GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A recently completed study by the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce has found that the Nebraska State Fair’s economic impact on the community exceeds $22 million.

Chamber president Cindy Johnson said the study took into account both the State Fair’s 2013 budget of $7.6 million and estimated spending of $14.7 million by State Fair visitors in the community in 2013.

The $22.3 million total exceeded the estimated economic impact in a study developed before the opening of the Nebraska State Fair in 2010, the year the event moved from Lincoln to Grand Island.

The 2010 study had projected a $20.6 million impact.

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A central Nebraska grandfather is behind bars, accused of sexually assaulting his young granddaughter eight years ago.

The 59-year-old man was arrested Monday and has been charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child and incest. Police say the girl was 7 when she was assaulted.

The Associated Press is not identifying the man to protect the identity of the girl.

The man is being held in the Buffalo County Jail on $25,000 bond. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

• Matthew Lee Walker, 29, Big Springs NE and Molly Hagen McNea, 25, Big Springs NE

 

• Roger Dean Stroud, 52, North Platte and Leah Rae Holsten, 43, North Platte

 

• Ruben Martin Alvarado Jr., 43, North Platte and Christine Michelle Lavelle, 41, North Platte

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Attorney General Jon Bruning says Nebraska’s next governor should remove attorneys from the Department of Correctional Services and place them in his office.

Bruning said Friday that the corrections lawyers showed they were “utterly incompetent” after they testified at a legislative hearing investigating why hundreds of prisoner sentences were miscalculated. Bruning leaves office in January.

Two attorneys, George Green and Sharon Lindgren, retired last month under the threat of being fired.

Green told lawmakers Thursday that he never read a Supreme Court opinion that specified the legally correct way to calculate an inmate’s release date. Because the ruling wasn’t followed, hundreds of inmates were released before they should have been.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Blue Cross Blue Shield customers who buy individual policies under the Affordable Care Act will likely see big increases in their health insurance premiums next year, though group rates aren’t expected to go up as much.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, the state’s dominant carrier, is predicting members statewide will see average premium increase of 8 to 9 percent next year. But the company says some employer groups and people who have a Medicare supplement will not see their monthly rates go up and may even see them decrease.

Nearly 80 percent of the company’s business in the state is in the group market.

But people who bought individual policies under the Affordable Care Act could see premium increases averaging 19.5 percent.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska law intended to clear a path for the Keystone XL pipeline now rests with the state’s Supreme Court.

The court heard arguments Friday in a lawsuit brought by three landowners who oppose the project.

Dave Domina, an attorney for the landowners, says the 2012 law violated the Nebraska constitution by allowing Republican Gov. Dave Heineman to approve it. Heineman supports the project.

Domina says the responsibility should fall to the Nebraska Public Service Commission, a 5-member elected board that regulates “common carriers,” such as railroads. Domina says the commission has due-process safeguards to protect landowners whose property could be seized.

Deputy attorney general Katherine Spohn says the public had ample opportunity to challenge the pipeline through public hearings, and landowners still have protections if eminent domain is used.

The North Platte Police Department has identified the victim of a Thursday afternoon fire in North Platte.

At around 3:45 p.m., on Thursday, North Platte Police and the North Platte Fire Department responded to the report of a motor home on fire in the 800 block of South Griffith Street.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, witnesses at the scene, along with evidence collected by police, suggest that the fire was accidental and was caused when two individuals attempted to start the motor home.

Brown said the body of 53-year-old Charles William Small was found inside the motor home.

A 53-year-old male who was with Small was able to escape safely from the motor home.

An autopsy on Small’s body will be conducted.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Officials representing the state’s colleges have agreed that proposed state language arts standards will prepare students for college or a career once they graduate from high school.

In November officials from 19 colleges reviewed the 2009 standards and recommended revisions to make them rigorous enough to prepare students for college. Four of them signed a document Thursday that affirmed the new standards accomplish the goal.

The proposal is expected to win approval from the Nebraska State Board of Education at its meeting on Friday.

The proposal contains 58 additional writing standards and 64 listening and speaking standards.

KIMBALL, Neb. (AP) — Work is scheduled to begin next week on a stretch of Interstate 80 from Bushnell to the west Kimball interchange in the Nebraska Panhandle.

The Nebraska Department of Roads says the work will include pavement repairs, removal and replacement of asphalt and installation of new rumble strips on both shoulders.

Traffic will be maintained using lane closures. The work is expected to be finished this fall.

A Thursday afternoon fire has taken a life in North Platte.

The North Plate Fire Department responded to the fire in the 800 block of Griffith Street, at around 3:30 p.m.

Firefighters arrived to find an RV fully engulfed in flames.

Officials say they were able to confirm one fatality, but have not released any further information.

We will update you with information as it becomes available.