LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Police say a woman died after the car she was driving rammed into a tree in east Lincoln.
The crash was reported just before 1 a.m. Thursday. Police Capt. Ben Kopsa says the car was headed west before running off the pavement and hitting the tree. It’s not clear when the crash occurred or what caused the woman to leave the roadway.
The woman’s name hasn’t been released. The crash is being investigated.
ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska National Guard is working to repair its main training site after floodwaters damaged dozens of buildings.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that 51 of the 62 buildings at Camp Ashland have sustained water damage after the Platte River knocked down a levee last month.
Col. Shane Martin is the construction and facilities-management officer. He says the flooding is worse than anything the camp has seen in the last century.
Martin says the Guard is working to clean and dry the buildings as quickly as possible to avoid mold issues. He says it could cost up to $50 million to repair the base, which would be funded by the federal government.
He says the base could reopen minimal operations in about two months.
Between 80,000 and 100,000 soldiers train at Camp Ashland each year.
YORK, Neb. (AP) – A California man caught hauling marijuana through Nebraska has been given jail time and probation.
York County District Court records say 32-year-old Ruben Morales Moran, of Corning, California, was sentenced last week to three years of probation and 90 days in jail, divided into three increments of 30 days. The two final increments can be waived by the court.
He’d pleaded no contest to attempted possession of controlled substances for sale. Prosecutors dropped two related charges in exchange for Moran’s plea.
Authorities say a deputy stopped a pickup truck for speeding on Interstate 80 last Aug. 8 in York County. A court document says the York County deputy grew suspicious, which led to a search of the truck. Sixty-two pounds (28 kilograms) of pot was found inside a hidden compartment under the pickup bed.
Saline County District Court records say the Oct. 15 trial start in Wilber was set last week for 25-year-old Bailey Boswell. In November she pleaded not guilty to pleas of first-degree murder and unlawful disposal of human remains.
Prosecutors say Boswell and 52-year-old Aubrey Trai l strangled Sydney Loofe in November 2017 and that Boswell helped Trail cut up Loofe’s body and stuff the remains into trash bags. The remains were found Dec. 4 in Clay County, weeks after Loofe was reported missing.
Both Boswell and Trail face the death penalty if convicted. Trail’s trial is scheduled to begin June 17.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A June sentencing has been scheduled for a 27-year-old man accused of killing a member of a rival Omaha gang.
Douglas County District Court records say Tontavious Montgomery pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter and possession of a firearm. Prosecutors dropped a charge of first-degree murder and a weapons count in return for Montgomery’s pleas. His sentencing is set for June 20.
Prosecutors say Montgomery and Alphonso Hall III shot to death 22-year-old Terrance Gunn in May 2016. Hall pleaded guilty last year to manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 to 20 years in prison.
The case against Montgomery was delayed while he spent time at the state psychiatric hospital in Lincoln. He was found competent for trial, which was scheduled to begin Monday.
Sarpy County District Court records say 28-year-old Omaha resident Alisia Cooke entered the plea last month to a charge of second-degree murder. Prosecutors lowered the charge from first-degree murder and dropped three related charges in return for Cooke’s plea. Her next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 6.
The records say Cooke and three other people were charged after the stabbing death of 38-year-old Brent Quigley during a robbery attempt at his home in Bellevue last June. Christopher Reagan and Raymond Davis have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, robbery and other charges. Krystal Martin has pleaded not guilty to an accessory charge.
Trials have been scheduled for all three.
SPENCER, Neb. (AP) – A rural water district official is worried about how to provide water for the thousands of people and cattle in his northern Nebraska county after a wall of water, ice and debris swept away a vital pipe.
Rex Black is the volunteer board chairman for the water district in Boyd County. He tells the Omaha World-Herald that the district will likely have to pay $400,000 to temporarily fix 1,500 feet (460 meters) of pipe that crosses beneath the Niobrara River and carries drinking water to the county.
Black says district officials are reaching out to private and business sectors for funding assistance. He’s also started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money.
It could likely take more than 40 days to get water running after repair work begins.
YORK, Neb. (AP) – York County authorities say a 58-year-old man died after his vehicle hit a landscaping rock and erupted in flames.
The accident was reported around 11:50 p.m. Saturday on U.S. Highway 34 on the northeast side of York. The York News-Times reports that the westbound vehicle ran off the roadway onto a lawn and then headed eastward and hit the rock. Sheriff Paul Vrbka says it appears a fuel line ruptured upon impact and the vehicle was stuck atop the rock when the fire broke out. The driver’s body was found in the charred wreckage.
Vrbka identified the driver as Jimmy Winter, who lived in Utica. An autopsy was ordered.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A wall of rocks and sandbags on Monday protected scenic Clarksville, Missouri, from the surging Mississippi River as spring flooding swamped fields, threatened homes and temporarily shut down a bridge connecting Missouri and Illinois.Heavy rain over much of the Midwest on Saturday caused another spike in water levels along the river and its tributaries, especially in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.
So far, Mississippi River flood damage is far less severe than March flooding along the Missouri River in Nebraska, southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri, where hundreds of homes were damaged. Still, several Mississippi River communities were battling to stay dry.
Clarksville, a 440-resident community 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of St. Louis is known for its antique shops and artist galleries operating out of 19th-century brick storefronts. The town sits square along the Mississippi, unprotected by a levee largely because town leadership doesn’t want to obstruct the view of the river, and has been through many floods.
As they’ve done so many times before, Clarksville residents and other volunteers built a makeshift wall around downtown, though this time, they started with a 6-foot layer of rocks as the base, with sandbags on top of the rocks. The river was expected to crest Monday about 9 feet (2.7 meters) above flood stage, making it the seventh-worst recorded flood in Clarksville. A downtown park on the other side of the makeshift levee was under water, and several homes beyond the rock and sandbag protection also were threatened.
In nearby Louisiana, Missouri, the flood briefly forced the closure of the Champ Clark Bridge that connects Missouri and Illinois because water was lapping near the Illinois entrance to the bridge Sunday night. The closure created a hardship for commuters because the next nearest river crossing is at Hannibal, Missouri, 27 miles (43 kilometers) to the north.
But by Monday morning the river had crested, the bridge deck was clear, and the Louisiana bridge was reopened, Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jessie Decker said.
Precautionary sandbags were added to the top of a levee at Foley, a tiny town about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of St. Louis. Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Jim Sharp said the river was expected to get close to the top of the levee and volunteers have been walking the levee to make sure it’s holding.
“We haven’t had anything over the top,” Sharp said. “We haven’t had a breach. We haven’t had a failure anywhere.”
The river was causing other problems, too. In St. Louis, the route for the upcoming Go St. Louis marathon and half-marathon had to be changed. The two runs combined are expected to draw about 15,000 participants on Sunday, and the original finish line was along the Mississippi near the Gateway Arch. That road is underwater, so the run will end elsewhere in downtown.
The severe flooding from last month in northwest Missouri may have claimed a life. The Platte County Sheriff’s Department is investigating after a 61-year-old man’s body was found Friday near an overturned boat in a flooded area not far from Bean Lake. The victim’s name has not been released.
Authorities in several flooded areas where water was receding warned that danger still exists. In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, an intoxicated man was rescued from the Big Sioux River late Friday after police heard him yelling for help. Rescue crews used a ladder to get down a 12-foot retaining wall and a rope to pull the man to safety. He was treated for exposure.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Omaha has been dumping about 65 million gallons of untreated sewage daily into a creek that soon flows into the Missouri River, a situation that officials say won’t be resolved for several weeks.
The city’s wastewater treatment plant south of Offutt Air Force Base went offline March 15 when floodwaters overwhelmed plant operations. It typically treats and cleans about two-thirds of what the Omaha area sends down sewer drains.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that experts say the untreated wastewater must travel about 30 miles downstream before being diluted enough to significantly reduce health risks.
Omaha is working with the Omaha Public Power District to restore electricity. Workers will have to clear away the stinking mess at the plant, and the city will bring in contractors to rebuild.
