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Norfolk man charged in crash that killed passenger in April

fatal-accidentSTANTON, Neb. (AP) — A 19-year-old Norfolk man has been charged with one count of misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide for a fatal crash last month.

Blake Baldwin was charged in Stanton County on Friday. Police say Baldwin was driving a sport utility vehicle April 29 when he lost control, causing the SUV to roll. Baldwin and two other passengers were thrown from the vehicle. Nineteen-year-old Beau Kellogg, of Norfolk, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Baldwin and the surviving passenger, 20-year-old Kaleb Eatherton of Norfolk, have also been charged with being minors in possession of alcohol.

Both are scheduled to appear in Stanton County Court on June 13.

Douglas County Board considering giving $5M to UNMC center

UNMCOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska Medical Center is asking Douglas County for $5 million for its Davis Global Center under construction in Omaha.

The County Board is considering giving $500,000 a year for 10 years, beginning in 2022. The money would come from inheritance taxes.

The payments would start after the county is done making $500,000 annual payments on its $5 million contribution to UNMC’s Buffett Cancer Center.

The board could vote in early June on an agreement with UNMC that is expected to spell out details.

The new center will offer health care training, education and research with cutting-edge simulation technology, among other things. It’s being built at 42nd and Emile Streets on the UNMC campus.

Nebraska high school to honor late student at graduation

graduationWAVERLY, Neb. (AP) — A student from Nebraska who died after a long battle with illness will be recognized at her high school’s graduation ceremony, thanks to a compromise between the senior class and school administrators.

A statement released Thursday by Waverly High School’s senior class says they will observe a moment of silence for 17-year-old McKenna Smith and her family at the start of the commencement ceremony Sunday. A purple floral arrangement on the main stage will also commemorate McKenna. She died in July from an incurable degenerative brain disease called juvenile Huntington’s disease.

School officials had rejected students’ original idea of leaving a chair empty for McKenna, citing school policies. After receiving backlash, administrators and seniors found common ground.

The statement says the students are fortunate “to have had our voices heard.”

Arraignment set for man charged in deadly Iowa jail escape

Wesley Correa-Carmenaty
Wesley Correa-Carmenaty

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A judge has signed off on the charges against a man accused of killing a sheriff’s deputy and wounding another while escaping from an Iowa jail.

The Pottawattamie County District judge on Friday also scheduled 24-year-old Wesley Correa-Carmenaty’s arraignment hearing for June 19.

Authorities say Correa-Carmenaty had just been sentenced on May 1 to 45 years in prison in an unrelated murder case when he managed to grab one of the deputies’ guns while being transferred to a Council Bluffs jail. He shot them both and used the jail van to escape.

He was recaptured after authorities say he carjacked a woman at gunpoint and forced her to drive to Omaha, Nebraska.

Correa-Carmenaty is charged with murder, attempted murder, escape, kidnapping and other counts.

Former VP Biden to speak at Omaha cancer center dedication

buffettt-cancer-centerOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden will deliver the keynote speech next week at the dedication of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha.

The former vice president and longtime U.S. senator from Delaware has led an initiative to end cancer, which took the life of his son, Beau, in 2015.

He’ll speak Tuesday at the Omaha cancer research and treatment center’s dedication.

The $323 million, 615,000 square-foot Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center will open in early June. It will include a research facility next to a new cancer hospital, as well as an outpatient center with clinics, oncology and other services.

Tickets to Tuesday’s ribbon cutting have already been distributed and no additional space for the public is available.

Nebraska man caught in undercover sex sting sent to prison

jailLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 37-year-old Oxford, Nebraska, man has been sentenced to prison for sending sexually suggestive texts to someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl.

Richard Walls was sentenced Tuesday in Lancaster County Court to 6-to-8 years in prison.

He pleaded no contest last month to an attempted felony. Investigators say Walls was caught in a sting operation last fall in which a Lincoln police officer posed online as an underage girl. Police say Walls made contact with the undercover officer and eventually asked to take who he thought was a 15-year-old girl named Amy to Kansas and pay her $100 for sex.

Police say Walls was already a registered sex offender for a 2013 enticement conviction.

Boy, 3, recovering after dad finds him face-down in pond

ambulance-lightsBELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 3-year-old boy is recovering after his father found him floating face-down in a pond several yards from their home in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue.

Bellevue police spokeswoman Laurie Synowiecki says the boy’s parents were home when he left his backyard around 4:30 p.m. Thursday. His dad soon went looking for him when he noticed the boy was missing and then found him 60 to 80 yards away in the water. First responders say the boy was unconscious but breathing when they arrived.

The boy was taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where his condition has been upgraded to stable.

Police have not released the parents’ or the boy’s names.

18-year-old dies in northeast Nebraska collision

state-patrol-logoWAUSA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an 18-year-old driver has been killed in a Knox County collision.

The accident occurred around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at a highway intersection south of Wausa. The Nebraska State Patrol says Sara Hubert, of Norfolk, was westbound on Nebraska Highway 59 when her vehicle was struck on the driver’s side.

The patrol says Hubert had failed to yield as required to a northbound vehicle on Nebraska Highway 121. It was driven by 17-year-old John Rosberg, of Wausa. It’s unclear whether he was injured.

Lincoln judge who made trial error denies a new trial

judgeshipLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge says an error he made during a synthetic marijuana case in Lincoln doesn’t justify a new trial.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf blamed himself Wednesday for a mistake made in the case of Allen Peithman, who faced a 14-count criminal complaint that alleged he sold synthetic marijuana at his head shop.

The complaint included allegations that Peithman violated his supervised release in an earlier drug case by participating in the alleged synthetic marijuana conspiracy.

Kopf said he mistakenly treated the supervised-release violation as a separate offense, rather than a sentencing enhancement, before Peithman was found guilty of six counts in March.

Kopf vacated the supervised-released ruling last month, but says it doesn’t warrant a new trial.

Peithman’s sentencing is set for June.

Giraffe born at Omaha zoo last month gets new name

henry-doorly-zooOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new name has been picked for a baby giraffe born last month at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium.

Officials say the giraffe born April 30 has been named Malcolm.

The name was picked through a public naming contest which took submissions through May 8. The winning name was announced Wednesday.

Zookeepers picked from nearly 3,360 submissions. The zoo will present the person who submitted the winning name with a giraffe-themed gift basket.

Malcolm is one of only 11 giraffes born at American zoos in the past year. He was born to 17-year-old Dottie and 8-year-old Jawara.

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