NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – For the third straight year, North Platte Regional Airport will miss the passenger threshold for $1 million in federal funding.
Airport manager Mike Sharkey said that if that airport had reached the mark of 10,000 departing passengers by this weekend it could have qualified as a primary airport. He says that allows such airports to automatically receive Federal Aviation Administration grants that would pay for up to 95 percent of project costs.
He says passenger numbers are a little over 9,000 for the year, up 3 percent from last year.
Western Nebraska Regional Airport in Scottsbluff also reports that it fell short of its passenger goal for 2011 and will lose out on the $1 million in federal funding.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is encouraging boat owners to renew their registrations before an end-of-year deadline.
Boat registrations are issued for three-year periods, and expire on Dec. 31 of the third year. The commission says in a statement that early December is a good time to renew. Owners can get renewals at their county treasurer’s office or through OutdoorNebraska.org/boating.
Boat owners must obtain new registrations from their county treasurer. More information is available in the 2012 Boating Guide, available where Game and Parks Commission permits are sold.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The maker of video game consoles seized as illegal gambling devices has won a court battle with Nebraska state regulators.
The Nebraska Supreme Court issued a ruling Friday that state officials cannot ban the Bank Shot video games that started appearing in bars in 2008.
The Bank Shot gaming devices consist of a 19-inch touchscreen video monitor that offers puzzles and the possibility of cash prizes.
The court ruled that the video game now qualifies primarily as a game of skill, and not chance, because of modifications made by game-maker American Amusements. The ruling says as many as 430 Bank Shot games were placed in 143 different Nebraska cities.
The ruling says Bank Shot has been played nearly 66 million times as of February 2010, with 50 jackpot prizes awarded.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A federal judge in Nebraska has blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from imposing fines on Union Pacific related to drug smuggling on trains that enter the country from Mexico.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon ruled Monday that U.S. officials exceeded their authority with the fines and seizures of railroad equipment.
Union Pacific filed a lawsuit challenging whether it’s proper for U.S. officials to impose the penalties. Government officials say the railroad should verify what it brings into the U.S. Union Pacific chairman and CEO Jim Young says the company has invested tens of millions of dollars in security technology and will continue working with federal officials.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

 

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – A 32-year-old Hershey man has pleaded not guilty to a charge of felony child abuse.
Domingo Carrizales was arrested after his 2-year-old child was taken to Great Plains Medical Center in North Platte.
Authorities say the child has possible brain damage from being struck in the head.
Carrizales’ next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 23.

 

 

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – Master Gardener training is scheduled to begin next month in North Platte.
The series of classes begins Jan. 24 and is offered by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension. The classes will be held at the UNL Lincoln-McPherson County Extension Office.
Different topics will be taught each Tuesday evening during the series, which ends March 27.
Among the topics are plant diseases and identification, tree problems, weed identification and soil management.
The $150 fee pays for the training, a Master Gardener name badge, a T-shirt, the Master Gardener Notebook and the UNL Extension Turfgrass Handbook.
To register, send an e-mail to [email protected] or call 308-696-6781. Completed registration packets are due by Jan. 17.

 

GOTHENBURG, Neb. (AP) – Money is being raised to erect a Pony Express monument in Gothenburg.
The Nebraska division of the National Pony Express Association is leading the project. President Lyle Gronewold says the completed statue will go in Gothenburg’s Ehmen Park, which is home to a preserved Pony Express station.
The life-size statue of a horse and rider will be created by Cambridge artist Gary Ginther.
The cost of the project is expected to be $145,000. About a third of that is needed before Ginther can start work. Gronewold says he expects to raise that much in about six months.

 

 

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – Four people charged after police found two boys locked in a dog kennel in their home have pleaded not guilty.
The boys’ mother, Ashly Clark, and three others – Lacy Beyer, Bryson Eyten and Samantha Eyten – are each charged with two counts of felony child abuse and two counts of false imprisonment. The trial date for all four is Jan. 31.
The four were arrested on Oct. 24 after police found two boys, ages 3 and 5, inside a wire dog kennel inside a filthy trailer. Clark told officers she put the boys in the kennel at night to keep them from climbing out a window.

 

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) – A North Platte man has been sentenced to a year in jail for being drunk when he drove his lawn mower on a city street on his way to a liquor store.
Donald Wymer was sentenced Tuesday in a Lincoln County court to 365 days in the county jail for a third-offense drunken driving conviction. The 51-year-old Wymer’s driver’s license also was suspended for 15 years, and he was ordered to pay a $600 fine.
Police say an officer saw Wymer drive to liquor store on his riding lawn mower.
After he left the liquor store, a Nebraska State Patrol trooper stopped him in a residential neighborhood, where he failed a field sobriety test.