An Endangered Missing Advisory has been activated to determine the whereabouts of Vivian Svehla.
The Harlan County Sheriff’s Office is attempting to locate Vivian Svehla, a 79-year-old white female. She was last seen wearing black pants, a white shirt, and a maroon jacket. Svehla is 5 feet tall, 182 pounds with white hair and blue eyes. Svehla is missing from Alma, NE and suffers from dementia. If you have information about Vivian Svehla please call 911 or the Harlan County Sheriff’s office at 308-928-2147.
This advisory is for the following State Patrol Troop Areas: Troop D
The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) and Scottsbluff Police Department Bomb Squads have disposed of 17 blasting caps that were found in a Box Butte County residence.
The Box Butte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a rural residence after receiving a report that 17 silver blasting caps had been found in a shed.
The caps were safely removed from the shed by sheriff’s deputies, who then alerted NSP to the situation. Troopers and officers were able to render the devices safe using counter charges.
“Explosive devices are extremely dangerous, especially if you’re not sure where or when they came from,” said Lt. Jim DeFreece, Commander of the NSP Bomb Squad. “If you ever find a device like this, or any other that may be explosive, call 911 and alert your local law enforcement agency immediately.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Testimony in a trial for a former Nebraska inmate’s lawsuit against the state over a 2015 prison riot was cut short Wednesday, when a judge declared a mistrial after recusing himself.
Lancaster County Judge John Colborn recused himself following two days of testimony, determining his potential conflict of interest in John Wizinsky’s case. Wizinsky had taken the stand Monday in his civil lawsuit over a riot three years ago at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution that left two other inmates dead and more than $2 million in damage.
Wizinsky, who sued the state upon his release in 2016, testified that he feared for his life as inmates took over a housing unit from prison guards, started fires and attacked other inmates. He also alleges he suffered from nightmares, panic attacks and increased post-traumatic stress symptoms from witnessing an inmate nearly beaten to death during the May 10, 2015, riot.
Wizinsky’s lawsuit claims that the state was negligent in failing to provide reasonable protection for inmates.
Colborn said he didn’t realize his conflict of interest until he heard testimony regarding the Tecumseh prison’s overcrowding and staffing problems.
Wizinsky’s attorney, Joy Shiffermiller, claimed that overcrowding at the state prison and a staffing shortage were factors that led to prison guards abandoning areas of the prison during the riot, leaving inmates to fend for themselves.
State Corrections Director Scott Frakes also testified Tuesday about the prison’s staffing issues.
Colborn said he has knowledge and personal involvement in justice reform for prison overcrowding. Colborn served on the state’s Justice Reinvestment Committee and attended governor’s advisory meetings on the subject.
A new judge will be appointed to preside over the trial, but there’s no set timeline.
Wizinksy’s attorney Shiffermiller expressed disappointment that her client’s trial will have to start over.
Wizinsky’s trial was the first civil case to be heard in connection to the 2015 riot, which was followed by another riot at the Tecumseh facility in 2017 that also left two inmates dead.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana judge says a Canadian company may continue preliminary work on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline while his order blocking construction is in effect.
U.S. District Judge Brian Morris said Wednesday he will clarify his Nov. 8 injunction to allow TransCanada to conduct engineering and planning activities, confirm shipper contracts, meet with different groups and acquire equipment, permits and land rights.
On Nov. 8, Morris blocked TransCanada’s permit to build the pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands through a half-dozen U.S. states to the Gulf of Mexico.
The judge ordered a new environmental review after saying the Trump administration had not fully considered the effects of the pipeline.
TransCanada had argued it wants to keep that preliminary work on schedule that that it can be prepared to start pipeline construction as early as mid-February.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Health officials have confirmed the state’s first case of a rare, polio-like illness in an eastern Nebraska child.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced the diagnosis Wednesday. The department said the child, who lives in the jurisdiction of the Sarpy/Cass Health Department, was hospitalized and later released. No other information about the child has been released.
Another case reported in Douglas County as likely being acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, was dismissed after a thorough review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition can cause paralysis in the arms and legs and affects mainly children.
An increase in cases nationwide started in 2014. The department says from August 2014 through October 2018, there have been 440 confirmed cases of AFM in the U.S.
TECUMSEH, Neb. (AP) – The family of a man strangled by his cellmate at a Nebraska prison has sued the state, the prisons director and prison staff.
Twenty-two-year-old Terry Berry was killed in April 2017 by cellmate Patrick Schroeder, who told investigators he killed Berry for being too talkative. In June Schroeder was sentenced to death.
A federal lawsuit filed Monday in Omaha says the prisons department and prison officials violated Berry’s civil rights. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for Berry’s pain and suffering as well as punitive damages.
A companion state lawsuit was filed Monday in Johnson County District Court in Tecumseh, where the prison is situated. It alleges the prison had pervasive overcrowding and understaffing issues that increased the risk of assaults.
State and departmental representatives don’t comment on pending litigation. The state hasn’t yet filed responses to the lawsuits.
GERING, Neb. (AP) — A grand jury will examine the death of a jail inmate at a western Nebraska hospital.
Scotts Bluff County Attorney Dave Eubanks says 23-year-old Corey Green died Friday at Regional West Medical Center. He’d been arrested earlier in the day on a warrant and booked into jail. Eubanks says Green later complained about a medical problem, so he was taken to the hospital, where he died. An autopsy was ordered.
Nebraska law requires that a grand jury examine the death of anyone in custody or while being apprehended.
Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) seized 78 pounds of marijuana and arrested two people in two recent traffic stops on Interstate 80 near North Platte.
The first traffic stop occurred on Sunday, November 18, when NSP received a report of a Chevrolet Impala speeding and failing to maintain a lane while traveling eastbound on I-80. A trooper located the vehicle and made contact with the driver at exit 179. During the encounter, an NSP K9 detected the presence of a controlled substance inside the vehicle.
Troopers searched the vehicle and found 48 pounds of high grade marijuana concealed in luggage. The driver, Doreen Cahill, 27, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, was arrested for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp. Cahill was lodged in Lincoln County Jail.
Information on the November 18 traffic stop could not be released previously because of an ongoing investigation.
The second traffic stop occurred at approximately 1:10 p.m. Monday, November 26, when a trooper observed an eastbound Chevrolet Equinox fail to signal near mile marker 189 on I-80. During the traffic stop, the trooper became suspicious of criminal activity. A search was conducted and revealed 30 pounds of high grade marijuana. The driver and passenger were both arrested and interviewed.
Following interviews, the driver was released. The passenger, a 17-year-old juvenile from California, was lodged in Lincoln County Jail for possession of marijuana – more than one pound, possession with intent to deliver, and no drug tax stamp.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a pilot was unhurt when his landing gear collapsed as he set down his small plane at North Platte Regional Airport in western Nebraska.
The incident occurred around 10 a.m. Monday. Airport manager Sam Seafeldt says the gear collapsed after the single-engine plane touched down, causing the plane to slide along its belly.
The pilot’s name wasn’t released. He’d flown the Beechcraft Bonanza to North Platte from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska inmate has been sentenced to an additional 80 to 140 years in prison for charges related to his escape in 2016.
Lancaster County District Judge Andrew Jacobsen sentenced 54-year-old Timothy Clausen to the lengthy term Monday after his convictions for escape, theft and fleeing to avoid arrest.
Clausen already was serving a more than 50-year sentence for first-degree sexual assault of a child.
Clausen and inmate Armon Dixon escaped from the Lincoln Correctional Center by hiding in a laundry cart as it was loaded onto a truck and then punching a hole in the truck’s roof. They later stole a vehicle and were chased by Nebraska State Patrol troopers.
Officers stopped chasing the vehicle but it crashed into a parked SUV.
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