A North Platte man is facing felony charges after he allegedly assaulted his buddy with a metal pipe.

According to Lieutenant Mark Stokey with the Nebraska State Patrol, troopers received a report of a bloody man, dressed in black, walking down the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 at around 11:20 p.m., on October 22.

Lt. Stokey said troopers immediately made contact with the man on I-80, between the North Platte interchanges.

The victim told troopers that he had been at William Hartman’s camper at the campground off Newberry Access, when the two became involved in an argument.

Stokey said Hartman apparently accused the victim of stealing a car while Hartman was serving jail time on a theft charge.

At some point, Stokey said Hartman grabbed a metal pipe and assaulted the victim with it.  The victim was able to escape and make his way to the Interstate where troopers located him.

The victim was transported to Great Plains Health, where he was treated and released.

Troopers made contact with Hartman at his camper and, following further investigation, placed him under arrest.

He’s been charged with felony aggravated assault with a weapon and felony terroristic threats.

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

Eagle Radio News Director, Scott Carlson, took some time to sit down with Molly O’Holleran, Incumbent for the Nebraska State Board of Education.  Enjoy the interview, and check out Molly’s website, www.mollyfornebraska.com.

Interview: Molly O’Holleran, Incumbent, Nebraska State Board of Education Oct. 23, 2014 by North Platte Post/Espn 1410 on Mixcloud

Hunger is a real issue in America.  We’ve all seen the commercials showing the children who are hungry in other states and other countries.  However, sometimes it’s easy to forget that hunger exists right here in our own state and our own community.

Statistics show that one in every five children in Nebraska under the age of 18 is hungry.  But you, can change that statistic.

On Friday, October 24, Great Western Bank is hosting a free-will donation lunch to benefit the North Platte Adopt-a-Backpack program.

The Adopt-a-Backpack program provides food for local children on the weekends and during school vacations.

The students served, who are identified by staff members at local elementary schools, are provided with bags that are filled with non-perishable foods on Friday afternoons.  The bags provide two breakfast meals, two lunch meals and two dinner meals.

The program was started after teachers and administrators noticed that students were having difficulty learning and focusing, especially at the beginning of the school week, because they were hungry.

“It was a surprise to me that there were children in our community that had no food on the weekends,” said organizer, Judy Pederson.  “What the schools would see is students were not able to learn on Monday, they were preoccupied, they would get in trouble and couldn’t concentrate.  Then they’d see the same thing on Fridays because the students were worried about not having food on the weekends.”

Pederson said the program provides kids with the food they need for the weekends.  She said the items are all non-perishable, and are items that the children can fix on their own.

While the program receives support and donations from the Food Bank of the Heartland, and several businesses, organizers say the need in our community is greater than what this provides for.  Therefore, there is a need for financial support from members of the community to ensure that all children are provided for.

Pederson said the program is about $2,000 shy of their $20,000 goal, and organizers are hopeful that the lunch on Friday will help push them over that goal.

Currently, the program is available to students at McDaid Elementary, Cody Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Buffalo Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Washington Elementary and Madison Middle School.  However, Pederson said the program is hoping to expand into several other schools, in order serve children that have needs.

If you are interested in donating to the Adopt-a-Backpack program, donations can be sent to the North Platte Public Schools Foundation, PO Box 1557, North Platte, 69103, or you can contact the Foundation office at 308-535-5300.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s top office-holders are looking at ways to reduce crowding in the state prison system.

Officials from all three branches of state government met in Lincoln on Wednesday to hear from the Council of State Governments, a national group that works with states to develop policy.

Marc Pelka, a program director for the group, says Nebraska’s prison crowding is driven by a combination of factors. Last year, 41 percent of the inmates admitted to a Nebraska prison were convicted of low-level felonies and misdemeanors. Most of those convictions were for non-violent crimes.

Pelka also says many sentences don’t allow much time for post-release supervision, which leads some former prisoners to reoffend.

Nebraska’s prisons were operating at 157 percent of their total design capacity as of Sept. 30.

• Today: Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high near 76. Light and variable wind becoming southwest 9 to 14 mph in the afternoon.
• Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 42. South southwest wind around 7 mph.
• Friday: Sunny, with a high near 83. West northwest wind 6 to 10 mph.
• Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
• Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Light and variable wind becoming east southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
• Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 42.
• Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 73.

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — The Storm Prediction Center has two new threat levels for its weather outlooks, but the weather is too nice for anyone to really notice.

Effective Wednesday, the center can say if days with a “slight risk” of severe weather should instead be labeled “enhanced” or “marginal.” The risk categories of “high” and “moderate” remain.

Forecasters made the change after finding that some days with a slight risk of tornadoes, hail or high winds ended up with fairly nasty storms.

No severe storms are predicted in the country for at least the next week.

The center traditionally targeted local forecasters with advisories known as “convective outlooks,” but now they can be found online. The system now has five levels — like scales for tornado damage and hurricane strength.

Great Plains Health will launch a new medical air ambulance service in the region beginning Nov.1. The new service, owned and operated by Air Methods, is called Great Plains Health LifeNet.

“Our rapidly expanding medical specialty offerings at Great Plains Health and the strategic need for predictable medical air transport long term are really what prompted the entry of an additional helicopter service in our region,” said Dr. James Smith, medical director of Great Plains Health LifeNet and Great Plains Health emergency services. 

The program will add an additional 16 full-time and four part-time employees to the area in professions that include pilots, nurses, paramedics and an aircraft mechanic. Great Plains Health will continue to utilize Midwest Medical Transport for ground medical transportation.

Great Plains Health’s partner, Air Methods, currently provides services for more than 300 bases of operation in 48 states throughout the nation.

“Air Methods is a company that aligns with our philosophy of patient and employee safety first,” said 

Tadd Greenfield, Great Plains Health chief clinical officer. “It follows strict medical and air-transport protocols developed to ensure quality, safety, positive outcomes and best industry standards.”

The new aircraft, which will arrive in North Platte in November, is a Eurocopter (EC) 135 twin-engine helicopter. This is the same aircraft that is currently providing about 25 percent of the world’s total emergency medic service flights. “The aircraft features some of the most advanced emergency medical equipment,” said Dr. Smith.

Great Plains Health LifeNet medical air transport service will fly a radius of approximately 250 miles around North Platte. The aircraft will be housed at North Platte Regional Airport. 

Domestic violence is a national epidemic that affects families across the nation, even right here in North Platte.

The Community Domestic Violence Intervention Program (CDVIP) will host its 8th Annual Community Awareness Luncheon on Thursday, October 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., at the Holiday Inn Express in North Platte.

Organizers say the luncheon coincides with the observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which is October.

In addition to the luncheon, the CDVIP will also host the Handbag of Hope Auction.  New and gently used purses will be on a silent auction both before and after the luncheon.

All proceeds from the luncheon and the silent auction directly benefit the CDVIP, which serves Lincoln County and Western Nebraska.

The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

Tickets are $15, and must be purchased in advance.

To purchase tickets, contact Tony Folk at 308-534-5879, or stop by the CDVIP office at 102 East 3rd Street, Suite 204.

This year’s keynote speakers are Great Plains Health Director of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Jim Smith, Kathy Borque and Keri Fisher.

The event is sponsored, in part, by Verizon.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An American video journalist who has recovered from Ebola will soon head home to Rhode Island with his family.

Nebraska Medical Center officials said Wednesday that Ashoka Mukpo, who had contracted the virus while working in Liberia as a freelance cameraman for NBC and other media outlets, was released from the hospital’s biocontainment unit around 9 a.m., but had not left the hospital complex by late morning.

In a statement read by Dr. Jeffrey Gold, the University of Nebraska Medical Center chancellor, Mukpo said: “Today is a joyful day.” Mukpo, of Providence, Rhode Island, did not attend the news conference.

Hospital officials had said Tuesday that Mukpo’s blood tested negative for the virus. He had arrived Oct. 6 and was the second Ebola patient to be treated there.

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government is adding more than 3 million vehicles to a rare warning about faulty air bags that have the potential to kill or injure drivers or passengers in a crash.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wednesday put out a new list of vehicles, increasing the number from 4.7 million to 7.8 million. The agency urged people to get their cars repaired if they’re being recalled, especially in Florida and along the Gulf Coast.

The air bag inflators made by parts supplier Takata can rupture, causing metal fragments to fly out when the bags are inflated. Safety advocates say at least four people have died from the problem.

The warning covers many models from BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.