Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 87. Southeast wind between 8 and 11 mph.
Tonight: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. Southeast wind between 12 and 15 mph becoming calm. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph.
Saturday: Partly sunny, with a high near 85. North northeast wind between 6 and 10 mph.
All of us at Eagle Radio & North Platte Post would like to congratulate Karlie Osborne on being chosen 2012 Miss Teen Rodeo Nebraska. Karlie’s mom, Laura, was part of our radio family. Karlie also received awards for Speech, Photogenic and Personality. We are so proud of you Karlie and know your momma is smiling from ear to ear in Heaven.
FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — A 2-year-old Fremont boy is dead after his father accidentally ran over him with his pickup truck.
Fremont police told local media that Jorge Avalos Sr. didn’t know his son, Jorge Avalos Jr., was in front of his truck when he pulled forward Wednesday afternoon.
The boy was taken to the Fremont Area Medical Center for treatment of head and internal injuries. He died later at the hospital.
Authorities don’t plan to file charges against the father.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The election commissioner has told some residents that he’ll reopen 27 of the 86 polling places he’d closed in Douglas County.
Commissioner Dave Phipps made the announcement Wednesday at a public forum in south Omaha. Local media reports four of the spots are in south Omaha’s Ward 4.
Community groups and Democrats have criticized Phipps, saying the changes that eliminated nearly a third of the polling places made it difficult for the poorest residents to vote.
As he listened to criticism at the forum, Phipps said he’s tried to find a balance between saving the taxpayers’ money while reopening polling places that are easier for voters to find.
Another community voter meeting is scheduled for Monday in north Omaha.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — A convicted Nebraska sex offender has been arrested again, accused of sexually assaulting a child starting when she was 7.
Local media says that 69-year-old Donald Warfield, of North Platte, was arrested on Monday.
Police say a 15-year-old told investigators that inappropriate touching began when she was 7 and continued for three or four years.
In 2002 Warfield was convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old.
Court records say Warfield was arrested earlier this year for failing to properly register as a sex offender. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Lincoln County jail records say Warfield remained in custody on Thursday, pending $250,000 bail. His attorney didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press
McCOOK, Neb. (AP) — A 36-year-old McCook man has been sentenced for several burglaries and an escape attempt.
Local media reports that Happ Wells was given 18-20 years for burglary and theft and 14-16 years for the escape attempt, to be served consecutively. He’s also listed in court records as Hap E. Wells.
The burglaries occurred between September and December last year.
Authorities say his accomplice on several of the crimes, 36-year-old Tammy Knight, accepted a plea agreement on a burglary charge. Her sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have released the name of a 23-year-old man who died after his car crashed into a west Omaha carwash business.
Officers were dispatched to the scene a little after 2 a.m. Thursday. Police say the man was alone in his car and was declared dead at the scene.
He was identified as Benjamin Botkin, who lived in the suburban Omaha city of Ralston.
Crash investigators suspect Botkin had been speeding when he lost control of his car and was ejected as it ran off the road into the carwash.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 37-year-old Lincoln man has been given four to eight years in prison for possessing cocaine with intent to sell.
John Sampson was sentenced in Lancaster County District Court on Tuesday.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/LnyC5B) that on Nov. 5, Sampson was an intoxicated passenger in a traffic stop and was taken to Cornhusker Place Detox. Authorities say nearly 22 grams of cocaine was found there in one of his pockets.
In 2002 Sampson was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, later reduced to four years, for distributing another illegal drug, ecstasy.
Deb Collins-(Lincoln, Neb.)- Retired Nebraska State Patrol Captain Rod Getting has been honored with the “Roger Goad Memorial Award”, during the 40th annual International Training Conference (ITC) of the International Association of Bomb Technicians and Investigators (IABTI) held June 4-8 in Hershey, PA.
A Captain in the Field Services Division, Getting retired from the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) in December 2009 after more than 25 years of service. Captain Getting spent 20 years as a Hazardous Devices Technician (Bomb Technician) with the agency. During his service as a Hazardous Devices Technician (HDT), Captain Getting worked as an active HDT, commanded the NSP Bomb Squad, was an Assistant Instructor for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and worked with the ATF/IABTI Peer Support program. Captain Getting was the recipient of two Meritorious Services Awards and the Nebraska State Patrol Honorable Service Award for injuries sustained in the line of duty.
In March 1997, Getting along with two other NSP HDT’s and an FBI Special Agent Bomb Technician were preparing to destroy old, deteriorated blasting caps when the caps exploded. The explosion which occurred near Grand Island injured all four men, with Getting sustaining the most severe, life threatening injuries.
At the time of his retirement Getting said, “What we learned that day has helped to train countless hazardous devices technicians around the country in the handling of deteriorated and abandoned explosives.”
The Roger Goad Memorial Award may be presented annually to a member of IABTI who has done the most to further the aims and goals of the IABTI or who, by their actions, has brought great credit to the profession and, thereby, to IABTI. The award is given in honor of Captain Roger Goad, an explosive officer with the Metropolitan Police, London, England, who was tragically killed in London, during August 1975, while attempting to disarm an improvised explosive device.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A new study suggests cougars are again spreading across the Midwest a century after the generally reclusive predators were hunted to near extinction in much of the region.
The findings by a University of Minnesota doctoral student, a Southern Illinois University wildlife ecologist and the Cougar Network are detailed in the latest Journal of Wildlife Management.
The study showed 178 cougar confirmations in the Midwest and as far south of Texas between 1990 and 2008.
Confirmed sightings of Midwest cougars were sporadic before 1990, when there were only a couple. The study shows that number spiked to more than 30 by 2008.
Sixty-seven confirmations were in Nebraska, 31 in North Dakota, 12 each in Oklahoma and Texas, 11 in South Dakota and 10 in Missouri. Other states had single-digit tallies.
