NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska City residents will be planting trees and celebrating at the home of the national tree-planting Arbor Day holiday.
Arbor Day is Friday in Nebraska and many states around the country. Nebraska City will extend its celebration into the next Saturday and Sunday. People are encouraged to plant and care for trees on the holiday.
The occasion originated in Nebraska City in 1872, founded by Nebraska City native and U.S. Agriculture Secretary J. Sterling Morton.
Nebraska City will celebrate the holiday with tree giveaways, a parade, craft show, chili cook-off and commemorative tree plantings.
Most state and local government offices and services are closed Friday to observe the holiday.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska will not immediately turn over to federal authorities its supply of a drug used during lethal injections.
Instead, the Nebraska Attorney General’s office is calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to appeal a federal judge’s recent ruling that the drug, sodium thiopental, was wrongly allowed into the U.S. That judge also ordered the FDA to notify any state with foreign-manufactured thiopental that its use is prohibited and that it must be turned over to the FDA.
Earlier this month, the FDA sent a letter to Nebraska authorities requesting the state’s supply of sodium thiopental.
The Nebraska Attorney General’s office sent a response Friday to the FDA saying “we are unaware of any evidence or reasons why” the state should turn over its supply of the drug.
GERING, Neb. (AP) – A 30-year-old western Nebraska man has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in the sexual assault of a teenage girl.
Court records say Douglas Vickers had been charged with sexual assault of a child. On Thursday, Vickers pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault of a child.
Prosecutors say Vickers, of Morrill, assaulted the girl in November at her home in rural Gering.
Vickers is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11 in Scotts Bluff County District Court.
TERRYTOWN, Neb. (AP) – A 42-year-old Nebraska Panhandle man has been convicted of two charges and acquitted of two others in a stabbing.
A jury returned its verdicts on Thursday evening for Victor Mata Jr. The Terrytown man had been accused of stabbing two men after a confrontation at a party November last year.
Mata was convicted of assault and a weapons charge. He was acquitted another assault and another weapons charge.
Prosecutors had said the two men forcibly removed Mata from the party, so Mata went to his nearby home, got a knife and returned to the party to attack the two men. Mata had said he was defending himself.
A sentencing date hasn’t been set.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say a tip led to a pot growing operation in a vacant home in Papillion in eastern Nebraska.
Sarpy County deputies found dozens of marijuana plants, grow lights, chemicals and a ventilation system.
The homeowner let deputies search the house Wednesday night.
Authorities say no one lives in the home, but a former resident came back every day.
No arrests have been reported.
SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska Panhandle man charged with vehicular homicide and manslaughter in the death of a passenger wants his case to be heard by a judge, not a jury.
19-year-old Bryan Bloom, of Henry, waived his right a jury trial during a pre-trial conference on Thursday in Scotts Bluff County District Court.
Bloom was driving a van to Torrington, Wyo., on June 20, 2011, when a passenger, 18-year-old Johrdan Stone, stuck his head out the window and was hit by a road sign.
Bloom told police he didn’t know Stone had been hurt until they arrived at a home in Torrington. Stone died of neck and head injuries.
Officials say Bloom was driving drunk. Court documents show Stone also had been drinking.
GERING, Neb. (AP) – A Kimball city councilman accused of sexually assaulting a mentally disabled teenage boy has pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.
Scott Haun was charged in October with first-degree sexual assault. He pleaded no contest to attempted first-degree sexual assault on Thursday in Scotts Bluff County District Court. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced June 11.
Haun has been on the Kimball City Council for a total of 12 years.
Under Nebraska law, council members convicted of crimes while in office must resign.
Haun resigned Thursday morning prior to his plea hearing. The council will hold an emergency meeting April 25 on the vacant seat.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A convicted murderer who escaped with three other inmates from a Kansas county jail has been captured and sent back to a state prison after nearly two days on the run, authorities said Friday.
Santos Carrera-Morales, 22, was arrested in Russell, Kan., about 80 miles from the Ottawa County jail, late Thursday, the Kansas Department of Corrections said in a statement. Two of the escaped inmates were caught Wednesday. Eric James, 22, remained at large.
The four who escaped Ottawa County jail early Wednesday had been transferred there because of overcrowding at the state prison in Ellsworth. The jailbreak prompted state officials to return all state inmates held at the county jail in Minneapolis, a small town about 120 miles west of Topeka, back to Ellsworth.
Two officers took Carrera-Morales into custody without incident after a 911 caller alerted police to a suspicious person at a convenience store in Russell, city Police Chief Jon Quinday told The Associated Press. Carrera-Morales told police that he hitched a ride into the city.
“He was sitting on the side of the store,” Quinday said. “He had been given a ride there by somebody who picked him up north of the city.”
Quinday did not say if police have identified the person who Carrera-Morales said drove him to Russell.
Carrera-Morales was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of a teenager and a young man in Sedgwick County in March 2007. Police in Wichita, where Carrera-Morales has ties, have described him as a gang member.
One of the inmates was recaptured shortly after the escape, and another, Drew Wade, 21, turned himself in Wednesday evening at a Walmart in North Platte, Neb., about 240 miles northwest of the Ottawa County jail. Authorities said Wade, serving time for robbery and aggravated battery, was traveling in one of the stolen vehicles, a minivan.
The Kansas Highway Patrol and state Department of Corrections say the escaped inmates stole at least two vehicles in Minneapolis, Kan. Highway Patrol spokesman Ben Gardner said authorities believe they can now place James in the other stolen vehicle, a gold 2002 Nissan Altima with a Kansas license plate of 649-CIC. James was convicted of aggravated robbery, burglary, kidnapping and criminal damage in 2008. “We still don’t know where that Nissan Altima is,” Gardner said.
Corrections department spokesman Jeremy Barclay applauded the Russell city police for their help in the arrest of Carrera-Morales, who he said was taken straight to Ellsworth Correctional Facility.
On Thursday, Barclay told The Associated Press that the department was reviewing its policy on inmate transfers to Ottawa County – one of four county jails that accommodates prisoners from overcrowded state facilities. “This is an interim step while the investigation is taking place,” Barclay said.
The department said Thursday it still houses 86 male inmates in county jails under contracts paying the counties an average of $40 a day per inmate. The state also has contracts with jails in Butler, Cowley and Leavenworth counties, Barclay said.
County lockups must pass an inspection that includes a review of training and facilities before it can accept state inmates. An Ottawa County website said its jail can house 60 offenders and has eight corrections officers on staff.
Sheriff Keith Coleman told The Associated Press Radio the inmates used homemade knives to overpower two guards, get into the jail’s control room and unlock doors.
Sending inmates to Ottawa County allowed the state to keep the population at the Ellsworth prison, about 50 miles to the southwest, below its capacity of 818 inmates. As of Thursday, the state had 8,654 male inmates, exceeding its bed space by 212, or 2.5 percent.
The prison system’s budget has declined in recent years as the state has faced financial problems. But lawmakers are considering proposals this year to increase prison space.
Barclay said the Department of Corrections has had informal, internal discussions about undergoing more training since the escape.
WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — Don’t bogart that bottle, my friend.
In the counterculture world, “420” is the code for cannabis consumption, and April 20 — or 4/20 — is the holy day.
On this April 20, the Alaska Distillery is introducing its hemp seed vodka.
This is the same company that two years ago brought you smoked-salmon flavored vodka.
Now they’re importing hemp seeds from Canada to distill their newest product.
But don’t worry about getting any extra buzz. The hemp seeds are sterile, and the government makes sure there’s no THC in them.
The makers say the hemp makes the vodka a tad sweeter and gives it a hint of nut. While they say it’s a good drink straight up, you can also make a mean cosmo with it.
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (AP) — The four tornadoes spotted last weekend in western Nebraska’s Lincoln County have been given the weakest rating.
