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Omaha woman sentenced again in worthless travel voucher case

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman already serving time in federal prison for selling millions of dollars in worthless travel vouchers has been sentenced again, this time for state charges in the case.

Patricia Urbanovsky was sentenced Wednesday in Douglas County District Court to seven to 11 years in state prison. She had pleaded no contest to writing bad checks to her employees to repay them for thousands of dollars she borrowed from them to keep her business afloat.

Urbanovsky was sentenced earlier this year to more than five years in federal prison for money laundering and wire fraud. Her state sentence will run at the same time as her federal sentence.

Authorities say Urbanovsky ran a scheme through her business to sell discounted airline travel vouchers, which turned out to be worthless. Hundreds of customers discovered their vouchers wouldn’t be honored.

Ex-Texas nurse accused of killing dozens charged with murder

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A former Texas nurse who prosecutors say may be responsible for the deaths of up to 60 young children has been indicted on a murder charge for the second time in recent weeks.

Prosecutors in San Antonio said in a statement that 66-year-old Genene Jones was indicted Wednesday in the 1981 death of 2-year-old Rosemary Vega.

She was charged with a separate count of murder last month in the death of an 11-month-old boy.

Jones is serving a lengthy prison sentence for the 1982 killing of another toddler. But she was scheduled to be released in March under a mandatory release law in place when she was convicted.

Authorities have linked her to many more deaths of children who died under unusual circumstances during or shortly after her shifts.

Nebraska officials preparing disaster aid requests

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials are preparing disaster aid requests in the wake of bad weather that struck both ends of Nebraska last week.

Nebraska Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Jodie Fawl said the agency is gathering information from emergency managers about damage in more than 30 counties.

The National Weather Service has reported that three tornadoes touched down in the Nebraska Panhandle last week and four tornadoes hit eastern Nebraska on Friday, spawned by a storm that carried howling straight-line winds and blinding rain as well.

Bellevue, Papillion and Sarpy County have requested state disaster aid, and Plattsmouth City Administrator Erv Portis says his city needs help as well. He estimates that most of Plattsmouth’s 2,200 homes sustained some damage.

Woman accused of embezzling from Lincoln church day care

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former employee has been accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from a church day care program in Lincoln.

Online court records say Amanda Haumont is charged with felony theft. A home phone listing for her isn’t available. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday from The Associated Press. The records say Haumont’s next court hearing is scheduled for July 6.

Authorities say Haumont was paid overtime after she lied about the hours she worked as director of Little Lambs Child Development Center at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church and also didn’t deposit some cash paid by a woman whose daughter attended the day care. The theft was estimated at more than $21,000.

1 man fatally wounded, another hurt in Omaha shooting

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say one man has died and another has been critically injured in a southeast Omaha shooting.

Police say officers who were sent around 9:30 p.m. Monday to check a residential disturbance call found a wounded man at a street corner nearby. Police say he was taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where he later died. Police identified him as 44-year-old Jason Davis.

Another man believed to have been wounded in the same shooting showed up at a fire station and was taken in critical condition to the same hospital. He’s been identified as 30-year-old Justin Huskey.

Police say they’re looking for two suspects. No arrests have been reported.

Carjacking suspect had stolen mail in car, authorities say

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Eastern Nebraska authorities say a man caught after a carjacking attempt had stolen mail in his wrecked car.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were sent around 6:45 a.m. Tuesday to check a report about a man rummaging through mailboxes in a neighborhood on the north side of Omaha. After a short foot chase they were able to catch a man who’d fled a vehicle he was trying to steal after wrecking his car in a ditch.

He was booked into jail on suspicion of attempted robbery and resisting arrest. Court records don’t show that he’s been formally charged yet.

The deputies reported finding mail stolen in northern Douglas County and Omaha in the man’s car.

Omaha zoo’s newest addition is sea lion pup born Saturday

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A newborn California sea lion pup is the newest addition at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.

The pup, currently on display, was born Saturday, and a contest to name it will be launched next week.

Zoo keepers will choose several possible names for the new pup. The options will be listed on the zoo’s Facebook page. The vote begins Monday and ends July 3.

The winning name will be announced via Facebook Live on July 4.

California sea lions are usually found along the coastlines of the Pacific Northwest. Males weigh between 700 and 1,000 pounds. Females weigh between 200 and 250 pounds.

Fewer than a quarter of accredited zoos have sea lions on display.

Lincoln man sentenced to federal prison for child porn

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 46-year-old Lincoln man has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

Christopher Rueter was sentenced Friday to four years and nine months.

Rueter had pleaded guilty. He was ordered Friday to pay $1,000 restitution to the victim and spend five years on supervised release.

Lincoln police searched his apartment Aug. 16 as part of an investigation into computers sharing child pornography files on the internet. Rueter admitting to using file-sharing software to download files.

Police say man killed in overnight shooting in north Omaha

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police are investigating a shooting overnight that left one man dead.

Police say the shooting happened in northeast Omaha around 12:55 a.m. Saturday. Officers who arrived found 44-year-old Virjillo Gurrero-Quiros with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

No arrests had been reported by late Saturday afternoon, and police say the investigation into Gurrero-Quiros’ death continues.

4 tornadoes confirmed in Friday’s eastern Nebraska storms

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Four tornadoes have been confirmed in the storms that hit eastern Nebraska on Friday, and thousands of people may remain without power for days.

The National Weather Service said two tornadoes caused damage in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue Friday evening before the storm moved into western Iowa. Two other tornadoes were confirmed in northeast Nebraska near Madison and Hoskins.

Residents of areas hit by the storm spent much of the weekend cleaning up debris.

Omaha Public Power District crews continued working to restore power on Sunday, but the utility said power might not be restored to everyone until sometime Wednesday because of the extensive damage.

On Sunday morning, more than 24,000 utility customers lacked power. That’s down from a peak outage of 76,000 after the storms.

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