LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A 42-year-old Lincoln man who prosecutors say smoked crack with a teenage girl and then had sex with her has been given 15-to-20 years in prison.
Howard Brown was sentenced on Monday. He’d pleaded no contest to attempted sexual assault.
Investigators say DNA evidence linked Brown to the June 2007 incident.
Court records say the then-13-year-old girl told police she sneaked out of her home to meet Brown. She says they smoked crack, then he drove her elsewhere and they had sex.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Lincoln police say a distracted woman hit her car’s gas pedal instead of the brake, sending the car crashing into a store and the store’s clerk to a hospital.
Police said that the crash happened Monday night at a Payless Shoe Source.
Investigators say a cashier who was ringing up customers near the front of the store was hit by the car and taken to a Lincoln hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. No customer was injured; neither was the driver of the car.
The car had traveled about 10 feet into the store.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A compromise that would let Nebraska influence the route of the Keystone XL and other major oil pipelines is slated for final approval.
Lawmakers are set to vote Tuesday on two bills to regulate oil pipelines within the state’s borders. Gov. Dave Heineman has said he supports the measures, and has scheduled a bill-signing ceremony after the vote.
One measure would subject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to a state environmental review. The other would direct the Public Service Commission to review future projects with public input.
Jane Kleeb, executive director of the group Bold Nebraska, has scheduled news conference to outline how pipeline critics will proceed once the special session ends. Bold Nebraska has led a citizen campaign against the Keystone XL along with environmental groups and landowners.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – An attorney who wants voters to decide whether marijuana should be legal in Nebraska will be able to get a marijuana-themed license plate after all.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles reversed course Monday and decided to allow Holbrook attorney Frank Shoemaker to get “NE420” license plates. Last week, Shoemaker sued the state in federal court saying his free speech rights were being violated by the denial.
The DMV had said Shoemaker’s application was rejected because the number 420 refers to a date and time when pot smokers are encouraged to partake in the drug.
Shoemaker submitted petition language for his proposed ballot initiative on legalizing marijuana to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office earlier this year.

 

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) – A Sidney High School assistant football coach arrested on drug charges has been sent to a treatment center.
Robert Lewis was arrested last Thursday by the Nebraska State Patrol after a traffic stop in Sidney. The arrest affidavit says
troopers discovered marijuana and hashish in his car.
Court documents show a judge granted a defense motion for inpatient treatment at a facility in O’Neil, where Lewis will remain until he’s discharged.
School Superintendent John Hakonson said that he’s reviewing court documents to determine what action the school needs to take.
A telephone call to Lewis’ attorney, Donald Miller, was not returned on Monday.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (North Platte Post)- The seizure of 33.1 lbs of marijuana during a traffic stop on Interstate-80 led to the arrest of a California man.

Just after noon on Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, a trooper stopped an eastbound 2011 Chevy Malibu for following too close near the I-80 Milford Interchange. Upon contact with the driver, the trooper smelled the odor of marijuana and conducted a probable cause search. The search led to the seizure of 33.1 lbs of marijuana. The drugs were contained in a large suitcase and duffle bag in the trunk of the car.

The driver of the vehicle, Christopher A. Hinde, 47, Greenbrae, CA was lodged in the Seward County Jail on a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

 

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) – The murder case of a 20-year-old Columbus man has been forwarded to Platte County District Court for trial.
Ozzy Tilden is accused of stabbing to death 36-year-old Jerry Garcia during a fight in the parking lot of the Sundown Motel in Columbus on Oct. 8.
Tilden was bound over for trial after waiving his right to a preliminary hearing in county court last week.
Tilden is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 9 on charges of first-degree murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony.
He’s been held without bond since surrendering in October.
Tilden’s lawyer, Todd Lancaster, declined to comment on Monday.