OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The bus system that serves Omaha and neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa, will be giving free rides to the polls next week.
Metro Transit is offering free rides Tuesday on Election Day.
In a news release Wednesday, the transportation company said bus passengers can get a ride to their polling place, free of charge, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Officials recommend passengers research the location of their polling place before their trip.
The Nebraska State Patrol, in conjunction with the Dakota and Dixon County Sheriff’s Offices and the Dakota County Attorney, are
investigating a suspicious death near Emerson.
At approximately 10: 30 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 2, investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol responded to a location at 2605 Highway 35 near Emerson at the request of the Dakota County Sheriff’s office regarding a report of a possible death.
The investigation continues, no additional information is available at this time.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha City Council has approved several new regulations for food trucks.
Council members approved Mayor Jean Stothert’s (STAH’-thurt’s) package at Tuesday’s council meeting. They take effect Nov. 16.
The new rules say trucks may be operated until 2:30 a.m. each day. They can’t be parked nearer than 50 feet from a restaurant and can’t be parked on private property unless the property owner approves.
The truck operators will have to pay an annual licensing fee of $100, plus an additional $100 if they operate downtown.
Earlier this year the council rejected an ordinance that would have imposed the city’s restaurant tax on the truck operators.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha-area woman has been accused of using a belt to choke and beat her children.
Mattice Mayo was charged Tuesday with five counts of child abuse. Sarpy County Jail records say the 30-year-old Mayo remained in custody Wednesday, pending $25,000 bail. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment on Mayo’s behalf.
Mayo’s next court date in Sarpy County Court in Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn) is set for Nov. 22.
The five children — all under the age of 12 — have been removed from their home in La Vista.
NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — A new trial date has been granted a Norfolk woman accused of causing her daughter’s death.
Online court records say a judge approved 22-year-old Carla Montoya’s request on Monday. Earlier trial dates had been set in July and September. The trial’s now scheduled to begin Jan. 10 in Madison County District Court.
Court documents say Montoya told Norfolk investigators that she had tossed her 4-year-old daughter, Caylee, into a bed three times on March 12. Montoya said she thought her daughter may have hit her head on the bed frame or a wall.
Montoya’s pleaded not guilty to intentional child abuse resulting in death.
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s top auto safety regulator says Honda must do more to make sure 300,000 cars with highly dangerous Takata air bag inflators are repaired.
Mark Rosekind, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, says the agency has talked to Honda about hiring private investigators to track down owners or even taking service trucks into neighborhoods to repair cars on the spot.
Tests show that inflators in 313,000 older Hondas and Acuras have up to a 50 percent chance of rupturing in a crash and shooting shrapnel at the driver. Only 13,000 of the cars have been fixed since June.
Rosekind spoke to reporters at an auto parts supplier conference Wednesday in Detroit.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska man who stole from a casino in Winnebago has been ordered to pay more than $12,000 in restitution.
Mark Hannan, of South Sioux City, also was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha to five years of probation. In August he’d pleaded guilty to theft by an employee of a gaming establishment on Indian lands.
Court documents say that from Nov. 1, 2015, through Feb. 15 this year, Hannan stole the money while working at the Native Star Casino, which is owned and operated by the Winnebago Indian Tribe of Nebraska.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have identified a man shot to death at a southeast Omaha apartment complex.
The shooting was reported around 4:40 a.m. Tuesday at the Southside Terrace apartments. Police say 23-year-old Lamond Strong was shot in a leg and in his back, and he was later pronounced dead at Nebraska Medical Center.
Police haven’t released any other details about the shooting. No arrests have been reported.
Investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) have arrested a 40-year-old Aurora man for First Degree Sexual Assault.
On Thursday, October 20, NSP investigators responded to a victims’ report of a sexual assault. The female victim provided investigators with information about a male who identified himself as “Brandon” who she met on a social media site.
The victim indicated the two had been corresponding for a couple of weeks and that she had agreed to meet with “Brandon”. The victim was to drive to Aurora, where she would meet him at a park. He indicated he would be in a white car.
Upon her arrival at the designated location, the victim indicated she found a man waiting in a white car, but that she did not recognize him as “Brandon”. The man told her “Brandon”, was at a house in Aurora and he was to drive her there. The victim rode with him to the house. She then went inside the home with the man.
Once inside he informed her “Brandon” was not there. While in the home, the victim was sexually assaulted by the man. After the assault the man drove her back to her car.
The victim then returned to her home, where she reported the sexual assault.
Using information provided by the victim, investigators identified Ross Carstensen, 40, 190 Dongle Road as a suspect in the sexual assault.
On Tuesday, November 1, a search warrant was served at his residence, where computers, other electronic devices and additional evidence was seized.
Carstensen, who was home at the time, was taken into custody without incident and lodged in the Hamilton County Jail on a charge of First Degree Sexual Assault.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A long-shuttered meat processing and cold storage facility in the heart of the former Omaha Stockyards will see new life as a center for area small businesses, startups and community activities.
The first phase of the construction for the Las Americas Global Market project is expected to start in the spring. The entire project could take four or five years to complete.
Marta Sonia Londono Mejía, executive director of the Midlands Latino Community Development Corp., says the market will support businesses and startups in a neighborhood that has a high rate of poverty and unemployment.
More than 17,000 square feet of the building’s third floor will be renovated, including a 4,400-square-foot commercial kitchen for use by local restaurants, caterers, and other businesses. A 2,000 square-foot space will also be developed for a clothing manufacturer.
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