LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 42-year-old Grand Island man has been given 10 months in a federal prison for selling methamphetamine.
Prosecutors say John Holroyd was sentenced on Thursday. He must serve five years of supervised release after he leaves prison.
Holroyd pleaded guilty in March. Prosecutors say he sold a police informant nearly 10 grams of meth on June 9 last year.
NORTH PLATTE- (North Platte Public Library)- A free program, “Promise in a New Land: Migrating and Settling in Nebraska” by Cherrie Beam-Clarke, is being brought to the North Platte Public Library on Thursday, June 21st by the Friends of the Library group and the Nebraska Humanities Council. The Brown Bag Luncheon program begins at 12:00 PM and should last about one hour. Attendees may bring their lunches. Water and tea will be provided. Seating is limited so seat reservations can be made by calling the library at 535-8036 by Wednesday, June 20th.
Beam-Clarke, as Mariah Monahan, with Irish brogue and period costume, depicts a Nebraska settler between 1845 and 1870. Based on historical fact, this is a first-person Chautauqua-style presentation. Through a spellbinding rendition, viewers are transported in time to sail the ocean, ride the wagon trail, feel the loneliness and fight prairie fires. Laugh and cry with stories of successful crops, dancing, hard work, grasshoppers, losing loved ones and becoming an American. The sequel to this program “The Courage to Continue” will be at the library in August. This educational and entertaining program is appropriate for all ages. These programs are part of the library’s centennial year celebration.
Cherrie Beam-Clarke doesn’t lack for stories as she has spent nearly 25 years gathering and recording historic tales from Nebraska families. Cherrie boasts of being a “true Nebraskan,” as she has lived in both ends of the state and is a fourth generation farm girl. The pioneer stories are factual and reflect the diversity of the people and land from western to eastern Nebraska. Cherrie is an educational storyteller who speaks with an Irish brogue, dresses in period attire and delivers spell binding one-act plays that make audiences laugh and cry. Speaking for more than 25 years to all ages, her venues include elementary, especially 4th grade, through high school, libraries, museums, adult and youth church groups, senior centers, banquets and festivals. Cherrie traveled Nebraska as a storyteller on the wagon train commemorating the 150th birthday of the Oregon Trail. She is co-founder of John C. Fremont Days, one of Nebraska’s largest annual historical festivals, and founder of “A Day in the Past,” an annual day for 4th graders. She is recipient of a number of community and statewide awards for historical preservation.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 16-year-old boy has been accused of killing a girl found in a northwest Omaha creek on May 15.
Omaha police say the boy was arrested Thursday and is being held in the Douglas County Youth Center. So far he faces adult charges of first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony.
The victim has been identified as 16-year-old Melanie Koontz, who’d been a student at Benson High School.
Police have not released a motive nor said how Koontz was killed.
The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify juveniles accused of a crime.
SEWARD, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s Concordia University has joined other colleges in issuing graduation
guarantees.
The Seward school promises to cover the cost of courses beyond four years for students who follow personalized graduation plans.
Concordia Provost Jenny Mueller-Roebke told the local media that the school has been doing so for years and that “this is just formalizing it and putting it in writing.”
Midland University in Fremont and Doane College in Crete offer similar guarantees.
Mueller-Roebke says some programs at Concordia aren’t designed to let students graduate in four years. They include music education, for example.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska U.S. Senate hopefuls Deb Fischer and Bob Kerrey have agreed to a campaign debate at the State Fair in Grand Island.
Local media reports that the candidates will square off on Aug. 25.
Both are seeking to fill the seat that will open after the retirement of Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson. Nelson announced in December that he will not seek re-election, and national Democratic and Republican leaders have identified his seat as a key target in the November election.
Kerrey, a Democrat, is looking to return to the U.S. Senate after leaving office in 2001. The former Nebraska governor most recently served as president of The New School, a university in New York City.
Fischer, a Republican, is a Nebraska state senator from rural Valentine.
DENVER (AP) — Storms have brought a tornado and 2-inch hail to Wyoming, a day after
thunderstorms pummeled parts of Wyoming and Colorado with golf ball-sized hail and heavy rain.
Wyoming officials say three homes were heavily damaged by the tornado Thursday, and 10 to 12 other structures also have damage.
Speaking for the Platte County Sheriff’s Office, local radio station owner Kent Smith says the injured person was treated at the Wheatland hospital for a cut on the head.
National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Trudel says the tornado touched down briefly near Wheatland, north of Cheyenne. Meanwhile hail the size of golf balls was reported in the Wheatland area, and 2-inch hail was reported in Laramie.
On Wednesday, about five tornadoes touched down in Colorado. No serious damage was reported.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State climatologists say farmers in Nebraska and Iowa should prepare for persistent drought conditions this summer that could devastate their crops.
Nebraska State Climatologist Harry Al Dutcher said Thursday that he expects that ranchers and farmers in the western part of the state will suffer crop damage, unless the weather suddenly becomes cooler and wetter. He says that’s unlikely, given the current conditions.
Ranchers in western Nebraska and farmers in north-central Iowa say the weather conditions are the driest they’ve ever seen.
The situation is less dire in Iowa, but State Climatologist Harry Hillaker predicts that June will be warmer than usual. High winds are also causing water to evaporate faster.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) —The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission 
has closed the Mormon Island State Recreation Area swimming beach following reports of swimmer’s itch.
Officials say the beach will be closed for two to four weeks. Mormon Island is near the interchange of Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 281 south of Grand Island.
Community health nurse Katie Wichman told Local media reports that swimmer’s itch is a skin reaction that occurs when a parasitic flatworm enters the outer layer of skin.
The parks superintendent who oversees Mormon Island, Mark Clymer, says there’s no way to be certain the parasites that cause swimmer’s itch are present in water at the beach. But Clymer says similar conditions last year forced a temporary closure.
OGALLALA, Neb. (AP) — Four Nebraska groups will use nearly $1 million in grants from the USDA to improve their video conferencing systems for education and medical treatment in rural areas.
The Agriculture Department announced the grants this week.
An educational service unit based in Ogallala will receive $412,925 to upgrade school video conference equipment in the Panhandle.
Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney will receive $253,345 to help expand telemedicine services in central Nebraska and Kansas.
An educational service unit in Ainsworth will get $180,000 to buy video conferencing gear for 21 schools in the area.
And Mid-Plains Community College in North Platte will receive $123,042 to help link its campuses across 18 counties in western Nebraska.
Today: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Breezy, with a south wind between 10 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 64. South southeast wind between 13 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
Saturday: Sunny and hot, with a high near 98. South wind between 13 and 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
