ATKINSON, Neb. (AP) — A 68-year-old man has died after becoming trapped in a grain bin last week in northern Nebraska.
Firefighters, medics and Holt County sheriff’s deputies were sent Thursday afternoon to a property near Atkinson. They eventually freed the man, but he was pronounced dead later at West Holt Memorial Hospital in Atkinson.
The man’s been identified as Warren Funk, of rural Atkinson. Atkinson Fire Chief Ryan Keogh says the accident occurred when Funk went inside the bin while unloading corn.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have removed a snake that slithered its way into a suburban Omaha apartment.
The Nebraska Humane Society was sent to the Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn) apartment building early Saturday morning. The society’s Mark Langan says the ball python likely belongs to someone else in the building and may have found its way into the apartment by slithering through vents.
He says the 3- to 4-foot-long (around 1 meter) snake will be kept by the society until it is claimed by its owner. Otherwise, it will be put up for adoption.
HAMPTON, Neb. (AP) — A bald eagle sickened by lead poisoning has been nursed back to health and released back into the wild.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the eagle was freed Monday at the Pioneer Trails Recreation Area, which sits west-northwest of Hampton. It had been found in a cornfield near Hampton, so sick it couldn’t fly.
Molly Mullen with the Fontenelle Forest Raptor Recovery center near Elmwood says eagles can develop lead poisoning by ingesting lead shot or bullets in carcasses they feed on. Eagles also can develop lead poisoning by eating fish that have ingested lead sinkers.
CAIRO, Neb. (AP) — A central Nebraska school district has told the parents of two students killed in a traffic accident that they can’t buy space in the school yearbook to honor their children, saying the district must be careful about the adolescent grieving process.
The Centura Junior/Senior High School students, 16-year-old Bailey Jean Packer and 17-year-old Navi Nielsen, died last month after a one-car crash in rural Howard County.
The parents and friends think school officials are being inflexible and insensitive.
“Every child’s life matters,” Staci Nielsen told station NTV. “If that’s something that meant something to them or that family wants to put a tribute in their last yearbook, I don’t see how that could be a negative thing for anyone”
Tara Schenk, whose family raised Bailey Packer since fourth grade, told the Omaha World-Herald they were also upset the district immediately removed from the school photographs and drawings done by Bailey.
“The kids think they’re trying to erase Bailey,” Schenk said.
But district officials said they’re following policy and a consultant’s training on student grieving. Centura Superintendent Julie Otero said the consultant recommends that districts immediately remove photographs and clean out lockers of deceased students because adolescents need finality when grieving.
The district allows graduating seniors to purchase space in the back of the yearbook for tributes, said school principal Tammy Holcomb. But Navi and Bailey were both juniors, so tributes or ads specifically for them were not permitted.
The two appear in photos of their sports teams and other activities. Holcomb said the families will be allowed to place tributes in next year’s yearbook, along with those of other seniors in what would have been the girls’ graduating class.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — The driver of a loaded concrete truck that tipped onto a car near Omaha, killing two people, has been charged with misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide.
Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov told the Omaha World-Herald of the decision on Tuesday.
Last month, a judge deemed prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to charge 21-year-old Austin Holloway, of Fremont, with two felony motor vehicle homicide counts in the Oct. 25 deaths of Michael Dearden and Phillip Hertel.
Holloway was driving the truck in La Vista when he made a sharp right turn, causing it to tip and land on the car carrying Dearden and Hertel. The judge said there was no evidence Holloway was speeding or driving recklessly, but there was evidence that the truck had been overloaded.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A county board will consider buying property in downtown Omaha for what could become a new juvenile justice center.
The Douglas County Board is expected to deliberate resolutions April 24 for making formal offers to purchase two buildings and a parking lot. The property includes Omaha Housing Authority headquarters and a former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers building, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Resolutions up for deliberation propose the county offer $2.75 million to the Housing Authority for its headquarters and $900,000 to Marcy Mason LLC for its property. The buildings would be demolished to make way for the new facilities.
The county hopes to use the property to create juvenile and family courtrooms and related services to replace cramped quarters in the Douglas County Courthouse across the street.
Advocates for a juvenile justice center have pressed for new quarters for years. They said the juvenile courts have outgrown their space in former holding cells in the courthouse.
Children in court for family issues sometimes share hallways and waiting rooms with adults accused of child abuse because of the courthouse’s cramped space and layout.
The Douglas-Omaha Public Building Commission tried working with Metropolitan Utilities District officials to secure all or part of its downtown headquarters for a juvenile justice center. But talks fell through, leading to the county focusing on the location across from the courthouse.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A former Platte County employee accused of stealing from the county while in charge of its adult diversion program has pleaded no contest.
44-year-old Traci Nelsen entered the pleas Friday. The charges: two counts of theft, one of filing a false claim and one of evidence tampering. Prosecutors say more than $56,000 was taken from the county from 2014 to 2017.
One of the theft counts involved a theft from a Girl Scouts entity.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s mayor wants the City Council to broaden her power to pardon people who violate certain city codes.
Mayor Jean Stothert’s proposal to allow her to pardon people convicted of any city ordinance violation will go before the council Tuesday. The council will vote next week, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Stothert currently can pardon those convicted under city ordinance of misdemeanor assault and battery and damage to property. But the mayor can’t pardon residents in instances such as failing to restrain a dog or keeping a dirty yard.
The expansion wouldn’t permit the mayor to pardon someone convicted of a federal or state crime, said Matt Kuhse, the city prosecutor.
A mayoral pardon doesn’t erase a conviction from an individual’s criminal history, but it will show that a pardon was granted.
It’s a “formal act of forgiveness” that could benefit someone seeking a job, Kuhse said.
“If it’s asked on a job application if you’ve been convicted of a crime, you’d still have to answer yes,” he said. “But they’d be able to say, ‘I received pardon.'”
Stothert said she wants to give residents another opportunity when they’re seeking employment.
The Mayor’s Office has processed 235 pardon requests since Stothert became mayor five years ago, said Marty Bilek, Stothert’s chief of staff. More than 75 of the requests were approved and granted.
Former City Attorney Tom Mumgaard submitted a pardon application to the mayor for an illegal gambling conviction two decades ago. He pleaded guilty to participating in a football pool at City Hall, but said he since hasn’t participated in sports betting. The conviction is the only criminal citation Mumgaard has received.
He said requesting the pardon was meaningful.
“I wanted to ask even if I didn’t get it,” Mumgaard said. “I wanted to express my regret, and so I did. I expressed my regret.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police have arrested a teenager in the shooting death of a man last month in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Lincoln police say authorities arrested the 16-year-old boy Monday in Gulfport, Mississippi, on charges related to the March 26 killing of 22-year-old Edgar Union Jr. An arrest warrant charges the teen with 2nd-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and unlawful discharge of a firearm.
Police didn’t release his name.
Last week, police also arrested two 17-year-olds as accessories in connection with the shooting.
Police have said Union was shot after a fight between two groups of people that included gang members.
Union was the father of five girls, including triplets.
ATKINSON, Neb. (AP) — A 68-year-old man has died after becoming trapped in a grain bin last week in northern Nebraska.
