(AP) — Gov. Dave Heineman has signed a bill that will have Nebraska join forces with Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas in fighting wildfires.
Heineman announced Friday that he has designated Al Berndt, assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, to represent Nebraska in the Great Plains Interstate Fire Compact. Heineman approved the bill earlier this week.
The compact lets member states share their firefighters and equipment in an emergency without going through the federal government. The compact requires each state to choose a person who is responsible for forest fire control.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Al Davis of Hyannis, says pooling the states’ resources could lead to faster response times in remote and hard-to-reach areas of Nebraska.
(AP) — Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman says he plans to sign a bill that would require some health insurers to offer coverage for autism screenings and therapy.
Heineman will hold a public bill signing on Monday along with autism advocates at the Capitol. Insurance plans under the new law would cover up to 25 hours per week of behavioral health treatment, and insured children would continue to qualify for coverage until they turn 21 years old.
Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln says he introduced the bill because he has seen the benefits the treatment can provide for children.
Certain insurance plans will be exempt from the autism requirement, including those that are sold in the individual and small group markets under the new federal health care marketplace.
(AP) — The federal government is starting a new program to help monitor and possibly control the spread of a virus that has killed millions of pigs since showing up in the U.S. last year.
The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, believed to be from China, causes severe diarrhea in newborn piglets, who die from dehydration.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday it is stepping up efforts by requiring farmers to report infections and labs where farmers send tissue and fecal samples to report positive tests.
Farms that suffer an outbreak also will have to participate in a program to help control the spread of the disease
Previously, the USDA and the nation’s pork industry tracked the disease with voluntary reports from the labs.
Family members of the President of First National Bank North Platte were injured in an accident on Interstate 80 Thursday night.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, a 2011 GMC Yukon, driven by 16-year-old Hope Wilke, was headed east, at around 8:13 p.m., when it went across the median, slid sideways and collided with the trailer of a westbound semi driven by 24-year-old Benjamin Wheeler, of Filer, Idaho, about two miles west of Paxton.
Hope Wilke, her mother, 51-year-old Sarah Wilke, and a five year old child were transported to Great Plains Regional Medical Center with unknown injuries.
Authorities say Wheeler was uninjured.
A minivan, driven by 54-year-old Xue Xheng Duan of New York, New York, was struck by debris. A passenger in Duan’s vehicle complained of neck pain and was treated and released from an Ogallala hospital.
The Yukon passengers’ husband and father, Greg Wilke, is the President of First National Bank in North Platte.
Two North Platte woman have been jailed on warrants following a traffic stop.
According to Officer Rodney Brown, at around 1:30 a.m. on Friday, an officer on patrol witnessed a silver Pontiac Grand Prix without license plates and initiated a traffic stop near 2nd Street and Cottonwood Avenue.
The officer did observe that the vehicle had in-transit tags, but they were expired.
Contact was made with the driver, 41-year-old Latonya Alexander, aka Tyan, aka Campbell.
The officer discovered that Tyan had an active Lincoln County warrant for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Brown said the officer also suspected that Tyan may be under the influence of alcohol and conducted a DUI investigation, which determined that she was not intoxicated.
A Lincoln County Deputy and K9 were then summoned to the scene and conducted a sniff search of the vehicle. The K9 indicated that the odor of narcotics was present in the vehicle.
A subsequent search revealed drug paraphernalia commonly used to smoke marijuana and trace amounts of marijuana.
Tyan was jailed on the warrant and cited for no proof of ownership, expired in-transits, no valid registration, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Brown said officers also had probable cause to arrest a passenger in Tyan’s car, 27-year-old Trisha Willimas, for theft.
Brown said the probable cause stemmed from a theft complaint filed on April 15, by the staff of Premier Rental Purchase, 105 North Jeffers. Staff at Premier Rental alleged that Williams rented approximately $2,300 worth of electronics, then attempted to pawn them.
After an employee contacted Williams to return the items, she failed to do so and law enforcement was contacted.
Williams was also jailed on a charge of felony theft by deception.
(AP) — A newly released report says Nebraska’s preliminary unemployment rate inched up a tenth of a point to hit 3.7 percent in March, compared with 3.6 percent in February.
The rate is two-tenths of a point under the 3.9 percent the state posted in March 2013. The state Department of Labor released the employment data on Friday.
The new Nebraska figure remained well below the national unemployment rate of 6.7 percent in March.
(AP) — The Minatare Village Board and the Gering City Council have accepted an agreement regarding the Scotts Bluff County Communications Center.
Their decisions earlier this week means they’ll join the six other county communities in funding upgrades at the dispatch center.
Gering and Minatare had gone to court in December to ensure the county wouldn’t stop providing them with emergency dispatch services as they squabbled with the county over some points in the agreement. The two communities soon dropped their lawsuit and resumed talks.
Today: Sunny, with a high near 73. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 14 mph increasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. South southeast wind 11 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 71. Breezy, with a southeast wind 6 to 11 mph becoming northeast 16 to 21 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph.
Saturday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 46. Northeast wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.
Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 70. North northeast wind 6 to 9 mph.
Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 44.
We’ve heard it countless times, “North Platte needs a Hobby Lobby.”
Soon, wishful thinkers may see their shopping dreams become reality.
Hobby Lobby has signed a letter of intent to build a store in North Platte.
However, don’t get too excited. Developers and city leaders say there are still a lot of pieces of the puzzle that must come together before the deal is final. On the top of that list is funding and a building site.
Hobby Lobby stores are a chain of retail arts and crafts stores based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and were formally called Hobby Lobby Creative Centers. The stores are wholly owned by the corporation and not a franchise chain.
Residents of North Platte are extremely excited about the potential new business citing job creation, less trips to Kearney and, quite simply, a great place to by crafty goods.
Officials say Hobby Lobby could potentially be ready for business by the Fall of 2015…if everything goes as planned.
Hobby Lobby currently has Nebraska locations in Grand Island, Kearney, Lincoln, Norfolk, Omaha and Papillion.
(AP) — Gov. Dave Heineman has signed a bill that will have Nebraska join forces with Colorado, Wyoming and the Dakotas in fighting wildfires.
