AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Police in the Denver suburb of Aurora are searching for a 6-year-old boy who is believed to have wandered away from his home on New Year’s Eve.
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies were helping search for David Puckett on Monday by going door-to-door within 2.5 miles of his home. Bloodhounds are also searching for him.
Police say foul play isn’t suspected, but they’ve asked for help to find David as quickly as possible partly because of coming cold weather.
His mother says he was only wearing a light jacket. On Sunday night, she issued a tearful appeal for people to help find him.
Previous searches aided by a bloodhound and a helicopter didn’t turn up any clues.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Among the issues facing the Legislature and its Executive Board as the 2017 session begins this week is where one of its members lives and whether he may remain a member.
Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers’ opponent in the November election, John Sciara, filed a residency qualifications challenge with the Legislature shortly after the vote count showed Chambers’ overwhelming victory.
Sciara says several people have told him that Chambers lives in Bellevue but has a residence in north Omaha that he uses as a home address for residency so he may represent District 11.
Chambers says he has not falsified his residence and says he sent information to his fellow senators in November showing evidence that he lives in north Omaha.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man accused of threatening to stab someone with a syringe that he said held HIV-tainted blood has pleaded guilty to a reduced Iowa robbery charge.
Court records say 35-year-old Jeshua Divis, who lives in Omaha, pleaded guilty Thursday in a Council Bluffs courtroom and was sentenced to time served.
Divis had been convicted of robbery in March 2015. His conviction was overturned and he was granted a new trial after he challenged his conviction. He said some of the evidence against him should not have been allowed at trial and that his attorneys were ineffective.
Prosecutors say Divis told a woman at the Ameristar Casino in Council Bluffs in November 2014 that he’d inject her with the tainted blood if she didn’t hand over her money.
MINATARE, Neb. (AP) — A Bayard man has been charged with the crash death of an Alliance woman.
Court records say 29-year-old Trevor Teichroeb is due in court Jan. 13 to face a misdemeanor charge of vehicular homicide. Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could speak for Teichroeb.
The Nebraska State Patrol says 68-year-old Barbara Fritzler was fatally injured Oct. 18 while waiting for a pilot car at a construction site on U.S. Highway 26, about a mile and a half east of Minatare. The patrol says Teichroeb’s pickup rammed into the rear of Fritzler’s car, knocking it into a vehicle ahead of hers.
NIOBRARA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Crofton man has been fatally injured in a Knox County crash.
The accident occurred early Monday morning on Nebraska Highway 12. The Nebraska State Patrol says 55-year-old Kevin Jones was headed east when he lost control of his vehicle. It rolled down an embankment and landed on its top.
The patrol says Jones was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital in Yankton, South Dakota.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts says he’s confident the state can reduce income and property taxes and balance the budget despite an $895 million projected revenue shortfall.
Ricketts is offering few specifics before his annual address to lawmakers, but in an interview with The Associated Press, he says the plan will focus on slowing state spending growth. He also hints that he might call on lawmakers to tap the state’s rainy-day fund.
Lawmakers begin their 2017 session on Wednesday. Legislative leaders say the budget will make it nearly impossible to pass any major spending bills.
Ricketts says he’s willing to discuss changes to his proposals as long as they don’t raise taxes. He says he won’t call for cuts to the Department of Correctional Services, an agency plagued by staffing shortages.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials say a specialized water tank and the 8.1 million gallons of water it will hold will help keep some University of Nebraska-Lincoln buildings cooler during peak demand.
The $11.9 million tank is being built north of the landscape services building on the university’s City Campus. It’s expected to go online in spring 2018.
Officials say it will supply chilled water for six to eight hours during the hottest parts of each day and replenish itself overnight and on weekends, when energy demands are lower. Engineers say the goal is to cut down energy bills by an expected $850,000 to $900,000 annually.
The tank will function like a battery, holding the water for use in offsetting electricity costs during peak usage times.
BRIDGEPORT, Neb. (AP) — The trial of a Nebraska man accused of killing a Colorado man and stuffing his body in a barrel is scheduled to begin this week.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the trial of 25-year-old Zachary Mueller in Bridgeport, Nebraska. The first-degree murder trial has already been rescheduled twice.
Mueller has pleaded not guilty to killing 33-year-old Pedro Dominguez of Greeley, Colorado.
A farmer found the barrel with Dominguez’ body inside near Bayard, Nebraska, on December 4, 2014. Authorities say Dominguez had been shot in the back of the head.
A pool of 120 potential jurors has been called for the trial that is expected to last roughly a week.
Meagan Schroeder (Facebook)-The Post has confirmed through family members that one of the women involved in this incident was former North Platte resident, Meagan Schroeder.
Update: 1/1/17 2:24
The Lincoln Police Department has released more information on the suspected murder-suicide in Lincoln, which left two women dead.
According to police, officers responded to the area of Superior Place Apartments, in Lincoln, at around 3:00 p.m. Saturday, on the report of someone making threats.
As officers were searching the area, they observed a black SUV and approached it. As they did so, they heard a single gunshot.
Inside, they found 31-year-old Meagan Schroeder dead in the driver’s seat, and her ex-wife, 40-year-old Brenda Schroeder, with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Brenda was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Police say that the initial investigation shows that Brenda Schroeder took Meagan Schroeder’s life before taking her own.
Family members say Meagan Schroeder had sought a protection order against Brenda. The couple was divorced in August.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln Police are investigating a shooting outside an apartment complex that left two women dead.
Lincoln Police Assistant Chief Brian Jackson says officers were called to the apartments near 15th and Superior streets shortly after 3 p.m. Saturday because someone reported being threatened.
Officers searching for the person who called them found a vehicle parked nearby with two women inside. As the officer tried to contact them, a single gunshot was heard.
Officers found one woman dead in the driver’s seat, and a second woman in the passenger’s seat with a gunshot wound to the head. The second woman later died at a Lincoln hospital.
Jackson says police are still trying to determine if the incident was a murder-suicide.
The identities of the women who died were not immediately released.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Post has confirmed through family members that one of the women involved in this incident was former North Platte resident, Meagan Schroeder. We have received reports that the other person involved was also a former North Platte resident, but we have not confirmed their identity with the Lincoln Police Department. Our thoughts and prayers are with Meagan’s family. We will have more details as they are available.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The demolition of three century-old buildings in Lincoln has been delayed by a few months to avoid the impacts of frigid weather.
Contractors had expected to tear down the buildings on O Street by the end of the year to make way for a $65 million hotel and housing project. Shane Dostal, a senior engineering specialist for the city, says officials have decided the buildings can be taken down in the spring, closer to the start of construction.
Dostal said developers determined there was no sense in leveling the buildings until the frost on the ground was gone.
The buildings used to house a popular music club, a tattoo shop, and bars. The new project, which will include two hotels and upscale housing, is expected to be Lincoln’s third tallest building.
