Jurors convicted 20-year-old Marcus Wheeler on Monday of second-degree murder. Prosecutors say he killed 21-year-old Kay Nelson on April 18 last year.
Prosecutors say Wheeler shot Nelson as she sat in the driver’s seat of her vehicle and her 2-year-old son sat in a car seat in the back. Police say he had been fighting in the parking lot with a brother of Nelson’s new boyfriend before grabbing a gun and shooting her.
ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska National Guard plans to rebuild its Camp Ashland training site by fortifying its buildings and raising them on stilts after recent flooding caused extensive damage to the facility.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the Guard is pursuing a more than $62 million project to protect the 1,184-acre (479-hectare) facility on the Platte River from future flooding.
The camp has been working to repair damage from floodwaters that filled classrooms and barracks after the river knocked down a levee last month.
The plans call for putting seven new buildings on stilt pilings at least 7 feet (2 meters) off the ground. The Guard also wants to extend a concrete bulkhead that runs inside the river’s levee.
Officials requested funding from the National Guard Bureau in Virginia. The money would come from federal tax dollars if approved.
At around 7:19 p.m., on April 27, officers responded to the 1500 block of West 3rd Street after receiving reports that a vehicle was driving through yards and hitting things.
Officers made contact with the driver, Joseph Brosious, who was seated in the vehicle after it struck a tree.
Police say Brosius admitted to officers that he was drunk and showed “significant signs of being drunk.”
Brosius was unable to perform a standard field sobriety test, but a breathalyzer revealed his blood alcohol level was .332.
After complaining of pain, Brosius was taken to Great Plains Health.
Due to his level of intoxication and injuries, police say Brosius was cited for Driving Under the Influence of Liquor and left at the hospital for treatment.
No injuries to others were reported, however, there was significant damage done to vehicle and other property.
Here is a video submitted by Tiffany Hernandez that shows the incident taking place.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say two people were sent to a hospital after a fire at a Lincoln home.
The fire was reported around 8:30 p.m. Saturday in northeast Lincoln. Two residents were taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Their names haven’t been released.
Fire officials say the blaze started in the house kitchen. Damage was estimated at $40,000.
STANTON, Neb. (AP) – More human remains have been found along the Elkhorn River in northeast Nebraska’s Stanton County.
County Sheriff Mike Unger says the remains were found Saturday on private property about 3 miles east of Stanton. Last month skeletal remains were found about 3 miles southwest of Stanton.
The remains found Saturday will be analyzed for identity and the cause of death, as are those found last month.
The sheriff says he’s confident neither of the remains are those of Scott Goodman, a Norfolk man who was last seen March 14 being swept away by Elkhorn floodwaters on the east side of Norfolk upstream.
The measure set for legislative debate is certain to open a rift among lawmakers, who have rejected similar proposals in the past even though most other states already subsidize private or charter schools.
Supporters say the Nebraska bill would help low-income families who otherwise can’t afford private schools, but the public-school advocates argue it would rob the state of revenue that could help public-school students.
“There are certain kids who don’t do well in their current school,” said Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, the bill’s sponsor. “It doesn’t mean it’s not a good school. But we have a lot of kids whose parents can’t afford tuition at private schools, even if it might be the best fit for them.”
Opponents say Nebraska should focus on funding for public schools, including small, rural districts that don’t receive state equalization aid because they’re flush with valuable farmland. Owners of that land are now shouldering a major share of the burden through property taxes, even though farm incomes have fallen sharply in recent years.
“Public dollars should to go public schools,” said Jack Moles, executive director of the Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association and a former school superintendent. “When we can’t get state equalization funding for every school district, why would we put money toward private schools?”
The bill would allow donors to claim a dollar-for-dollar tax credit on contributions made to organizations that offer private-school scholarships. If it passes, the bill would allow donors to reduce their income tax liability by as much as half.
The state would offer a maximum of $10 million in tax credits in 2020, but that amount would grow each year if 90 percent of the money is claimed. Critics say that cost could easily balloon to more than $90 million in a decade, and Linehan acknowledged the cap may need to be lowered to fit into a tight state budget.
To qualify for a scholarship, students would have to come from a family that earns no more than two times the maximum income required to get federal reduced-price lunch benefits — about $93,000 for a family of four. Lower-income families would get priority.
Nebraska is one of seven states that don’t offer charter schools, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and 18 states provide tax credits that resemble the legislative proposal. Nebraska as one of four states that don’t allow alternatives to traditional public schools, along with North Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia.
Many private, religious schools already offer financial assistance to those who need it, but the bill would further ease the burden on families, said Tom Venzor, executive director or the Nebraska Catholic Conference.
“Every single child in Nebraska deserves to go to a school that best serves their needs, regardless of their income,” he said.
Venzor said existing scholarships have helped parents who would otherwise need to take a second job to afford private schooling, thus allowing them to spend more time with their children.
Venzor said demand for private schools has outpaced the scholarship money that’s currently available.
The measure could indirectly save the state money by reducing the number of children who are educated in public schools, he said, and the savings could be funneled into public schools. A 2017 analysis of Iowa’s tax credit program by the state Department of Revenue concluded that it has saved the state money each year since it became available in 2007.
For instance, the study estimated that 30 percent of private school students who received financial aid through the program in the 2016-17 school year would have gone to a public school if the tax credit didn’t exist. Based on that estimate, the department said those students’ decision to go to a private school reduced the state’s education costs by $24.6 million. Iowa spent a total of $12 million on tax credits that year, resulting in a net savings of $12.6 million.
“It’s ultimately a win-win for the states that adopt them,” Venzor said. “We don’t believe they hurt public schools.”
Opponents say it’s highly unlikely the bill would save Nebraska money because most school expenses, such as teachers and building maintenance, are fixed. If a handful of students left for a private education, public schools would still have to cover those costs.
They also note that public schools can’t discriminate against students for any reason, but private schools are free to reject students based on religion, special education needs, sexual orientation, gender identity and other characteristics.
The union representing Nebraska public school teachers said it makes no sense to divert money into private-school scholarships when the state is struggling financially and ranks 47th nationally in the percentage of state funding that goes to K-12 education.
“As far as we’re concerned, it’s the camel’s nose under the tent to try to get public money to private schools,” said Maddie Fennell, executive director of the Nebraska State Education Association.
Fennell said the state’s low ranking is largely to blame for the state’s high property taxes and argued the bill would worsen the situation. She noted that a lack of state funding and stagnant educator salaries have led to teacher walkouts in states like Arizona, California, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A reality show winner will share his story next month during the annual Fort Kearny Outdoor Expo near Kearney.
The expo is designed for family members of all ages and experience levels. It’s scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 11 at Fort Kearny State Recreation Area.
Those who attend can try kayaking, fishing, bow fishing, archery, slingshots and crossbows and also throw spear and tomahawks. Other activities include backyard games, air guns, Dutch oven cooking contest and a kids’ turkey gobbling contest.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the special guest will be Sam Larson, a wilderness instructor, author and speaker. He’ll be talking about how he persevered in northern Mongolia to finish first and win $500,000 from the TV survival reality show “Alone.”
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Doctors, nurses and other health care workers connected with the Nebraska medical school in Omaha may have found that making music with their orchestra may be the best medicine for easing their stress and meeting work challenges.
The Nebraska Medical Orchestra was formed last year and rehearses for a couple of hours each week under the direction of Matthew Brooks, the director of orchestras at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The 55-member ensemble already has given concerts, performing works by such composers as Mozart and Bach.
“They’ve come a long way with a challenging repertoire,” Brooks said of his relatively new group. “Folks in health professions are high achievers.”
Stress is high among medical professionals, said Dr. Steven Wengel, a psychiatrist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center who also is assistant vice chancellor of campus wellness for both Omaha campuses. Their work is “very, very fulfilling but also very challenging,” Wengel said.
“What can we do to refresh their souls, recharge their batteries?” he said he asked himself when he began to think about reducing their psychic load.
A colleague came to him last year with an idea. Dr. Matt Rizzo, who leads the neurological services department at the medical school, had been in a medical orchestra while he was a faculty member at the University of Iowa.
“He urged me to get an orchestra going here,” Wengel told the Omaha World-Herald , noting that a study shows that medical students exposed to the humanities have much lower burnout rates and score higher on measures of empathy and wisdom, he said.
A cancer researcher at the medical school, Dr. Sarah Holstein, a flutist, said she gets a lot out of the orchestra.
“I love playing music. It uses a different part of my brain than the part that’s constantly worrying about work-related things or patients,” Holstein said. “That goes away, and I can focus on the music and the joy of playing with others.”
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Communities across Nebraska and Iowa will be participating in the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s Drug Take-Back Day this weekend.
The program allows the public to drop off unused, expired or unwanted prescription drugs at scores of collection sites across the two states this Saturday.
The DEA says rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 91 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose.
Dropoff locations can be found online .
The national event was launched in 2010 and is held twice each year. Last October, more than 457 tons (414 metric tons) of prescription drugs were collected nationally.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Some Omaha developers are blaming a narrow interpretation of a new state tax credit for producing fewer affordable housing options than they expected.
Tom McLeay founded Clarity Development, which is behind a recent residential project to bring lower-cost units to the city. The $30 million Aspen Grove apartment complex capped rent, reserving units for households earning less than 60% of the area’s median income. The apartments filled up quickly because there’s an unmet demand in the city for quality housing that’s also affordable, compared to the increasing market-rate apartments rising across the city, McLeay said.
He told the Omaha World-Herald that Nebraska’s 9% housing tax credit that took effect last year isn’t working as he and some developers had hoped.
According to the developers, policymakers are applying a narrow interpretation of the law, which is resulting in the focus on rental dwellings for special needs groups, such as disabled veterans, elderly residents and those with the lowest income.
Former Sen. Burke Harr originally sponsored the bill to target the working poor.
“I think it was a little too complicated,” Harr said. “No one really quite caught on to what we were trying to do.”
Harr and McLeay both said they don’t mean that they want to deny housing to special needs populations, but rather that these groups already get prioritized in a federal housing tax credit program.
The Nebraska Investment Finance Authority administers the federal low-income tax credit program along with the state’s new counterpart. The authority’s executive director, Tim Kenny, said he’ll continue to use the more narrow interpretation unless he’s directed otherwise by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts or the Legislature.
About $5.3 million in state low-income housing tax credits can be allocated annually, according to the authority. The credits can be claimed for six years, which puts the cost around up to $32 million.
The governor’s office said a change would add more expenses.
But McLeay said the state wouldn’t have to incur extra costs and instead could redirect some state credits to apartment projects aimed at the working poor.
McLeay and Harr warn that the city’s shortage of quality and affordable rental housing could worsen.
Rising constructions have made it financially unmanageable for a for-profit developer to create such options without a financial incentive or subsidy, McLeay said.
Attorney David Levy, who chairs the Omaha Housing Authority, said he wants to see the state expand its housing tax credit for projects aimed at the working poor without taking away funding from another program.
“One of the things urban and rural senators still agree on in this state is that the lack of workforce housing is hurting our ability to grow our economy and tax base,” Levy said. “It’s a very real problem.”
