CHADRON, Neb. (AP) — Dawes County authorities say the death of a 19-year-old Chadron State College student was a result of suicide.

The body of Fatima Larios, of Seaside, California, was found in a campus residence hall around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 31. Acting as county coroner, Dawes County Attorney Vance Haug says evidence and autopsy results show that Larios died of asphyxia because of hanging.

Larios was a high school softball standout who played last year as a freshman at NCAA Division 1 Austin Peay before transferring to Chadron State last summer.

Charges are pending against a 58-year-old North Platte woman following a short standoff at a North Platte apartment complex.

At around 7:00 a.m., on Monday, officers responded to Buffalo Bill Manor, 1200 South Oak, after receiving information that Debra Fitzsimons had made lethal threats towards staff at Great Plains Health.

Upon arrival at Buffalo Bill Manor, Fitzsimons made threats towards officers, allegedly stating that she was armed with a gun and would shoot.

After a brief standoff officers were able to gain access to the apartment just before 8:00 a.m., and take Fitzsimons into custody.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, officers did deploy Tasers after Fitzsimons pointed a handgun-style BB gun at them.

Fitzsimons was taken into custody and transported to Great Plains Health for medical evaluation.

Brown said Fitzsimons will most likely be charged criminally following her release from the hospital.

 

ARTHUR, Neb. (AP) — A wildfire blamed on lightning has blackened more than 42 square miles of grassland and farmland in western Nebraska.

A lone strike around 9 p.m. Saturday touched off flames near Bucktail Lake in Arthur County. Paxton Fire Chief Kyle Gartrell says the fire then spread into McPherson and Keith counties. Gartrell says 23 departments sent crews to help fight the blaze. No injuries or damage to buildings has been reported, although some people had to evacuate their homes as a precaution.

The National Weather Service posted red flag warnings for Monday over about three-quarters of Nebraska because of dry vegetation, low humidity and high winds.

A North Platte man and a 17-year-old female are facing felony charges after they allegedly broke into multiple vehicles parked at North Platte Community College.

At around 7:30 p.m., on March 28, officers with the North Platte Police Department responded to the North Platte Community College McDonald-Belton Campus, 601 West State Farm Road, on the report of a male and female breaking into unlocked vehicles in the parking lot.

By the time officers arrived, the suspects had left the area, but witnesses were able to provide the license plate number of the vehicle they left in.

A short time later, an officer observed the black Ford Focus near Francis and Dewey Streets, and initiated a traffic stop for investigative purposes.

The officer made contact with the driver, 20-year-old Tanner Aston, and a 17-year-old female passenger.

After detecting a strong odor of burnt marijuana, the officer conducted a search of the vehicle.

The search revealed a hidden steak knife, a small amount of marijuana, prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia.

Additionally, officers located numerous stolen items, including jewelry, clothing, a Garmin, vehicle keys, electronics and sporting equipment.

Officers were able to determine that these items had been taken from vehicles.

In the end, the female teen was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, possession of a legend drug, possession of drug paraphernalia and attempted theft by unlawful taking ($0-$200).

She was released to the custody of her mother.

Aston was transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and jailed on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of possession of stolen property.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, the same vehicle is believed to be involved in similar incidents on the night of March 27.

Brown said more charges may arise as the investigation continues into other thefts.

 

Today: Sunny, with a high near 78. South southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming northwest 11 to 16 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 23 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 35. North northwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming light and variable after midnight.
Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 81. Light and variable wind becoming south 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45. South wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 76. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 7 to 12 mph becoming north 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34. Breezy.
Thursday: A 20 percent chance of rain. Partly sunny, with a high near 57.

VALHALLA, N.Y. (AP) — Police departments nationwide are being asked to issue more tickets for violations at railroad crossings because of recent crashes in New York, California and North Carolina.

After a fiery train-car collision killed six people in New York in February, Metropolitan Transportation Authority police are issuing summonses at six times last year’s rate.

A second fatal crash in California prompted the Federal Railroad Administration to announce a nationwide safety campaign, encouraging local police departments to bump up their patrols at crossings and issue more citations.

The Railroad Administration says there have been more than 10,000 crashes at railroad crossings in the last five years, causing more than 1,200 deaths and almost 4,700 injuries.

On Saturday, a light rail train hit a car in front of the University of Southern California, seriously injuring the driver and the train’s operator. Nineteen other train passengers were hurt.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Repairs will begin soon on the hard-to-move gates at the Harlan County Dam in south-central Nebraska.

The initial $12.3 million project will deal with corrosion on six of the dam’s gates, and the rest of the gates will be repaired over the following two years.

Ken Stark, the project manager and an engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Kansas City, told the Kearney Hub (https://bit.ly/1FVOISO) the whole project is expected to cost $25.7 million.

The corrosion built up over more than 50 years of use. And the dam’s gates are also hard to move because of friction problems with the bearings, so the repairs are a high priority.

Stark says the repair crew is getting set up now and assessing the gates.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — Colorado’s attorney general says the Nebraska and Oklahoma lawsuit that asks the U.S. Supreme court to curtail Colorado’s new recreational marijuana law could have dire consequences for all three states.

Attorney General Cynthia Coffman says if the U.S. Supreme Court sides with the two states that border Colorado, the decision would take away the regulatory system that Colorado has built, while leaving the vote to legalize marijuana intact.

Colorado argued in a response to the lawsuit that Nebraska and Oklahoma filed the case in an attempt to reach across their borders and selectively invalidate state laws with which they disagree.

Coffman said bordering states have to deal with people leaving Colorado with marijuana that is illegal within their borders.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — With the session more than half finished, Nebraska lawmakers are still sorting through ways to lower property taxes while balancing the state budget.

Bills slated for debate include personal property tax legislation to benefit businesses and a $45 million annual increase for the state property tax credit fund, which reduces what property owners must pay.

Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island, chairman of the Revenue Committee, says a slowdown in state revenue will make it harder to pass “home run” tax cuts, but he says lawmakers will make progress this year.

Lawmakers have about $41 million for legislative items that aren’t already part of the two-year budget. Gloor says major spending cuts are unlikely because of the need to fund Medicaid programs and K-12 education.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — It took 15 years, but new numbers show that 1.5 million people have visited The Archway monument spanning Interstate 80 at Kearney.

The 1,500,000th visitor was a member of a fourth-grade group from Heartland Community Schools in Henderson.

Archway Marketing Coordinator Jace Robinson says that’s fitting, because students from Heartland were the first school group to tour the attraction when it opened in 2000.

Attendance has steadily climbed in recent months at the museum that features exhibits commemorating the Oregon, Mormon and California pioneer trails and the nation’s highway systems and railroads. The turnaround is welcomed after the monument was forced into bankruptcy in 2013 following years of disappointing attendance.