OSHKOSH, Neb. (AP) — A western Nebraska school superintendent has been charged with the misdemeanor assault of an 8-year-old child.

Court records say 61-year-old Paula Sissel is scheduled to be arraigned April 5 in Garden County Court in Oshkosh. She and her attorney didn’t immediately return messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press.

It’s unclear whether the allegation concerns a student or some other child and what exactly happened to prompt the charge. The county prosecutor didn’t return a message.

District officials say Sissel remains in her post as superintendent of the Garden County Schools district.

A 46-year-old North Platte woman is facing charges after authorities say she used someone else’s debit card.

On February 3, 2018, a citizen from the Lake Maloney area reported a theft from her bank account. Deputies investigated the matter and found a debit card was taken out of the citizen’s mailbox, activated and used by an unknown subject.

Deputies continued to investigate and found a person of interest in the case.

Deputies discovered Brenda Smith of North Platte had used the debit card on several occasions.

Smith was located on February 26 and was interviewed at the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office. Following questioning, Smith was arrested and incarcerated in the Lincoln County Detention Center.

Smith’s charges include; Felony Circulation of a Financial Transaction Device, Criminal Possession of a Financial Transaction Device, Possession of Stolen Property and Fourteen Counts of Theft.

The investigation in this matter continues.

A 35-year-old North Platte man has been sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison for shooting a man he found with his wife.

Judge Richard Birch sentenced Dustin Sauer on Monday in Lincoln County District Court.

In February of 2017, North Platte police officers responded to the report of a shooting in the parking lot of Nebraskaland National Bank, 121 North Dewey, at around 2:27 a.m.

The party calling 911 reported that her husband, Dustin L. Sauer, had shot a 36-year-old male in the neck.

An investigation revealed that Sauer went looking for his wife when she wasn’t at their home.

He eventually found her and the male, as well as another female, in the parking lot of the bank and confronted him.  A physical disturbance between the two men occurred and, at some point, Sauer produced a large caliber handgun and shot the man in the neck, according to prosecutors.

The victim was treated for non-life threatening injuries, but Judge Birch says the man should have died as a result of the shooting.

Sauer had originally been charged with attempted murder but, through a plea bargain, the charge was reduced to 1st-degree assault, a Class II felony.

Sauer was given credit for 29 days he already served in jail and was approved for good time credit.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill designed to curb prescription painkiller abuse won first-round approval Monday from Nebraska lawmakers, who said it would help prevent addiction and overdose deaths.

The measure would bar doctors from prescribing more than a seven-day supply of opioids to patients under the age of 19. Photo identification would be required to pick up the prescriptions and doctors would need to warn patients about the risk of addiction and overdoses.

Sen. Sara Howard, of Omaha, said she introduced the bill to honor her sister, Carrie, who died from an opioid overdose in 2009.

After a car crash and several back surgeries, Howard said her sister was prescribed more than 4,500 narcotic pills during the last five months of her life. Howard has the rows of pill bottles displayed in her office.

She said the measure would prevent other families from experiencing heartbreak caused by addiction.

“My mom and I were planning a funeral instead of planning a wedding,” she said. “We were cleaning out her house instead of helping her build a home, and that is not fair.”

Sen. John Kuehn, of Heartwell, said painkiller addictions often begin in the doctor’s office. Addressing concerns about prescription practices will keep Nebraska from joining the nationwide opioid epidemic, he said.

A report from the Pew Charitable Trust shows that Nebraska is one of 14 states that have seen a decline in opioid addiction and death rates. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that between 8 and 12 percent of patients prescribed opioids develop an addiction and about 115 Americans die from an overdose daily.

Sen. Tyson Larson, of O’Neill, took issue with the photo identification requirement, comparing it to debates about voter identification. He argued that photo identification could create barriers for patients to access medications.

Other opponents said requiring doctors to note in a patient’s medical history that they discussed the dangers of prescription opioids could be troublesome because it could leave doctors open to potential lawsuits if they fail to make formal note of the conversation.

Howard said she plans to add amendments before the bill is debated again. Her proposed changes are intended to address concerns from the Nebraska Medical Association and would clarify the identification requirement to allow for prescriptions to be picked up by caregivers, or exemptions when the pharmacist knows the patient.

The measure advanced 47-0 to the second of three required votes.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State officials must pay more than $197,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska after the group successfully challenged a ban on same-sex couples serving as foster parents.

The payment request presented to a legislative committee on Monday would reimburse the ACLU of Nebraska for attorney fees and costs generated during the case.

The ACLU of Nebraska filed the lawsuit in 2013 on behalf of three same-sex couples. The Nebraska Supreme Court ordered the payment and slammed the 1995 policy, which included an online posting that “heterosexuals only” need apply to be foster parents.

State attorneys argued that the Department of Health and Human Services had quietly stopped enforcing the ban in 2012, making the matter moot.

Lawmakers have to formally approve the payment because it exceeds $50,000.