The Nebraska Department of Roads says the interstate has reopened at Shoemaker’s Truck Stop, after jackknifed semitrailers were cleared off the road.

The interstate’s westbound lanes between York and Aurora remain closed due to extreme weather conditions. Travel in the eastbound lanes near Seward has been reduced to one lane.

Highway 6 had been closed at Milford east to the Highways 103 junction, but reopened Wednesday morning.

A Department of Roads spokeswoman says drivers need to slow down.

Douglas County sheriff’s investigators say thieves have targeted northwest Omaha gasoline pumps to steal credit card information.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Marty Bilek tells Omaha television station KETV that thieves installed a second card reader inside four gas pumps in northwest Omaha.

The contraption takes information off the credit card’s magnetic strip as a driver swipes the card to pay for gas. The thieves then use that information to create a duplicate card.

Bilek says at least four gas stations had the skimmers secretly installed at their pumps. Investigators know of at least four victims, but say there will be more. They encourage anyone who has paid for gas at the pump to check their credit card statements.

Wanted: A green thumb with extensive knowledge of the black, or at least gray, market.

As Washington state tries to figure out how to regulate its newly legal marijuana, officials are hiring an adviser on all things weed: how it’s best grown, tested, labeled, and cooked into brownies.

Those angling for the job are expected to meet Wednesday in Tacoma with state bidding experts to discuss the requirements and hiring process. Officials reserved a convention center hall that fits 275 people — plus an overflow room.

Last fall, Washington and Colorado became the first states to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and setting up systems of state-licensed growers, processors and retail stores. Adults over 21 can buy up to an ounce of heavily taxed cannabis.

 

Police with SWAT teams and negotiators are at a rural property in Alabama where a man was believed to be holed up in a bunker after fatally shooting the driver of a school bus and fleeing with a 6-year-old child passenger.

Authorities say the shooting happened on the school bus Tuesday and the standoff continued early Wednesday.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olsen told WBMA-TV (https://bit.ly/WthpQh) the man boarded the stopped school bus in the town of Midland City and shot the driver when he refused to let the child off the bus. The driver later died of his wounds. His identity wasn’t released.

County coroner Woodrow Hilboldt told The Associated Press the suspect was believed to be in an underground shelter on his property.

Officials in Lincoln have sent out a fleet of plows and are spreading salt after about half-a-foot of snow fell on the Nebraska capital.

A release from the city says parking bans are not in effect Wednesday, even after about 6 inches of snow fell on the city overnight.

City crews began spreading sand and salt at 7 p.m. Tuesday in anticipation of the snow, and about 54 plows hit the streets around midnight on emergency snow routes and major streets. Another 18 plows joined that fleet around 6 a.m. Wednesday to clear bus routes.

The city warns motorists that streets are very slick for the morning commute.

Most schools in Lincoln and surrounding areas canceled classes Wednesday.

 

A former state senator from Papillion has been named to the Omaha Public Power District board.

Gov. Dave Heineman’s office announced the appointment of Tim Gay on Tuesday. Gay represented the 14th Legislative District from 2007 to 2011 and decided not to seek re-election.

Gay replaces John Thompson on the OPPD board. The Bellevue businessman died early last month of pancreatic cancer.

The board seat represents Bellevue and other suburban areas south of Omaha.

An eastern Indiana police officer and his wife who nursed an injured baby deer back to health are facing charges for rescuing the animal.

Connersville police officer Jeff Counceller and his wife, Jennifer, were charged this month with illegal possession of a white-tailed deer, a misdemeanor that carries up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The Indianapolis Star reports the couple found the injured deer in 2010 and named her Dani.

The state Department of Natural Resources told the Councellers to return the ailing deer to the wild, but they took it home and nursed it back to health.

The deer vanished last summer on the day when the DNR planned to euthanize the animal after the couple’s request for a rescue permit was denied.

A group of local and state organizations want Lincoln to vote on a charter amendment that would bar council members and mayors from having any business contracts with the city.

The group says the measure is aimed at promoting fairness and eliminating potential and perceived conflicts of interest.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that the group wants the measure added to the May 7 city ballot.

Councilman Jon Camp opposes the proposal and calls it “an affront to the business community.”

He says the current system is adequate to prevent conflicts of interest. It requires full disclosure and bars a council member with a city contract from voting on it.

CHOKWE, Mozambique— A U.N. official in flood-hit Mozambique says the world body will launch an appeal for $65 million in aid after flood waters killed 38 people.

The U.N. says more than 150,000 have been displaced by flooding in the southern African nation of Mozambique over the last several days. Marie Conselee Mukangendo, of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, said Tuesday the overall death toll stands at 38.

Mukangendo said the Chikahalani camp alone is holding an estimated 65,000 people but has only 28 latrines. She called the situation dire and said the U.N. would appeal for $65 million in relief aid on Wednesday.

Mozambique suffered record floods in 2000 that killed more than 700 people.

A 16-year-old driver has been injured in an accident at a foggy train crossing in south-central Nebraska.

Nebraska State Patrol dispatcher Dale Wiegert says Cassidy Wormstadt, of rural Juniata, was driving on Alda Road north of Juniata when she reached the crossing about 8 a.m. Monday. Wiegert says Wormstadt is believed to have driven around a lowered crossing arm but was struck by an eastbound train and pushed about 100 feet. The car ended up on its roof.

Wiegert says Wormstadt was taken to a local hospital and then to a hospital in Lincoln.