If you’ve traveled to Omaha in the last ten years, you’ve no doubt found yourself using some choice four-letter words when you hit the construction in between Lincoln and Omaha.  Good news…it’s almost done!

According to the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR), all six lanes of Interstate 80 between Nebraska’s two largest cities will be open to traffic by Friday.

The final portion of the project, which cost $400 million, between Waverly and the 56th Street exit in Lincoln will be completed this week.

NDOR spokeswoman Mary Jo Oie told the Associated Press that after this week, the speed limit for most of the stretch between Lincoln and Omaha will be 75 mph.

The project widened 42 miles of the interstate in phases over the past decade with federal funding paying most of the cost.

NDOR plans to widen I-80 between Lincoln and York to six lanes, but the project hasn’t been funded and likely won’t begin for several years.

 

(AP) — The parents of a Northern California teen fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit.

The parents of 13-year-old Andy Lopez alleged in their lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court on Monday that Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy Erick Gelhaus wrongfully shot the teen on Oct. 22 in a modest Santa Rosa neighborhood. The lawsuit says that Gelhaus and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department deprived Lopez of his civil rights and seeks unspecified damages.

Investigators have said the deputy opened fire after Lopez refused orders to drop a toy assault rifle he was carrying. The lawsuit and the parents’ attorney called Gelhaus’ actions “super reckless” and alleged that the teen was a victim of police abuse.

Attorneys for Gelhaus and the county didn’t return phone calls Monday.

(AP) — Omaha police have identified a man found dead after a fire in a vacant building in March.

Police say the man is 39-year-old Michael Leslie.

His body was found inside an elevator car on March 14 after firefighters extinguished an early-morning fire in a building near 18th and Dodge streets.

Authorities say Leslie died from smoke inhalation. Foul play is not suspected in his death.

(AP) — Authorities are investigating a two-vehicle crash that killed a Nebraska woman near York this weekend.

The York County Sheriff’s office says the accident happened shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday on Highway 34 about 2 miles west of York.

Authorities say 31-year-old Lauren Akerson of Aurora was killed in the accident. She was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Michael Krejci of Aurora.

That vehicle collided with a van Otis Newcomb of York was driving.

Krejci, Newcomb and two passengers were treated for injuries at a York hospital and released.

(AP) — Authorities from several law enforcement agencies say they chased a man who tried to rob a Papillion bank into a cornfield where he shot himself.

The 33-year-old man from Sarpy County hasn’t yet been identified.

He was taken by medical helicopter to an Omaha area hospital. His condition hasn’t been released.

Officers from Papillion, Bellevue, the Sarpy County Sheriff’s office, and the FBI responded when the suspect of an attempted robbery at the First National Bank at Shadow Lake Towne Center in Papillion was spotted just after noon Saturday.

After a high-speed car chase the man left the car and ran into a cornfield between Papillion and Bellevue. Officers on the scene reported hearing a gunshot. The man was located and airlifted from the scene.

 

 

(AP) — Authorities in eastern Nebraska have seized 230 pounds of marijuana found inside a semitrailer.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says its K-9 unit conducted a traffic stop Friday on Interstate 80.

A deputy detected the odor of marijuana and discovered numerous packages of the drug inside the vehicle. Authorities say the street value of the marijuana is more than $1 million.

The driver of the semitrailer, 52-year-old Pick Ing, told officials he was driving to Minnesota. He and the passenger, 41-year-old Narath Khath, were arrested and face charges of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver and no tax stamp. Court records do not list attorneys for them.