WAHOO, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a light that blew over started a fire that heavily damaged the Wahoo State Bank building in downtown Wahoo.
Firefighters from several communities helped Wahoo firefighters battle the blaze Friday. No injuries were reported.
Wahoo Fire Chief Mark Meyer says someone making roof repairs had left a halogen light burning, and it started the fire after it was blown over by the chill wind.
Neighboring businesses also were damage by smoke and water.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a Council Bluffs woman placed one of her 10-month-old son’s hands in a mug of coffee to prove to him that the coffee was hot.
Police say 36-year-old Rebecca Brahier is charged with willful injury and child endangerment. Jail records say she remained in custody Monday. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her.
Police say Brahier was arrested Saturday after Jennie Edmundson Hospital officials reported their suspicions about the little boy’s hand and forearm injuries. Investigators were told the child tried to touch Brahier’s hot coffee several times before she placed one of his hands in the mug.
The child was taken to Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for further treatment.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man accidentally shot his pregnant girlfriend at an apartment in Omaha.
The shooting was reported around 7:15 p.m. Sunday. Police say the man may have been trying to clean or unload the handgun when it went off.
The woman was hit in a leg and taken to Nebraska Medical Center.
DENVER (AP) — Opponents of a state ruling that would prevent bars and many restaurants in Denver from offering on-site marijuana consumption say the ruling would overturn a law approved by voters and force people to sneak around while they use pot and consume alcohol.
The new rule announced Friday by the Liquor Enforcement Division of the Colorado Department of Revenue bars liquor-license holders from applying for a permit to allow pot-consumption.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says using alcohol and marijuana together increases impairment.
Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the national Marijuana Policy Project, says the measure approved by voters this month would allow servers to keep track of customers who drink and consume pot products instead of forcing them to go outside or hide behind closed doors.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A 24-year-old man charged in the death of his girlfriend’s toddler has had his bail set at $3 million for a series of charges.
Armond Floyd is charged with child abuse resulting in the death of Imani Edwards, who would have turned 2 on Friday.
The girl was found unresponsive in a bathtub on Sunday while in Floyd’s care and died at a hospital Tuesday. Police have not detailed her injuries, but say they were intentionally inflicted by Floyd.
His bail on that charge was set Thursday at $2.5 million. On Friday, his bail on a separate charge of violating a no-contact order was set at $500,000.
At the time of the girl’s death, Floyd already faced domestic and child abuse charges for an earlier incident involving the child’s mother.
MACY, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Tribe’s effort to preserve its native language is getting a boost from a $100,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
The tribe, which is centered in Macy, Nebraska, just south of Sioux City, Iowa, has more than 7,000 members.
The tribal council estimates fewer than 150 know parts of the language, but elders and teachers say only 12 remain fluent.
The tribe hopes to revive its language by teaching it in schools.
The grant will help create an introductory textbook on the language and an audio CD that will be distributed to all schools on the reservation.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Several Nebraska churches have strengthened security around weekend worship services, and some have even added armed guards, because of worries about church shootings that have happened elsewhere.
Church leaders say they are taking precautions and aren’t responding to any specific threats. Shootings in recent years give church leaders reason to be wary.
Jim Nichols is security director at King of Kings church in west Omaha. He says any church’s worst fear is a mass shooting.
At King of Kings, security team members wear uniforms and an armed guard stands near the back of the worship hall in west Omaha. Another volunteer monitors security cameras.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha attorney has been disbarred for mishandling a client’s money.
The Nebraska Supreme Court issued the disbarment Friday for Omaha attorney Doug Lederer. In its order, the state’s high court said that Lederer voluntarily surrendered his license in early October.
Lederer has been practicing law in Nebraska since 2005. He acknowledged that he deposited clients’ advance fees into his personal checking account before earning them.
Lederer declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press.
WAHOO, Neb. (AP) — Officials say Wahoo State Bank — a cornerstone building of downtown Wahoo — has been gutted by fire.
Firefighters from Wahoo and surrounding communities responded Friday morning after a fire was discovered on the bank’s roof.
A rubber membrane on the roof kept water from reaching the fire, and strong winds whipped the flames.
Bank executive vice president Cindy Hohl says about 16 employees scrambled to secure deposits and documents in bank vaults, then safely fled the two-story building.
The cause of the fire has not been determined, but Hohl says patching work had been done on the roof the day before.
Hohl and her brother, bank CEO and President Greg Hohl, are the fourth generation to run Wahoo State Bank.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha landlord and his secretary have been indicted for allegedly bribing two employees of Omaha’s public housing agency.
Lafi Jafari and MaryLou Gruttemeyer were indicted in U.S. District Court on Tuesday on conspiracy to commit bribery and six counts of paying a bribe to an Omaha Housing Authority agent. Jafari was also indicted on one count of making false statements to special agents.
Online records do not list attorneys for Jafari or Gruttemeyer.
Prosecutors say Jafari and Gruttemeyer bribed or offered to bribe OHA employees to steer prospective tenants their way and to not refer complaints to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General.
The housing authority employees weren’t named in the indictment, which says there was a total of $2,100 in payments made.
