Nebraska officials say a mountain lion was unintentionally killed in a cable restraint trap in Scotts Bluff County.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says the lion killed Wednesday was a female that weighed approximately 81 pounds. The trapper immediately contacted authorities.
Officials say an increased effort to trap bobcats may have contributed to the incidental capture.
Game and Parks asks fur harvesters to immediately contact the agency if a mountain lion is unintentionally trapped.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is advising people to temporarily disable the Java software on their computers to avoid potential hacking attacks.
The recommendation came in an advisory issued late Thursday, following up on concerns raised by computer security experts.
Experts believe hackers have found a flaw in Java’s coding that creates an opening for criminal activity and other high-tech mischief.
Java is a widely used technical language that allows computer programmers to write a wide variety of Internet applications and other software programs that can run on just about any computer’s operating system.
Oracle Corp. bought Java as part of a $7.3 billion acquisition of the software’s creator, Sun Microsystems, in 2010.
Oracle, which is based in Redwood Shores, Calif., had no immediate comment late Friday.
At around 3:35 PM Friday, crews with the North Platte Fire Department responded to First National Bank at 201 North Dewey Street.
A heat sensor in the basement of the bank malfunctioned, according to Battalion Chief Jason Trimble.
The minor issue is resolved and the bank is resuming business as normal.
Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center Executive Director JoAnne Hoatson and North Platte/Lincoln County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Assistant Director Muriel Clark have just returned from the American Bus Association Marketplace 2013 held in Charlotte, NC January 5 – 10.
Marketplace brings together buyers – operators who bring group tours to the area, and sellers – Destination Marketing Organizations such as CVB’s and attractions such as the Golden Spike Tower. Sellers are given seven minute appointments, which are prescheduled electronically and based on buyer and seller requests. At the start of Marketplace, Hoatson had appointments with 28 buyers and Clark had scheduled appointments with 13 buyers. “Marketplace has made some very positive changes in 2013,” said Clark. “The selling floor is now open during all three appointment days. I was able to meet with an additional 9 buyers and make contact with dozens more through their mailboxes.”
Appointment requests are made on the basis of extensive research. The first criterion is that buyers must be interested in coming to, or through, Nebraska. Secondly, they must be interested in something the local area has to offer. The Golden Spike Tower is specifically interested in buyers whose groups have an affinity for trains. The CVB has offerings ranging from agritourism, wineries, history, outdoor recreation, transportation, and, of course, trains.
“A group tour overnighting in North Platte can infuse as much as $6,000 into the local economy from such things as lodging, fuel, food, shopping, attraction admissions and local sales and lodging taxes,” said Clark. “Group tours are a significant focus of our marketing efforts. Whether they are choosing North Platte as a destination, or passing through on the way to another destination, selling them on the services and amenities North Platte has to offer is important.”
Hoatson concurs, “We’re seeing more and more group tours with interests in trains. It helps that North Platte’s Rail Fest was chosen as one of ABA’s Top 100 events for 2013, but whether it’s history or modern technology, railroading resonates with the group tour market.”
Hoatson and Clark met with buyers who were seeking such diverse ideas as a mystery tour based on living history reenactments of Golden Spike Hall of Fame inductees; a cross-country train taking in railroad attractions from Council Bluffs to Cheyenne; and a circle tour of Buffalo Bill points of interest – Le Claire, Iowa, North Platte, Nebraska, Cody, Wyoming and Lookout Mountain, Colorado. North Platte’s special events such as “Ride with the Wild Bunch,” “The Canteen Spirit Experience,” and the “Beef and Wine Tour” were also very popular.
The ABA Marketplace is serious business. Industry research shows that at the 2012 Marketplace in Grapevine, Texas, more than $78 million in current and future bookings took place, with each seller realizing approximately $58,065 in prospective business. “Selling to the group tour industry is a marathon, not a sprint,” says Clark. “The buyers are looking far into the future. The offerings we discussed with them won’t be included in their catalogs until 2014 and beyond. We back up our sales efforts with strategic follow-up by Ginger Ady, our Group Tour Sales Director and a user-friendly group tour section of our website.”
Also attending Marketplace from Nebraska were Micheal Collins, Group Tour Sales Director for the Nebraska Tourism Commission and Roger Jasnoch, Executive Director of the Kearney Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
Two teen girls from Scottsbluff, Neb. are dead after a crash just over the Wyoming border.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol identified the victims as 18-year-old Alexis B. Wheeler and 19-year-old Hallie J. Anderson. They were among six people riding in a Sierra pickup that crashed just before midnight Wednesday on Wyoming Highway 92, one mile west of the Nebraska state line.
The patrol said the 22-year-old driver, Ethan Kaufman of Cheyenne, was trying to negotiate a slight left hand curve when the pickup drifted off the right side of the highway and went into a drainage ditch. It collided with a driveway and flipped end-over-end.
Investigators are looking at whether speeding and alcohol use played a role in the crash.
A Buffalo County supervisor has been fined $300 for reckless driving.
The Kearney Hub reports that Board of Supervisors member Kent “Jake” Greder, of Kearney, paid the fine Wednesday. He’d pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge.
Court records say the 44-year-old Greder was stopped by a state trooper just before 1 a.m. on July 28 in Kearney.
Greder was elected to represent District 7 in 2006 and re-elected to another four-year in 2010.
Today: A 20 percent chance of snow after noon. Widespread fog before 9am. Otherwise, cloudy, with a high near 37. Light and variable wind becoming northwest 13 to 18 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of snow before midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 7. Wind chill values as low as -10. Blustery, with a west northwest wind 20 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 20. Wind chill values as low as -12. Northwest wind 14 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 1. Wind chill values as low as -10. Northwest wind 6 to 13 mph.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 25. West northwest wind 6 to 10 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 2.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 28.
Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 9.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 34.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 17.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 43.
Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 16.
Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 43.
NOAA Weather Statement:
A POWERFUL UPPER LEVEL LOW AND ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL TRACK ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN PLAINS TODAY AND TONIGHT. ACCUMULATING SNOWS ARE LIKELY NORTH OF A LINE FROM SPRINGVIEW TO OSHKOSH. NORTH OF THIS LINE…1 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW IS LIKELY…WITH THE HEAVIEST AMOUNTS ACROSS THE PINE RIDGE OF NORTHERN SHERIDAN COUNTY. IN ADDITION TO SNOW…
STRONG NORTHWESTERLY WINDS WILL DEVELOP BEHIND AN EXITING ARCTIC COLD FRONT LATER THIS AFTERNOON. NORTHWESTERLY WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH…WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH ARE LIKELY ACROSS CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. ACROSS SOUTHWESTERN NEBRASKA…
WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH…WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED. WHERE SNOW FALLS…THE GUSTY WINDS WILL PRODUCE AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW…
REDUCING VISIBILITIES…LEADING TO HAZARDOUS TRAVEL. WINDS WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH SOMEWHAT OVERNIGHT TONIGHT.
A North Platte business was robbed overnight.
Officers with the North Platte Police Department responded to Ideal Linen at 116 W 6th Street where they learned that a burglary occurred on January 8th sometime between 6:30PM and 3:15 AM on Wednesday morning, according to a news release from Officer Rodney Brown, PIO with N.P.P.D.,
“Unknown persons forcibly entered the business, removed a safe from the building and possibly drove off with the safe in an Ideal delivery truck.”
The Ideal delivery truck was located this morning near Lake Maloney and details on what the stolen safe contained are unknown.
The investigation continues.
Kearney won’t allow chickens within the central Nebraska city.
The city council voted Tuesday night to reject a measure that would have allowed residents to own chickens.
Council members said they were worried that if chickens were allowed, then people would want to bring other farm animals into the city.
Kearney city council member Bob Lammers says he doesn’t think chickens or other farm animals like pigs and cattle are appropriate in town.
Only one council member voted for allowing chickens.
Cleanup of wildfire damage has begun at Chadron State Park in northwestern Nebraska.
Mike Groenewold with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission tells Chadron media that cleanup will continue through the end of February. The project will consist of felling and cutting up trees that were damaged in a wildfire last August that burned more than 91 square miles in the region.
Games and Parks crews will be piling the trees and burning them daily as weather permits. No piles will be lit on weekends, but officials warn that area residents may see smoke coming from Chadron State Park due to smoldering piles.
