(AP) — Nebraska officials are sending a firefighting helicopter to Colorado to help that state battle raging wildfires near Colorado Springs.
The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency says it received a request from Colorado for the help.
In response, Nebraska will send one Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, along with five crew members, equipped with a suspended bucket that will drop water on the fire.
The helicopter and crew are scheduled to arrive in Denver at noon Saturday.
(AP) — Applications from incoming freshmen are being sought for the World Leaders Camp at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The free camp will take place July 22-26. It is aimed at exposing freshmen to international issues while promoting cultural awareness. Students will also learn about UNK’s Study Abroad programs and meet UNK faculty members.
Students will receive lodging plus three meals each day. All of the transportation associated with the camp and admission to events and exhibits will be provided.
Fifteen students will be selected. Students can apply at https://www.unk.edu/WorldLeadersCamp/ . The deadline is July 5.
Email questions to unkstudyabroad@unk.edu.
(AP) — A Kearney native has been named the new director of the Nebraska Firefighters Museum & Education Center at Kearney.
Kristi Behlmann was recently hired to replace Lindsay Schluntz, who is leaving to take a new job as the executive director of the Alabama Firefighters Museum & Education Center in Shelby County, Ala.
Behlmann is a Kearney High School and University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate and recently moved back to Kearney from Texas, where she worked with the Dallas Cowboys and Cowboys Stadium.
(AP) — Officials in Alliance are recommending the northwest Nebraska city take ownership of Carhenge, the Stonehenge replica made out of junked cars.
Alliance City Manager J.D. Cox and Alliance Visitors Bureau director Kevin Howard began studying the matter after the Friends of Carhenge offered to give the attraction and 10 surrounding acres to the city.
Cox notes that the only immediate cost to the city would be an outstanding loan of about $5,300. He says that’s a small price considering the land is assessed at $133,000 and the attraction draws many tourists to Alliance.
The city also would likely pay more for insurance and would need to make some improvements.
Carhenge was built near Alliance in 1987 by the Jim Reinders family on land they once farmed.
A Lincoln County Detention Center inmate and his girlfriend are in jail following an attempted escape.
On Thursday, inmate worker Dylan Aufdengarten, 27, was sent to the North Platte Animal Shelter to assist with shelter duties.
At around 12:10 p.m., shelter staff received what the Sheriff’s Office is calling a bogus call regarding a vicious dog on the loose. Several of the shelter employees responded to the call, leaving the shelter understaffed.
At this time, officials say Aufdengarten slipped out of the shelter and got into a vehicle driven by his girlfriend, 29-year-old Jennifer Harmon.
Shortly after the escape, employees from the shelter reported the matter to law enforcement. A manhunt which involved the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the North Platte Police Department and the Nebraska State Patrol ensued.
Authorities made contact with Harmon, who admitted that she had assisted in the escape. Harmon advised law enforcement that she and Aufdengarten had gotten into an argument about three miles east of North Platte on State Farm Road and she had kicked him out of the vehicle.
Deputies located Aufdengarten around the 9000 block of East State Farm Road and placed him back in custody.
Aufdengarten was charged with Escape from Custody.
Harmon was charged with Aiding and Abetting escape.
Both face up to five years in prison and/or a $10,ooo fine.
Aufdengarten was serving a jail sentence for assaulting Harmon when he escaped. He had about 30 days left on his sentence.
(AP) — Improvements have been completed on docks and boat ramps at the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge in Cherry County.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the old sand and rock boat ramp at Clear Lake was replaced with a 70-foot concrete ramp extending into the lake.
At Pelican Lake, a 52-foot concrete boat ramp was built at the midpoint of the lake’s shore. The site has a metal dock for fishing and boating.
At West Long Lake, a concrete ramp replaces a rock ramp. A 60-foot dock that anglers may use was added.
At Hackberry Lake, the east boat ramp has been improved. It now features a 40-foot concrete ramp and 30-foot dock.
All lakes are still below long-term average water levels.
Call 402-376-1889 for more information.
Visitors to six state recreation areas will be allowed to touch off fireworks on Independence Day, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Those visitors should use extra caution with fireworks where extremely dry conditions and high fire hazard exist.
Branched Oak State Recreation Area (SRA) near Malcolm, Fort Kearny SRA near Kearney, Fremont SRA near Fremont, Two Rivers SRA near Venice, Pawnee SRA near Emerald and Wagon Train SRA near Hickman will permit fireworks from 8 a.m. until midnight on July 4 only. Signs at recreation areas will point the way to fireworks sites and their boundaries will be clearly marked. Use of fireworks elsewhere in state areas or at other times is prohibited.
Only fireworks approved for sale in Nebraska by the state fire marshal are permitted and visitors must pick up expended fireworks and deposit them in appropriate containers.
A park entry permit is required for all vehicles entering SRAs.
(AP) — A Gering man whose son saw a man watching online pornography at the city library has complained to city officials.
Michael Onstott says his 10-year-old son saw the man at a library computer last week and saw the porn. Onstott says the library shouldn’t allow porn to be viewed on a computer at the public library.
Library director Diane Downer says the library policy is to focus on the user’s rights and not censor something that others will look at.
But she says the Gering Public Library Board will review its policy in response to Onstott’s complaint. Onstott says he hopes to appear before the library board and intends to ask the Gering City Council to consider the issue.
A prosecutor says a Nebraska Panhandle woman accused of embezzling from her employer has died.
Scotts Bluff County Attorney Doug Warner said Wednesday that investigators suspect Terri Sinks had taken more than $50,000 from Twin Cities Development, where she had been working. Warner says he was going to charge Sinks with felony theft, consolidating into one charge several check forgeries that occurred from November 2011 to last month.
Warner says he was told early Wednesday morning that Sinks had been taken by ambulance from her Bayard home to Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff. He says she’d bonded out of jail on Tuesday after her arrest.
Warner didn’t comment on her cause of death but said a decision on an autopsy will be made by the Morrill County Attorney’s Office.
