COZAD, Neb. (AP) — The City Council in Cozad has decided to let volunteer firefighters be elected to the council.

The council tied 2-2 on Monday night after the third and final reading of an ordinance that would allow the firefighters to run for council seats. Mayor Nancy Meyer broke the tie when she voted yes.

Resident Orville Schmidt had given the council a 600-signature petition that he said showed residents’ support for the idea.

Council member Jared Jacob said he voted against the ordinance because he thought it would be a conflict of interest for a firefighter to have a say in the fire department budget.

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press

Traveling by plane, train or automobile can be a headache. Mixing in Thanksgiving can make it a throbbing migraine. Technology provides some pain relief in the form of apps to let you know which roads are clogged, what gate your flight leaves from and whether trains are running on time.

The American Automobile Association forecasts that the Wednesday through Sunday period will see more than 46 million Americans travel at least 50 miles from home — the most Thanksgiving road warriors since 2007. About nine in 10 are expected to drive — or be driven — with about 3.6 million flying.

Here are some ways to make the journey a bit less taxing.

PLANES

FlightAware tracks not only your flight’s status but also any delays or cancellations, even gate changes. Set it up for a specific trip and it will send alerts so you don’t have to keep checking for changes.

Seats matter, especially if you’re traveling with kids. The ExpertFlyer app has a feature called “seat alert,” which informs you when a seat you want to snag becomes available.

If you have the pleasure of a connecting flight, consider FlightBoard. Every five minutes, it updates with the latest from airport departure boards at over 3,000 airports worldwide. If you’re picking up at the airport, it’s one way to find out whether the flight will land on time.

Or, if you want to keep it simple, get the app of the airline you’re flying. That will typically let you do things such as get a boarding pass or — gulp — rebook your flight.

TRAINS

While Amtrak has an app that lets you make or change reservations and check the status of your train, local and regional public transit doesn’t have the same range of resources as air travel.

At least 70 percent of larger transit agencies have apps that offer real-time travel information, according to Darnell Grisby, director of policy development and research at the American Public Transportation Association. As for using your phone to buy and manage tickets — that’s not as common an option, but some agencies offer it.

AUTOMOBILES

Traffic apps are a familiar friend for many commuters. Some, such as Sigalert, offer color-coded highway maps — red for “jammed up,” yellow for “slow,” green for “full speed ahead.” Sometimes the data that inform the maps are just outdated enough that they can lead a driver onto a freeway that may have been traffic-free five minutes ago, but now has a building bottleneck.

The popular app Waze tries to solve that problem by asking drivers to report traffic and other problems, which the app then shares with other users.

AND JUST IN CASE

Should everything go sideways, and you’re suddenly stranded, Priceline and Hotel Tonight can help you find a room nearby.

Alex Gurciullo, of Maxwell, has been named Business Student of the Month for November at North Platte Community College.

Gurciullo, the daughter of Terry Gurciullo Jr. and Veronica Sederlin, is a 2013 graduate of Maxwell High School. She is studying accounting at NPCC and will graduate in May of 2015.

“I plan to receive my Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees from Mid-Plains Community College,” Alex said. “I will then attend Fort Hays State University and earn my bachelor’s degree in accounting – finishing with my CPA [Certified Public Accountant] certification. My dream job is to work for a Fortune 500 company.”

Alex enrolled at MPCC because of the quality education the college offers, the fact that it is close to her home and because it is affordable.

“The faculty at MPCC has adequately prepared me for the challenges I face in the future,” Alex said. “They take time to talk to me one-on-one about questions I have concerning classes, homework or life in general, and they push me to excel in everything I do.”

Alex is the vice president of Phi Theta Kappa, is a member of Phi Beta Lambda and is a student ambassador for the college.

• Today: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Light west southwest wind becoming southwest 10 to 15 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph.
• Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25. Northwest wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
• Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 38. North northwest wind 8 to 18 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.
• Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18. East northeast wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable after midnight.
• Thanksgiving Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 49. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the morning.
• Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 25.
• Friday: Sunny, with a high near 64.
• Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 29.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — None of the state employees who were blamed for Nebraska’s prison sentence miscalculations will face criminal charges.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning and Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly announced the decision Monday as they released the findings of their investigation.

Bruning says some Department of Correctional Services employees were lazy and uninterested in their jobs, but prosecutors can’t prove that they intentionally violated the law. He pointed to George Green, the department’s top attorney, who resigned under threat of being fired.

Green later told a committee that he never read a Nebraska Supreme Court opinion that outlined the correct way to calculate sentences.

The county attorney’s office and Nebraska State Patrol both investigated the case, in which hundreds of prisoners were prematurely released.

More students than ever will now have access to online courses and programs through Mid-Plains Community College.

MPCC officials received notice Nov. 18 from the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA) that the college has been accepted as a participant in the SARA initiative.

That makes it one of 11 postsecondary institutions in Nebraska that can offer classes to people residing outside the state. As of Monday morning, four out of six community colleges in Nebraska were approved, but none of the universities were.

Becoming qualified has been a lengthy process for MPCC. It started when new federal regulations were enacted July 1, 2011. At that point, the U.S. Department of Education implemented regulations requiring colleges and universities to have a complaint process in place for students before courses could be offered outside state borders.

There also had to be documentation that quality instruction was being offered online and through distance learning, internships and clinical rotations.

The restrictions meant MPCC would have to ask permission from each state before offering courses there.

“It only hurt students in the long run,” said Jody Tomanek, area vice president for academic affairs and North Platte Community College. “The biggest group affected would have been those in the accelerated EMT course. The 12-week course draws in students from all over the nation.”

Groups of postsecondary boards banded together to determine how to make the application process easier. The end result was SARA. Instead of asking for permission from individual states, MPCC applied to Nebraska’s Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education for inclusion in SARA.

The acceptance allows MPCC to offer courses to students residing in other SARA participating states. Those include Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

“It’s good news,” said Tomanek. “Now we just have to wait for other states to apply.”

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 25-year-old Kearney man has been killed in a rollover crash off a state highway in Buffalo County.

The Nebraska State Patrol says the accident occurred a little before 3 a.m. Saturday on Nebraska Highway 10 when Logan Griss lost control of his speeding pickup. The truck crossed the center line, went through a fence and rolled down a hill, ejecting Griss.

The patrol says Griss was pronounced dead at the scene.

 

A North Platte man is in jail on felony charges after an investigation into harassing phone calls revealed an assault that had taken place earlier.

On November 22, at around 11:30 a.m., North Platte policed received a complaint from a 48-year-old female that her boyfriend, 38-year-old Anthony Bennett, had been harassing her via phone calls and text messages.

Officers say they determined that the phone calls and texts were not criminal, but did learn that, on November 18, Bennett had threatened the victim with a gun, and shoved her down causing her to strike and lacerate her head.

Officers located Bennett at a residence in South Platte Terrace Apartments, 700 block of East Philip.

Following further investigation, officers determined that probable cause existed to arrest Bennett and charge him with felony 2nd degree domestic assault, felony terroristic threats and use of a weapon to commit a felony.

Bennett was transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center and jailed.

A North Platte man is facing a felony charge after a driving under revocation charge quickly turned into a violent outburst.

At around 8:20 p.m., on November 21, officers from the North Platte Police Department responded to a residence in the 1200 block of West 10th Street, on the report of stolen property.

Upon their arrival, officers observed 35-year-old Christopher Youngs arrive at the location and exit a Toyota pickup.

One of the officers had knowledge that Youngs’ license was suspended.

As officers spoke to Youngs, he began to have difficulty breathing, so an ambulance was summoned.

Youngs was transported to Great Plains Health and, following treatment, officers attempted to place him under arrest for driving under revocation.

According to officer Rodney Brown, Youngs began to strike his head on the roof of the patrol vehicle, lacerating his left eye and causing damage to the vehicle.

Youngs was charged with felony resisting arrest and criminal mischief.

He was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Administration sources say that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is resigning from President Barack Obama’s Cabinet.

Hagel, a former Republican senator, has served as Pentagon chief since early 2013. Obama is expected to announce the resignation Monday.

The official insisted on anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly ahead of Obama’s official announcement.

A senior defense official said that Hagel submitted his resignation letter to Obama on Monday morning and the president accepted it. Hagel agreed to remain in office until his successor is confirmed by the Senate, the official said.

The official says that both Habel and Obama “determined that it was time for new leadership in the Pentagon.” The official adds that they had been discussing the matter over a period of several weeks.