DARR, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say the driver of a semitrailer died after it crashed on Interstate 80 in south-central Nebraska.
The accident occurred around 9:20 a.m. Wednesday near the Darr interchange, northwest of Lexington in Dawson County. The Nebraska State Patrol says the westbound truck left the roadway and then rolled when the driver tried to return it to the pavement.
The patrol identified the driver as 36-year-old Jeremiah Ford, who lived in Bertrand.
ORD, Neb. (AP) — A central Nebraska woman who served prison time for intentional child abuse in 2014 has been sentenced to 60 to 70 years for the child abuse death of her 4-week-old baby last year.
Court records say 26-year-old Jocelyn Nordin, of North Loup, was sentenced Tuesday in Valley County District Court in Ord. She’d pleaded no contest to child abuse.
Prosecutors say Nordin called 911 on May 2, 2016, and reported that her baby wasn’t breathing. The baby eventually was flown to an Omaha hospital, where she died seven days later. Authorities say the baby had been dropped on her head twice and violently shaken.
In her previous child abuse case, Douglas County Court records say Nordin was sentenced in October 2014 to 18 to 24 months after pleading guilty.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Labor Department says a record number of people were employed in the state in November.
The department said in a report released Friday that more than 984,000 people were employed last month. Labor Commissioner John Albin says the employment has increased each of the past six months and set records each month since August.
The report says the November unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.7 percent, matching the October figure. The rate was down six-tenths of a percentage point from the November 2016 rate of 3.3 percent.
The November rate also remained well below the U.S. rate, which was unchanged at 4.1 percent.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two high-rise dormitories at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have crashed to the ground in a planned implosion.
The university demolished Cather and Pound halls simultaneously Friday in about 10 seconds. Crews spent several weeks placing dynamite into support columns on select floors and wiring charges to ensure the detonation went as planned. Roughly 500 pounds (225 kilograms) of dynamite was used.
Preparations began in May, when the university began removing windows, heavy furniture and mechanical parts from the dorms.
Engineers estimate each building weighed 200 million tons (180 million metric tons). The dorms had housed thousands of university students since 1963, but were outdated.
University housing director Sue Gildersleeve says imploding the buildings proved more feasible than destroying them with a wrecking ball. The implosion was timed to coincide with the university’s holiday break.
The governor’s office says Ricketts visited Guantanamo Bay Naval Station on Thursday and returned later that evening. The Nebraska National Guard has had more than 50 soldiers stationed at the base since April for a nearly year-long deployment to support detainee operations.
Ricketts delivered gifts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, including a volleyball signed by volleyball head coach John Cook and a football signed by new Nebraska coach Scott Frost. He was accompanied by Maj. Gen. Dayrl Bohac and Command Sgt. Maj. Marty Baker.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Health care enrollments through the federal marketplace have increased in Nebraska despite numerous challenges that threatened to undermine the annual sign-up campaign.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported this week that nearly 88,400 plans were sold in Nebraska, compared to about 66,400 in 2016.
The numbers surprised many advocates who worked to sign residents up for coverage during the enrollment period, which is part of the Affordable Care Act. The Trump administration cut the groups’ funding, slashed the law’s advertising budget by 90 percent and shortened the open enrollment period by half, to six weeks.
Some advocacy groups tried to make up for the lack of outreach with their own efforts. Jeff Sheldon, a spokesman for Nebraska Appleseed, says enrollment plans also remained affordable for many residents.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska motorists will soon pay more per gallon at the gas pump.
The Department of Revenue announced Friday that the state motor fuels tax will increase more than 1 cent per gallon, starting in January. The new rate will be 28.4 cents per gallon, up from 27 cents.
The fuels tax is composed of a wholesale, variable and fixed tax. The wholesale is set based on the wholesale price of fuel. That tax will drop from 9.5 cents to 8.7 cents per gallon.
The variable tax is based on legislative appropriations for transportation. That rate will increase to 4.9 cents per gallon from the current 4.2 cents.
The fixed tax will increase to 14.8 cents per gallon, compared to 13.3 cents, because of a bill approved by lawmakers in 2015.
Critics of the now-shuttered stores say the state should turn its attention to bootlegging on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which they say emanates from Nebraska’s other border towns. The stores in Whiteclay sold the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of a beer annually until state regulators intervened earlier this year.
Oklahoma attorney and documentary filmmaker John Maisch says officials should also establish a cold case unit to review unsolved Whiteclay murders.
A legislative task force issued a report this week calling for a new cell phone tower and detox center in the village.
HOLDREGE, Neb. (AP) — Central Nebraska public power officials are lowering the water level at Johnson Lake to prepare for a maintenance outage.
The draw-down began Tuesday and will continue gradually until about Jan. 22, when maintenance work is scheduled to begin on a hydro plant immediately below the lake. The reservoir will decline to about 8 feet below its current elevation and then return to normal winter levels while maintenance is performed.
Officials say the schedule for raising and lowering the lake could change by a few days, depending on the presence or absence of ice in the Platte River and a supply canal.
Three North Platte teens are facing charges after a traffic stop led to the discovery of a stolen handgun.
On December 19, at around 7:25 p.m., a deputy with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office observed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on North Lake Road, near Lake Maloney.
The deputy conducted a traffic stop and, upon approaching the vehicle, smelled the odor of burnt marijuana.
The officer searched the vehicle and discovered a small amount of marijuana, four prescription pill bottles not belonging to the occupants, five Visa cards which did not belong to the occupants, multiple bottles of alcohol and a large-caliber semi-automatic handgun.
The deputy ran a check on the firearm and discovered that it had recently been reported stolen from North Platte.
The three subjects in the vehicle were placed under arrest and identified as 18-year-old Jareb Huerta, 18-year-old Jeremiah McEntire, and a 17-year-old male juvenile.
All three were transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center.
McEntire was charged with possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a controlled substance, possession of stolen property and several other charges.
Huerta was charged with being an accessory to a felony and two counts of minor in possession.
The juvenile was charged with possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, two counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of a financial transaction device with two or more accounts, carrying a concealed weapon and five counts of possession of stolen property.
The following day, deputies contacted the North Platte Police Department and learned that most of the recovered items had been stolen from vehicles in North Platte.
Deputies with the LCSO and NPPD investigators will continue to investigate the case, with more charges possible.
