BLAIR, Neb. (AP) — The Washington County Planning Commission has recommended against construction of two chicken operations but backed four others.
The commission adjourned early Friday morning, following testimony Thursday night by people for or against the proposals.
The operations could house up to 190,000 chickens each at sites near Blair, Arlington or Telbasta and provide chickens to the Costco processing plant in Fremont, slated to open next year.
Opponents shared with commissioners their concerns about traffic, noise, pollution, disease and property values. Backers said the operations would bolster the local economy and aid local ownership.
The commissioners had moved the meeting to a county courtroom to accommodate the big crowd. Some people wore T-shirts emblazoned with two words: “Neighbors United.”
The final decisions will be made April 24 by the Board of Supervisors.
BLUE HILL, Neb. (AP) — A Hastings hospital has agreed to pay more than $677,000 to settle a case of false claims submitted for Nebraska Medicaid and Medicare.
A news release from the Nebraska attorney general’s office said Thursday that Mary Lanning Healthcare discovered and then reported to authorities the improper billings by a contract doctor who worked at the hospital’s Blue Hill clinic. The false claims were made from January 2010 until April 2016.
The doctor, Daniel Mazour, surrendered his medical license on Dec. 14, 2016, in lieu of further discipline. His license had been placed on probation through Jan. 10, 2020. State records said Mazour didn’t adhere to professional standards in prescribing controlled substances for treatment of pain or other conditions.
Mazour didn’t immediately return a message left Friday by The Associated Press.
FRIEND, Neb. (AP) — A cash-strapped hospital in southeast Nebraska is seeking $800,000 to keep its Medicare funding and continue serving the area after nearly 90 years.
The Friend Community Healthcare System’s hospital will close if it doesn’t update its electrical system by the end of this year, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
The hospital’s generator is outdated and much of its electrical wiring is out of compliance, according to a 2016 inspection. The state Fire Marshal’s Office ordered the hospital to make repairs by January 2019 or it will lose Medicare funding, which the health care facility can’t operate without.
The potential closure could result in Friend residents traveling 30 minutes away from emergency care.
A bond issue on the May 15 ballot will seek to raise money to update the wiring and prolong the struggling hospital’s life.
The hospital district raised its levy last year to anticipate repair costs. But the district needs the money faster than it can collect, so the bond issue would serve as a loan. Bond payments would be paid off with taxes the district already receives, said Nick Svehla, a hospital board member.
“Everyone hears bond and they’re worried about their taxes going up,” said board member Jim Vossler. “But they shouldn’t.”
Approving the bond doesn’t guarantee longevity for the hospital, which recently operated at a deficit. The hospital generated $4.8 million in revenue last year but spent $5 million.
The hospital saw slight improvements in the number of patients visiting its clinic daily, but these numbers need to continue growing for the hospital to survive, Svehla said.
“We’re one of the largest employers in a town this size, and knowing there’s viable healthcare close to home is extremely important,” Svehla said. “Keeping something like this viable is greatly beneficial.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Actor and model Hopper Penn has been released from jail after he and actress Uma Von Wittkamp were arrested on drug charges earlier this week in Nebraska.
Here are some facts about the couple and their arrest:
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A FAMOUS FAMILY
Penn, 24, is the son of Sean Penn, the Academy Award-winning actor, filmmaker and political activist known for his roles in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” ”Mystic River” and “Milk.” His mother is Robin Wright, an actress and director known for her work in the Netflix drama “House of Cards” and movies including “Wonder Woman” and “The Princess Bride.”
Named after Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicolson, Hopper Jack Penn was born in Los Angeles but was largely raised in Ross, a small, exclusive town outside of San Francisco. He and his mother moved back to Los Angeles around the time Wright filed for divorce in 2009.
He’s also the nephew of singer-songwriter Michael Penn and the late actor Chris Penn. His sister, Dylan Frances, is a model and actress.
Hopper Penn has gained some fame of his own. He acted in the film “War Machine” with Brad Pitt, and models eyewear for Fendi, an Italian luxury fashion house. But he has shied from the label “actor,” noting his regular job at a Los Angeles pizza restaurant.
Von Wittkamp is less well-known, but played a role in the 2015 film short “Endings, Inc.”
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STRUGGLES WITH ADDICTION
Hopper Penn told the Evening Standard last year that he fell in with a “bad crowd” during his parents’ divorce, which was finalized in 2010. His spiral apparently began a month after he moved to Los Angeles, when he was badly injured in a skateboarding accident and had to undergo surgery for bleeding on the brain.
Penn has since admitted to using a variety of drugs, including methamphetamine, but said he sought treatment.
“I went to rehab because I woke up in (the) hospital and my dad said, ‘Rehab? Or bus bench?'” he said in the Evening Standard interview. “I was like, ‘I’ll take the bed.'”
A representative for the agency that represents Hopper Penn did not have any immediate comment.
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THE ARREST
Hopper Penn was arrested Wednesday afternoon with Von Wittkamp, his 26-year-old girlfriend, after a Nebraska State Patrol trooper stopped them on westbound Interstate 80 for allegedly failing to signal. A Hamilton County sheriff’s dispatcher said Penn and Von Wittkamp were released Thursday after posting $25,000 bond apiece.
Authorities said the trooper detected “drug activity” in the 1992 Volvo and searched the car. Inside, they said they found 14 grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills and 3 grams of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug commonly known as mushrooms.
Penn was charged with possession of a controlled substance (psilocybin) and possession of marijuana. Von Wittkamp was charged with possession of a controlled substance (amphetamine) and possession of a controlled substance (psilocybin).
Possession of a controlled substance is a felony in Nebraska, punishable by up to two years in prison, a year of post-release supervision and a $10,000 fine. Because Penn allegedly had one ounce or less of marijuana and it’s his first offense in Nebraska, the marijuana charge is only punishable by a citation, a $300 fine and a possible drug-treatment course.
Deputy Hamilton County Attorney Benjamin Dennis said he didn’t have any information about the case beyond what was in court filings.
BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska man who robbed a bank so he could receive medical treatment in prison has been sentenced to probation.
A Gage County District judge sentenced Terry L. Bailes this week to three years’ probation for attempted robbery after he pleaded no contest. Bailes, 54, will serve probation in Missouri, where a friend agreed to help provide him a support system.
Judge Rick Schreiner acknowledged that a probation sentence is highly unusual in a bank robbery case.
“This was a bank robbery, but your motivation was not profit,” Schreiner said. “I take the motivation for the offense into consideration and the motivation was to survive.”
Bailes developed a hand condition preventing him from doing simple tasks. The condition eventually led to him losing his job and residence.
Bailes demanded money in October from a teller at Great Western Bank in Beatrice, and then asked the teller to call authorities, according to court records. He was unarmed and walked out with $10 in hand. Bailes then purchased cigarettes and waited for authorities to arrive.
He said he thought prison was the only way to receive medical attention because he was homeless and without family.
“I felt as though my back was against the wall,” Bailes said prior to his sentencing. “I know it was a poor judgment. This way, I think I can get medical care.”
Bailes will stay in custody for at least another 45 days to transfer his probation from Nebraska to Missouri, Schreiner said. The judge also required Bailes to earn a GED diploma as part of his sentence.
Schreiner acknowledged Bailes has a criminal history involving theft, but delayed his sentencing last month for Bailes to consider probation. The judge said he doesn’t “believe prison is for the poor and homeless.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The son of Sean Penn and Robin Wright has been arrested on drug possession charges in Nebraska.
A Nebraska State Patrol spokesman says the actors’ 24-year-old son, Hopper Penn, and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Uma Von Wittkamp, were arrested Wednesday afternoon after a trooper stopped their vehicle on Interstate 80.
Authorities say the trooper detected drug activity inside the vehicle and found 14 grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills and 3 grams of mushrooms.
Von Wittkamp was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Penn was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana. Possession of a controlled substance is a felony.
Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) have arrested two people and seized 381 pounds of marijuana during two separate traffic stops in Hamilton County. The two stops happened within five minutes of each other in different parts of the county.
The first stop occurred at approximately 4:32 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, when a trooper stopped a 2018 GMC Yukon for speeding on Highway 14 in Aurora. The trooper determined there was probable cause to search the vehicle. During the search, troopers found 326 pounds of marijuana and 1.4 pounds of marijuana edibles.
The driver, Larry Guieb, 36, of Indiana, was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and no Drug Tax Stamp.
Just a few minutes later, at approximately 4:36 p.m. troopers observed a vehicle fail to signal while traveling eastbound on Interstate 80 near Giltner at mile marker 322. During the traffic stop, an NSP K9 detected that presence of a controlled substance. A search of the vehicle revealed 55 pounds of marijuana inside the 2017 Nissan Rogue.
The driver, John Young, 51, of California, was arrested on charges of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and no Drug Tax Stamp.
The total amount of marijuana seized in the two traffic stops was 381 pounds, with an estimated street value of $1.14 million. Both men were lodged in Hamilton County Jail.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska prison inmate whose state-required DNA test links him to four rapes more than 10 years ago in Omaha has been found guilty of those assaults.
A jury found 41-year-old Brandon Weathers guilty Tuesday of four counts of first-degree sexual assault following a weeklong trial. Immediately afterward, he was sentenced to 200 years in prison for the crimes. He is already serving 100 to 160 years for raping a 13-year-old child.
A June 5 court order gave officials authority to use force to obtain Weathers’ DNA sample, which he’d refused to provide despite a Nebraska law requiring it of all prisoners. Guards held him down and took a sample from the inside of his cheek.
Authorities say the Nebraska State Patrol lab connected the sample to the four cases.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The state fire marshal has shut down a biker clubhouse in northeast Lincoln that authorities suspect has been operating as an illegal bar.
Fire authorities say the Zodiac’s Motorcycle Club clubhouse lacks a safe second exit. The two-story building once housed a gas station. A meat business is operated out of the rear of the building by the building owner, who rents Zodiac’s the main floor.
Zodiac’s does not have a liquor license. Operating an unlicensed bar is a misdemeanor that carries a $500 fine.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating a March 25 brawl at the club, but no arrests have been reported.
BLAIR, Neb. (AP) — The Washington County Planning Commission has recommended against construction of two chicken operations but backed four others.
