether the operation targeted U.S. businesses hiring immigrants illegally in the country or the immigrants themselves, the effect is still the same, Nebraska Appleseed communications director Jeff Sheldon said.
“This is going to leave widespread fear and damage in the community,” he said. “You got businesses that are directly affected. You’ve got neighborhoods that are directly affected. You’ll have kids tonight coming home to a house where one or more of their parents are gone. This is pain that can last for generations.
On August 8, 2018 around 1:05 a.m., Deputies received a call of a motor vehicle accident at Kelly Avenue and Hershey / Dickens Road, south of Hershey, NE. It was reported a single vehicle had rolled, but the driver was not staying by the accident scene. The male Driver of the wrecked vehicle had gotten a ride and was on his way to North Platte, NE.
The Driver contacted the 911 Center and told them he was not wanting to speak to police and if he had to, he would assault the officers. A Deputy was able to identify the vehicle the Driver was riding in and stopped it at Leota and Dewey Street in North Platte, NE. The Driver, who was now a passenger, jumped out and began yelling at the lone Deputy.
The Driver reached down and picked up a frog and wanted to hand it to the Deputy. He changed his mind and began shouting he was holding the innocent frog hostage, as well as yelling threats at the Deputy.
A North Platte Police Officer arrived to assist the Deputy and the subject began to throw paper and trash at the Officer, while holding the frog hostage. The Deputy gave the subject numerous commands to comply and calm down. Eventually the Deputy deployed his Taser, releasing the frog and controlling the male Driver.
The Driver was taken to Great Plains Health and placed in Emergency Protective Custody. Drugs and maybe alcohol is suspected. The frog appeared uninjured.
Bailey BoswellLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s highest court has denied an attorney’s request to withdraw from a case involving a death row inmate who isn’t fighting the state’s efforts to execute him.
The Nebraska Supreme Court issued the ruling Tuesday after defense attorney Jeff Pickens argued that his duty to provide competent legal representation conflicts with his obligation to follow the wishes of his client, Carey Dean Moore.
Pickens says he could make multiple legal arguments to prevent the scheduled Aug. 14 execution, but Moore has ordered him not to file anything. Moore was sentenced to death for the 1979 fatal shootings of two Omaha cab drivers.
Replacing Pickens with another attorney likely would have delayed the execution. A key drug in Nebraska’s lethal injection supply, potassium chloride, expires on Aug. 31.
Carey Dean Moore (NE Dept. of Corrections Photo)By GRANT SCHULTE , Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska state officials are preparing for their first execution in two decades and first-ever lethal injection with an untried combination of drugs that includes a powerful painkiller responsible for much of the nation’s opioid epidemic and a paralyzing drug that could conceal whether something has gone wrong.
The execution planned for Aug. 14 at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln comes with significant risks for Nebraska prison officials, who haven’t carried out a death sentence since using the electric chair in 1997.
No state in modern history has resumed executions after such a long hiatus, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit opposed to capital punishment that tracks how states perform executions. Nebraska is also poised to become the first state to use a four-drug protocol, including three substances that have never been used in a lethal injection.
“When states start experimenting with a new drug combination, it heightens the likelihood there’s going to be some kind of error,” said Deborah Denno, a law professor and lethal injection expert at Fordham University in New York.
Nebraska is among a handful of states that still have capital punishment on their books but haven’t carried out an execution in decades as the total number falls nationally, according to the information center.
The last executions in Colorado, Oregon and Wyoming took place in the 1990s. Kansas hasn’t executed an inmate since 1965, and New Hampshire hasn’t done so since 1939. Nebraska lawmakers abolished the death penalty in 2015, but voters reinstated it the following year through a ballot initiative partially financed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts.
Prison officials are set to execute Carey Dean Moore, who has spent 38 years on Nebraska’s death row for the 1979 shooting deaths of two Omaha cab drivers. The 60-year-old Moore has stopped fighting the state’s efforts to execute him.
That leaves no real options for death penalty opponents other than hoping a pharmaceutical company protests the state using one of its drugs in court. None have so far. State officials have refused to identify their supplier and appealed a judge’s order to release records that would reveal their source.
Nebraska previously relied on a three-drug combination to render the inmate unconscious, induce paralysis and stop the heart. But the protocol was never used in an execution, and after years of failing to acquire one of the drugs, sodium thiopental, Nebraska prison officials changed their rules to let the state corrections director choose which chemicals to use.
The new protocol calls for an initial IV dose of diazepam, commonly known as Valium, to render the inmate unconscious; the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl; cisatracurium besylate to induce paralysis and stop the inmate from breathing; and potassium chloride to stop the heart. After each injection, prison officials send saline through the IV to flush out any residue and ensure all the drugs have entered the inmate’s system.
Diazepam, fentanyl and cisatracurium have never been used in executions before. Fentanyl, the prescription painkiller, is at the center of the nation’s opioid crisis. A fentanyl overdose killed music superstar Prince in 2016.
Diazepam is a sleep aid, muscle relaxant and a medicine that helps fight anxiety and seizures. Cisatracurium is commonly used to ensure patients remain still in operating rooms and requires them to be connected to a breathing machine.
Potassium chloride is used in small doses for medical patients with low blood potassium, but in large doses it can trigger a heart attack. The combined drugs would likely take five to 10 minutes at most to work, said Dr. Peter Rice, a clinical pharmacy professor at the University of Colorado.
It’s unclear how the drugs might work in combination, and no one knows whether the dosages will do the job “in a way that isn’t tortuous,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
The protocol “seems to be based more on expediency and what drugs the states believe they can get their hands on at any given time,” Dunham said.
A corrections department spokeswoman did not return phone messages and an email seeking comment. Nebraska’s protocol requires all members of the execution team to train at least weekly before an execution.
The dosages prescribed appear large enough to work as intended, but prison officials still face potential complications given the new protocol and the state’s lack of recent experience in carrying out executions, said Dr. Jonathan Groner, a lethal injection expert and surgeon who teaches at Ohio State University.
Because the person administering the drugs won’t be standing next to the inmate, Groner said it will be difficult to tell whether the drugs are flowing correctly through the IV tube and into his veins instead of surrounding tissue, where they wouldn’t be properly absorbed.
Groner said a long delay in administering all the drugs could also give the fentanyl time to wear off, which would expose the inmate to an intense, burning pain, possibly while paralyzed.
“When you’re having surgery, you get a high-dose burst followed by a continuous infusion,” Groner said. “If the other drugs aren’t given in rapid succession, things could go awry pretty quickly.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nationwide Insurance spokesman says the company intends to provide career management resources and other aid to employees who will be losing their jobs in Lincoln.
Nationwide spokesman Eric Hardgrove said Tuesday that the company announced in 2015 plans to close the Allied Insurance office by the end of 2018. The closing is part of the company’s long-term strategy for service, claims and sales office locations.
Nationwide and Allied combined once employed more than 700 people in Lincoln in several locations. Allied Insurance has been in Lincoln since 1965. Nationwide bought the company in 1998.
Hardgrove says about 90 people still work at the Allied office and says some will continue to work for the company from home after the office closes for good.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln’s public schools will now be required to conduct two drills to respond to active shooters after a district review of emergency procedures this summer.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that district administrators re-assessed emergency protocols after a parent group raised security concerns following the mass shooting at a Florida school in February. Parents United for Greater School Safety advocated for more school resource officers, improved security at school entrances and better communication with parents about emergency drills.
Administrators have decided that all schools must conduct two lockdown and lockout drills. Lockdown refers to locking classrooms, turning off lights and getting out of sight. Lockouts involve bringing students inside and locking the school when there’s a threat outside the building.
Teachers will receive training Tuesday on flexible decision-making with a new video on all procedures.
Storm systems have pounded parts of Nebraska with high winds and damaging hail.
The National Weather Service says hailstones more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) across were reported Monday night in western Nebraska’s Perkins County. Hail knocked out windows and damaged a house northeast of Lisco and battered property elsewhere in the Nebraska Panhandle.
Region 21 emergency management director Ron Leal said Tuesday that several Oshkosh homes and businesses had lost windows and siding to the hail barrage, and several crop fields had been shredded. He says no injuries have been reported.
The service says a wind gust of 60 mph (97 kph) was recorded northeast of Big Springs in Keith County.,
In eastern Nebraska, hail broke classroom windows at St. Paul Lutheran School and damaged home siding in Utica.
Our Miss Hope returned to her Father in Heaven on August 3, 2018. She passed away surrounded by her loving parents at Omaha Children’s Hospital.
Hope Jillynn Wray was born on December 23, 2013 along with her triplet brothers Max and Tate. They had come as long awaited blessings to Josh and Dina Wray. She came into this world with a lot of flair and gusto. Little did the world know what was next.
Hope was the oldest of 6 children and was beloved by each sibling. She loved to sing, swim, and show her beautiful smile to all who crossed her path. She was a daddy’s girl and her mommy’s right hand. Hope loved gymnastics and routinely performed her “bat hangs” on anything she could grip. She was a great example of light and was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Hope is survived by her parents and siblings (Max, Tate, Rose, Zane and Cal) all of North Platte; Grandma/Grandpa Wray of Shelley, ID, Grandpa/Grandpa Fisher of Stillwater, OK and Grandma/Grandpa Dill of Tuttle, OK; as well as loving great grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She was preceeded in death by her Grandma Jill Hammer Wray.
To share condolences, please visit www.adamsswanson.com. In lieu of flowers, the family asks you to consider donating to Children’s Hospital of Omaha
Funeral services will be held Saturday, Aug. 11th at 11:00 a.m. at the North Platte LDS Chapel, 4111 Park Ridge Rd, North Platte, NE 69101.
Friends may call Friday evening, Aug. 10 from 6-8 p.m. at Adams-Swanson Funeral Home 421 W 4th St, North Platte, NE 69101 and Saturday prior to funeral service at the LDS chapel beginning at 9:00-10:30 a.m.
Interment will be at Sutherland Cemetery.
