GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A man has been charged with an assault that authorities say occurred while he was off duty but still on the Grand Island police force.
Court records say 31-year-old Michael Lyon was charged last week with misdemeanor assault. A public phone number for him couldn’t be found Wednesday. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him. Lyon’s next court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 13.
Police have said Lyon assaulted the woman the night of Oct. 30 in a Grand Island residence. Police say the assault was not “a domestic offense.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — More law enforcement leaders in Nebraska are interested in a service provided by the State Patrol that shows real-time, mapped coordinates for officers.
The software can help law enforcement coordinate responses among multiple agencies and more efficiently assign officers. The software is called Mobile Architecture for Communication Handling.
The Nebraska State Patrol pays $92,000 annually to license the software. The agency is offering the service to local agencies for $24 per user each year.
State Patrol Capt. Gerry Krolikowski says 13 agencies are using the service in Nebraska. He says three others are testing it and eight are interested.
Saunders County Sherriff Kevin Stukenholtz says he’s interested. He says the service could’ve been useful during a recent string of bank robberies in the area.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two lawmakers are touring Nebraska schools to learn about reading curriculums and see how schools handle dyslexia.
Sens. Lou Ann Linehan and Patty Pansing Brooks visited Omaha Public Schools on Tuesday.
Pansing Brooks says the visits are meant to help legislators understand how schools approach literacy and how they work with students who have difficulties learning.
Both senators have experience with dyslexia: Linehan and her son have the learning disability, and Pansing Brooks’ brother is dyslexic.
Pansing Brooks’ says it’s important to spot learning disorders early in a child’s development.
The senators are also looking for feedback from teachers about how effectively their college education prepared them to identify learning problems.
The tour is part of a legislative interim study that may lead to legislation.
OVERTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a South Dakota woman died in a crash on Interstate 80 in south-central Nebraska.
The accident occurred around 12:15 p.m. Tuesday, about 2 miles (3 kilometers) east of Overton. The Nebraska State Patrol says an eastbound sport utility vehicle driven by 63-year-old Daniel Hafner drifted into the median, struck a guardrail and rolled.
The patrol says his wife, 58-year-old Linda Hafner, died at the scene. She lived in Tea, South Dakota, with her husband.
Daniel Hafner was taken to a Kearney hospital for treatment.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — It won’t be adding “international” to its name, but Omaha’s main commercial airport will offer its first international flight — to Toronto — starting this spring.
The daily nonstop flight from Omaha’s Eppley Airfield to Toronto will be operated by Air Canada starting May 1. Air Canada is the first foreign airline to offer regular service to and from Eppley.
The flight will leave Toronto at 2:30 p.m. and land in Omaha at 4 p.m. The return flight will leave Omaha at 4:30 p.m. and land in Toronto at 7:50 p.m. Air Canada will fly the route with a 50-seat, single-class CRJ-200 jet.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 22-year-old Omaha man accused of being drunk when he caused a crash that fatally injured a teenage passenger remains behind bars after his bail was set at $1 million.
Bail was set during a bond hearing Wednesday for Alberto Antonio Castro-Sanabria, who is charged with motor vehicle homicide while driving drunk.
Authorities say 17-year-old Luis Alberto Castillo-Cabrera, of Omaha, died Monday from his injuries.
Police investigators say Castro-Sanabria was drunk when the vehicle he was driving crashed around 2:20 a.m. Saturday near 31st and Marcy.
If convicted, Castro-Sanabria faces up to 20 years in prison. His preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 2 in Douglas County Court.
GREENWOOD, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in eastern Nebraska say a boy was hospitalized after accidentally shooting himself while checking animal traps in Cass County.
The juvenile shot himself in a leg Tuesday morning. Officials say he approached a deputy at the Greenwood Fire station around 11:55 a.m. and told the deputy what had happened.
He was taken to an area hospital and is expected to recover.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is investigating the shooting.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is launching a new performance-based pay system for approximately 3,000 non-union state employees who have traditionally received cost-of-living increases.
Ricketts announced the change Wednesday as a way to run state government more like a business.
Starting in January, discretionary and classified rules employees will receive merit increases rather than cost-of-living increases based on goals those workers have set with agency leaders. The program will allow bonus increases for employees deemed top performers.
The governor’s office says the employees affected include managers and professional employees who aren’t subject to the union contract. The administration says it could introduce the proposal when the next state employee contract is negotiated in 2018.
The “pay for performance” program will be funded with existing dollars traditionally used for cost-of-living increases.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former state senator has been chosen to serve on the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.
The commission announced Wednesday that Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids will serve a term that expires in 2020. Sullivan was appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts.
The commission enforces Nebraska’s laws that regulate campaign finance issues, lobbying and conflicts of interest.
Sullivan served in the Legislature from 2009 to 2017, including a stint as chairwoman of the Education Committee. She also was member of the tax-focused Revenue Committee.
By law, the commission’s membership is balanced politically and geographically. Sullivan is a registered Democrat.
Acting United States Attorney Robert C. Stuart announced that Gale Robert Gibbs, 67, formerly of North Platte, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 37 months in prison by Senior United States District Judge Richard G. Kopf, for possessing child pornography. Gibbs was also ordered to pay $1,000.00 in restitution to the victims and will serve 10 years of supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender.
The North Platte Police Department was contacted by a technician at a computer shop in North Platte after Gibbs took his computer in for repairs. While examining the computer the technician found a number of thumbnails of images depicting child erotica and child pornography.
On August 31, 2016, the North Platte Police Department obtained a search warrant for Gibbs’ residence and seized the laptop. After forensic examination approximately 67 images were found on his computer, including 27 images identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as known victims from outside the State of Nebraska.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visitwww.projectsafechildhood.gov.
This case was investigated by the North Platte Police Department.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A man has been charged with an assault that authorities say occurred while he was off duty but still on the Grand Island police force.
