KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — A group has been formed to raise money and other support for The Archway museum in Kearney.

The Kearney museum spans Interstate 80 and has exhibits that commemorate the Oregon, Mormon and California pioneer trails, and it also honors the nation’s highway systems and railroads.

The 18-member Archway Society was formed from the Arch Forward committee, which raised $140,000 to help The Archway settle its bankruptcy last September. The Archway settled more than $20 million in debt by paying a total of $100,000 to bondholders and vendors.

The Archway Society wants to raise $100,000 in its first year to pay for maintenance, improvements and special events.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Board of Education is fleshing out the new system framework for holding public schools accountable.

The Department of Education would use student assessment tests, graduation rates and other data to rank the schools as excellent, great, good, or needs improvement.

The department will designate the state’s three lowest-performing schools in the “needs improvement” category as priority schools that would receive extra help from a state intervention team.

Officials have said the accountability framework will make school performance more transparent to the public.

A North Platte man has been charged with sexually assaulting a young boy.

At around 10:03 p.m., on August 5, an officer with the North Platte Police Department responded to the 200 block of South Cottonwood on the report of a sexual assault of a child.

The officer spoke to the child, who was under the age of 16, and his parents, who alleged that the child at been at the home of 28-year-old Scott Shoemaker.  They reported that Shoemaker had sexually penetrated the boy approximately three weeks earlier at his residence.

On August 7, the child was interviewed at the Bridge of Hope Child Advocacy Center.  Following the interview, investigators determined that there was probable cause to arrest Shoemaker and charge him with 1st degree sexual assault of a child.

According to Investigator John Deal, Shoemaker was arrested without incident on Thursday and jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.

 

 

LOS ANGELES (AP)–Smokey Bear is turning 70 on Saturday — but don’t bring any candles to the party, please.

As the friendly, huggable bear with the brimmed hat and shovel enters his golden years, he’s burning up Twitter. But his message of fire prevention through personal responsibility hasn’t changed that much.

Smokey was created in 1944, when TV was in its infancy.

Now, he has more than 300,000 friends on Facebook and 24,000 Twitter followers.

Smokey’s classic slogan — “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” — changed to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” in 2001.

That’s because wildfires in urban areas were becoming a bigger threat than remote forest fires.

Smokey will celebrate a day early on Friday with a party at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Organizers are finishing last-minute preparations for this year’s Kool-Aid Days festival in Hastings.

This year will be the 17th annual festival, marking the 87th birthday of Nebraska’s official drink. The festival honors Edwin Perkins’ 1927 invention of Kool-Aid in Hastings. It begins Friday and runs through Sunday.

Highlights on the schedule include a parade, boat races, Kool-Aid After Dark at the Hastings Museum and the world’s largest Kool-Aid stand.

• Today: Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 83. South southeast wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
• Tonight: Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
• Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. South southeast wind 6 to 13 mph.
• Saturday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. South wind 5 to 11 mph becoming east after midnight.
• Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. West northwest wind 6 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon.
• Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 60.
• Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 83.
• Monday Night: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 60.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Beatrice man is asking the Nebraska Supreme Court to intervene in the state’s decision to return him to prison after officials determined he was released too early.

40-year-old Kena Jackson is objecting to his return to prison. In documents filed Thursday, his lawyer Jerry Soucie notes Jackson was returned to prison without going before a judge or receiving a hearing.

Soucie says Jackson had worked full-time since being released from prison Nov. 23 after serving time for a drug conviction. Although he was eligible for parole in November, officials released him with no supervision.

Jackson is now being held at a McCook work camp.

He was among 45 inmates sought by the state after media reports of improper sentences.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has confirmed mountain lion presence in Alliance through video taken on the evening of Aug. 6 near the city landfill.

Authorities are attempting to remove the animal and request that people remain outside of the landfill area.

Game and Parks requests that anyone who observes a mountain lion in Alliance immediately contact the Alliance Police Department, the Box Butte County Sherriff’s Office, or Game and Parks.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new federal report says consumer spending in Nebraska rebounded in the years after the recession and outpaced the national average.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis says per-capita spending in Nebraska jumped 12.5 percent between 2009 and 2012. The national average was 10.7 percent during that period.

The state-by-state breakdown shows Nebraska’s per-capita spending was third among seven states in the Plains. The highest growth in the region and nationally was in North Dakota, where consumer spending grew 28 percent in the midst of that state’s oil boom.

Nebraska also trailed South Dakota, but came in higher than Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri.

Spending in Nebraska dipped slightly in 2009 compared to the previous year, but then resumed its growth.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A retired farmer and cattle feeder is resigning from the Nebraska Natural Resources Commission.

Dick Mercer has represented statewide groundwater interests on the commission since 2008. He was elected to the commission in 1992 to represent Nebraska’s Middle Platte Basin.

Mercer served on the Central Platte Natural Resources District for 40 years, the Nebraska Environmental Trust for 10 years and the Groundwater Foundation for 10 years. He also was a member of several water task forces.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman says Mercer has been “an outstanding and respected leader” on water issues.

Mercer will officially leave office the commission on Aug. 15.