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Nebraska GOP executive director leaves to take new job

Robert "Bud" Synhorst
Robert “Bud” Synhorst

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Republican Party’s executive director has stepped down to take a new job.

Robert “Bud” Synhorst said Thursday he has accepted a position as executive director of the Alpaca Owners Association, a Lincoln-based national trade group.

Synhorst had served as the state GOP’s executive director since 2013. During his tenure, he developed a political strategic plan focused on legislative races and led a finance committee that raised more than $2 million.

The party has not yet replaced Synhorst but will discuss his job at a meeting this weekend.

Synhorst previously worked as executive director of two Nebraska nonprofits, the Mary Lanning Healthcare Foundation in Hastings and the Metropolitan Community College Foundation in Omaha. Synhorst also has served as athletic development officer at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

New law guarantees Nebraska’s electors will back Trump

Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Michael Vadon)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Michael Vadon)

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s presidential electors are getting deluged with messages trying to sway them before they vote for Republican Donald Trump this month, but state law has already tied their hands.

A law passed in 2014 requires at-large electors to pledge that they will support the statewide vote winner, and district electors to vote for the winning candidate in their districts. Those who refuse are automatically removed from the position, and Secretary of State John Gale is prohibited from accepting their ballot.

Despite the law, electors say they’ve been shocked to receive so many pleas urging them to vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton or even another Republican. Elector Craig Safranek of Merna says he received roughly 1,000 emails in a three-day period after his name was posted online.

Lincoln boy fighting for life after being hit by truck

ambulance-lightsLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police say a 7-year-old boy is in a Lincoln hospital with life-threatening injuries after being hit by a truck as he crossed the street to go to school.

Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood says a northbound pickup hit the boy Thursday morning as he crossed the street in the crosswalk in front of Saratoga Elementary School.

Lincoln Public Schools spokeswoman Mindy Burbach says there is a traffic light at the crosswalk. Police say no traffic citations were immediately issued.

The boy’s name has not been released.

Fire guts historic downtown Seward building

fire-graphicSEWARD, Neb. (AP) — Fire has gutted an historic downtown Seward building that housed an antique shop and apartments.

As many as 10 people were left homeless by the Thursday morning fire.

Firefighters battled the blaze in frigid temperatures, and the fire caused neighboring businesses to close as crews doused the buildings with water. Officials say the fire started during the night when an apartment resident lost power and tried to replace a fuse. No one was injured.

The 1918 red-brick building was part of the Historic Seward Square, a commercial district surrounding Seward County’s limestone courthouse. Known as the I.H. Feary building, it is owned by Sandra Nuttleman, who also ran the antique store downstairs.

Ex-Omaha youth football coach sentenced for grabbing player

gavel-and-scaleOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The former coach of an Omaha youth football team who angrily grabbed a 10-year-old player from an opposing team has been sentenced to five days in jail.

52-year-old Boyd Waldmann was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct. He had faced up to six months in jail for the misdemeanor charge.

Witnesses told police officers the teams were exchanging high-fives after a lopsided defeat of Waldmann’s team on Sept. 24 when Waldmann grabbed an opposing player by the shirt and lifted him nearly off his feet, yelling at the boy. Waldmann later said he was angry because the boy slapped his hand too hard.

Waldmann has been banned from Omaha Suburban Athletic Association events.

Gage County’s government phone system hacked

youve-been-hackedBEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Officials say Gage County’s government phone system has been hacked.

Officials said Wednesday that they’d been notified by Windstream about a surge in calls.

Officials say most the calls were made to overseas numbers, apparently placed by the hacker or hackers.

County building and grounds supervisor Dave Jones says discussions about blocking such calls will be held.

Nebraska facility staffer who bore teen’s child convicted in sex case

Jamie Bishop
Jamie Bishop

YORK, Neb. (AP) — A 38-year-old woman has been convicted of having sex with a teenager at a York facility for troubled children.

Online court records say Jamie Bishop, of Seward, pleaded no contest Tuesday to felony sexual assault of a minor. Her sentencing is set for Jan. 23.

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

An Epworth Village administrator says Bishop no longer works there.

Census shows more people with degrees leaving Nebraska

graduationOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The latest Census data raises new concerns about the brain drain in Nebraska because the state has been losing twice as many people who hold at least a bachelor’s degree in recent years.

Between 2011 and 2015, the state saw a net loss of 11,640 people with at least a bachelor’s degree. That’s up from 5,520 during the previous five-year period, which included the Great Recession.

David Drozd with the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Center for Public Affairs Research says the state now ranks 44th in the rate at which it is losing residents with college degrees. Between 2006 and 2010, Nebraska ranked 34th.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the increase in people with degrees leaving the state is likely related to the economic recovery since 2009.

Woman recaptured after brief escape from jail in Beatrice

jailBEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an inmate is facing another charge after a brief escape from the Gage County Detention Center in Beatrice.

The Gage County Sheriff’s Office says 35-year-old Melissa Klassen was being taken to her cell by a jailer a little before 3 p.m. Tuesday when she pushed the jailer and shut a door, trapping the officer. Then Klassen ran out of the building.

The jailer used a radio to report the escape, and deputies caught Klassen in the front yard of the Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities say she’ll face an escape charge in addition to the theft and drug charges that already have been filed against her. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call Thursday from The Associated Press.

State trying to keep judge training documents confidential

judgeshipLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The state wants the Nebraska Supreme Court to let the Nebraska Judicial Branch keep confidential the documents that state judges get in training sessions.

A Lincoln man requested the records in May but was told by the state court administrator the records aren’t available under the state public records law. He sued for their release and won, but the judge delayed imposition of her ruling pending state appeal.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (https://bit.ly/2hjuZYX) that in a hearing before the high court Wednesday, Assistant Nebraska Attorney General David Lopez argued that the court has inherent authority to govern the disclosure of judicial branch education records.

He conceded under questioning that the state Supreme Court has no rule on such confidentiality.

The court will rule on the matter later.

 

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