OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Seven years after a deadly shooting at an Omaha convenience store, the man convicted in the death has been sentenced to life in prison.
25-year-old Akeem Jones was sentenced Tuesday in Douglas County District Court.
A jury found Jones guilty in May of first-degree murder for the 2009 shooting death of 22-year-old Gary Holmes. The shooting also left Holmes’ cousin, 22-year-old Rodney Smith, paralyzed.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal judge has rejected the state’s attempt to block a $1 million settlement between Lancaster County and a man paralyzed in a county jail cell.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services had sought more than half that settlement to recoup Medicaid payments for Arok Atem’s medical bills.
Atem was arrested in April 2011 after police suspected he was drunk at a hospital. He was later found in his cell with spinal cord fractures. He is now a quadriplegic.
In rejecting the state health agency’s attempt to recoup more than $500,000, Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said Monday that the settlement expressly excluded medical expenses.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two Omaha men who were formerly rival gang members have joined together to show their commitment against violence at a local Black Lives Matter protest.
At the protest Friday, Travis Bennett, a former Bloods gang member, gripped a red bandanna. Markail Channel, a former Crips gang member, held the blue bandanna. The men tied the garments together as a sign of harmony.
Multiple photos of the men emerged on social media, two of which have been liked or shared tens of thousands of times. Omaha Police Lt. Ken Kanger of the department’s gang unit also took a photo with the men.
Bennett and Channel were on the brink of fighting five years ago when their Millard South High School principal made them resolve their conflict through dialogue. The men now call themselves brothers.
NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — A 23-year-old Norfolk man has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide for a collision last month on U.S. Highway 81 in northeast Nebraska’s Madison County.
Online court records say Brandon Plante also is charged with driving under the influence, second offense, and driving while his license was suspended. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could be contacted to comment on Plante’s behalf.
Plante’s arraignment is set for July 21.
Authorities say Plante was driving north in a southbound highway lane on June 26 when he struck an oncoming vehicle driven by 32-year-old Tar Eh. Eh and a passenger in the vehicle, 32-year-old Yeh Htoo, were fatally injured. Both lived in Norfolk.
NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska woman has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping after police say she took her 2-day-old son from a hospital without authorization.
An emergency alert went out around 10 p.m. Sunday after the boy was taken from Faith Regional Medical Center in Norfolk.
The boy was in state custody because his 34-year-old mother tested positive for methamphetamines and marijuana when he was born.
Security video showed the boy’s father leaving with a diaper bag and putting it in a Pontiac minivan before getting into his car. The woman then left with the baby and got in the minivan.
Police found the woman with the baby Monday morning after she contacted a family member in Pierce.
The boy’s father was interviewed by police but wasn’t arrested Monday morning.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The city of Omaha has temporarily stopped grinding some neighborhood streets into dirt roads as officials decide whether to pay for repairing those streets instead.
Mayor Jean Stothert gave the directive about a week after city officials held a public meeting with Omaha residents whose streets were going to be ground up.
Stothert wasn’t at the meeting, but she says she heard that residents expressed concern with a city policy that says the Public Works Department won’t maintain residential streets that weren’t constructed to current city code. Under the policy, the city turns the crumbling streets into dirt roads unless property owners pay to repave them.
Stothert says she intends to offer policy change suggestions in her 2017 budget proposal, which is scheduled to be unveiled this month.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A fire truck and a car have collided at an intersection in Lincoln.
The accident occurred around 6:20 p.m. Sunday. Lincoln Battalion Chief Leo Benes said the car didn’t halt for a light change and struck the passenger side door of the fire truck, causing up to $6,000 in damage.
One of the firefighters suffered minor injuries. There was no word on whether the car driver was injured.
Benes says the fire truck was returning from a call.
FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Health officials say Fremont residents no longer need to boil their water before using it because no contamination was found.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services lifted the boil order that had been in place since Thursday when storms knocked out power to Fremont’s water treatment system.
Roughly 200 samples of Fremont’s water have been collected and sampled since the storm.
Fremont Mayor Scott Getzschman thanked everyone for complying with the boil order even while the city celebrated its annual Fremont Days festival.
HOOPER, Neb. (AP) — The congregation of St. Paul Lutheran Church in rural eastern Nebraska is grateful most of their church survived a strong storm last week.
Winds over 60 mph toppled the church’s steeple and bell tower last Tuesday, but fortunately the structure fell into the church’s parking lot.
The sanctuary and the rest of the church’s interior was spared.
Longtime church member Molly Brockemeier says she’s grateful the steeple fell away from the rest of the church.
Church council member Todd Meyer says he’s sure the church will rebuild, but it will be a question of how tall the new steeple might be and how quickly it can be built.
In the meantime, the 200-member congregation should be able to continue using the 114-year-old church building.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A year after bird flu forced fairs across Iowa to cancel poultry shows, the competitions are returning this summer.
4-H members who raise chickens are glad they should have a chance to show them at this year’s fairs.
Organizers banned live poultry at fairs a year ago because of the bird flu outbreak that ravaged the industry. Both Iowa and Nebraska lifted their ban on poultry shows this year.
Kerri Wede with the East Pottawattamie County Extension office says the ban was “heartbreaking for the kids.” But they adapted.
Last year, some fairs held egg judging contests and some had students give presentations about their chickens. Organizers are looking forward to returning to normal this year.
