PIERCE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities responding to a plane crash in northeast Nebraska’s Pierce County found the pilot had died.
The small, single-engine aircraft went down Wednesday a little after 6:15 p.m., about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northwest of Pierce.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t yet released the man’s name or information about where he took off or was headed.
HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Hastings Mayor Corey Stutte says the city’s street superintendent is still employed after being arrested and charged in the assault of an Uber driver in Lincoln.
36-year-old Steven Kostner was arrested early Sunday after he was accused of pulling a knife on the driver, who was transporting Kostner. Lincoln police say the driver was able to run off and flag down a nearby officer.
Police say Kostner accused the driver of flirting with Kostner’s wife before pulling the knife. Kostner was charged Monday with making terroristic threats, which carries a prison sentenced of up to three years.
Kostner is Hastings’ street superintendent. Stutte says city administrators want to get more information about the circumstances of the incident before determining what action to take.
AUBURN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has ruled that prosecutors have presented enough evidence to try a man for first-degree murder in the case of a Peru State College coed who went missing more than seven years ago.
The ruling came Tuesday in the case of 36-year-old Joshua Keadle, accused of killing 19-year-old Tyler “Ty” Thomas.
Thomas disappeared Dec. 3, 2010, after leaving a party near the Peru State campus. Authorities say Keadle, a fellow student, told them he and Thomas had sex in his vehicle that night, and that Thomas threatened to report he had raped her.
The state issued a death certificate for Thomas in 2013, even though her body has not been found.
Keadle’s defense attorney had argued that without a body, there wasn’t enough evidence to even show Thomas had been murdered.
Keadle, already in prison for the 2008 rape of a 15-year-old girl, will be arraigned April 16.
WINNEBAGO, Neb. (AP) — Officials have confirmed that a mountain lion was spotted in northeast Nebraska’s Thurston County.
The Winnebago Wildlife and Parks Department says that a photo of the mountain lion was taken east of Winnebago on Thursday.
Landowner Matt Morgan says he found a deer carcass in a tree on his property earlier last week. He says a trail camera he set up caught a photo of the mountain lion as it walked past.
Mountain lions are native to Nebraska but were eliminated by the end of the 1800s. Mountain lions — also called cougars — started returning to Nebraska from neighboring states late in the 1990s.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln’s mayor says he wants to serve a fourth term.
Chris Beutler (BYET’-lur) said Saturday that he wants to continue the progress the city’s made during his time in office.
He’s the only candidate to formally announce intentions to be on the April 2019 primary ballot. He was first elected in 2007 and was re-elected in 2011 and 2015. Before becoming mayor, he represented District 28 in the Nebraska Legislature from 1979 to 1987 and from 1991 to 2007.
The elected city offices are officially nonpartisan.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police say a 12-year-old boy shot a nail from a BB gun into the chest of his younger brother.
The 7-year-old was shot Sunday afternoon. Lincoln police spokeswoman Angela Sands said Monday that the nail struck near the boy’s heart. She says his condition has stabilized at a Lincoln hospital.
The boys’ names haven’t been released.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 17-year-old driver was killed in a two-vehicle crash just south of Lincoln.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says 17-year-old Brianna Titterington, of rural Roca, was critically injured in the Sunday afternoon crash. She was pronounced dead Monday at a hospital.
The crash happened on Saltillo Road, just west of South 68th Street when a car driven by Titterington entered into westbound traffic and collided with a westbound pickup truck.
The sheriff’s office says the driver of the pickup, 60-year-old Gene Hagstrom, of rural Lincoln, was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Texas woman is in custody in the fatal stabbing of her boyfriend in Omaha, but relatives say she was acting in self-defense.
The 30-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of criminal homicide in the death of 30-year-old Amir Bey of Houston. It wasn’t immediately clear Sunday if the woman has been formally charged. The suspect also is from Houston.
Bey was stabbed Saturday night in northwest Omaha. The suspect’s mother says she and the woman were in Omaha for a wedding. She says her daughter and Bey had been arguing prior to the stabbing.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has died, several days after a crash that left him critically injured.
65-year-old John Guenzel died Thursday at a Lincoln hospital after being involved in a crash Monday near 17th and Van Dorn streets.
Police say Guenzel suffered a life-threatening medical episode at about 11:30 p.m. Monday before his SUV hit a tree.
Lincoln Police Sgt. David Munn says Guenzel died early Thursday afternoon.
Guenzel was the president and founder of First Nebraska Trust Company and was an avid horseman, serving on the Western Nebraska Cutting Horse Association board.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The “Godfather of Grass,” who fled to Canada after being indicted on federal drug charges and spent eight years on the run, was sentenced Thursday to almost five years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III in Louisville sentenced John Robert “Johnny” Boone, 74, formerly of Marion County, Kentucky, to 57 months. Prosecutors said he pleaded guilty in December to a single count, admitting that he conspired to possess, grow and distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants at an operation near Springfield. Boone watered and fertilized the plants and concealed them on a farm near his home, prosecutors said.
Kentucky State Polices spotted the plants during an aerial operation in May 2008, according to the criminal complaint.
Boone was a fugitive until he was arrested in Canada in December 2016. He was deported last April.
Boone was convicted in the 1980s and spent a decade in prison for what prosecutors called a massive marijuana syndicate. They said he was head of a multistate marijuana operation known as the “Cornbread Mafia,” which had 29 farms in Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Wisconsin.
Boone was featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted,” spurring a Facebook page called Run, Johnny, Run. He has been described as a tattooed Santa Claus.
