The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission reminds deer hunters that they may donate deer to the Hunters Helping the Hungry program at any of 21 contracted meat processors.

Game and Parks, not hunters, pays processing costs for donated deer. Processors will accept only deer in good condition that can yield a good volume of pure ground venison. The ground venison is distributed to Nebraskans in need through local charitable organizations.

Hunters Helping the Hungry funds can pay to process up to 450 deer this year.

The Hunters Helping the Hungry program also accepts cash donations, since no permit or tax dollars may be used. Contributions can be made while purchasing a deer permit over the counter at a Game and Parks permitting office or at OutdoorNebraska.org. Donors also may mail a check made out to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, with Hunters Helping the Hungry in the memo field. The checks should be sent to: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, P.O. Box 30370, Lincoln, NE 68503-0370.

The participating Hunters Helping the Hungry meat processors, subject to change, are: Amherst – Belschner Custom Meats Inc.; Bayard – Bayard Processing; Bridgeport – KDK Meats, LLC; Broken Bow – Broken Bow Pack; Diller – C & C Processing; Elwood – SteakMaster Inc.; Humphrey – Country Butcher; Johnson – Pelican’s Meat Processing; Lindsay – Melcher’s Locker; North Bend – Bob’s Custom Meats LLC; North Platte – Kelley’s Custom Pack; Oakland – Oakland Processing; Omaha – B. I. G. Meats Inc., Stoysich House of Sausage; Orleans – Harlan County Meat Processors; Oxford – Oxford Locker, Inc.; Panama – Panama Locker; Ralston – Van Fleet Meats; Table Rock – Den’s Country Meats; Ulysses – Butchery; Wahoo – Wahoo Locker.

Learn more about the program at OutdoorNebraska.org/HHH.

(AP) — A Kearney teacher who took time off without permission to attend church events has lost her job in a compromise with the school board.

The board met Monday night and ended their meeting with a decision on Candace Flavell, who’d worked for the district since 2001 and teaches English language learners at Central Elementary School.

She’d been denied permission to attend three church events last month but attended anyway. She was put on administrative leave. She appealed to the board because her contract was being canceled. She said her religious freedoms were being denied.

Under the compromise, she’ll remain on paid leave until Dec. 20, after which she’ll quit. If she hasn’t found another job by the start of spring semester, she’ll be hired as a paraprofessional at entry-level pay.

(AP) — A jet carrying 135 Nebraska veterans of the Korean War has landed near the nation’s capital, and they soon will begin their daylong tour.

Bill Williams, of Patriotic Productions in Omaha, said Tuesday morning that his group was ahead of schedule. The old soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen will visit the World War II, Korea and Vietnam memorials and other sights in the Washington, D.C., area.

Williams says they’re scheduled to return to Omaha’s Eppley Airfield by 11 p.m. Tuesday.

A similar flight carrying western Iowa veterans of the Korean War is scheduled to take off from Eppley on Wednesday morning.

(AP) — Reser’s Fine Foods Inc. has voluntarily expanded a recall of packaged salads from its factory in Topeka, Kan.

The company based in Beaverton, Ore., said it took the step Saturday because the products distributed nationwide and in Canada may be contaminated with listeria, which can cause serious illness.

Symptoms of listeria include fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea. People with weak immune systems, such as young children, elderly people and others can die. Pregnant woman can suffer miscarriage or stillbirth.

The recall was first announced Friday.

The company said in a statement on its website that there have been no confirmed illnesses linked to the products. Consumers were advised they could throw away recalled products or take it back where they bought it for a refund.

The products include potato, pasta, tuna and egg salads and others sold under the Reser’s name and others.

Reser’s said the packages are marked with a plant identifier code of 20 next to the best-by-date. About 450 products are listed on the Resers.com website and were sold under names that include Safeway Deli Counter, Walmart and SYSCO, as well as many others. The expiration dates range from Oct. 11 to Feb. 6, 2014.

Reser’s would not respond to questions about how the contamination was discovered, how extensive it was, whether the plant remained operating, or what kind of losses the recall represented.

Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Juli Ann Putnam said FDA generally does food inspections, but companies sometimes do their own. She said the agency was referring specific questions to Reser’s, as it generally does in cases of voluntary recalls.

(AP) — Authorities are still trying to figure out the cause of a grain elevator fire over the weekend in northwest Nebraska.

The fire that started Saturday at the Farmer’s Co-Op in Gordon is still smoldering Monday and firefighters are working on putting out hot spots.

Gordon Fire Chief Rich Haller says firefighters kept busy Saturday trying to control the fire that started in the wooden elevator. Haller says there is no price tag on damages yet.

General Manager Dale Anderson says the fire happened in a storage facility that houses bulk feed ingredients.

Power to a small area of town was temporarily shut off after the fire started. No injuries were reported.

(AP) — Bats tend to get a bad reputation in scary movies, but at least one professor is watching out for bats in Nebraska and wants to find where they hang out.

University of Nebraska at Kearney associate professor Keith Geluso says bats play an important role in the state by devouring mosquitoes and several insect pests that can damage crops.

Geluso says the bat population on the East Coast is dwindling because of a fungus that disrupts the animals’ hibernation. If the fungus keeps spreading west, it could reach Nebraska.

Geluso is asking for help identifying locations where five or more bats roost in the state, so he can track populations. Locations of bat roosts can be emailed to gelusok1@unk.edu.

(AP) — The Nebraska Public Power District is hosting a free teacher’s workshop to introduce an environmental program for schools.

The workshop runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 14 in Kearney. Registration includes lunch and lodging, if needed.

Organizers will show teachers the GreenSchools program, which encourages students to take personal responsibility for improving the quality of their school, home and community environment. It’s aimed at students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Guest presenters will include professionals from the Nebraska Public Power District, Nebraska Forest Service, Keep Nebraska Beautiful and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

The deadline to register is Nov. 8. Registration can be completed online athttps://odie.esu10.org/workshops .

(AP) — The American Academy of Pediatrics has new advice many kids will find hard to swallow: It wants limits on tweeting, texting and other social media.

The influential group says smartphones and laptops should stay out of children’s bedrooms. And it says kids should spend no more than two hours daily on Facebook, Twitter, and other Internet entertainment sites.

The doctors’ new policy says unrestricted media use can have serious consequences. It’s been linked with violence, cyberbullying, school woes, obesity, lack of sleep and other problems.

The policy was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics. It follows recent high-profile online bullying cases including one in Florida that involved a 12-year-old who committed suicide.

A North Platte man has been charged with multiple felonies after he allegedly threatened a North Platte couple with a gun.

According to a North Platte Police Department news release, Officers responded to a disturbance in the 1800 block of West 1st at around 9:30 p.m. last Thursday.

Upon arrival, a male and female told officers that 20-year-old Kevin Mendonca had brandished a gun and threatened the female following an argument.

Officers learned that Mendonca had left the scene prior to their arrival, but they did locate the gun at the residence.

Police say Mendonca later returned to the residence, at which time he was arrested and charged with Felony Terroristic Threats and Use of a Weapon to Commit a Felony.

He is being held at the Lincoln County Detention Center on $50,000 bond.

 

A weekend pursuit of a reported drunken driver led to the arrest of a Cozad man on numerous charges.

Just before 6:00 p.m., Saturday, October 26, Nebraska State Patrol dispatchers received calls from several concerned motorists of a gray Ford F150 pickup driving recklessly on Westbound I-80 between Brady and North Platte.  A trooper observed a vehicle matching the description approximately six miles east of North Platte and attempted a traffic stop.

The driver refused to stop and a short pursuit ensued.  The pickup continued to travel west on I-80 before exiting at the North Platte interchange heading north on Highway 83. The vehicle turned into the parking lot of a gas station near the interchange at which time the trooper performed a tactical maneuver disabling the vehicle.

The driver of the vehicle, Jason R. Young, 42, Cozad was lodged in the Lincoln County Jail on charges to include Felony Flight to Avoid Arrest, 4^th offense Felony Driving Under the Influence and Driving Under Suspension.