OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Nebraska state trooper and a motorist have been injured in a collision on Interstate 680 in Omaha.
Both vehicles were headed north when they collided around 1:40 a.m. Tuesday.
Both drivers were taken to a hospital. Their names haven’t been released.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver died after a crash on a Scotts Bluff County road in the Nebraska Panhandle.
The crash occurred a little before 5 p.m. Monday, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) west of Lake Minatare. Witnesses say the vehicle was moving below the speed limit before turning slowly across the center line and into a roadside ditch, where it rolled onto its top.
Sheriff Mark Overman says it’s unclear whether the person died of a pre-existing medical issue or of crash injuries. No name has been released.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has received four finalists to fill a vacancy on the Nebraska Supreme Court.
The Judicial Nominating Commission for the Supreme Court, 4th District sent the governor four names Monday that he can consider. The candidates are Christine P. Costantakos, Jonathan J. Papik and John A. Svoboda, all of Omaha; and Cathy S. Trent-Vilim of La Vista.
The 4th Judicial District consists of portions of Douglas and Sarpy counties. The vacancy is due to the resignation of former Nebraska Supreme Court Judge Max Kelch.
Kelch resigned on Feb. 15 after less than two years on the high court. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha is seeking to have Kelch disbarred after Kelch was named in a judicial ethics complaint, which has remained confidential.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former Omaha elementary teacher accused of selling methamphetamine has been sentenced to five years of probation.
Court records say 38-year-old Jesse Stull was sentenced Monday in Douglas County Court. He’d pleaded guilty to attempted sale of the drug after prosecutors lowered the charge.
Stull also must complete 10 hours of community service. He’d been a physical education teacher at Highland Elementary School.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A California-based payments service provider will open an operations center in Omaha, creating more than 300 new jobs.
The company, i2c , said Tuesday the center is expected to open by July and will expand the company’s account management, operations and client services divisions as well as house a network operations center.
The company says the center represents a $30 million financial commitment over four years, creating more than 300 positions in its first year of operation and more jobs in the future.
The company is based in Redwood City, California.
David Brown is president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and he says Omaha is a “natural target” for companies like i2c because the Omaha area has several payment service providers, including PayPal and First Data.
KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A May sentencing has been scheduled for a man accused of causing the drunken driving deaths of two people in south-central Nebraska.
Court records show 24-year-old Kalen Pfeiffer, of rural Amherst, pleaded no contest Friday in Buffalo County District Court to two counts of manslaughter. Prosecutors dropped a charge of drunken driving in exchange for the pleas and agreed to ask the judge to order concurrent sentences. The sentencing is set for May 21.
The crash occurred just before 3 a.m. on Feb. 4 last year on a gravel road northwest of Amherst in Buffalo County. Investigators say a large pickup driven by Pfeiffer and carrying five other adults ran off the roadway and rolled.
Twenty-one-year-old Amber Frerichs, of Bassett, and 29-year-old Neal Maloley, of Kearney, died at the scene.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say one man was fatally wounded and another injured by someone in northeast Omaha.
Officers were sent to the scene around 3:20 a.m. Monday. Both men were taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where one died. Their names haven’t been released.
No arrests have been reported.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s preliminary January unemployment rate matched the revised December rate of 2.9 percent, the state Labor Department said in a report released Monday.
The December rate was raised two-tenths of a point in a routine revision from the preliminary rate of 2.7 percent, the department said. The January 2017 rate was 3.1 percent.
The January rate also was well below the U.S. rate, which was unchanged at 4.1 percent.
“While industries experienced normal seasonal declines in January, the state’s total labor force and number of employed workers in the labor force were both up over the month and over the year,” Labor Commissioner John Albin said.
Iowa and Vermont joined Nebraska at the January rate of 2.9 percent. New Hampshire and North Dakota recorded rates of 2.6 percent, and Hawaii’s 2.1 percent was the nation’s lowest rate in January.
The preliminary Omaha-area rate rose to 3.2 percent in January from 2.8 percent in December. Lincoln’s preliminary rate rose three-tenths of a point to hit 2.7 percent, compared with 2.4 percent in December. Grand Island’s preliminary rate jumped in January to 4.8 percent from 3.1 percent in December.
The unemployment rates for Grand Island, Lincoln and Omaha have not been seasonally adjusted, so they cannot be directly compared with the state unemployment rate.
Here are preliminary area labor market unemployment rates for January, followed by the December rates:
— Beatrice: 2.9, 3.3
— Columbus: 2.7, 2.7
— Fremont: 3.1, 2.9
— Hastings: 3.4, 3.2
— Kearney: 2.3 2.3
— Lexington: 3.0, 2.8
— Norfolk: 2.9, 2.6
— North Platte: 3.3, 3.0
— Red Willow: 2.4, 2.6
— Scottsbluff: 3.3, 3.3
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 16-year-old boy injured in a Sioux City apartment fire has died at a Nebraska burn center.
Sioux City police say in a news release that Misael Gonzales Velasquez died at Saint Elizabeth Regional Burn and Wound Center in Lincoln around 3 a.m. Monday. He was flown there Sunday after initial treatment at a Sioux City hospital.
Firetrucks were sent to the building around 3:40 a.m. Sunday, and firefighters say the flames filled an upstairs apartment where they found the boy.
The fire cause is being investigated. Authorities say the blaze displaced 13 building occupants.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska says state prison officials may have misled authorities by indicating that four execution drugs obtained by the state were intended for medical purposes.
The organization sent a letter Monday to the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency, saying the state Department of Corrections and the State Penitentiary appear to have violated federal controlled substances laws by using its DEA registration to obtain the drugs, including fentanyl and potassium chloride.
The ACLU said the registration allows nurses to use controlled substances to help patients but doesn’t authorize the drugs for lethal injections. The organization, which also alleges the state may have illegally purchased fentanyl overseas, asked the DEA to investigate.
“Prisoners who are to be executed by lethal injection are not being diagnosed or treated, nor are they being provided any other form of medical care,” said Amy Miller, legal director of ACLU of Nebraska.
Dawn-Renee Smith, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said the department legally purchased all of the drugs in the U.S.
“The ACLU is fabricating charges in a desperate attempt to foil the will of the people of Nebraska,” Gov. Pete Ricketts added.
The letter is the ACLU’s latest effort to halt Nebraska’s attempts to revive the death penalty. More than 60 percent of voters overturned the Legislature’s 2015 repeal of the death penalty, and the ACLU’s lawsuit over the voter referendum that reinstated capital punishment was recently dismissed.
Authorities acquired the drugs last year for the planned executions of death row inmates Jose Sandoval and Carey Dean Moore, though no dates have been set for the executions. The state’s last execution was in 1997.
Miller said that if the DEA agrees to investigate and finds violations, the Department of Correction’s drug licenses should be revoked and the lethal substances confiscated.
