(AP) — Officials in southeast Nebraska say a Lincoln man has died following a crash west of Lincoln.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says 70-year-old Frank Szmajda was driving a car north on a rural road Monday afternoon when he ran a stop sign and hit a minivan carrying a family of four.
Officials say Szmajda was taken to a Lincoln hospital, where he died.
The four people in the van were taken to a Lincoln hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.
(AP) — Police have arrested a woman in the splattering of green paint inside two chapels at the Washington National Cathedral and are trying to determine if she has any connection to two similar incidents on the National Mall.
Police say 58-year-old Jiamei Tian was arrested Monday inside the cathedral shortly after the paint was found and charged with defacing property. Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said investigators were hoping to question her about the vandalism on the Mall, including at the Lincoln Memorial, but a language barrier was complicating those efforts.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Tian had an attorney. Police believed she was homeless.
Green paint was found Friday on the Lincoln Memorial, and symbols have also been found painted in green on another statue on the Mall.
(AP) — Authorities have arrested a 32-year-old man living in southeast Nebraska on suspicion of raping a 13-year-old girl he met while singing in a local church choir.
Raymundo M. Cruz — also known as Luis Lopez-Muniz and Raymundo Perez — remains in the Lancaster County Jail on $300,000 bond.
The girl told police she met Cruz about a year ago and the two became friends. She says on July 17, he asked to meet her to discuss a mutual friend. The girl says Cruz drove her to a lake near Crete, where he raped her in the backseat of his SUV.
If convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a child, Cruz faces up to life in prison.
(AP) — A woman accused of pulling a gun on a paramedic in the back of an ambulance will make another appearance in court.
24-year-old Justine Dubois is set to appear in Douglas County Court on Tuesday for her preliminary hearing.
Dubois was arrested July 1, accused of driving a stolen car, but then appeared to have a seizure in the police car.
Police say that while paramedics were taking Dubois to a hospital, she pulled a gun and started making threats. Both Dubois and an Omaha firefighter were wounded by gunfire in a struggle.
Dubois is charged with assault, making terroristic threats, using a gun to commit a crime and stealing a car.
(AP) — Majority Leader Terry Bruce says the Kansas Senate will be required by state laws to consider multiple appointments during a special
legislative session called for September.
Bruce told The Associated Press Monday that the Senate will be required to have votes on confirming as many as 19 appointments from Gov. Sam Brownback.
They include Brownback’s nominee for a new Kansas Court of Appeals judgeship. The governor has until Aug. 29 to make the appointment, and the special session is scheduled to convene Sept. 3.
Brownback called the special session last week to rewrite the state’s “Hard 50” criminal sentencing law after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June raised questions about its constitutionality.
He and legislative leaders had hoped to limit the special session to that one issue.
(AP) — Officials say an 11-year-old boy who tumbled down a 200-foot rock slope in northern Utah is recovering and will be released from a hospital Monday.
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office identified the boy as Cesar Varvagan of Orem.
Sgt. Spencer Cannon says the boy was hiking to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon with his family on Sunday when he tumbled down a rocky, steep slope and came to rest above a trail along the Provo River.
Officials say he hurt his head, back and hip, and might have broken a collar bone. He was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.
The sheriff’s office said in a statement Monday that the boy’s condition has improved and he’s expected to be released from the hospital Monday.
(AP) — An eastern Nebraska man has been accused of creating a disturbance at a hospital after he was arrested.
Fremont police say 25-year-old Sean Seagle was arrested Sunday morning on a warrant for third-degree assault. He was then brought to Fremont Area Medical Center for medical clearance.
Seagle is accused of creating a disturbance while at the hospital. Additional information was not available.
Sgt. Brad Hansen says Seagle faces charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. Court records do not list an attorney.
(AP) — A Sioux City woman has given birth to quintuplets at an Omaha hospital.
Bianca Garcia had a Caesarean section Thursday, and on Monday the four girls and one boy were under close watch in the neonatal intensive care unit at Methodist Women’s Hospital.
Jose Garcia says he feels good but his wife is tired.
She was on bed rest for more than 10 weeks before the babies were born at 28 weeks, or about three months premature. A team of 35 doctors and nurses delivered the babies.
The babies were about 2 pounds each. They’re named Marah, Christobal, Arleth, Jimena and Rosalyn.
The couple has two sons, ages 9 and 7.
Dr. Brady Kerr says the babies “primarily need to grow.”
The last quintuplet birth in Nebraska was in 2009.
(AP) — Health officials in Nebraska’s largest county say a 75-year-old man infected with the West Nile virus is their first case this year.
The Douglas County health department said Monday that the unidentified man has been hospitalized. Officials say he traveled recently to an area in Nebraska where mosquito pools have tested positive for the virus, and they believe he was exposed on that trip.
So far this year, no mosquitoes in Douglas County have tested positive for the virus.
Dr. Adi Pour, the county’s health director, says cases are typically reported around this time of year. Officials note that most people who are infected have no symptoms, or experience mild flu-like symptoms. The most vulnerable people are those who are at least 50 years old or have weakened immune systems.
(AP) — Authorities say an Omaha man was arrested this weekend after a Nebraska State Patrol trooper found 107 pounds of marijuana in his car.
The patrol said Monday that 27-year-old Kortney J. Cunegin of Omaha is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. He was booked into the Sarpy County Jail.
Cunegin was stopped for speeding in west Omaha while heading eastbound Saturday morning on Interstate 80. The patrol says the trooper smelled marijuana and found two bundles wrapped in black plastic in the car’s trunk.
