The following is a statement from the North Platte Police Department regarding the case of Gracie Toelle, an area teen who was missing since March and was recently found safe in California.

On November 18^th, 2016 the North Platte Police Department received a call from a youth shelter in San Francisco, CA in regards to Gracie Toelle being at the facility.  NPPD contacted San Francisco PD and they verified the information.  It was determined that Gracie was uninjured and arrived at the facility voluntarily.  Her dog that she left with was determined to have died at some point during her disappearance.

Gracie’s guardian was contacted and it has been confirmed a family member has taken custody of Gracie in California.  Gracie faces no criminal charges in Lincoln County.  Gracie has chosen at this point not to speak with authorities about what has occurred during the months that she has been missing.

Unless further information becomes available we have suspended our investigation as no criminal activity has been identified.  This case was originally classified as a runaway juvenile and that status remains unchanged.

We are pleased that Gracie has been located and reunited with her family.  Many hours have been spent on this investigation by the NPPD.  Numerous local and out of state agencies assisted us in the follow up of leads that were received.  One of the leads coincidentally located a different a missing juvenile.  Social media companies played a large role in the investigation and were very helpful in assisting with the investigation. We would like to thank the following agencies for their assistance in no particular order:

• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office
• Nebraska State Patrol
• Columbus Police Dept.
• Frontier County Sheriff’s Office
• Centerville, IA Police Dept.
• Evans, NY Police Dept.
• Cheyenne, WY Police Dept.
• Center for Search and Investigations (CFSI)
• Pine County, MN Sheriff’s Office
• Sterling, CO Police Dept.
• Crenshaw County, AL Sheriff’s Office
• Soldotma, AK Police Dept.
• Kenai, AK Police Dept.
• San Francisco, CA Police Dept.
• State of California Child Protective Services
• FBI Nebraska and New York
• Bastrop, TX Police Dept.
• North Platte Guardians of the Children
• Kik, INC Social Media
• Skype, INC Social Media
• Facebook, INC Social Media
• T-Mobile Communications
• Time Warner Cable
• Windstream Communications

We also would like to thank the public and local news media for getting the information spread across the nation.

Investigator John Deal-NPPD

CAMBRIDGE, Neb. (AP) — A weekend fire forced two main street businesses to relocate to temporary quarters in the southwest Nebraska town of Cambridge.

The former grocery store building that held First Central Bank of Cambridge and Cambridge Telephone sustained significant damage Sunday morning.

Cambridge fire chief Delaine Soucie says the bank building is a total loss. Nearly 100 firefighters from Cambridge and surrounding towns were needed to extinguish the blaze.

Soucie says the fire was difficult to fight because the building had been remodeled to divide the space, and the two businesses shared a basement.

Bank CEO Don Moore says he’s confident the bank’s vault is OK, and electronic information is backed up once a day.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Three Omaha men and two eastern Iowa men will be honored during halftime of the Nebraska-Iowa “Heroes” football game on Friday.

Brett Bailes, Chris Holbeck and Dennis Wilson rescued several people involved in a fiery two-car crash on an Omaha street. Bailes used his coat to put out flames that had engulfed a passenger. He, Wilson and Holbeck also pulled a driver and another passenger from a burning car.

In Iowa, Cedar Rapids firefighters credit Ken Blazek and Brock Staley for saving a badly burned woman trapped in her house after an explosion.

“Citizen heroes” from the two states, an honor sponsored by Hy-Vee food stores and the American Red Cross, are recognized every year at the post-Thanksgiving Day game.

OFFUTT AIR BASE, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s new senators are getting a preview of issues they’ll have to tackle in January, including an estimated $900 million budget shortfall.

The seventeen senators-elect and other lawmakers gathered for a session preview last week at Offutt Air Force Base. Outgoing Republican Speaker Galen Hadley cautioned them that running for election is easy while governing is difficult.

The senator who is chosen as the new speaker will have to oversee a tough budget year as well as manage a Legislature that has seen increasing filibusters over the past several years.

The Legislature’s Executive Board chairman Republican Sen. Bob Krist says the conversations and questions from the newly elected senators were encouraging.

A North Platte man has been charged with multiple felonies after he allegedly assaulted his wife over the weekend.

On Sunday, at around 10:34 a.m., an officer met with a 20-year-old female who alleged that she had been assaulted by her husband, 38-year-old Chad Hacker, earlier that morning.

The woman told officers that she and Hacker had gotten into a verbal argument. At one point, she claims that Hacker pushed her down and drug her across the floor by her hair.  She stated that when she tried to call for help, Hacker took her phone and would not return it.

According to Investigator John Deal, the victim then said Hacker threw a remote control at her, striking her in the head, then held the victim by the throat, restricting her breathing.  Deal said the victim had marks and injuries that corroborated her statements.

The victim was eventually able to get away and contact a friend, before later deciding to contact law enforcement.

Officers made contact with Hacker and took him into custody.

He was transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and jailed on charges of felony strangulation and domestic assault.  Because of prior convictions, Deal says the domestic assault charge is enhanced to a felony.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — New documents show that top executives at outdoor outfitter Cabela’s collected big cash bonuses before being bought out by rival Bass Pro Shops, despite failing to meet profit goals they had earlier set to earn those bonuses.

The bonuses were spelled out in documents Sidney-based Cabela’s filed Thursday with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Chief Executive Tommy Millner garnered the most at $392,376. The bonuses totaled about $1.2 million.

But the documents also show executives failed to achieve the financial goals laid out ahead of time to qualify for the bonuses. Instead, company leaders simply changed the objectives after the fact to bring the goals in line with actual performance.

Messages left Saturday for a Cabela’s spokesman were not immediately returned.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers who have fought for years to expand Medicaid coverage under the federal health care law are backing off their effort now that Donald Trump has won the presidential race and Republicans held their majority in Congress.

Trump’s victory casts doubt over the law and raises new questions about whether expanding Medicaid would remain an option for states such as Nebraska that have not yet done so.

Sen. John McCollister of Omaha, who introduced a Medicaid coverage bill this year, says supporters decided not to pursue it when the 2017 session convenes. McCollister says it’s prudent for lawmakers to wait until they know how the law will change.

Advocates for expansion say they’ll keep pressing the issue.

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of regular grade gasoline has fallen nationally to $2.20 per gallon, a drop of 6 cents over the past two weeks.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg updated the figures Sunday, predicting that prices would continue inching down unless a meeting of oil-producing nations later this month culminates in “a credible agreement to freeze or reduce” production.

A seasonal weakness in demand was one reason behind the early-November decline. Lundberg cited another influence: With autumn maintenance projects wrapping up, U.S. refiners are increasing supplies.

Those factors combined to create the drop in average prices, despite a small rise in crude oil prices.

Gas in San Diego was most expensive in the continental U.S., at $2.73 on average. The low average was in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at $1.78 per gallon.