(AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail for writing more than $1,200 in bad checks to buy a lot of pizza.
Damaun P. Goods was sentenced Tuesday. He has served at least 180 days in jail, and he may finish his sentence soon with good time.
Goods pleaded guilty to theft after he was accused of writing nearly 30 bad checks to several businesses that serve pizza. Police say he wrote the checks from his closed account, as well as one that belonged to a relative.
Goods says he used the checks because he needed to eat and his oven didn’t work.
(AP) — The Jefferson County Commission has approved a special use permit for construction of a wind farm.
The commission approval was unanimous on Tuesday for the Volkswind project. The permit will allow installation of 43 towers that will run along the north side of U.S. Highway 136 between Jansen and Harbine.
Volkswind is a German company with a U.S. office in Portland, Ore. It has been planning the wind farm in Jefferson County and across into Gage County since at least 2009.
Officials say the project calls for production of around 100 megawatts of electricity.
(AP) — The number of homeless people in the U.S. has declined for a third straight year.
That’s according to a new government survey. The Obama administration says the drop is due in part to more people getting government vouchers that help pay housing costs.
The survey says more than 610,000 people were homeless last year. That was down from more than 630,000 the previous year — a 4 percent drop.
The study by the Housing and Urban Development Department counted people at a given point in time last January.
The number of homeless military veterans was under 58,000, down 8 percent from the previous year. The number of chronically homeless people declined 7 percent, to about 93,000.
Since 2010, the number of homeless people has dropped 6 percent.
(AP) — Authorities say a private ambulance with an 88-year-old patient inside has been involved in a crash in Lincoln, though injuries are not life-threatening.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says a Midwest Medical Transport Co. ambulance was taking the patient from a hospital to her home Thursday when the crash occurred on a part of Nebraska Highway 2. The ambulance driver encountered slick roads and lost control of the vehicle.
The ambulance ended up on its side, and traffic was detoured for about an hour. The three people in the ambulance were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, and they have been released.
(AP) — An 85-year-old American veteran of the Korean War has been detained in North Korea since last month.
The son of Merrill Newman told the San Jose Mercury News on Wednesday his father was taken off a plane set to leave North Korea on Oct. 26. Jeffrey Newman said no reason was given.
Newman, from Palo Alto, Calif., was traveling with Bob Hamrdla, who was allowed to return. In a statement, Hamrdla said it was “a terrible misunderstanding” and asked the North Korean government to quickly release his friend.
The U.S. State Department wouldn’t confirm the detention, and North Korea’s state media has yet to comment.
The detention comes about a year after North Korea detained another American. The State Department recently warned Americans against travelling to the country.
North Korea has detained at least six other Americans since 2009.
(AP) — A 28-year-old man who used a wrench to assault another Beatrice man has been given 20 to 30 years in prison.
Timothy Denton also was sentenced on Wednesday to six to eight years in prison for a burglary in a separate case. The sentences will be served at the same time.
Authorities say Denton got into an argument with Cody Williams in April 2012. Police say Denton ran after Williams and threw a 10-inch wrench at him. It struck Williams’ head, fracturing his skull.
Williams has since recovered but suffers migraines and emotion stress from the assault.
(AP) — Three years ago, the nation’s top public health agency picked its key battles. Now, its first report card on reaching those goals gives it a grade of pretty good but needs improvement.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s seven “winnable battles” set specific goals for 2015 for things like reducing adult smoking and childhood obesity.
The CDC issued a progress report on Thursday and officials say they are mostly pleased.
The good news includes continued declines in car accident deaths, teen births and infections that spread in hospitals. But more work needs to be done on smoking, obesity and food poisoning.
(AP) — A 39-year-old man who’s been given 35 to 45 years in a Nebraska prison admitted he had sex with a teenage girl and said he didn’t do anything wrong
Court records say 39-year-old Todd Tackwell admitted on Tuesday that he broke the law and had what he described as a consensual relationship with the girl, starting in 2004 when she was 14. Under Nebraska law, people 19 and over cannot have sexual contact with people under 16.
In September Tackwell pleaded no contest to sexual assault of a minor. Authorities say Tackwell had rented the basement of the Lincoln house where she lived.
He was convicted of a similar crime in Pleasanton, Calif., in April 2012. She testified against him.
(AP) — New figures from the Washington State Patrol show that more drivers have tested positive for marijuana since the state legalized the drug last year.
In the first six months of 2013, the patrol’s crime lab says, 745 people tested positive for marijuana. Typically there are about 1,000 positive pot tests on drivers in a full year.
Patrol spokesman Bob Calkins says it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s been a rash of people driving high. He says troopers are looking harder for drivers operating under the influence of pot, and they might be ordering more marijuana blood tests.
Of the 745 people who tested positive for marijuana in the first half of this year, the state patrol says a majority tested above the legal limit of 5 nanograms of active THC per milliliter of blood. The exact number was 420.
According to John Westman, Merrick County Chief Deputy, the Merrick County Attorney filed criminal charges on Wednesday.
Christopher Hajek has been charged with motor vehicle homicide, a class II felony, “for causing the death of another while engaged in the operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.”
Westman said an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant has been filed and, if granted, will be served upon Hajek’s release from the hospital.
He said the crash is still being investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol, Merrick County Sheriff’s Office, and Merrick County Attorney’s Office.
No further details about the crash have been released.
A 22-year-old Columbus woman has been identified as the victim of a collision near Clarks.
The Merrick County Sheriff’s Office said the victim was Amanda Asche. She was pronounced dead at the scene of Monday night’s accident along U.S. Highway 30.
Authorities say Asche was headed east on the highway when her vehicle was hit by a pickup driven by 30-year-old Christopher Hajek, of Marquette. He was taken to a hospital.
Investigators believe alcohol played a factor in the crash.
Asche was a student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and planned on graduating next May. Asche and her husband, Bryan, had just gotten married in June.
*NOTE: The Associated Press reported Thursday morning that Hajek had been charged with motor vehicular homicide. The Post has not received confirmation of this from the Merrick County Sheriff’s Office.
(AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail for writing more than $1,200 in bad checks to buy a lot of pizza.
