OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that Creighton University’s medical school must provide a deaf student with special equipment and interpreters to allow him to finish his last two years of medical school.

But the judge deemed that the university does not have to reimburse Michael Argenyi (ar-GEN’-ee) for more than $100,000 of his own money he spent in his first two years for those aids.

Argenyi was accepted to Creighton’s medical school in 2008 after disclosing that he was hearing-impaired and requesting accommodations for his disability to allow him to follow lectures and communicate with patients.

He sued in 2009, after leaving the school when the university refused his requests for interpreters — even though he offered to pay for them himself.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 35-year-old woman who escaped from a Lancaster County jail guard in August and got caught a day later when she sought medical help for chest pains has been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Corrine Kucera was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to an escape charge and attempt to possess the painkiller hydrocodone.

Kucera escaped early on Aug. 7 when she got out of a correctional van and ran while she was being transported from a minimum-security facility to the Lancaster County Jail. She then called for an ambulance from an auto repair shop the next morning.

She ran when police showed up, but she was arrested in a nearby field.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A northeastern Nebraska man has died following a fall at a Sioux City church.

The Rev. John Woodford says 70-year-old Gerald Dean Wacker, of Walthill, Neb., was helping to build the garage for Good News Baptist Church when he fell Tuesday.

Woodford says he did not see the accident, which happened about 1 p.m. Tuesday, and did not know exactly how it occurred.

Wacker was taken to a Sioux City hospital, where he later died.

Woodford said Wacker was a generous and humble man who was quick to offer help to others.

A funeral service is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at the church.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — York County Attorney Candace Dick, who also serves as the county coroner, says smoke inhalation killed an elderly McCool Junction couple who died in a house fire last month.

The investigation into the deaths of Charles and Juanita Bailey, both in their 80s, is now closed.

Neighbors noticed smoke coming from the Baileys’ home near McCool Junction in southeast Nebraska on the morning of Nov. 2.

Arriving firefighters found a small fire in the home’s living room and the Baileys’ bodies in a bedroom.

Investigators believe the fire started accidentally overnight and was just smoldering when neighbors arrived.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha fire investigators say a mobile home blaze the killed two children was likely caused by space heaters.

The Omaha Fire Investigation Unit says Friday that space heaters were used throughout the home, including in the living room, where the fire began.

Investigators determined a smoke detector was in the home’s kitchen but wasn’t working because it lacked a battery.

Police say 3-year-old Gabriel Rodriguez and his 3-month-old brother Brandon Rodriguez died in the Wednesday morning fire.

The boys’ 18-year-old mother, Champaine Harn, and their sister, Adrianna Rodriguez, remained hospitalized but were expected to survive.

Witnesses said a neighbor tried to rescue the boys but couldn’t make it past the intense flames.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 19-year-old woman has received a 45-day jail sentence for sneaking onto a Lincoln Catholic high school campus and posing naked for her adult website.

A judge on Friday sentenced Valerie Dodds to 30 days in jail for trespassing and 15 days for public nudity. Prosecutors say Dodds made various poses on the football field at Lincoln Pius X in May and then posted the photos online.

Dodds says on her site that the photo shoot was revenge against students and teachers at her former school who gave her grief when she shared her plans to go into pornography.

Judge Thomas Fox ordered Dodds to serve the sentences consecutively. Her attorney, Chad Wythers, says he has already filed an appeal.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police have arrested two men including a Northwest High football player in connection with two separate homicides.

Police say they arrested 18-year-old Mitchell Wynne and charged him with first-degree murder. He’s alleged to have shot Darnell Haynes on July 14.

Wynne, a high school senior, was arrested Friday afternoon at a residence. Police Capt. Kerry Neumann says Wynne and Haynes were acquaintances.

The case was not yet entered into court records and it wasn’t apparent whether he had an attorney.

In a separate case, police arrested 35-year old John R. Moniz Friday and charged him with first-degree murder in the slaying of Delbert Freemont Jr. whose body was found Dec. 9.

Court records did not show an attorney yet assigned to his case.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old Lincoln man is among the 20 honored with medals for heroism by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.

Brandon Wemhoff was announced as one of the winners Friday for saving a 54-year-old woman from assault during a May 2011 attempted robbery at a Lincoln drugstore.

Wemhoff followed and confronted a masked man who ran back to the pharmacy and demanded drugs. The man turned and pointed a weapon at Wemhoff, who recognized that the weapon was really a BB handgun. Wemhoff tackled the man to the floor and held him for officers.

The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, based in Pittsburgh, says its mission is to recognize people who perform heroic acts in civilian life.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has denied unemployment benefits to a former Howard County attorney who was appointed to fill a vacancy, but lost his position when another lawyer was elected to the office.

The court released a ruling Friday that says Robert Sivick was not eligible because he served in a major advisory or policy-making position without tenure.

According to the ruling, Howard County hired Sivick as its interim county attorney in 2007. Sivick ran for the office in 2010, and lost. He filed for unemployment benefits, but the Nebraska Department of Labor denied his claim.

Sivick now works as Grand Island’s city attorney. He also is a former Omaha City Council member and member of the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A woman bitten by a Lincoln police dog during an overnight training exercise at a city park last year has settled her lawsuit against the city.

A City Council resolution shows that the city settled last month with Krystle Park for just more than $43,805.

Lancaster County District Judge Karen Flowers then dismissed Park’s lawsuit on Tuesday.

Park filed the lawsuit last year after a police dog, which was in the park around 1 a.m. with his handler for training exercises, attacked her.

Police had said they searched the park to make sure it was empty before beginning the training, but that Park was hiding beneath a tree. Park said she was hiding to flee a threatening situation with another person.