LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A pickup driver was able to escape after his pickup plunged into a pond in south Lincoln.
The accident occurred a little before 9 p.m. Sunday near South 56th Street and Pine Lake Road.
Police say the northbound pickup went out of control and slid off the roadway. The pickup hit a tree that broke the driver’s side window before running onto the pond and through the ice. The driver escaped through the broken window.
BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A Texas educator has been chosen to lead Southeast Community College in Nebraska.
The college says Dr. Paul Illich is vice president for research, planning and information technology at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. Illich was selected on Friday by the Southeast Community College Board of Governors. The board’s decision is tentative, pending a background check, negotiation of a contract and final approval of the contract by the board.
Illich would begin his new work on July 1, 2014, replacing President Jack Huck, who is retiring at the end of June 2014.
The district serves 15 counties in southeast Nebraska and has campuses in Beatrice, Lincoln and Milford.
DENVER (AP) — A man who cut off his forearm to free himself after becoming trapped by a dislodged boulder in a Utah canyon is in jail after being arrested in Denver over allegations of domestic violence.
Aron Ralston was booked Sunday on charges of assault and “wrongs to minors,” which involves exposing a minor to danger. Court records show a woman, Vita Shannon, also was arrested at the same home on the same charges.
Messages left with prosecutors and Ralston’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, weren’t returned.
Ralston was hiking in 2003 when he became trapped and cut off his arm to free himself. He detailed his struggles in a book, which was adapted into the movie “127 Hours.”
Booking documents don’t indicate if Ralston or Shannon has an attorney. Both are scheduled to appear in court Monday.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A member of the University of Nebraska’s Board of Regents has resigned from his job at Bo Pelini Foundation.
Tim Clare resigned as legal counsel for Pelini’s foundation on Friday.
Clare had worked for the foundation Pelini started in 2008 since before he was elected to the Board of Regents, and he had disclosed his relationship with Nebraska’s head football coach.
Clare says he didn’t want his role at the foundation to be a distraction because of his elected office. The foundation raises money for cancer research and juvenile and adult diabetes.
Even though he said he has recused himself from any votes related to University of Nebraska-Lincoln athletics personnel.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska-Lincoln students are building cars for an upcoming competition — and then they have to eat them.
The Incredible, Edible Vehicle Competition will take place Tuesday in the Great Plains Room of the Nebraska East Union from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Students are required to make cars out of food, and nothing else. Teams will roll their cars down a sloped track to see which one travels farthest while staying in one piece. They also have to make a poster explaining how they created the car.
The students are from an introductory class on biological systems and agricultural engineering.
The food used includes vegetables, sausage, cheese and candy. This year’s competition limits each vehicle to 1,300 calories.
NEW YORK (AP) — After a New York commuter train derailment killed four people, two federal lawmakers want trains to be outfitted with cameras pointed at engineers and at the tracks.
Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut held a news conference Sunday at Grand Central Terminal, one week after the derailment in the Bronx. The Democratic lawmakers are urging the Federal Railroad Administration to implement the cameras.
The National Transportation Safety Board has suggested it.
The railroad administration hasn’t immediately responded to messages seeking comment on the idea. There’s also no immediate comment from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. It runs Metro-North, the railroad involved in the crash.
A lawyer and union leader for the derailed train’s engineer have said he briefly nodded or experienced a daze at the controls.
More than 60 people were injured.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The future of a proposed ice rink in Lincoln remain uncertain despite a $7 million pledge from a former state auditor, but the plans may become more clear when University of Nebraska officials examine the project next month.
The university’s Board of Regents is tentatively scheduled to discuss plans for the ice rink on Jan. 24.
John Breslow first announced his donation for the ice rink in 2007. At that point, the facility was slated to open in the Haymarket with two indoor ice rinks in early 2010.
But the ice rink project has languished while university and city officials focused on finishing the new Pinnacle Bank Arena for basketball and events.
CHICAGO (AP) — A 2-year-old Chicago girl’s death from a dog attack over the weekend has been ruled a homicide by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office says an autopsy determined Jah’niyah White died Saturday from injuries suffered in a dog attack at her grandfather’s home.
Jah’niyah was pronounced dead at 3:40 p.m. Saturday at Jackson Park Hospital.
Chicago Police detectives are conducting a death investigation, and state child welfare officials are conducting their own investigation of allegations of abuse.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 20-year-old Lincoln man accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl after they met on Facebook has been charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child.
Michael Del Carter was arrested Monday after investigators interviewed the girl.
The girl told police that she ran away from home in October and stayed with Carter. She told officers she and Carter had sex several times while she was staying there.
Carter remains in a Lancaster County jail on $25,000 cash bail and could not be reached for
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lancaster County judge has declared a mistrial in the assault case of an inmate accused of punching a prison guard in the face.
40-year-old Timothy Schrader does not deny punching the guard, but has maintained that he did so to protect himself after he learned of a plan by other inmates to stab him.
Schrader’s attorney says Schrader knew if he hit a guard, he would be put in segregation away from other inmates.
But prosecutors argued that his choice to punch a guard — even to ensure his own safety — was still a crime.
Jurors began deliberating the case Friday morning, and by late afternoon came back deadlocked. The judge then declared a mistrial.
