LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — One person has been hospitalized after a fire that damaged a house in southwest Lincoln.
The blaze was reported around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, and fire officials say it was ignited by a discarded cigarette. The flames were mainly contained to the living room.
The name of the injured person hasn’t been released.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An African elephant brought to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo last year as part of a controversial relocation has died.
The zoo says in a news release that the male elephant named Warren died Thursday morning after being anesthetized to treat a cracked tusk.
The release says that during the procedure, Warren’s breathing slowed, then stopped. Emergency efforts failed to revive the elephant — estimated to be 8 or 9 years old.
The zoo says a necropsy will be performed.
Warren was one of 17 elephants flown from Swaziland to the U.S. in early 2016 and placed in the Omaha zoo and those in Wichita, Kansas, and Dallas.
Animal rights group Friends of Animals, which opposes elephants being kept in zoos, unsuccessfully sued to stop the importation of the elephants.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Police Department says it will have a new partner in fighting crime: the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Omaha officials announced Thursday an agreement that will see the police department break from Douglas County for forensic crime lab services and instead rely on UNMC for crime lab needs.
Police Chief Todd Schmaderer and Mayor Jean Stothert have long advocated for independent crime labs. UNMC will provide drug testing and DNA testing.
The agreement will take effect Oct. 1 if approved by the Omaha City Council. That vote is expected on Sept. 26.
Schmaderer says the new system will allow for faster crime test results. He says his department will still sometimes use the Nebraska State Patrol lab, but most of its work will move to UNMC.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a woman died after being shot in a police station parking lot in northeast Nebraska.
The shooting occurred around 8:10 a.m. Wednesday in the east lot at the Law Enforcement Center in South Sioux City. Police Chief Ed Mahon (MAYE’-hahn) says the woman died at a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital after 11.
A man found in the area was taken into custody and is being questioned.
Police say no officers have been injured and say the shooting may have stemmed from a domestic situation. The two arrived in separate vehicles.
Police did not immediately release the names of the man and woman.
Dispatchers and some Nebraska State Patrol employees work in the police department’s building.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 7-year-old Omaha student says he fell asleep before his bus arrived at school and awoke later — and alone — at the bus contractor’s depot.
Tamara Bailey said her grandson Quintan Wells-Harris boarded the bus around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday but didn’t get off at Standing Bear Elementary, ending up at the depot. He says “it was scary, because no one was in the bus.”
The district had the contractor check its yard after learning the second-grader wasn’t at school. Quintan was found unharmed around 10:30 a.m.
District spokeswoman Monique Farmer says drivers are supposed to check their buses at least twice, including upon returning to the depot. She says the driver of Quintan’s bus won’t be permitted to drive for the district any longer.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man has been accused of running a cockfighting operation.
Police and the Nebraska Humane Society confiscated 20 roosters from the man’s home Sunday afternoon and arrested him. Online court records don’t yet show that he’s been formally charged.
Mark Langan with the Humane Society says the birds had injuries consistent with cockfighting.
BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — At least one person has been hospitalized after a fire at a Bellevue apartment complex.
Authorities say the fire was reported around 4 a.m. Tuesday at the Brent Village Apartments. The blaze forced around two dozen residents to flee to safety.
Authorities say one person was taken to Nebraska Medical Center for treatment of smoke inhalation. Another person was treated at the complex.
The fire cause is being investigated.
FALLS CITY, Neb. (AP) — A 33-year-old Falls City resident has been accused of helping a friend flee to Kansas after the friend killed another man more than two years ago.
Michael Seager is charged with being an accessory to a felony. Court records say Seager drove Desiderio Hernandez to Horton, Kansas, after Hernandez fatally shot Joseph Debella Jr. on Aug. 5, 2015. Hernandez has since been sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder.
Richardson County records say Seager remained in custody Monday. Court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for Seager.
The records say Hernandez went to Seager’s home after the shooting and told Seager that some “bad stuff happened” and that he needed to leave town. Seager later drove Hernandez to a relative’s home in Horton.
Authorities are investigating the death of a man who died of his injuries a few hours after he rushed past layers of security officers into a massive fire at the Burning Man festival’s signature ceremony.
Late Saturday night, Aaron Joel Mitchell, 41, broke through a two-layer security perimeter during the Man Burn event in which a giant, wooden effigy is set ablaze.
Nevada’s Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen estimated that there was a crowd of about 50,000 people who were present when the festival’s crew of firefighters pulled Mitchell out of the blaze.
He was airlifted to the UC Davis hospital burn center in California, where he died Sunday morning. The sheriff said doctors confirmed Mitchell wasn’t under the influence of alcohol, but a toxicology report is pending.
BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — A recall effort against a Bellevue city councilman will proceed after a judge found language in a refiled recall affidavit acceptable.
A new order from a Sarpy County District Court judge gives Councilman Pat Shannon 20 days from Aug. 28 to submit a defense statement to be included on recall petitions or appeal the judge’s decision to a higher court.
Last month, the judge halted the first recall effort because the affidavit was handwritten, not typed as required by state law.
The recall effort comes after Shannon was found not guilty of violating electrical license requirements for a building he owns. Also this summer, the City Council voted to condemn and tear down an eyesore carwash owned by Shannon.
