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Lincoln man sentenced to prison for sexual assault of teen

Timothy Carney
Timothy Carney

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 39-year-old Lincoln man has been sentenced to six to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a teenage girl.

Timothy Carney was sentenced Thursday in Lancaster County District Court. He had pleaded no contest to attempted second-degree sexual assault and felony child abuse.

A 17-year-old girl told Lincoln police she was sleeping on the couch at his home on July 4, 2015, and woke to find him rubbing her legs. She said she told him to stop several times, but he sexually assaulted her.

Police say Carney admitted to touching the girl, but said he stopped and apologized.

Carney was ordered to report for his prison term on Jan. 3.

1 killed in rollover crash late Friday near Norfolk

ambulance-lightsNORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — A rollover crash near Norfolk in northeast Nebraska has left one person dead.

First responders were called to an intersection northwest of Norfolk just before midnight Friday.

Officials say a pickup had left the road and rolled, leaving one person dead at the scene. The person had not been identified by Saturday morning pending notification of family members.

Officials have not if snowy, icy weather or slick roads played a part in the crash.

Lincoln woman pleads no contest in child drowning case

Jacqueline Cooley
Jacqueline Cooley

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman has pleaded no contest to a felony child abuse charge in the death of her 2-year-old stepson nearly a year ago.

29-year-old Jacqueline Cooley faces up to three years in prison and 18 months of post-release supervision when she is sentenced in February.

Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Jeff Mathers says Cooley told police she left Jase Queen in the bathtub on Jan. 7 and left to get a towel. Mathers says when she came back 2-3 minutes later, he was face down and turning blue in about 10 inches of water.

Mathers says the boy’s grandmother told police he had survived a similar incident in November 2015, and Cooley told family members she had learned her lesson.

Omaha airport struggling to get word out on waiting lots

cellphoneOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s Eppley Airfield has installed two official cellphone waiting lots at a combined cost of $200,000, but word about the new lots has been slow to get out to the public.

A cell phone lot is a space where people wait to receive texts or calls from arriving passengers who are ready to be picked up along the airport terminal’s front drive.

Airport police Chief Tim Conahan says many people are still using old, nearby parking lots. Conahan says the name of the new lot may be part of the issue.

The new lots were announced in September along with other parking initiatives, including a new app that has a feature to help you find your vehicle if you return home and forget where you parked.

Lincoln hospital sued after girl dies of viral meningitis

lawsuit-settlementLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The parents of a 13-year-old Kansas girl who died of viral meningitis are suing a Lincoln hospital, alleging that doctors there were negligent when they treated her in 2014.

Terrisa and Scott Waters filed a wrongful death lawsuit Friday in district court in Omaha. The lawsuit says their daughter, Brandi Waters, had complications during a surgery elsewhere to have a benign tumor near her pituitary gland removed. According to the lawsuit, those complications resulted in her being a quadriplegic.

Brandi was admitted to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in November 2014. The lawsuit says Brandi started hallucinating and became confused in December 2014, but doctors held off doing a procedure to look for signs of viral meningitis. She was treated with antiviral medications, but died later that month.

The hospital says it will investigate the allegations.

7 arrested in connection with Lincoln man’s death

Jail-Bars-and-Cuffs_mediumLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have arrested seven people in connection with what is believed to be a drug-related homicide after police found a Lincoln man’s body in a car trunk.

Police identified the victim Friday as 41-year-old Jamie Watson.

Authorities have charged 32-year-old Jamez Henderson with second-degree murder. They also arrested 25-year-old Sidney Jackson, 31-year-old Juanita Lara and 27-year-old Stacey Bigelow on suspicion of aiding and abetting murder.

In addition, 22-year-old Brandi Bond, 19-year-old Ronald Auzenne and 19-year-old Ivon Butler were charged with accessory to a felony. Auzenne and Butler are from Arizona.

Police say they found Watson’s body in the trunk of a 1999 Buick Park Avenue with its engine running.

Online court records did not list attorneys for those arrested.

Lincoln woman dies from injuries after SUV crashes into tree

lincoln-fire-departmentLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman has died from injuries sustained when her sports utility vehicle crashed into a tree.

Authorities say 28-year-old Tasha Clinkenbeard died Thursday after the crash around 2:30 p.m. Authorities say her red Ford Explorer struck a tree in the median while traveling eastbound.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue workers freed her from the SUV and took her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead from her injuries.

Authorities say they’re still investigating the crash, and an autopsy has been ordered. Authorities say Clinkenbeard was not wearing a seat belt.

Lincoln police arrest suspect after finding body in a trunk

Jail-Bars-and-Cuffs_mediumLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police say they have arrested a suspect in the death of a man whose body was found in the trunk of a running car parked at an apartment complex.

The suspect was arrested after a manhunt near Interstate 80 in Lincoln. Police found him about 2:40 p.m. Thursday in a field near a creek.

The incident began when police were called to the apartment complex early Thursday for a disturbance.

When officers arrived, two men fled in different directions. One drove an SUV across the grass and was later arrested in Omaha and returned to Lincoln. The second man fled on foot before getting into a car and driving north before fleeing on foot again.

Officers then found a running, unoccupied car with a man’s body in the trunk.v

New automated system aids Lincoln dispatchers

911-ServicesLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new automated assistant is helping dispatchers in Lincoln get firefighters and paramedics out to emergencies more quickly.

The system named Samantha began broadcasting announcements over the city’s 911 radio system Nov. 28.

Officials say the $610,000 program is shaving seconds off the department’s response time. The system was bought using a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant with a 10 percent local match.

Dispatcher Carson Coles says with the help of Samantha, he can now dispatch multiple units at one time instead of having to decide which call is a priority.

Girl found unresponsive in Fremont classroom dies

fremont-policeFREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Police say a 7-year-old girl who died in Fremont had been face down in a beanbag chair in her elementary school classroom for about five minutes before she was found.

Kira Hales was found unresponsive Dec. 8, in her special education classroom at Milliken Park Elementary. She was taken to an Omaha hospital and pronounced dead on Dec. 10.

Fremont police detective Brandon Lorenson says an autopsy has been conducted, but more tests need to be done to determine Kira’s cause of death.

Kira’s father, Jerrad Hales, says his daughter, who had a genetic disorder, used a wheelchair but frequently spent time in a beanbag chair at school.

Freemont Public Schools superintendent Mark Shepard and principal Susan Farkas referred questions about Kira’s death to police, citing the ongoing investigation.

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