(AP) — A two-vehicle crash at a highway intersection in northeast Nebraska has killed one woman and injured three other people.

The Nebraska State Patrol helped Stanton County officials respond to the wreck eight miles south of Stanton around 7 p.m. Sunday.

Authorities say 53-year-old James Pfeifer’s car pulled out in front of a southbound pickup truck driven by 19-year-old Cole Beyke of Stanton. The vehicles collided in the intersection of Highways 57 and 32.

In Pfeifer’s car, his wife, 51-year-old Peggy Pfeifer, was killed. James Pfeifer and his 21-year-old daughter Hannah Pfeifer were both critically injured and flown to Sioux City.

The Pfeifers, who are from Clarkson, had to be removed from their car with the Jaws of Life.

Beyke was taken to Faith Regional Hospital in Norfolk for treatment.

(AP) — The state and federal government are expected to spend $10 million to clean up properties in Columbus that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency believes contributed to groundwater contamination decades ago.

The Columbus City Council approved an amendment to its Superfund contract last week that allows for the additional federal and state funding. The EPA says the cleanup is necessary to control a plume of tainted groundwater created by three former dry-cleaners.

The EPA will pick up 90 percent of the cost, and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality will cover the rest. The plan includes the demolition of four buildings.

The properties were identified as the sources of two carcinogenic chemicals commonly used in dry cleaning that leached into the soil and groundwater.

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(AP) — Residents were temporary evacuated from an east Lincoln neighborhood after a gas line break.

Fire and rescue crews responded to an emergency call shortly after 9 a.m. Monday.

Battalion Chief Jeanne Pashalek says a backhoe working in the area clipped a high pressure gas line. Black Hills Energy crews sealed off the broken main around 10:30 a.m.

Police say several houses were evacuated while workers fixed the leak. Officials say the wind was a factor in their decision to block off areas near the clipped line.

(AP) — Omaha police have identified a man who was killed and a man who was injured in nearby shootings overnight.

33-year-old Jhonte Peters, of Omaha, died from his injuries after officers found him in the street around 12:30 a.m. Monday. Peters was pronounced dead a local hospital.

Authorities say the gunman fled in a vehicle, but witnesses gave several different descriptions of the vehicle.

About 20 minutes later, police found a man who had been grazed by a bullet about three miles away. Police say 24-year-old Mark Minor was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

(AP) — A police cruiser in Omaha was rear-ended on Interstate 80, and a second crash was reported minutes later because of the resulting traffic backup.

The crash happened around 11:30 a.m. Monday. The officer suffered minor injuries, and his K-9 partner appeared to be unharmed.

The driver who struck the police cruiser was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

The crash blocked three lanes on the interstate. A second accident was reported less than 15 minutes later, not far from the original crash.

All lanes of the interstate have since reopened.

(AP) — Palace officials say Prince William’s wife Kate has given birth to a baby boy.

Officials said Monday the baby was born at 4:24 p.m. and weighs 8 pounds 6 ounces.

The infant will become third in line for the British throne after Prince Charles and William.

Kate checked into a private wing at St. Mary’s Hospital in central London early Monday morning.

William spent the long hours of labor at her bedside. This is the couple’s first child.

Two Norfolk men were jailed after leading troopers on a short pursuit over the weekend during a night of high visibility patrols in the Norfolk area.

Just after 9:00 p.m., Saturday, July 20, a trooper attempted a traffic stop on a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta near Tahazouka Park on Highway 81.  The vehicle failed to stop and a short pursuit ensued. The trooper pursued the vehicle for two minutes, before discontinuing the pursuit.  An NSP helicopter maintained visual contact of the vehicle. At the Intersection of 49^th and Highway 275, troopers used stop sticks to flatten the vehicles front two tires. The vehicle stopped coming to rest in a field southeast of the intersection. The driver of the vehicle Luis J. Morales, 22, Norfolk and passenger in the Alejandro Morales, 20, Norfolk were taken custody without incident and lodged in the Madison County Jail on charges of felony driving under suspension, flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving, resisting arrest, misdemeanor possession of marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.

The pursuit occurred during an evening of high visibility patrols involving the Nebraska State Patrol, the Norfolk Police Department and the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. The special enforcement which included the use of the Nebraska State Patrol helicopter was designed to help reduce the number of serious injury and fatality crashes through voluntary compliance of all traffic safety laws.

“We’ve had numerous reports of speeding and aggressive driving in the Norfolk area,” said Captain Paul Hattan, Commander Troop B- Norfolk. “Motorists in the Madison County area can expect additional enforcement efforts as we work with our local law enforcement partners to keep our streets safe and accident free.”

In addition to the pursuit and arrests, troopers issued citations and warnings for speeding (3), driving left of center (1), no proof of insurance (4), no license plate (4), failure to signal (2) and no seat belt (4).

(AP) — A federal judge says two Omaha, Neb., men who are suing the city of Council Bluffs and two former police detectives for wrongful conviction, will get a joint trial instead of two separate ones.

Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee have asked for separate trials in their civil lawsuit after the first trial ended in mistrial because jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict.

The men seek millions of dollars in compensation for 25 years in prison. They were released in 2003 after the Iowa Supreme Court found prosecutors committed misconduct.

The men allege retired officers Daniel Larsen and Lyle Brown coerced witnesses and hid evidence from their attorneys during their 1978 trials.

Federal judge Robert Pratt denied separate trials and ordered a new trial to begin Oct. 15 in Des Moines.

 

 

(AP) — Authorities are investigating a one-car rollover crash that killed a Nebraska man over the weekend.

The Nebraska State Patrol says the accident happened around 10:15 Sunday morning on a county road four miles west of Genoa in Nance County.

Authorities say the car’s driver lost control while driving south and overcorrected before the car veered into a ditch and rolled.

Forty-nine-year-old Robert Fischer of Shelby died in the accident.

Authorities say he wasn’t wearing his seat belt.

(AP) — Police in Washington state are looking for a man wanted in the shooting death of a 4-year-old boy in Sedro-Woolley, and they found the gun they believed was used.

A Washington State Patrol explosives-sniffing dog found the weapon Sunday under the stairs of a church about a half-block from the house where the child was shot earlier Sunday.

Lt. Lin Tucker said no shell casing was found at the scene, but there is one in the gun, indicating a misfire.

The child’s mother’s boyfriend, 25-year-old Trevor Braymiller, fled the home and police were searching for him in the Big Lake area, about five miles south.

Sedro-Woolley is a town of about 10,000 people about 70 miles north of Seattle in the Cascades foothills.