Weather permitting, construction will begin on US Highway 83 between R.P. 98+63 and R.P. 105+37, along the Lincoln/Logan County line, on Wednesday, March 30.
Construction will include milling of existing roadway and shoulders and asphalt overlay. Traffic will be controlled by flagging stations during working hours. There will be a 14′ maximum width restriction for the duration of the project.
All work is anticipated to be completed mid-summer of 2016.
Motorists are reminded to be extra careful in and near highway work zones and to buckle-up, every trip.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says an inmate has assaulted a staff member at the State Penitentiary in Lincoln.
The assault occurred Sunday. The department says the staffer was taken to a Lincoln hospital for treatment and then released.
The names of the inmate and the staff member and other details about the incident have not been released.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a Gering man has died after being ejected from his tractor after he drove it off a dirt berm.
The accident occurred around 4:20 p.m. Sunday at the Western Sugar Cooperative facility on the east side of Scottsbluff. Scotts Bluff County Sheriff Mark Overman says in a news release that several people reported seeing the tractor being driven erratically before it entered the co-op’s property, where it ran off the berm, ejecting him. Investigators suspect the man had been drinking alcohol.
He was pronounced dead at a Scottsbluff hospital. Overman identified him as 47-year-old Leland Smith.
Sunny, with a high near 69. Light and variable wind becoming south southeast 9 to 14 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
Tonight
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 40. Southeast wind 10 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Tuesday
Partly sunny, with a high near 70. Breezy, with a southeast wind 11 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
Tuesday Night
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. Breezy, with a south southeast wind 11 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
Wednesday
A 50 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 56. Breezy, with a west wind 11 to 16 mph increasing to 24 to 29 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 38 mph.
Wednesday Night
Rain and snow likely before 1am, then a chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 29. Windy. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Thursday
A slight chance of rain and snow showers before 1pm, then a slight chance of rain showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 49. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
A North Platte man has been accused of assaulting a relative and threatening to stab him with a pencil.
On the morning of March 20, a North Platte police officer responded Great Plains Health on the report of an assault.
The officer arrived and met with a 54-year-old male victim who had visible injuries to his face.
The victim told the officer that he was at a trailer in the 2300 block of East Philip Avenue with a relative, 26-year-old Jordan Wehrle, on the evening of March 18 when a physical confrontation occurred.
The victim alleged that Wehrle approached him in a threatening manner with a pencil and acted like he was going to stab him with it.
When the victim pushed Wehrle away, he allegedly headbutted the victim, tackled him to the ground and punched him repeatedly.
According to Investigator John Deal, the victim sustained numerous injuries, including broken ribs.
On March 24, officers made contact with Wehrle in a trailer in the 2300 block of East Philip Avenue and placed him under arrest.
He was charged with felony 1st-degree assault and jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.
raneWOOD RIVER, Neb. (AP) — The owner of the Crane Trust Nature and Visitor Center is asking to have all its land and buildings exempted from property taxes.
The Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust’s request would take nearly $10 million of value off the tax rolls in Hall County. The trust has made a similar request in Buffalo County.
The trust made a formal plea on Tuesday to the Hall County Board of Supervisors. County Assessor Jan Pelland has recommended against the exemption.
Pelland argues that not all of the property is being used in an educational manner, and some of its land is being leased for grazing and row crops. Trust officials counter that the lease money goes back to its charitable mission.
LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A two-year project to expand and renovate a central Nebraska hospital is nearing completion.
The outpatient service center at Lexington Regional Health Center is scheduled to open Monday. The project has added more than 31,000 square feet to the hospital’s west side.
The wing is designed to house outpatient services in one location. It includes three operating rooms, nine pre- and post-operation recovery rooms, two endoscopy procedure rooms and four pods for visiting physician specialty clinics.
Crews broke ground for the $25 million project in April 2014. It was funded with a $15 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a $5 million bank loan, state and federal tax credits and private donations.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Natural gas may have taken over as the dominant source nationally for electrical power generation in 2016, but coal remains king in Nebraska.
2016 promises to be the first year in which natural gas surpasses coal as the nation’s top energy source. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says U.S. power generation is expected to be fueled 32 percent by coal and 33.4 percent by natural gas.
But in Nebraska, coal fueled 61.5 percent of the electricity produced last year. Natural gas made up 1 percent. Nuclear power made up 26 percent of the total, while wind accounted for 8 percent and hydroelectric for 4 percent.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Time is running out for Nebraska lawmakers to address some of the most high-profile issues of the year, and legislative leaders now concede that some priorities probably won’t get debated.
When they reconvene Tuesday, senators will have 11 working days left in their short, 60-day session with contentious issues unresolved: property taxes, medical marijuana and a new Medicaid proposal to provide health coverage to low-income people.
Lawmakers spent much of the session slogging through drawn-out debates on issues such as poker, meatpacker ownership of hogs and hunting permit fees.
Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha says this session will be remembered as “the year of the filibuster.”
Speaker of the Legislature Galen Hadley says lawmakers increasingly see filibusters as a way to block bills when they’re in the minority.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A Grand Island man has been appointed to the Nebraska State Fair board to fill a seat left vacant by the death of Bill Marshall earlier this year.
Gov. Pete Ricketts appointed Harry Hoch to fill the seat.
Hoch is a 40-year resident of Grand Island. He served as president of H&H Distributing, a local beer distributorship, from 1986 until he retired at the end of last year.
Hoch is also serves on the Central Catholic Development Foundation and the Central Catholic school board. He has also served on the boards of the Stuhr Museum Foundation and Grand Island Community Foundation.
This year’s Nebraska State Fair runs from Aug. 26 through Sept. 5.
Weather permitting, construction will begin on US Highway 83 between R.P. 98+63 and R.P. 105+37, along the Lincoln/Logan County line, on Wednesday, March 30.
