(AP) — Authorities say a house fire south of downtown Lincoln was suspicious.
City fire investigator Ken Hilger says a man living in the house went to a nearby gas station to report it shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday. The man wasn’t injured.
Hilger says an arson investigation dog alerted at two areas inside the house.
The flames were contained to the first floor, but there was smoke damage upstairs. The total damage was estimated at nearly $100,000.
(AP) — Authorities have released the name of one of two men whose bodies were found inside a pickup near a city pool in southeast Omaha.
He was identified as 29-year-old Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, of Omaha. Investigators are still trying to identify the other victim.
A police officer found the truck and then the bodies inside it near Spring Lake Park pool while on patrol just before 5 a.m. Sunday.
Police say the deaths are being investigated as homicides but have not said how the men died. No arrests have been reported.
(AP) — The York County sheriff says one of his deputies wounded a man during an exchange of gunshots.
A county dispatcher said Monday that she had no new information about the man, who’d been taken to a Lincoln hospital.
Sheriff Dale Radcliff says the shooting occurred a little after 4 a.m. Sunday. Radcliff says the deputy spotted a vehicle driven by a man reportedly involved in a domestic dispute. The deputy chased the vehicle until it went into a ditch on the southwest side of York.
The sheriff says the man got out of the vehicle, carrying a rifle, and fired twice at the deputy. Radcliff says the deputy then fired and hit the man twice. The deputy wasn’t hit.
The sheriff didn’t release the names of those involved.
(AP) — Authorities say an Omaha man has died after a train hit his sport utility vehicle near the eastern Nebraska city of Schuyler.
A westbound Union Pacific train pulling loaded grain cars hit the SUV Saturday morning at a crossing just west of Schuyler.
The Colfax County Attorney’s Office identified the motorist as 47-year-old John Eastwood. He was pronounced dead at a Schuyler hospital about an hour after the crash.
Initial reports were that the crossing gates, lights and bells were functioning properly.
(AP) — An Omaha police officer has found the bodies of two men in a pickup truck near a city pool.
Police say the officer was on patrol just before 5 a.m. Sunday when he noticed the pickup near Spring Lake Park pool.
The officer checked on the pickup and found two dead males inside.
Police say the deaths are being investigated as homicides, but they provided no more information about their identities or how they died.
(AP) — University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers have been given a $3.2 million federal grant to evaluate a program that uses parent-to-parent support to help families keep kids in school.
The researchers will be checking the Parent Connectors Program. The program was designed to help children with significant conduct and impulse problems, such as lashing out at teachers or fighting with classmates. These kids also frequently skip school and are disciplined by their schools.
The program encourages parents of middle school-age children with emotional or behavioral disorders to get involved in their children’s education and to help them access mental health and school services.
UNL’s team will conduct a trial involving about 250 families of Nebraska students in the Lincoln and metro Omaha areas.
(AP) — Omaha police say a 23-year-old man has been killed in a north Omaha shooting, and one man has been arrested.
Police say officers were in the area around 2:40 a.m. when they heard gunshots. Upon investigating, the officers found 23-year-old Craig Brown on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound. Brown was taken by ambulance to an Omaha hospital, where he died.
Police say 44-year-old Dwayne Blackson has been arrested on suspicion of criminal homicide and several weapons counts. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of failing to appear on a warrant in a separate case.
Police say Blackson is being held at the Douglas County jail.
(AP) — Prosecutors have dropped a charge against a Lincoln man accused of doctoring a lottery ticket.
Jonathan Tonniges had faced a 20-year prison sentence if convicted for what his fiancee said was simply a practical joke.
Tonniges was charged after his fiancee went to a lottery office with a ticket she thought was worth $35,000. Workers told her it had been altered with a permanent marker, and the woman said she accepted that explanation and left. But workers called police.
The woman says Tonniges was playing a practical joke and that she never tried to cash the ticket. She simply asked about its value.
Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said on Friday that he dismissed the case because there wasn’t enough evidence to convict Tonniges.
(AP) — Police say a man was hospitalized with serious injuries after being carjacking in northwest Omaha.
Police say the man reported walking out a store at 90th and Blondo streets Friday night when two other men attacked him and forced him to drive toward a neighborhood.
Police say the man jumped from the car a short distance away and was helped by a nearby homeowner.
The man was taken to an Omaha hospital with serious injuries, including head trauma.
The man’s car was found near 100th Street and Grand Avenue.
Witnesses told police they saw only one man run from the car after it was taken.
(AP) — A man who embezzled thousands of dollars from his employer in Lincoln has been given probation, jail time and an order to pay back some money.
Online court records say 58-year-old Eugene Southworth had pleaded no contest to attempted theft and was convicted after prosecutors lowered the theft charge. Southworth was sentenced last week. Court records say he now lives in Sicklerville, N.J.
Attorneys for the company, Celerion, reported their suspicions to Lincoln police in September 2011 after a billing problem was unearthed. Police say the money was traced to Southworth’s bank account.
Judge Jodi Nelson of Lancaster County District Court sentenced Southworth to four years of probation and 180 days. Southworth also was ordered to make restitution of $20,400. The judge gave Southworth credit for two days served.
