Today: Isolated showers before 1pm, then isolated showers after 2pm. Cloudy, with a high near 67. Southeast wind 7 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tonight: Isolated showers and thunderstorms after 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. South southeast wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tuesday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. South wind 9 to 13 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 58. South wind 6 to 8 mph.
(AP) — A Fairbury police officer has been arrested in North Platte, accused of stealing a Fairbury police car and leading other officers on a chase.
40-year-old Stanly Colby was arrested Saturday night south of North Platte.
Fairbury police officials called the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office to report that Colby had stolen the squad car and could be in the North Platte area.
A North Platte police officer spotted the Fairbury police car a short time later, and the chase began.
Authorities say Colby — still in uniform — stopped several miles south of North Platte and was arrested without further incident.
Colby remained in the Lincoln County Detention Center on Sunday. No other details were available.
(AP) — Eight agricultural operations in central Nebraska are receiving free health screenings and farm safety inspections through a $15,000 grant.
The grant is intended to help prevent illness and injuries among agricultural workers and their families. Farmers, their families and employees will be examined and given screenings for blood pressure, glucose, hearing loss, skin cancer and other health issues.
The Nebraska Safety Center in Kearney is partnering with the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and the College of Nursing in Kearney to provide the services in September for farms in the Kearney area. First-year nurses in training will conduct the private health screenings.
The grant comes from Central States Center for Agricultural & Safety Health
(AP) — Community groups are hustling to meet an Oct. 1 deadline to launch a new health insurance marketplace in Nebraska, a key piece of the federal health care law designed to steer users toward a coverage plan.
Nebraska state officials have maintained a hands-off approach to the marketplace, which requires hiring and training a small army of experts to guide newcomers through the process. Gov. Dave Heineman rejected a state-run option in November, saying it was too expensive, so the federal government took charge of setting it up.
Community Action of Nebraska is still hiring its insurance “navigators,” and some of the group’s current employees have yet to finish the 20-hour online training course to meet the program’s requirements. Executive director Roger Furrer says he’s confident his group will be ready.
(AP) — An accident reports say a 58-year-old driver of a pickup failed to stop at a stop sign when his truck crashed into a school bus crash that injured seven students.
The Cheyenne County accident report says Robert Hilpert was eastbound on a county road in far west Nebraska when he missed the stop sign and plowed into the rear passenger side of the Potter-Dix school bus Thursday.
All seven students on the bus and its driver, as well as Hilpert, were injured and taken to a nearby hospital. At least two people were then flown to a Scottsbluff hospital, including Hilpert, who remains in critical condition.
Two suspects have been taken into custody in connection with the Kwik Stop robbery. Marcus Thomas is being held at the Lincoln County Detention Center on charges of Robbery and Shoplifting. Tamara Thomas has been arrested and charged with Aiding and Abetting Robbery.
The Post is still awaiting more details from the North Platte Police Department.
The Kwik Stop at B and Jeffers Streets in North Platte was robbed Saturday evening.
According to Kwik Stop President Dan O’Neil, an unknown black male entered the store and appeared as if he was going to use the restroom which is located behind the counter.
Instead, he approached the clerk from behind, pressed an unknown object in his pocket against her and demanded money. The clerk, fearing for her safety, complied and gave the suspect the money from the cash registers.
The suspect then departed the store with an undisclosed amount of cash.
According to O’Neil, the suspect never removed the object from his pocket, so it was not clear whether he had a firearm or some other object. However, he said the suspect implied that he had a firearm and the clerk had no reason to believe that he didn’t.
O’Neil said several customers were also in the store at the time of the incident and he said the most important thing to him was that nobody was hurt. Additionally, he said the clerk handled herself professionally and followed company policy throughout the ordeal.
The store remains open for business.
The North Platte Police Department has not responded to the Post’s request for information on the crime or the suspect.
A man sustained serious injuries after he was assaulted at the Western Truck Stop in Hershey.
Deputies with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office responded to the truck stop at around 1:15 p.m. Saturday, after they received a report that a man had been assaulted.
Authorities say it appears the victim lit a cigarette in the restroom, when he was approached by 46-year-old Martin Davidson of Cheyenne, Wyoming, who asked him to put out the cigarette.
Deputies say at this time, the two began arguing and Davidson allegedly punched the man then kicked him when he was on the ground.
The man suffered injuries to his face and torso and was airlifted to a hospital in Denver.
Davidson was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center on a charge of 1st Degree Assault.
(AP) — The public is being invited to the unveiling of the relocated University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing branch in Scottsbluff.
The open house from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday will show off new nursing classrooms, clinic skills laboratories and staff offices at the Western Nebraska Community College John N. Harms Advanced Technology Center.
The college had leased space at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources’ Panhandle Research and Extension Center since the mid-1990s. But the college opted to move when the extension center began renovations.
(AP) — Last month, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission announced it would close nearly 30 state-run parks until next spring to deal with budget woes.
Now, the agency says community leaders are stepping up to keep some of those parks open.
The commission says local leaders have committed resources to keep open Pelican Point, Oliver Reservoir, Rock Creek and Cottonwood Lake state recreation areas. They are among the 29 state park areas targeted for temporary closure.
In addition, community leaders are working to provide staffing and funding to reinstate events this fall and winter at Arbor Lodge, Fort Atkinson and Buffalo Bill Ranch state historical parks, as well as Alexandria State Recreation Area.
