LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s newest state travel guide mistakenly features a picture of a Christmas celebration at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that a production error allowed the picture of the Kansas City station to be used instead of Union Station in Omaha.
A spokeswoman for the Nebraska Tourism Commission Erin Lenz says the two historic train stations look similar, and staff members who proofed the guide didn’t catch the error before 200,000 copies were printed.
The publication cost $94,000 to print and another $84,000 to distribute.
The Durham Museum occupies Omaha’s Union Station. Museum spokeswoman Jessica Brummer says she figures everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and the error probably earned the Durham some free publicity in Kansas City.
KIMBALL, Neb. (AP) — The scheduling of a trial for a woman accused of trying to kill her mother at a Nebraska Panhandle motel has been postponed while she undergoes psychiatric treatment.
Kimball County District Court records say 37-year-old Shirrin Sharifpour, of Kimball, last week was found incompetent to stand trial. A judge ordered her sent to the state psychiatric hospital in Lincoln for treatment and scheduled a Feb. 5 hearing to check her progress.
Sharifpour is charged with attempted murder, two counts of assault and one of evidence tampering. The woman’s mother told police her daughter shot her in the back of the head and face at the motel on Oct. 3. Police recovered a BB revolver.
Pictured left to right are inaugural members: students Jonathan Hastings, of North Platte; Ashley Linke, of Cozad and Jeannette Carmel, of North Platte; sponsor Kristi Leibhart and students Madisyn Francis, of Houston, Texas and Wendi Stover and Elijah Malsbury, both of North Platte. (Courtesy Photo)
Seven new members were inducted into the Rho Zeta chapter of Sigma Kappa Delta on Sunday evening at North Platte Community College. Sigma Kappa Delta is the national English honor society for two-year colleges, and NPCC has become the only college in Nebraska to offer it.
One man is in stable condition at a North Platte hospital and another is in custody after a shooting in Lincoln County on Sunday afternoon.
At around 3:51 p.m., officers with the North Platte Police Department responded to the Emergency Room at Great Plains Health after it was reported by hospital staff that a man was being treated for a gunshot wound.
Officers spoke to the victim and determined that the shooting had occurred at a trailer court in the 4000 block of West 14th Street, outside the city limits.
According to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the victim could not tell officers exactly what had happened before he was taken into emergency surgery.
Officers and deputies with the LCSO launched an investigation and, as a result, arrested 35-year-old Isaac Brown, of North Platte, on charges of first-degree assault and tampering with physical evidence.
Investigators continue their investigation and authorities say more arrests are possible.
The victim remains hospitalized in stable condition.
ORD, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Democrats are giving up on the presidential caucus.
During a meeting in Ord, the Nebraska Democratic Party’s State Central Committee on Saturday overwhelming approved returning to a May primary for the 2020 election. The party first instituted the caucus in 2008 in hopes of having a say in the national race while drawing people into the political process. Barack Obama won the initial caucus, as well as the Democratic presidential nomination before being elected the country’s 44th president.
In 2016, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont captured the Nebraska caucus, but Hillary Clinton won the party’s nomination.
Critics argued the caucus diverted resources and focus from electing Democrats in Nebraska.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The holidays can be stressful, but experts say there are ways to keep that manageable.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services says making a budget for holiday gifts is important because financial worries are a common source of stress.
Finding ways to limit your commitments during the holidays is helpful because it is such a busy time.
The experts say it also helps to be realistic about family relationships.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has reported the state’s first flu-related deaths of the current flu season.
The department said Friday that two people, both over 65, have died from flu-related causes. One was from an area covered by the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department and the other was from the North Central District Health Department region that includes the cities of Valentine, O’Neill and Neligh.
Last season, 90 people died of the flu in Nebraska. Iowa state health officials say no flu-related deaths have been reported in Iowa yet this season.
Health officials say the very young, the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are at greater risk of complications from the respiratory illness.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Oversight questions have again returned to the center of a debate between Nebraska Probation Administration officials and the inspector general’s child welfare office.
Nebraska Ombudsman Marshall Lux contacted state senators last month over concerns that the Probation Administration won’t allow Child Welfare Inspector General Julie Rogers to investigate juvenile justice cases as she sees fit, the Lincoln Journal Star reported . He said that Rogers’ investigations of death and serious injuries are about protecting vulnerable children and preventing future tragedies.
There are areas where legislative oversight of the Probation Administration can be appropriate since the agency supervises hundreds of children under the state’s authority and is responsible for spending millions of taxpayer dollars, Lux said.
“We can’t have children dying and being sexually abused, among all the other terrible things that could happen, and not be trying to learn from it,” Lux said. “We can’t undo what’s happened, but we can try to learn from it and make the system better.”
But the Probation Administration has offered limited cooperation with Rogers, according to Lux.
Probation Administration officials have directed staff not to respond to any communication from Rogers, and even cancelled meetings that Rogers had arranged related to an investigation.
Such barriers will seriously inhibit Rogers’ ability to conduct meaningful investigations into child deaths and injuries, Lux said.
State Court Administrator Corey Steel said that the inspector general’s attempts to investigate and question judge’s orders, or lack thereof, raises “grave constitutional concerns.”
He recently said that the Probation Administration office will respond to communication requests by Rogers.
Lux said that if the on-again, off-again cooperation with the inspector general continues, then he recommends repealing the law that gives the inspector general oversight of Probation Administration. Lux anticipates another bill to propose moving juvenile justice services back to the Department of Health and Human Services, which has a long record of cooperating with the inspector general.
What started as an arrest for a probation warrant, ended with a North Platte man facing numerous felony charges.
On Friday, at around 9:10 a.m., an officer with the North Platte Police Department was on regular patrol when he observed 28-year-old Bradley Fletcher driving in a vehicle in the area of Francis and Dewey Streets.
The officer was aware that Fletcher had an active Lincoln County warrant for violating the terms of his probation, and conducted a traffic stop in the 2100 block of South Jeffers Street.
The officer approached the vehicle and spoke to Fletcher and his passenger, 24-year-old Allysun Fletcher, before opening the door and asking Bradley to step out of the vehicle.
Instead of complying with the officer’s command, Bradley fled the scene, injuring the officer’s hand in the process.
A short pursuit ensued, but the officer made the decision to terminate the pursuit due to high pedestrian traffic in the area.
Another officer who was in the area observed the vehicle a few blocks away and reported that Bradley was driving recklessly and disregarding the safety of pedestrians and other vehicles. Again the pursuit was terminated for the safety of the public.
After learning that the Fletchers live in a residence in the 600 block of North Garfield Avenue, officers responded to that location and made contact with Allysun, but she would not open the door. Allysun denied that Bradley was in the residence.
Officers obtained a search warrant and made forcible entry into the residence, at which time Bradley fled out of a window and was pursued on foot.
He was apprehended about a block away and was arrested and transported to the Lincoln County Detention Center.
Bradley was charged with flight to avoid arrest, a Class IV felony, 2nd-degree assault on an officer, a Class II felony, and misdemeanor charges of willful reckless driving, resisting arrest and no operator’s license, an infraction.
Allysun was cited for being an accessory to a felony and harboring a fugitive, both misdemeanors.
LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A man charged with murder in south-central Nebraska’s Dawson County has taken a plea deal.
Station KRVN reports that 42-year-old Jose Regalado-Mendez pleaded guilty Thursday to manslaughter and use of a weapon to commit a felony. He had been charged with first-degree murder in the October 2016 slaying of 37-year-old Jose Hernandez. Prosecutors lowered the charge in exchange for Regalado-Mendez’s plea. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 7.
Prosecutors say Regalado-Mendez shot Hernandez and hid the body near a farmhouse north of Lexington. The remains were found Dec. 12, 2016.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s newest state travel guide mistakenly features a picture of a Christmas celebration at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri.
