JANUARY 23, 2018 (LINCOLN, NEB.) — Most Nebraska roadways became covered with snow and ice during Monday’s large winter storm, which included blizzard conditions across much of the state. There were numerous accidents on Nebraska’s major highways Monday and potentially hazardous road conditions continue in many areas.
A weather-related accident resulted in two fatalities in Kimball County at approximately 4:45 p.m. Monday. A car driven by Frankie Back, 30, with passenger Joshua Hack, 33, both of Kimball, lost control because of poor weather conditions while driving southbound on Highway 71 approximately two miles north of the Colorado border. The 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer crossed the center line and struck a northbound semi. Back and Hack were pronounced deceased at the scene. The driver of the semi, Abraham Lamas-Cuevas, was transported to the Kimball Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
In addition to that accident, weather was to blame for many more accidents throughout the state. Two accidents on Interstate 80 resulted in pile-ups of more than ten vehicles each. One of those accidents, near the Goehner exit, sent four people to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. The other accident, near the Greenwood exit, did not result in any significant injuries.
The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) responded to around 75 accidents during the storm and made 375 motorist assists. Many of those motorist assists were for drivers who had become stranded. Dozens of vehicles remain stranded around the state as conditions were too dangerous for tow trucks to operate on major highways for much of Monday.
Troopers throughout the state report that roads are still covered with ice in some areas. NSP recommends that anyone travelling today use caution and prepare for traffic to move slower than normal. Nebraska’s 511 system is the best source of road and travel condition information.
Lincoln – A child flu-related death in central Nebraska has been reported to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. State health officials say Nebraska along with the rest of the nation is experiencing a severe flu season.
“We started seeing increased flu activity earlier than usual this year and flu continues to circulate at very high levels,” says Dr. Tom Safranek, State Epidemiologist for DHHS. “During a severe flu season, we see more illness, hospitalizations and sadly more deaths.”
Nationally, 30 children have died from flu this season according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While most children recover from the flu, some can have severe and sometimes fatal infections, but that has been rare in Nebraska. So far, there have been a total of 22 flu-related deaths statewide – 21 adults and one child.
Antiviral drugs like Tamiflu, prescribed by a health care provider, should be used as early as possible in people who have flu-like illness. For those who aren’t sick, preventive measures along with flu vaccine can help prevent flu and other winter illnesses.
Protect yourself from the flu by:
*Washing your hands often
*Avoiding contact with people who are sick
*Staying home from work, family gatherings and social functions if you’re sick
*Covering your mouth and nose when you cough with a tissue or sleeve, not your hands
*Eating healthy and get plenty of rest
*Don’t smoke
*Vaccination plays a critical role in the fight against the flu. It can reduce flu-related illnesses, visits to the doctor, missed work and school and flu-related hospitalizations.
The CDC recommends flu vaccine for everyone 6 months and older.
While flu can make anyone sick, certain people are at greater risk for serious complications, and it’s extremely important they receive the vaccine and it’s not too late to be vaccinated.
*Young children
*Adults 65 years of age or older
*Pregnant women
*People with chronic lung disease (like asthma and COPD), diabetes (type 1 and 2), heart disease, neurologic conditions and certain other long-term health conditions
*Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
For more flu information, visit the DHHS website at www.dhhs.ne.gov/flu or the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/flu.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s preliminary December unemployment rate matched the 2.7 percent rate of November and October, the state said in a report released Tuesday.
The Nebraska Labor Department said the rate is down six-tenths of a point from the December 2016 rate of 3.3 percent and remained well below the U.S. rate, which was unchanged at 4.1 percent.
“2017 has been a strong year for our nonfarm jobs sector of the economy,” state Labor Commissioner John Albin said. “This is the first time that Nebraska had more than 1 million jobs in each month of the year.”
Also, he said, Nebraska ended the year with the fourth-lowest preliminary unemployment rate in the nation.
Nebraska’s nonfarm employment was 1,037,248, up 10,378 over the year and up 2,245 over the month. Private industries with the most growth year over year were leisure and hospitality, up 4,998; professional and business services, up 3,448; and education and health services, up 1,781. Month to month, the largest gains were seen in financial activities, up 642; trade, transportation and utilities, up 579; and leisure and hospitality, up 556.
The preliminary Omaha-area rate rose to 2.8 percent last month from 2.5 percent in November. The new figure was four-tenths of a point lower than the revised December 2016 rate of 3.2 percent. Lincoln’s preliminary rate rose three-tenths of a point to hit 2.4 percent, compared with 2.1 percent in November. The December 2016 figure was 2.8 percent. Grand Island’s preliminary rate rose six-tenths of a point to 3.1 percent in December. The December 2016 rate was 3.5 percent.
The unemployment rates for Grand Island, Lincoln and Omaha have not been seasonally adjusted, so they cannot be directly compared with the state unemployment rate.
Here are preliminary area labor market unemployment rates for December, followed by the revised November rates:
— Beatrice: 3.3, 2.6
— Columbus: 2.7, 2.3
— Fremont: 2.9, 2.3
— Hastings: 3.2, 2.4
— Kearney: 2.3, 1.9
— Lexington: 2.8, 2.5
— Norfolk: 2.6, 2.2
— North Platte: 3.0, 2.5
— Red Willow: 2.6, 2.1
— Scottsbluff: 3.3, 3.0
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers are making an aggressive push this year to prevent prescription opioid abuse, a problem that plagues much of the country and accounts for a large number of the state’s overdose deaths.
Senators have introduced four bills designed to reduce opioid deaths and prevent the situation from becoming as serious in Nebraska as in other, harder-hit states.
“I would hope that families who are struggling with this issue recognize that there are champions in the Legislature who are listening to them and trying to help with the very real struggles they are going through,” said Sen. Sara Howard of Omaha, whose sister, Carrie, died of a prescription drug overdose in 2009.
Nebraska had 38 confirmed deaths from opioid overdoses in 2016 out of 128 total drug overdose fatalities, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The number could be higher, though, because death certificates often don’t specify which drugs are used, and many smaller counties can’t afford toxicology tests.
One bill by Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell would require customers to show a driver’s license or other identification before getting certain prescription drugs. Kuehn said having to produce identification could force some potential abusers to think twice.
“If you’re a pharmacist and something doesn’t look right, you’d have the law on your side to say, ‘I need to see an ID,'” he said.
Kuehn said the bill could also help pharmacies that want to keep their own internal customer databases to prevent drug abuse.
“I think we need to give health care providers as many tools as possible to address the epidemic in whatever way they think works best for them,” he said. “Nebraska’s numbers don’t indicate that we have the problem that we see in other states, but we don’t want to wait until it gets to that point to start looking at solutions.”
Howard introduced a measure that would prevent doctors from prescribing more than a seven-day supply of opiates to anyone who is younger than 19 if the treatment is intended for a sudden injury. Doctors also would have to discuss the risks with young patients’ parents or guardians if they haven’t previously prescribed such a drug to them.
Howard said children are more susceptible to prescription drug addiction because their brains are still developing. She said she worked on the legislation with Nebraska medical groups, which support the idea.
A third proposal by Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha would require doctors to discuss the dangers of opiates with patients before prescribing them such a drug for the first time. Lindstrom said warnings could steer patients toward alternatives or help them recognize that they’re becoming addicted.
“This is an issue that is not going away,” said Lindstrom, who saw the risks of opiates firsthand through a close relative who was addicted for about a decade. “We’re trying to do what we can at the state level, but it is unfortunately an epidemic that is continuing to grow.”
The fourth bill by Sen. Merv Riepe of Omaha would require doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, veterinarians and others who can write prescriptions to log at least five hours of continuing education on opiates every two years.
“We want the people who are prescribing or might be prescribing to be keenly aware” of the dangers, he said. “People learn a lot of things in medical school, but sometimes that was 20 or 30 years ago.”
Riepe, a former hospital administrator, said lawmakers are approaching the issue incrementally without overregulating medical professionals.
Nebraska was the second-to-last state to adopt a prescription drug monitoring program when lawmakers approved it in 2016. The program gives health care providers a way to check what prescriptions patients have recently filled. Missouri became the last state to create such a program when Gov. Eric Greitens announced it last year.
However, Nebraska was the first state to require that all prescription drugs get reported to the program once they’re dispensed, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Nebraska has also received a $2 million federal grant for training, treatment and prevention efforts.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new app from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln could help with land management efforts.
The Pheasant Habitat Simulator was created to help the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission research game birds while managing land for the species. It was built as an open-source app.
The app gives researchers flexibility to examine a variety of issues, such as links between cropping practices and nitrates or the emerald ash borer and its spread among urban trees.
Research associate Lyndsie Wszola says she and her university colleagues are eager to interested to see people use the app in different ways.
The app was developed in response to Game and Parks Commission request to create an easy-to-use tool to help manage pheasants.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A jury has found a Kearney man liable for groping a woman at the funeral home where they both worked in 2015 and awarded her $10,000.
The jury sided with Leola Ward in her civil lawsuit against Stephen O’Brien.
Ward didn’t report the incident to police and O’Brien was never charged criminally.
Ward says O’Brien put his hand on her thigh and between her legs while they were working at a visitation on Dec. 2, 2015. O’Brien said at trial he grabbed Ward’s butt, but denied the other allegations.
Ward’s attorney, Nathan Bruner, says Ward wanted to confront O’Brien.
Tom Stewart, who represented O’Brien, says it was bad timing the trial happened right after all the publicity nationally about sexual misconduct.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers have advanced a bill that would give prisoners a chance to get a state identification card or renew their driver’s license before their release.
The measure won first-round approval Monday on a 35-0 vote.
Supporters say the measure would help inmates return to life outside of prison. They note that people generally need identification to cash a check, open a bank account, rent an apartment, find a job and gain access to a federal building to get a Social Security card.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln, says the bill would lift some of the barriers inmates face in getting an ID.
SARGENT, Neb. (AP) — A man is scheduled for sentencing in March for the crash death of his car passenger on Thanksgiving Day 2016.
49-year-old Virgil Ramsdell, of Taylor, pleaded no contest Thursday to manslaughter. A charge of being a habitual criminal was dropped as part of a plea agreement. His sentencing is set for March 22 in Custer County District Court.
The accident occurred Nov. 24, 2016, on U.S. Highway 183, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of Sargent. The Nebraska State Patrol says Ramsdell reported that the car crashed after he swerved to miss a deer. His passenger, 56-year-old Becky Millard, of Sargent, was declared dead at a hospital.
Court records say Ramsdell tested positive for marijuana and methamphetamine after the accident.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska regents will consider a policy to make its campuses more conducive to the free exchange of ideas following a political incident last year.
The Board of Regents will consider the new policy next week. The proposal reaffirms the university’s commitment to the First Amendment rights of speech and expression and calls for regular opportunities to teach about the First Amendment. It will also require NU campuses to designate spaces as public forums, limited public forums or non-public forums.
“Although members of the university community are free to comment on, criticize and contest views that others express, they must do so at a time and place, and in a manner that does not prevent, impede, or obstruct the freedom of others to also exercise their rights,” the policy said.
The university gained national attention in August when a graduate student lecturer confronted a conservative student. Courtney Lawton made an inappropriate hand gesture at second-year student Kaitlyn Mullen, who was recruiting for the conservative group Turning Point USA. Lawton also called Mullen a “neo-fascist.” Lawton, who was initially relieved of her classroom duties, was later fired after pressure from at least three state senators.
Conservative lawmakers accused the university of being unwelcoming to conservative viewpoints. Faculty members said the discipline against Lawton went against the university’s principles of academic freedom.
Shortly after the incident, a group of six administrators began crafting the policy with regents, faculty, staff and students.
“At a time when we’re part of a national conversation about these issues, it’s important for us to re-examine and recommit ourselves to the principles that any institution of higher learning must hold dear,” said regent Bob Whitehouse of Omaha.
