Police in Kearney are looking for the suspect in an armed robbery at a motel early Wednesday morning.

At 7:00 a.m. on August 30, 2017, Police Officers of the Kearney Police Department were called to Motel 6, 101 Talmadge Street, to investigate an armed robbery.

The initial investigation reveals a male subject confronted the front desk clerk and produced a knife, demanding money. The suspect then departed the motel with an undisclosed amount of currency.

The suspect is described as an African American male, 6-0 in height with a husky build. He was also described as having grey stubble for a goatee. The suspect may have also been in possession of a red draw string type bag. No other description is available at this time. The suspect then departed on foot and it is unknown if a vehicle was involved.

No injuries were reported during the incident.

If anyone has any information about this case, please call the Kearney Police Department at 308-237-2104 or Crimestoppers at 308-237-3424.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Forget the delivery driver. Ford and Domino’s Pizza are teaming up to see whether customers like having their pizzas delivered by driverless cars.

Starting Wednesday, some pizzas in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will arrive in a specially designed Ford Fusion outfitted with radars and a camera used for autonomous testing.

For this test, a Ford engineer will be at the wheel. But customers won’t be interacting with the driver. Instead, they’ll need to come outside and type a four-digit code into a keypad on the car to access a heated compartment with their food.

Both Ford Motor Co. and Domino’s Pizza Inc. say the six-week test will help them learn how customers react to driverless cars. President Russell Weiner says that includes whether they’ll come outside if it’s raining or snowing.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A Kearney woman accused of theft from a local charity has pleaded no contest to a charge in the case.

44-year-old Bobbi Jo Tavenner pleaded no contest Monday in Buffalo County District Court to an attempted felony. In exchange, a charge of theft of more than $5,000 was dropped.

Prosecutors say Tavenner was the staff accountant at Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska when discrepancies in money received from rental properties were discovered. Authorities say the total discrepancies since April 2011 came to nearly $23,000.

Prosecutors say that as part of the plea deal, Tavenner has agreed to pay back the full amount.

Tavenner faces up to three years in prison when she’s sentenced Oct. 20.

A 58-year-old North Platte man has been charged with arson and attempted murder following an investigation into a domestic assault and structure fire on Monday evening.

At around 7:06 p.m., officers responded to a mobile home in the 200 block of North McCabe on the report of a disturbance between a male and female.

Officers arrived and found the mobile home on fire, and the North Platte Fire Department arrived on the scene to extinguish it.

In the meantime, officers met with a 54-year-old female who had a cut on her forehead and wet clothing that smelled of gasoline.

Officers then located James Brown standing outside the burning structure.  Investigator John Deal says officers detained him and moved him to a safer location.

Deal says further investigation revealed that Brown and the female lived together in the residence and had once been in a dating relationship.

It was reported to police that the two had been inside the residence and had gotten into an argument. Brown allegedly went outside, grabbed a gas can, then came back inside and began splashing it on the female and the inside of the residence.

Brown then allegedly made a comment about burning the trailer down and began to attempt to light a lighter.

The victim was able to take the lighter away and break it. At this time, Deal says Brown struck the victim in the head.

When the female attempted to leave out the back door, it is alleged that Brown grabbed by the hair and prevented her from leaving. The victim was eventually able to escape to a neighbor’s house.

A short time later, the mobile home started on fire.

Deal says a search warrant was obtained and officers located a gas can, broken lighter and other undisclosed evidence.

Brown was arrested and charged with attempted homicide, felony domestic assault, false imprisonment and first-degree arson, all felonies.

Deal says the trailer was heavily damaged and is a total loss.

The victim was treated at Great Plains Health and released.

 

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — An October sentencing has been scheduled for a man who pleaded guilty to the south-central Nebraska crash death of a passenger in his car.

20-year-old Elijah Helms, of Gretna, entered pleas Friday in Dawson County District Court to vehicular homicide and to driving under the influence, causing serious injury. Prosecutors dropped three related charges. His sentencing is set for Oct. 16.

The crash occurred Oct. 29 on Interstate 80 near Lexington. Authorities say Helms’ car crossed the interstate median and crashed into an oncoming vehicle. A passenger in his car, 19-year-old Lexa Douglas, of Omaha, was pronounced dead at the scene. Helms, two other people in his car and two in the other vehicle were hospitalized.

MORRILL, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a body firefighters found in a burned vehicle in western Nebraska was that of a 17-year-old girl.

The Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Monday evening that girl’s been identified as Lilyanna Martin, who lived in Morrill. Firefighters discovered the body after extinguishing the vehicle fire in a field Friday night, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of Morrill.

The office says there’s no evidence that any crime was involved in the girl’s death.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Many wheat farmers facing low prices have turned this year to other crops, including chickpeas and lentils, in hopes of turning a profit.

This year’s wheat crop of 45.7 million acres (18.49 million hectares) is the smallest since 1919 and it comes after a 2016 crop that was the least profitable in 30 years.

North Dakota, Montana and Nebraska are among the states with significantly fewer wheat acres.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says acres planted in chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are up nearly 86 percent from last year. Lentils reached a U.S.-record 1.02 million acres (0.41 million hectares) planted this year.

Chickpeas are the main ingredient in hummus. Lentils are increasingly used in cereal and pasta as a way to boost protein and fiber.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska has deployed four Army National Guard helicopters and 23 soldiers to Texas to help with ongoing Hurricane Harvey flood relief efforts.

The helicopters from Lincoln and soldiers Grand Island are going after Texas requested additional emergency management assistance on Sunday. The soldiers are trained and equipped to conduct aeromedical evacuation and hoist rescue missions.

Officials say other Nebraska Army National Guard helicopters and crews are ready to join the mission if requested.

Gov. Pete Ricketts says in a statement that Nebraska residents stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Texas to address the situation.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A tiny Nebraska town once known for panhandling and public drunkenness has undergone some major changes since state regulators forced four beer stores to stop selling near South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. But residents say some of the problems have moved elsewhere.

Supporters of the decision say conditions have drastically improved in Whiteclay since the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission effectively closed the village’s four stores in April. That decision is under review by the Nebraska Supreme Court, which will hear oral arguments about that decision Tuesday.

Liquor commissioners cited concerns about inadequate law enforcement in Whiteclay, an unincorporated reservation border town with nine full-time residents that sells the equivalent of about 3.5 million cans of beer a year.

CURTIS, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a North Platte woman died after her motorcycle left the road and flipped into a ditch.

Frontier County Sheriff Dan Rupp says the crash happened about noon Sunday when 52-year-old Lori Paulsen was riding a motorcycle with a group of friends and her husband. It was reported that they were on Highway 23, just east of Curtis, when Paulsen’s motorcycle veered onto the shoulder and then flipped into a ditch.

Paulsen was taken to a North Platte hospital, where she died from her injuries.