The installation of a new message board will force the temporary closure of Interstate 80.
According to the Nebraska Department of Roads, the message sign is being installed 2 miles west of Lexington.
The eastbound lanes of the Interstate will be closed from Darr to Lexingtion, from 12:30 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., on December 5th.
Traffic will be detoured during the closure.
Officials say the same stretch of road will be closed the next night as well, if necessary.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska will have to pay $725,000 in court costs and attorney fees after a federal judge ruled against the attorney general’s office in a patent infringement case.
U.S. District Senior Judge Joseph F. Bataillon ordered the payments this week in a lawsuit that included Attorney General Jon Bruning and two staff attorneys as defendants.
A Florida company that was suing Nebraska’s Pinnacle Bank added Bruning to the lawsuit after his office sent their lawyers a cease-and-desist letter to halt any new patent infringement lawsuits.
The company, formerly known as Activision TV, alleged in a lawsuit that Pinnacle Bank infringed on a patent of a remote control electronic display system. Bruning argued that the Texas law firm representing them was abusing patent laws. The firm says the allegations were baseless.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Hall County authorities are testing the use of body cameras on corrections officers in the local jail.
Corrections Director Fred Ruiz told county supervisors Tuesday one camera arrived last week and another is expected soon.
Ruiz says the cameras will record images and sounds from interactions between officers and inmates. Many areas in the jail have cameras but few record audio. He says the officers have been using the camera on their belts.
The county sheriff and the Grand Island police chief said after the meeting that both departments have considered purchasing cameras but haven’t because of the cost.
Ruiz estimates it would cost about $100,000 to equip every corrections officer with a camera. It’s unclear when officials will consider a larger order.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A February trial has been scheduled for a former Nebraska union leader who declined to make a plea deal in his embezzlement case.
Ray Lineweber’s attorney told U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Zwart on Tuesday in Lincoln that Lineweber would not take the prosecution’s offer. Zwart then set the trial to start on Feb. 2.
The 67-year-old Lineweber, of Lincoln, has pleaded not guilty to charges of embezzlement, mail fraud and falsifying union records.
Prosecutors say the Lineweber stole nearly $103,000 from the United Transportation Union between January 2008 and May 2012, when he was legislative director for the union’s Nebraska State Legislative Board 30. The federal indictment says Lineweber misled the union in reports requesting reimbursement for food, entertainment, travel and other expenses.
KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 6-year-old Kearney boy was shot and injured by a pellet gun.
The Kearney Police Department says the boy was taken by private vehicle Monday night to a local hospital with an injury to his right arm. He was released Tuesday.
Authorities say the boy was shot with a pellet gun at a home. A Kearney man was arrested on suspicion of child abuse and using a weapon to commit a felony. Additional information about the man or the circumstances surrounding the shooting has not been released.
The boy was placed under the custody of the state Department of Health and Human Services, which placed him with a family member.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Advocates who want to expand Medicaid say a lack of insurance is driving many of Nebraska’s personal bankruptcies.
The group Nebraska Appleseed presented lawmakers Tuesday with an analysis of bankruptcy filings from three counties in 2013.
The review found that more than one-fourth of the bankruptcy filers in Dawson, Otoe and Red Willow counties reported major medical expenses that accounted for at least 20 percent of their debt.
James Goddard, a staff attorney for the group, says the report only identified medical debts that were “clearly labeled” in court filings. Goddard says the vast majority of the debt holders are based in Nebraska.
Lawmakers convened the hearing to examine the impact of Nebraska’s decision not to expand Medicaid under the federal health care law.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A civil liberties group is asking a judge to order Nebraska to recognize same-sex marriages while the group’s legal challenge to the state’s gay marriage ban is pending.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed a motion Tuesday for a preliminary injunction requiring the state to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples and allow same-sex couples to marry while the lawsuits proceeds. The motion cites the ACLU’s likelihood of prevailing in the case. Same-sex couples can marry in at least 32 other states.
The ACLU is representing seven same-sex couples who sued last month to have their marriages recognized in Nebraska. The state doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages, civil unions or even legalized domestic partnerships under a 2000 constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters.
State officials are fighting the lawsuit.
Two North Platte residents are facing felony drug charges following an investigation into the theft of medication.
At around 8:00 p.m., on November 29, an officer with the North Platte Police Department responded to a residence in the 1500 block of West 19th Street, on the report of a theft of medication.
According to Officer Rodney Brown, a 41-year-old female told the officer that someone had taken multiple prescription medications, belonging to her and her children.
Officers identified two female suspects and, during the investigation, came into contact with 53-year-old Albert LeSander.
The officer reported that LeSander admitted to giving the two female suspects a ride.
A search of LeSander’s person revealed a small plastic baggie containing crystals which field tested positive for methamphetamine.
LeSander was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center on a charge of felony possession of methamphetamine.
On December 1, an officer responded back to the residence in the residence on West 19th Street, and made contact with 32-year-old Brandi Sanchez.
Following further investigation, the officer determined that there was probable cause to arrest Sanchez for felony distribution of methamphetamine, in conjunction with the arrest of LeSander.
Sanchez was transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and jailed.
