GREENWOOD, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska State Patrol says one person has been killed in a crash on Interstate 80 near the Greenwood exit.
First responders were sent to the scene around 8 a.m. Monday. The patrol says a westbound vehicle had crossed the median and flipped.
An 11-mile (17.7-kilometer) stretch of the interstate was closed from the Waverly exit east to the Greenwood exit.
The victim’s name and other details haven’t been released.
WACO, Neb. (AP) — Low temperatures and slick, snow-packed streets have prompted several eastern Nebraska school districts to cancel classes.
Omaha Public Schools and several suburban districts announced Sunday evening that they wouldn’t hold classes as temperatures plummeted. The National Weather Service said it was minus 7 (minus 22 Celsius) Monday morning in Omaha. The wind chill was minus 20 (minus 29 Celsius).
Nearly a foot (30.5 centimeters) of snow from the storm Saturday evening into Sunday was reported to the service from Ceresco and Weston. Interstate 80 and other highways closed for a time as motorists struggled in limited visibility to remain on the slippery roadways.
Authorities report four members of the Waco volunteer fire department were injured Saturday when their vehicle was struck by a semitrailer while responding to a multivehicle pileup on I-80 near York.
KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two drivers whose pickup trucks collided on a bridge southeast of Kearney in south-central Nebraska.
The accident was reported just after 4:45 a.m. Feb. 10 on the Nebraska Highway 10 bridge over the Platte River. The Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office says the northbound pickup caught fire after the collision. Its driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the southbound pickup was taken to a Kearney hospital.
The sheriff’s office has identified the dead driver as 33-year-old Brent Pedersen. He’d been living in the Franklin area since moving from South Dakota. The other driver was identified as 32-year-old Gary Lea, of rural Kearney.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Travel remains difficult in eastern Nebraska and much of Iowa after a strong winter storm moved across the area.
Iowa officials closed Interstate 35 between Ames, Iowa, and the Minnesota border on Sunday because of blowing and drifting snow. The storm dropped several inches of snow on central Iowa, but parts of northwest Iowa received as much as 16 inches of snow.
In Nebraska, Interstate 80 remained closed Sunday between Grand Island and Gretna just southwest of Omaha because of weather conditions and several crashes. Much of eastern Nebraska received between 6 and 10 inches of snow in the storm.
Forecasters warn that even though the snow has stopped falling in Iowa and Nebraska strong winds could still cause blizzard conditions.
Many churches canceled their Sunday services because of conditions
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A national fight between for-profit banks and nonprofit credit unions is spilling into Nebraska, and state lawmakers could get caught in the middle.
Nebraska’s banking industry is supporting a bill this year that would require state regulators to notify them anytime a credit union seeks approval to expand its membership, giving bankers the opportunity to challenge it in a public hearing.
“The department would basically have to send a certified letter to our competitors,” said Linda Carter, president of the Lincoln-based MembersOwn Credit Union. “I can’t quite understand why we want to add that extra layer of government.”
The bill comes as several Nebraska-based credit unions try to move into parts of the state dominated by banks, following a similar trend nationwide that has pitted banks against the nonprofit lenders.
Nebraska requires state-chartered credit unions to get state approval before they can expand their “field of membership” — the group of people who are eligible to become members.
“Credit unions provide competition to for-profit banks, and where there’s competition, consumers benefit,” said Brandon Luetkenhaus, chief advocacy officer for the Nebraska Credit Union League. “This is an attempt by the bankers’ association to build barriers to business. They’re trying to insert themselves into the regulatory process.”
Credit unions offer the same basic products as banks but operate as nonprofit cooperatives, with a governing board elected by their members. They frequently boast about offering better customer service and lower fees than banks. Banks are for-profit businesses, owned by shareholders, and often have more locations than credit unions, but they don’t get the same tax breaks.
Carter said credit unions already face substantial barriers when they try to expand, and the bill would impose even more. MembersOwn currently serves people who live in or have a connection to Lancaster or Gage counties, but it’s looking to expand into 11 surrounding counties.
Banks counter that credit unions get an unfair advantage because their nonprofit status lets them avoid federal income taxes. Unlike other nonprofits, credit unions do pay state and local taxes.
“Our banks don’t back away from competition,” said Richard Baier, president of the Nebraska Bankers Association. “We compete with each other all the time. We just don’t like having to compete with someone who gets subsidies we don’t.”
Banks far outnumber credit unions in Nebraska and held about 95 percent of the state’s market share in 2017, according to the Credit Union National Association. The state’s banks topped $1 billion in combined net income in 2018, the first time they’ve hit that milestone, according to data released last week from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Nebraska has 155 state-chartered banks and 12 state-chartered credit unions, according to the Department of Banking and Finance. Another 17 banks and 48 credit unions are federally chartered.
A similar dispute between banks and credit union has erupted in Iowa. Last week, the state’s top banking lobbyists called on lawmakers to impose the same tax on credit unions that banks pay and “end credit unions’ free ride.” A bill last year in the Iowa Legislature threatened credit unions with a major tax increase, but the measure stalled.
One measure that did pass bars Iowa-based credit unions from using the names of state universities in their titles — a shot at the University of Iowa Community Credit Union, the state’s largest credit union. Iowa bankers argued that the credit union unfairly competes by using the name of the university, even though it has no affiliation with the school.
In August, Nebraska’s SAC Federal Credit Union changed its name to Cobalt Credit Union and announced it would switch from a federal charter to an Iowa state charter — a move that lets it expand into Lancaster and Dodge counties in Nebraska. The expansion wasn’t allowed under the credit union’s federal charter, but Iowa’s charter rules are more relaxed.
Cobalt Credit Union officials said they changed the name because many people falsely believe that membership is limited to military personnel. It was formed in 1946 to serve Strategic Air Command. Baier, of the bankers association, said the move was designed to gain market share in Nebraska.
Baier said his group proposed the Nebraska bill out of concern that banks could miss the existing public notices that are buried in local newspapers when a credit union wants to expand its membership field.
He said his group doesn’t mind smaller, niche credit unions, but is concerned that many of them are growing rapidly and acting like large banks when their original purpose was to provide basic financial services for people of ordinary means.
“Credit unions nationally and in Nebraska are engaging in many practices to grow their membership and geographic footprints,” the Nebraska Bankers Association said in its August newsletter. “These practices and plans for credit union expansion are indeed a growing concern for (the banking association’s) members.”
Sen. Rob Clements, an Elmwood banker, said he introduced the bill because credit unions are branching out far beyond their traditional purpose of serving specific groups of people, such as government employees or residents of a single town.
“The bankers would just like to be informed when credit unions propose modifications to expand their territory,” he said.
Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance Director Mark Quandahl said his agency hasn’t yet decided whether it will take a position on the bill. A hearing is set for Tuesday before the Legislature’s Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee.
OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — Officials say Cedar View Campground at Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area has closed to let construction crews complete upgrades to campground amenities.
The campground is situated about 15 miles (24 kilometers) 15 miles west of Kingsley Dam on Nebraska Highway 92 near Otter Creek Bay. It’s closed to public use until about May 24, and some aspects of the project may not be completed until this fall.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the upgrades will include new electrical and water utilities leading to 85 camping sites. Eight existing campsites will be updated to bring them into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, along with renovations to the showers.
The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) and Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) have closed Interstate 80 due to numerous crashes and whiteout conditions in the eastern half of the state. Currently, I-80 is closed between mile marker 312, near Grand Island, and mile marker 439, near Gretna.
Troopers have responded to numerous crashes, including large crashes at mile markers 329, 355, and 409 on Interstate 80. Some of those crashes involve injuries, but the extent of those injuries is not immediately clear.
The first large crash occurred near mile marker 355, east of York, involving an estimated 30 vehicles, including at least 15 semis. The crash occurred at approximately 2:45 p.m. More than 100 vehicles became stranded behind that crash. Those vehicles have been escorted off of I-80.
At approximately 3:10 p.m. a crash occurred at mile marker 329, near Aurora. That crash involved approximately 15 vehicles, including 10 semis. At least 50 vehicles became stranded behind that crash and have since been escorted off of I-80.
There were an estimated 25 vehicles involved in the crash at mile marker 409, near Waverly. About 15 of those vehicles were semis. The crash occurred at approximately 4:00 p.m. No significant injuries have been reported in that crash.
Troopers on the road report that conditions are still treacherous for travel. NSP encourages all drivers to stay off the roads during the blizzard and allow NDOT and local crews to work on the roads. More information on the large crashes will be released when possible.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln has announced that a second Catholic school will close in Lincoln this year.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Sacred Heart Catholic School, which opened in 1928, will close in May because it is too expensive to operate. The school’s approximately 150 students in grades pre-K through 8 will consolidate with other Catholic schools in the area.
The diocese announced in December that St. St. Mary’s Catholic School, which has operated across the street from the state Capitol since the early 1900s, will also close this year.
The closings will not affect St. Mary’s or Sacred Heart parishes.
CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — Nearly 50 bighorn sheep in the Nebraska Panhandle have been outfitted with new tracking devices to help wildlife officials monitor their health and combat diseases.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says helicopter crews captured the sheep, gave them vaccinations and equipped the animals with tracking collars and ear tags. Several ewes also received vaginal implant transmitters to help study lamb mortality.
Twenty-two sheep were tagged in the Wildcat near McGrew and 26 at three locations in the Pine Ridge near Chadron and Crawford. Seven chronically ill ewes also were taken to South Dakota State University for additional study.
About 50 people helped with the process, including commission staff and those with South Dakota State University, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, the Lincoln Zoo, private veterinarians and the Alliance Animal Clinic.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The president of Omaha firefighters union has been fired from the Omaha department following an internal investigation into allegations that he assaulted a woman in a downtown bar.
The Omaha World-Herald reported Friday that Omaha Fire Chief Dan Olsen fired Steve LeClair, citing the internal investigation.
Earlier this month, LeClair was ticketed for misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct. That followed a police investigation into accusations by a woman that LeClair punched her in her back in November after she ignored several sexually-charged comments from him and asked him to leave her alone. The woman, who is black, also says LeClair whispered the words “white power” in her ear before hitting her. LeClair has denied the allegations.
LeClair did not immediately return a phone message left for him Friday seeking comment.
A statement from the Professional Fire Fighters Association of Omaha says LeClair will be utilizing due process rights available to all Omaha firefighters who’ve been terminated.
