LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Tourism Office has launched its first campaign of 2019 by promoting the hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes that migrate to the Platte River Valley, with the hope of expanding on tourism success they saw after promoting the event last year.
The print and television ads began running Monday, The Lincoln Journal Star reported . The crane ads note that while many people view Nebraska as a place to fly over and not a place to visit, more than half a million cranes come to the state every March.
The ads will run until March in cities in Colorado, South Dakota and Kansas. Tourism office staff and animal experts will also travel to Denver this week to promote the cranes.
Tourism Commission Executive Director John Ricks said the migration draws tourists from around the world.
“It’s truly one of the most outstanding migrations in the world,” he said.
The state first promoted the event to out-of-state markets last year, and saw increases to traffic to the tourism website and lodging tax that was collected, Ricks said.
The ads are part of the state’s new tourism campaign , “Nebraska. Honestly, it’s not for everyone,” which will launch fully in April.
LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A woman accused of trying to conceal a man’s slaying in Dawson County has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
Dawson County District Court records say 36-year-old Melissa Callahan had pleaded not guilty to a felony accessory charge in the October 2016 slaying of Jose Hernandez by Jose Regalado-Mendez. Authorities say she helped move the body and conceal the slaying. Hernandez’s remains were found weeks later near a farmhouse north of Lexington.
The records say Callahan, of Lexington, pleaded guilty Friday to attempted tampering with physical evidence — a misdemeanor. Her sentencing is scheduled for March 4.
Regalado-Mendez was sentenced Jan. 7 to 40 to 45 years in prison.
Photo By: Ken Piorkowski (Wikimedia Creative Commons)
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska senator has introduced a bill that would require state lawmakers to witness executions and prohibit prison officials from blocking witnesses’ view, as they did briefly while carrying one out last year.
Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, of Lincoln, proposed legislation Monday that would require two lawmakers appointed by the Legislature’s Executive Board to be present during the execution.
The measure would bar prison officials from doing anything to “obstruct, limit, shield or otherwise impede” the view of official state witnesses.
Prison officials faced criticism during last year’s execution of Carey Dean Moore when they lowered a blind over viewing windows for reporters and witnesses. The blind remained down for 14 minutes after the last of four lethal injection drugs was administered, then was raised again for 40 seconds.
SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) — A western Nebraska nursing home under state control because of financial problems will be closed.
The Sidney Sun-Telegraph reports that the staff members and 34 residents at Sidney Care and Rehabilitation Center were told last week of the state’s decision. It was one of 21 placed in receivership last March , to be managed by Klaasmeyer & Associates while a plan for the homes’ futures was prepared. The homes’ owner, Cottonwood Healthcare, also known as Skyline, notified the state about its financial crisis, so the state took action.
Ken Klaasmeyer says the Sidney home has been unable to become financially viable.
LINCOLN, Neb. – Michael Dickerson had come up empty in past hunts, but he finally got his Nebraska trophy this past September.
Dickerson of Davison, Michigan, now holds the Nebraska record typical mule deer taken by archery. He stalked and shot the deer, which scored 197 4/8, Sept. 10, 2018, on private land in the badlands of northern Sioux County.
“It truly was a privilege to have an opportunity at such a great animal,” said Dickerson, 40.
Randy Stutheit, Nebraska big game trophy records coordinator for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, said Dickerson’s deer is the second largest typical mule deer entered into the Nebraska records regardless of method of take. The top Nebraska mule deer of 200 3/8 was taken with a muzzleloader by Miles Lemley of Lyman, Nebraska, in Scotts Bluff County in 2007. The previous archery record was 187 2/8.
The Pope and Young Club said Dickerson’s trophy, with its current score, would rank in the top 25 nationally in the typical mule deer archery records maintained by the club. Scoring a trophy is a combination of measurements of antler tine length and mass.
“It is quite an accomplishment to harvest a mule deer of this size using bow and arrow,” Stutheit said. “The details of Dickerson’s hunt illustrate the patience and skill necessary to achieve this level of success.”
The morning of the hunt, Dickerson and a friend located and watched the deer for several hours, anticipating where it would bed so he could stalk within 65 yards. Eventually, he noticed it bedding with three other bucks and the stalk began.
“Over the next three hours we played a game of chess, checking each drainage for other animals while quietly sneaking into position,” Dickerson said.
The bucks began feeding their way up a valley and into a bowl, which put a small hill between them and the hunters.
Dickerson crept up behind the hill. The trophy deer was feeding broadside when Dickerson’s range finder read 57 yards. “I drew my compound bow and stood up for the shot, which caused him to lift his head and look my direction. I thought to myself, ‘This is the opportunity you have been waiting for your whole life. Take a deep breath and aim small.’ ”
Dickerson’s shot hit directly behind the front shoulders. The buck kicked his back legs and ran to higher ground, stopping shortly after and turning back toward Dickerson. “He looked back at me almost as if he didn’t know what had happened. Shortly after he fell over and it was over.”
The hunter said he felt several emotions after the deer fell. “I had just shot the biggest mule deer of my life and felt as though all those failed stalks and hours on the stand had all paid off.”
Dickerson, a board member of the Flint, Michigan, chapter of Safari Club International, said he appreciates the opportunity to hunt in Nebraska.
“I have hunted Nebraska in previous years and understood the game-rich environment,” he said. “The opportunity to harvest such great animals in a spot-and-stalk situation is what drew me to the area.”
For more information on the Nebraska Big Game Records Program, and to browse the record database, visit outdoornebraska.gov/biggametrophyrecords.
Investigators with the Central Nebraska Drug and Safe Streets Task Force have arrested two people after finding nearly five pounds of methamphetamine while serving a search warrant in Kearney.
The operation was conducted Friday, January 11, by investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol, Kearney Police Department, and Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from a Nebraska State Patrol K9 unit.
During the search of a home at 12 West 10th Street in Kearney, investigators located 4.93 pounds of methamphetamine. Two subjects inside the house, Hannah Pauly, 19, and Jose Luis Santos-Zepeda, 19, were arrested for possession of a controlled substance. Both were lodged in Buffalo County Jail.
The Central Nebraska Drug and Safe Streets Task Force includes officers and investigators from the Nebraska State Patrol, Grand Island Police Department, Kearney Police Department, Hastings Police Department, Hall County Sheriff’s Office, Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office, Adams County Sheriff’s Office, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Homeland Security Investigations.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Highway Patrol says three people, including two Nebraska residents, have died in a two-vehicle collision north of Cheyenne.
The patrol says the crash occurred about 5 p.m. Friday on U.S. 85 north of Cheyenne when a southbound 1996 GMC Yukon crossed the center line and collided head-on with a northbound 2010 Chrysler Town and Country.
Two occupants in the Chrysler were killed. They were identified as 26-year-old Miguel Cruz and 29-year-old Selena Cruz, both of Lyman, Nebraska. They were both wearing seatbelts.
The driver of the GMC has been identified as 44-year-old Cheyenne resident Lila Mikesell, who was not wearing a seatbelt and also died.
The patrol says reckless driving and impairment are being investigated on the part of Mikesell as contributing factors.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An American being monitored at a Nebraska medical center for possible exposure to the deadly Ebola virus has been released from the hospital, having shown no signs of the disease.
The Nebraska Medicine-Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha said in a news release that the patient left the hospital Saturday morning after completing a required 21-day monitoring period.
The facility announced late last month that it was housing the person in a secure area not accessible to other patients or the public. The person has not been named after requesting privacy.
The person is an American who was providing medical assistance in Congo, where a deadly Ebola outbreak has persisted for months.
The Nebraska medical center has a dedicated biocontainment unit and treated three Ebola patients in 2014.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The amount of water being released into the lower Missouri River will remain elevated at the start of the year but should return to normal levels throughout 2019.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the amount of water being released from Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska-South Dakota border was recently increased to help clear out excess water collected last year.
Those higher winter releases will help generate more power and clear out space for this spring’s rain and melting snow.
The 49.9 million acre-feet of water that flowed into the Missouri River’s reservoirs last year was the third-highest level on record. This year, officials expect the amount of water to be close to the average amount of 25.3 million acre-feet.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Tourism Office has launched its first campaign of 2019 by promoting the hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes that migrate to the Platte River Valley, with the hope of expanding on tourism success they saw after promoting the event last year.
