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Boy struck, killed walking near Wahoo school, officials say

Wahoo,-neWAHOO, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a boy died after he was struck by a pickup truck while walking near his school in Wahoo.

Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz says the boy was struck about 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at a street corner near Wahoo Elementary as he was walking home from school. He was pronounced dead later at Saunders Medical Center in Wahoo.

Authorities identified the boy as 11-year-old Mason Triplett. The pickup driver’s name hasn’t been released.

The accident is being investigated.

Big Ox to stop paying motel bills for displaced residents

Google Maps
Google Maps

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Officials say Big Ox Energy will stop paying motel bills next week for South Sioux City residents displaced by sewer odor.

The renewable energy company’s spokesman, Evan Zeppos, on Wednesday said Big Ox is working with the residents on individual remediation plans. The company has been covering the bills since late October.

As many as two dozen residents were originally displaced. As of last week a dozen remained at motels or at the homes of friends and family.

The source of the hydrogen sulfide that caused the smell in the homes is still being investigated. Last week Big Ox Energy released a report that pointed at plumbing issues in the majority of the homes instead of discharges from the Big Ox plant.

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Chief says officers’ shooting of armed man was justified

omaha-policeOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha police chief says the shooting of a man who’d shot an officer was justified.

Chief Todd Schmaderer (SHMAH’-dur) said in a news release Tuesday that the shooting by Officers Jill Schillerberg, who was wounded in her lower left leg, and Matthew Skradski was in direct response to the actions of 20-year-old Monroe Evans III.

Evans was hospitalized after Monday afternoon’s incident several blocks west of downtown Omaha.

The officers told members of an internal investigation that Evans matched the description of a man reported to have been looking in windows. They say he refused orders to take his hands out of his sweatshirt pockets and eventually pulled out a handgun and fired once, hitting Schillerberg. She fired back once and Skradski fired 11 times.

O’Neill man gets 75 years to life in prison for killing wife

jailO’NEILL, Neb. (AP) — A 38-year-old O’Neill man has been given 75 years to life in prison for killing his wife.

Court records say Eduardo Barajas Quintero was sentenced Monday. He’d pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree murder.

Prosecutors say he fatally stabbed 37-year-old Guadalupe Verdin Quintero on Feb. 20. A Nebraska State Patrol investigator said in an arrest warrant affidavit that Eduardo Quintero told him that he stabbed his wife because he suspected she was having an affair with another man. Quintero said he used a different knife to cut his own wrists.

Investigators counted 34 stab wounds on the body of Guadalupe Quintero.

Cub Scouts leader imprisoned for sex assault on teen girl

Matthew Towle
Matthew Towle

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has been imprisoned for sexually assaulting a teenage girl he met when he was a Cub Scouts den father.

40-year-old Matthew Towle was sentenced Tuesday to 13 to 25 years in prison. Towle had pleaded no contest to charges of sexual assault and pornography possession. He was credited with 340 days already served.

Lincoln police say Towle met the 15-year-old girl at a Cub Scouts summer camp in 2015. The two later exchanged sexual texts and Facebook messages. Under Nebraska law, people 19 and over cannot have sexual contact with people under 16.

Barneston man said he shot son during struggle, sheriff says

gage-county-sheriffBARNESTON, Neb. (AP) — Gage County authorities say a Barneston man has reported shooting his 25-year-old son during a struggle.

Sheriff Gus Gustafson said Wednesday that deputies sent Tuesday to check a disturbance found Julius Bruner with an abdominal wound. He was flown to a Lincoln hospital and was expected to survive.

Gustafson says Bruner’s 54-year-old father, Delbert Bruner, told deputies he’d sent his wife from the home and went to his bedroom to get away from his son, who he says was being aggressive.

Delbert Bruner reported that he feared he’d be injured, so he pointed a pistol at his son and told him to stop. He says his son continued to advance, so he grabbed one of his arms and the gun fired as they struggled.

Delbert Bruner was released after questioning.

Omaha police say teenage son accidentally shot father

accidental-shootingOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say an Omaha man was fatally shot on his birthday by his teenage son in what appears to have been an accident.

Omaha police were called Tuesday night to an apartment in northwest Omaha for a shooting. Arriving officers found 44-year-old Benjamin Majestic wounded. Majestic was taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where he died.

Police confirmed Majestic’s 17-year-old son shot him while inside their third-floor apartment and that investigators believe the shooting was accidental. No charges have been filed.

Iowa woman killed in Omaha crash remembered year later

Eswin Mejia
Eswin Mejia

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nearly 200 people turned out at a southeast Omaha intersection to remember a Council Bluffs, Iowa, woman killed a year ago in a crash police say was caused by a drunken driver in the country illegally.

Friends and family of 21-year-old Sarah Root release balloons Tuesday night in her memory.

Investigators say 20-year-old Eswin Mejia was in the country illegally when he was driving drunk last February and crashed into Root’s car, killing her.

Authorities haven’t seen Mejia since he posted $5,000 bond and was released from jail.

Iowa and Nebraska lawmakers have introduced legislation to require federal immigration officials to keep any person in the country illegally in custody when charged with a crime involving serious injury or death.

President Donald Trump mentioned the Omaha case during his campaign rallies to bolster support for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Nebraska man pleads not guilty to raping woman he met on Facebook

Ross Carstensen
Ross Carstensen

AURORA, Neb. (AP) — An Aurora man charged with raping a woman he met on online has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree sexual assault charge.

41-year-old Ross Carstensen is set to stand trial in June and faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted. He entered his plea Jan. 18 in Hamilton County District Court.

Police say Carstensen communicated with an 18-year-old woman via Facebook posing as someone named “Brandon” and arranged to meet her at a park. Investigators say Carstensen met her at the park and said he would take her to “Brandon.” Once they arrived at a house, police said, Carstensen raped the woman.

Carstensen’s attorney, Clarence Mock, says Carstensen “vigorously contests” the accusations and that the sexual encounter was consensual.

President Donald Trump nominates 10th Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch for associate justice of the Supreme Court

supreme-courtWASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has chosen 10th Circuit Appeals court Justice Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump made his announcement in a prime-time address from the White House.

Gorsuch must be confirmed by the Senate. The court has had just eight members since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia nearly a year ago. GOP leaders blocked President Barack Obama from filling the vacancy by denying a hearing to his nominee.

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