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State hiring freeze eliminates nearly 300 Nebraska jobs

Gov. Pete Ricketts
Gov. Pete Ricketts

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says a hiring freeze implemented last fall has eliminated nearly 300 state government positions that he described as unnecessary.

The number of employees in state agencies fell from about 13,800 to 13,500 between October and January. The state’s chief human resources officer said Tuesday the reduction was achieved mainly through attrition.

The hiring freeze will remain in effect for the foreseeable future, as Nebraska again faces a projected budget shortfall of nearly $900 million during the next two years. Positions considered critical for public safety or services are exempted from the freeze.

Ricketts says the hiring freeze and other efforts to cut expenses are beneficial to taxpayers.

Nebraska farmer vows to keep fighting pipeline

keystonePresident Donald Trump’s decision to restart the Keystone XL pipeline approval process is disheartening but not surprising to a central Nebraska farmer whose property is slated to be bisected by the project.

Jim Tarnick told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he and other landowners who oppose the pipeline will continue to fight. But he says he hopes he doesn’t have to do so “for the rest of my life.”

Tarnick says he’s confident landowners in Nebraska will continue to block the pipeline through lawsuits and other procedural challenges.

Tarnick has previously rejected at least six financial offers from TransCanada for access to his land, ranging from $30,000 to $58,000. He says he’s concerned about the pipeline’s possible effects on groundwater and soil.

Seward woman imprisoned for having sex with teen at care facility

Jamie Bishop
Jamie Bishop

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A 38-year-old woman has been given 10 to 16 years in prison for having sex with a teenager at a York facility for troubled children.

Online court records say Jamie Bishop, of Seward, was sentenced Monday in York County District Court. She’d pleaded no contest to felony sexual assault of a minor.

Court documents say Bishop was a staff member when she and the 15-year-old had sex several times in his room or on the grounds at Epworth Village from January to July 2015. She bore a child in December 2015, and authorities say DNA tests prove the boy’s paternity.

Nebraska officials won’t prosecute man in Iowa woman’s death

car-pedestrian-accidentLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have decided not to prosecute a man whose vehicle fatally struck an Iowa woman in southeast Nebraska.

Nineteen-year-old Merzedes Hart, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was killed late Jan. 13 as she crossed U.S. Highway 6 northeast of Lincoln. The vehicle that hit her continued on. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says Hart and two friends had been at a nearby strip club.

A news release from Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that investigators concluded the vehicle driver did nothing to cause the accident and left the scene only because he thought his vehicle had struck a deer. The 51-year-old man, Ricky Phillips, of Lincoln, was cited for driving with a suspended license.

Hart was a student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and was on the track team.

Lincoln keeps ban on large theaters outside downtown

box-officeLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln will continue to keep its downtown theater protection policy that prohibits large multiscreen movie theaters elsewhere in the city.

The City Council voted Monday to retain the more than 30-year-old rule allowing six-screen theaters in larger regional shopping areas. The larger theater complexes will only be allowed in the downtown area.

Councilman Roy Christensen wants to end the downtown protection to allow more competition. But other council members who like the protection say the theaters boost business downtown.

Theater experts say allowing large multiscreen theaters in regional areas would likely put a smaller east-central Lincoln theater out of business.

The policy began in 1984 as part of an effort to make downtown Lincoln an entertainment destination.

Firefighters find woman’s body in south-central Nebraska

fire-graphicFRANKLIN, Neb. (AP) — A woman’s body has been found in the charred remains of a house in south-central Nebraska.

Firefighters were sent to the house in Franklin around 7:55 a.m. Monday. Fire Chief Dan Dorn says the body was found after the flames had been knocked down.

The woman’s name isn’t being released until relatives have been told about her death. An autopsy has been ordered.

State authorities are investigating the fire cause.

Nebraska uses broader definition of sexual assault

gavel-moreOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Law enforcement agencies in Nebraska have started using the FBI’s definition of sexual assault when recording crime data in order to provide a clearer picture of the state’s sexual violence.

The new, broader definition includes same-sex assaults, forcible penetration with an object, female-on-male assaults and an array of other assaults not covered under the previous definition. The old definition’s focus was male-on-female assaults.

Police say the new definition will not affect how sex crimes are investigated and prosecuted because state law already uses a broader definition.

The FBI updated its sexual assault definition in January 2013. The Nebraska Crime Commission told local law enforcement agencies in June 2016 to begin using the broader definition by Jan. 1.

The new definition is expected to show a jump in rape statistics.

Authorities release names of 2 killed in minivan crash

fatal-accidentGRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of a Lexington mother and daughter who died in a traffic accident near Wood River in south-central Nebraska.

The Hall County Sheriff’s Department identified them as 47-year-old Catarina Nolasco and 12-year-old Maria Nolasco. They died at the scene Saturday afternoon after the minivan they were in swerved off Interstate 80 near the Wood River exit and rolled several times.

Nolasco’s 17-year-old son, Gaspariny Nolasco, also was in the minivan. He was taken to a Grand Island hospital.

Woman who helped Lincoln escapee gets 2 years of probation

Wanda Minor
Wanda Minor

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A woman has been given two years of probation for helping an inmate flee to Omaha after he escaped a Lincoln prison.

Court records say 51-year-old Wanda Minor was sentenced Monday in Omaha. She’d pleaded no contest to being an accessory to the escape.

Inmates Timothy Clausen and Armon Dixon escaped the Lincoln Correctional Center on June 10 by hiding in a laundry truck. Authorities have said the two ripped a hole in the truck’s roof, climbed out and jumped off for a brief span of freedom. Dixon was caught the next day. Clausen was captured at an Omaha apartment on June 15.

Authorities have said Minor drove Clausen to Omaha.

Omaha school board breaks deadlock, votes in president

omaha-psOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha school board has voted in a new president and vice president, breaking a deadlock that had led to 125 board votes on the presidency at its last meeting.

The board voted just once Monday, selecting Lacey Merica to replace Lou Ann Goding, who was seeking another term. Marque Snow, who’d also sought the board presidency, was voted in as vice president.

Goding says it was time for someone else to lead.

Merica says she and Snow will be partners in building bridges to district staffers, parents and other school board members.

The board president sets meeting agendas, leads meetings and works with the superintendent’s executive council on district issues.

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