Kearney Police say a man has died after his vehicle was struck by a train.
At approximately 12:20 am, on April 14th, 2019, officers of the Kearney Police Department, Kearney Volunteer Fire Department, and Good Samaritan EMS responded to a car/train accident in the area of South Railroad Street and Avenue C, near Holmes Plumbing.
First responders discovered that the adult male driver of the van was deceased, and nobody else was injured in this incident.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the van had been traveling northbound on Avenue C and traveled through a closed crossing, and was struck on the driver’s side by an eastbound Union Pacific train.
This is still an on-going investigation involving the Kearney Police, Union Pacific Railroad Police, and the Kearney/Buffalo County Fatality Accident Investigation Team (F.A.I.T.). The name of the deceased is not being released at this time pending notification of family.
A documentary featuring a revival of the North Platte Canteen will premier at the Fox Theatre in early-May.
In mid-June of 2018, Amanda Connick, the Group Tour Specialist for the North Platte / Lincoln County Visitors Bureau fielded a request from a tour operator for suggestions of where to feed more than 700 soldiers being transported back to Arkansas from training in Wyoming. North Platte’s heritage of hospitality inspired Amanda to invite the community to participate in a revival of the North Platte World War II Canteen to serve these heroes.
What followed was magical. More than 400 townspeople greeting more than 700 astonished soldiers with waving flags, signs, banners, cheers, applause, lots and lots of food and birthday cakes.
This incredible accomplishment mirrored in a small way the World War II effort that served more than six million service men and women from Christmas Day 1941 through April 1, 1946. Many national news outlets picked up the story and notes of appreciation and donations came pouring in from all over America.
To commemorate the 2018 Canteen Revival, the North Platte / Lincoln County Visitors Bureau commissioned a documentary film about the event and its inspiration, the original World War II Canteen. The documentary will premiere on May 9 at 7:00 pm at the Fox Theatre. The public is invited to attend. Those who participated in the Canteen Revival may very well see themselves in the film.
Admission is by a free-will donation. The suggested donation is $5.00 per person and the proceeds will benefit the Canteen exhibit at the Lincoln County Historical Museum. Patrons will have the opportunity to see the gift of appreciation the National Guardsmen and women created for the community of North Platte.
Commemorative Canteen prints, the Jim Reisdorff Canteen book and the North Platte Telegraph ‘Canteen – As It Happened’ book will be available for sale with some of the proceeds benefiting the Lincoln County Historical Museum.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska lawmakers are forging ahead with an effort to stop scam artists who use local phone numbers to trick consumers into answering their calls.
A bill seeking that seeks to regulate the calls won first-round approval Tuesday on a 40-1 vote.
If it wins final approval, Nebraska would join a growing number of states trying to clamp down on “neighborhood spoofing,” the practice of making distant calls appear as local numbers on caller IDs.
Sen. Steve Halloran, of Hastings, says he introduced the bill to try to protect people from annoying robo-calls and scams.
Sen. Ernie Chambers, of Omaha, says the bill likely won’t be effective against such calls and gives the public a false hope.
Two additional votes are required before it goes to the governor.
After 40 years as a doctor interacting with patients, in the last two and a half years the tables turned, and I’ve become the patient. Although most are good, I’ve found some doctors are detached, some are too quick, some would rather be somewhere else, some are even angry; but, when a physician who cares walks into the room, and I’m not exaggerating, the day becomes better, the pain becomes less, and hope fills my heart. Scientific knowledge is important, but the ability to convey honest concern, human thoughtfulness and compassion is equal in importance in this healing profession. So, how do we select pre-med students for that, or teach compassion in medical school?
There are studies that show those interested in humanities or taught disciplines that explore how people tick, do better in the compassion department. These disciplines include history, literature, religion, ethics, anthropology, psychology, cultural studies and the arts of theater, film, painting and poetry. Some explain that the humanities give us the very reason to learn science and mathematics.
Several studies support the value of humanities in medicine. Seven hundred medical students were surveyed about their lifetime exposure to the humanities and the results indicated that those who had more humanities knowledge had more empathy, tolerance to ambiguity, resourcefulness, emotional intelligence and less burnout. Another study found that a med student’s ability to recognize diagnostic clues increased by more than 35 percent after taking a visual arts class. Another study found practicing improv theater helped med students learn to prepare for unexpected questions and conversations. A fourth study showed how writing exercises helped med students have foresight into what a patient may be experiencing. Clearly, an exposure to the humanities makes a better doctor.
I believe that care providers who have had a well-rounded humanities education have a better chance of understanding about how it feels to face pain, nausea, loss of bodily functions or even a cancer diagnosis. Those steeped in good literature or art have a better opportunity to tap creative juices to problem solve and tolerate a life that can be ambiguous and unpredictable. Those who are knowledgeable of history, ethics, cultural ways will find it easier to know when it is time to stop aggressive care and move toward comfort.
This is a call for all students to become readers, to find time to enjoy the humanities, to exercise your caring and compassion muscles; so, when you come into the room of a person suffering, it makes their pain less and day better.
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say a man was killed when his sport utility vehicle rolled on an Omaha highway after being struck by a car.
Officers discovered the crash scene a little after 1 a.m. Tuesday on U.S. Highway 75, north of downtown. Investigators say a northbound sedan hit the rear bumper of the northbound SUV, causing it to run off the highway and roll after it hit a light pole.
Police say the SUV driver was ejected and declared dead at the scene. He’s been identified as a 32-year-old Omaha resident, Jerome Payton Jr.
The car driver was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence, reckless driving and not wearing a seat belt. Court records don’t show she’s been formally charged yet.
Stephen KnottTECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) – An inmate has been given five to 10 more years behind bars for assaulting a staffer at a southeast Nebraska prison.
Johnson County District Court records say 27-year-old Stephen Knott was sentenced Monday. He’d pleaded guilty. The new sentence will be served after he completes his sentence for false imprisonment, strangulation and other crimes in Platte County.
Prosecutors say the attack occurred July 23, 2017, at the Tecumseh prison.
Aubrey TrailWILBER, Neb. (AP) – Attorneys for a man accused of killing and dismembering a Lincoln woman want to find out whether Nebraska’s governor is behind the prosecutors’ decision to seek the death penalty.
Lawyers for 52-year-old Aubrey Trail filed a discovery motion last week in Saline County District Court, seeking documents regarding communications between prosecutors and any members of Gov. Pete Ricketts’ office about the death penalty in criminal cases and especially in Trail’s case and that of his co-defendant.
The motion says Ricketts and his family spent heavily in support of a referendum to reinstate the death penalty after the Legislature voted to abolish it in 2015.
Trail and Bailey Boswell are accused of killing 24-year-old Sydney Loofe in November 2017, dismembering her body and dumping the remains in rural Clay County.
Trail’s trial is scheduled to begin June 17. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty for both Trail and Boswell. Her trial is set to begin Oct. 15.
KIMBALL, Neb. (AP) – A western Nebraska man has been accused of intentional child abuse in the death of his 7-month-old daughter.
Kimball County Court records say 23-year-old Alexander Romero was arraigned earlier this month. His next hearing is scheduled for April 24. His attorney didn’t immediately return a message Tuesday from The Associated Press.
Court records say the Kimball man gave police two versions of what happened to his daughter. In one he said she was injured when she fell off a futon. In the second he said he’d been “playfully running” with her when he tripped and fell. He told officers he placed her on the futon when he went to find his phone. He says she then fell.
The records say doctors who examined the girl say her injuries could not have been caused by an accidental fall.
NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — A man has pleaded no contest to charges related to the death of a northeast Nebraska man whose body was found in a burned-out house.
The Sioux City Journal reports Derek Olson pleaded no contest Monday to second-degree murder and second-degree arson in the March 10, 2017, death of 64-year-old Ernest Warnock. Authorities found Warnock’s body in the burned rubble of his home in rural Rosalie.
Prosecutors will recommend Olson be sentenced to 40 to 60 years in prison for murder and four years for arson. He will be sentenced July 18.
A mistrial was declared in an earlier trial of Olson after an investigator mentioned a lie detector test taken by a witness.
Olson’s father, Jody Olson, pleaded guilty earlier to second-degree murder.
Two others also have been convicted of charges related to the killing.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill to legalize industrial hemp in Nebraska has won first-round approval from state lawmakers.
The measure advanced Monday on a 37-4 vote despite a filibuster waged by a senator who painted the bill as a step toward marijuana legalization.
The proposal would allow farmers to grow and harvest hemp in Nebraska while imposing regulations as required by the 2018 U.S Farm Bill.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Justin Wayne, of Omaha, says farmers and businesses are missing the opportunity to get into the hemp market and diversify their crops in a climate that’s well-suited for hemp.
The proposal enjoys bipartisan support in the officially nonpartisan Legislature. Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts has said his administration was working with Wayne on it.
Two additional votes are required before it goes to Ricketts.
