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Omaha Police Investigating Three Weekend Shootings

omahapopo(AP) — Omaha police are investigating three different weekend shootings that injured six people.

Omaha police Officer Michael Pecha says none of the injuries are expected to be life threatening. All three shootings happened early Sunday.

The first shooting happened around 3 a.m. on Interstate 80 after one vehicle nearly struck a slow-moving car. Thirty-seven-year-old Ray Robinson Jr. was wounded after the occupants of both vehicles argued.

About 4:15 a.m., 22-year-old Dejuan Tipler was found with a gunshot wound inside an SUV that collided with a tree.

A few minutes later, gunshots were reported in northeast Omaha, and four people came to the hospital. The injured people were 29-year-old Braylon Hardeman, 27-year-old Darnell Matthews, 23-year-old Delvonne Cross and 31-year-old Rodney Landrum.

Nebraska Man Sentenced in Child Sexual Assault Case

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(AP) — An Osceola man has been sentenced to up to 35 years for sexually assaulting a child.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning announced this week that 37-year-old Jeffrey Gomez was sentenced 20 to 35 years in prison on one count of first-degree sexual assault of a child in Polk County District Court.

Gomez also received sentences of four to five years each for two counts of third-degree child sexual assault and two counts of child abuse. Those sentences are to be served at the same time at his first-degree assault sentence.

Gomez was convicted of the charges on May 20.

Bruning says Gomez sexually assaulted the victim for about five months during 2011, starting when she 13-years-old.

Omaha Police to Host Amnesty Day for Firearms and Fireworks

fireworkbundle(AP) — Omaha police are a hosting metro-area amnesty day for fireworks and firearms.

Police will accept and dispose of guns, ammunition, fireworks and other explosive devices on July 20, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Drop-off areas will be available at the Ambassador Workshop Center and Seymour Smith Park.

Police say Thursday was the last day of the summer season to legally use consumer fireworks in the city. Police say residents can turn in items on the amnesty day with no questions asked.

UNL Program Using Technology to Track Bumble Bees

bumblebee(AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Entomology Department has started a program to teach high school students how to use radio tracking technology to learn about queen bees.

The project, which started in May, is tentatively called “Bumble Boosters 2.0,” a reboot of one that ran from 1999 to 2002.

Doug Golick, is an assistant professor in entomology at UNL and was a student during the original “Bumble Boosters.” That original program simply had high school students collect bumblebees to track the different species in the area.

But Golick and his colleagues are now trying to attach radio tracking devices to bumblebee queens.

The goal is to see where they decide to start a nest and where they go between emergence and finding a nest.

Council Bluffs Teen Killed, Other Driver Arrested in Crash

fatal-crash(AP) — A teenage girl who survived a crash that killed one of her friends and injured two others says she took the keys from the other driver before he could flee the scene.

Council Bluffs police say 17-year-old Chrishaun Moten, of Council Bluffs, was a back seat passenger in a car that was hit early Friday on Veterans Memorial Highway by a van driving the wrong way.

Two other teens were hospitalized for their injuries. One passenger, 16-year-old Jessilyn Eisman, suffered minor injuries. She said that she crawled out of the wreckage to see the driver of the van trying to leave, so she took his keys.

Police arrested 31-year-old Hilberto Velasquez-Ramirez, whose last known address was in Nashville, Tenn., on suspicion of drunken driving and other counts.

Columbus Girl, 14, Seriously Injured by Fireworks

ambulance(AP) — A 14-year-old girl is in an Omaha hospital after sustained serious fireworks injuries while celebrating July Fourth at Ernst Lake near Columbus.

An ambulance was called to the lake Thursday night after the girl suffered injuries to her upper left side.

The girl was taken to Columbus Community Hospital and later flown to Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha.

Hospital officials have declined to release her condition.

City of Papillion Agrees to $70K Settlement with Crash Victim

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(AP) — The eastern Nebraska city of Papillion has agreed to pay $70,000 in a settlement with a woman injured when a speeding police car slammed into her vehicle in 2008.

Alicia Johnston was a 28-year-old nurse at the time of the crash. She sued in 2009, seeking to recoup $21,000 in medical bills, plus additional damages for lost wages, destroyed car, and pain and suffering. Her lawyer originally submitted a settlement claim for $385,000.

Her lawsuit said an on-duty police officer was traveling faster than 60 mph in a 35 mph speed zone and did not have the cruiser’s emergency lights or siren activated when he crashed into the side of her car.

NTSB Sending Investigators to San Francisco Airport Crash

san-fran-plane-crash(AP) — NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman says federal investigators based in Los Angeles are traveling to San Francisco.

At a briefing in Washington, Hersman said she and other NTSB personnel in the nation’s capital were expected to arrive in San Francisco on Saturday evening.

She said they have not yet “determined what the focus of this investigation is.”

Investigators from South Korea were being invited to participate in the probe.

She said the team’s first job will be to collect information and document the accident scene.

The Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul, South Korea, crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, critically injuring at least 10 people and forcing passengers to jump down the emergency inflatable slides to safety.

Miraculously, most of the 291 passengers were uninjured in the crash.

Woman Found Dead in Yet Another Omaha Homicide

crime(AP) — Police say a woman found slumped over in a running car is the city’s latest homicide victim.

Police say officers responded early Saturday morning to a report of a vehicle sitting idle and running in a street. When officers arrived they found 46-year-old Annette Plater, of Omaha, slumped over inside. She was declared dead at the scene.

Shell casings found nearby indicate that Plater died of an apparent shooting.

Police said they have no additional information about the death and asked anyone with information about Plater’s death to contact Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP.

One of Two Men Shot in Omaha Dies

omaha-police(AP) — Police say one of two men shot Friday in Omaha has died.

Police say in a news release that 19-year-old Timothy J. Howell, of Omaha, died Friday at Creighton University Medical Center. An autopsy was to be conducted Saturday.

Howell was one of two men found shot early Friday morning.

Police say another man who was a witness to the first shooting walked into the hospital shortly before 3 a.m. Spencer Mason, 22, was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Omaha police say they’re still investigating. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers, and may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.

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