GREENWOOD, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say one person has died and four people have been injured in a collision on Interstate 80 in eastern Nebraska.
The crash occurred around 2:15 a.m. Monday near the Greenwood exit. The Nebraska State Patrol says an eastbound vehicle crossed into westbound traffic and struck a vehicle, and the two were then struck by another westbound vehicle.
The names of those involved have not been released.
GERING, Neb. (AP) — A former Scottsbluff High School golf coach has been imprisoned on charges that he sexually assaulted two girls he coached.
Court records say 62-year-old Michael Klein, of Mitchell, on Friday was sentenced to 24 to 32 years in prison. He’d pleaded no contest last month to four counts of sexual assault.
Prosecutors say assaults on the first girl occurred between November 2007 and November 2010. The second girl was assaulted between October 2015 and July 2016.
CLEARWATER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an 83-year-old woman died after the car she was in collided with a front end loader in northeast Nebraska.
The accident occurred Thursday on U.S. Highway 275 in Clearwater. The Antelope County Sheriff’s Office says a westbound car driven by 85-year-old Clayton Johnson struck the westbound loader as the loader slowed to turn north onto another street.
The Sheriff’s Office says Johnson and his wife, Lois, were taken to Antelope Memorial Hospital in Neligh (NEE’-lee), where Lois subsequently died. She’d lived in O’Neill with her husband. It’s unclear whether the loader driver was injured.
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BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 51-year-old Bellevue woman may have lain dead in her home for a week before family members found her.
Family members found Beverly Diane Bauermeister dead on her living room floor Thursday evening. Police say her body showed signs of significant trauma.
Later that night, police found Bauermeister’s 56-year-old live-in boyfriend, Alan Stack, in her car and arrested him. He has been charged with second-degree murder.
No attorney for Stack is listed in online court records. He remained jailed Saturday and could not be reached for comment.
Court records show that in 2010, Bauermeister applied for a protection order against Stack, saying he had beaten her.
Stack’s initial court appearance in the case is set for Monday.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials say a graduate student and lecturer accused of harassing a conservative student will not return to teaching at the school.
A university official confirmed Friday that Courtney Lawton will no longer be employed when her contract ends at the end of the school year.
Lawton was among several people protesting recruiting efforts by the student for Turning Point USA, which advocates for conservative causes and maintains a “professor watch list” of faculty deemed radically liberal. Video of the Aug. 25 protest showed Lawton flipping off the student and referring to her as a “neo-fascist.”
Officials also on Friday confirmed that UNL’s chief communications officer and news director were no longer employed following the release of emails in which they discussed wanting to downplay the incident by having “surrogates” submit op-ed pieces to local media.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium officials say a necropsy performed on a young African elephant that died at the Omaha zoo was unable to determine what caused his untimely death.
The results of the necropsy came back this week, two months after the elephant — named Warren — died under anesthesia to treat a cracked tusk.
Warren was estimated to be 8 or 9 years old when he died. He was one of 17 elephants flown from Swaziland to the U.S. in early 2016 and placed in the Omaha zoo and those in Wichita, Kansas, and Dallas in a controversial effort.
Animal rights group Friends of Animals, which opposes elephants being kept in zoos, unsuccessfully sued to stop the importation of the elephants.
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police in Omaha say they’ve arrested a man suspected of opening fire on an officer, who was not hit.
Omaha police say the shooting happened around 12:45 p.m. Saturday just north of midtown.
Police say the officer was in an unmarked vehicle when he saw a man he knew to be a gang member holding a gun. The officer radioed for backup and was putting on a tactical vest that identifies him as a police officer when the man came around the corner and fired a barrage of shots.
The police vehicle was hit by several rounds, but the officer was not. Another unoccupied parked vehicle was also hit. Police say the officer did not fire his weapon.
Police say the suspect was soon found and arrested.
The officer was treated for cuts from flying glass.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse says Republican leaders are overstating how much passing tax-cut legislation can protect their party in next year’s elections.
The Nebraska Republican, who addressed an evangelical conservative group Saturday night, told reporters after his speech that he likes the tax bill moving in the Senate.
Republicans, who control the House and the Senate, have failed so far this year to pass top agenda items, chiefly the long-promised dismantling of President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care bill. GOP leaders in Congress and around the country have suggested a tax cut bill could boost enthusiasm for Republicans when they campaign in 2018 to retain their control of Capitol Hill.
Sasse noted the Republican Party is struggling with sharp divisions these days.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — United Airlines will begin offering flights from Scottsbluff to Denver on Jan. 30, and local officials are looking forward to the return of regular flights.
Western Nebraska Regional Airport Manager Darwin Skelton says he expects fewer problems with the new flights from United and SkyWest Airlines.
The airline that served Scottsbluff previously, PenAir, had to cancel many flights because of a shortage of pilots and planes.
Skelton says United has hundreds of planes and pilots based in the region, so he doesn’t expect the airline to have the same problems PenAir did.
Starting this weekend, customers should be able to begin booking the new flights out of Scottsbluff on United’s website.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — More than 100 protesters gathered Sunday to speak out against the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline before Nebraska regulators issue their ruling on the project.
The protesters gathered on the steps of the state Capitol building in Lincoln on Sunday. The Nebraska Public Service Commission is scheduled to announce its decision on the pipeline’s route on Monday.
Karin Carlson of Omaha says she doesn’t think the pipeline would benefit the state much.
TransCanada proposed the 1,179-mile crude oil pipeline the transport crude oil from Canada south to connect to another pipeline in southern Nebraska.
TransCanada officials have said their preferred route is the most direct way to transport oil and crosses few major bodies of water.
