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2 injured in plant accident near Beatrice, authorities say

firedptBEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Two workers have been injured in a plant accident in southeast Nebraska.

Firefighters and medics were sent to the Continental Carbonic Inc. plant a little after 9 a.m. Sunday. The plant sits about five miles northwest of Beatrice. Beatrice Fire Capt. Craig Fisher said some type of blast or pressure release of carbon dioxide injured the two people.

One of the workers was flown to a Lincoln hospital. The other was taken to a Beatrice hospital. Their names and conditions haven’t been released.

A company representative didn’t immediately return a call Monday from The Associated Press. The company makes dry ice products.

Nebraskan due in court to face abuse charge in baby’s death

gavel-and-scaleNORTH LOUP, Neb. (AP) — A North Loup woman is scheduled to be arraigned Monday, accused of child abuse in the death of her 4-week-old daughter.

Online court records say 24-year-old Jocelyn Nordin is charged with intentional child abuse resulting in death. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her.

She originally was charged with intentional child abuse causing serious injury, but that charge was changed with the death of her daughter on May 9.

Valley County prosecutors say Nordin called 911 May 2 and reported that her baby wasn’t breathing. The baby eventually was flown to an Omaha hospital. Doctors say the infant had suffered a broken skull and other injuries.

Authorities say the baby had been dropped on her head twice and violently shaken.

Names released of 3 whose bodies were found in Lincoln home

crime-scene-police-shootcrimeLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of three people whose bodies were found inside a Lincoln home.

On Monday police identified the three as 53-year-old Tina Jensen, 50-year-old Ronald Heritage and 55-year-old Norma Voges. Police say Heritage and Jensen were in a relationship and shared the home. Voges was a longtime friend of both.

Officers were called to the scene Sunday afternoon by relatives of Jensen.

Police say a firearm had been found as well as evidence that it had been fired inside the northeast Lincoln residence. Spokeswoman Katie Flood said police need autopsy results before she can say whether investigators suspect a double murder-suicide had occurred.

Police have said there’s no threat to the public.

Police find 3 people dead inside a Lincoln home on Sunday

lincoln-policeLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The bodies of two women and one man have been found inside a Lincoln home.

Lincoln Police Capt. Danny Reitan says authorities were called to the home in northeast Lincoln around 1:15 p.m. Sunday when one body was found.

Paramedics and police arrived and found all three bodies inside the home. Reitan says it wasn’t immediately clear how long the people had been dead before their bodies were found.

Investigators are not looking for any suspects in the deaths, and Reitan says there is not a threat to the public.

2 people hospitalized in northeast Nebraska plant accident

ambulance-lightsNORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two people were injured in an industrial accident at Nucor Steel in Norfolk.

Firefighters were called Thursday night to the plant. Norfolk Fire Chief Scott Cordes says the two people were injured in what first responders described as an industrial accident that resulted in burns.

Cordes says one person was flown to a Lincoln burn hospital and the other was driven to Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk.

Officials have not released the identities of the victims or their medical conditions. A Nucor spokesman acknowledged that an accident had occurred, but decline to provide the newspaper any details of the accident.

Mother of child hurt on carnival ride wants more regulation

Facebook: Virginia Cooksey
Facebook: Virginia Cooksey

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The mother of an 11-year-old girl partially scalped when her hair got caught in the gears of a carnival ride is calling for stricter regulation of such rides.

Virginia Cooksey says her daughter remains in intensive care in an Omaha hospital, but is talking and drinking water. She says that while her daughter is improving, the girl will no doubt be traumatized by the incident and has already undergone several surgeries to repair her damaged scalp.

Cooksey said Friday that carnival rides should have seat belts and more maintenance.

The Nebraska Labor Department earlier this week found no indication that the spinning carnival ride was malfunctioning when the girl’s hair was caught, ripping her scalp.

Nebraska’s Midland University to offer video gaming as sport

midland-universityFREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Midland University in Fremont has added more than two dozen programs to its sports roster since 2009. Next year, it’ll add one more: video gaming.

The school already has a video game club team. Now, it plans to field a varsity-level team in the fall, complete with a coach and scholarships.

Known as eSports, video game competitions have jumped in popularity at campuses nationwide. Hundreds of schools have club teams, and a small but growing number are offering gaming as a varsity sport with scholarships.

Midland spokesman Nate Neufind says the school of about 1,400 students 30 miles west of Omaha wanted to “create one more opportunity for students to pursue their passion at the college level.”

US Supreme Court asked to review Beatrice 6 ruling

supreme-courtBEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Gage County has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision that gives six people wrongly convicted of a 1985 murder another chance at suing officials who prosecuted them.

An attorney for the southeastern Nebraska county is hoping to reverse the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling issued in December.

That ruling revived the federal lawsuit of the wrongly convicted people — known as the Beatrice Six — against Gage County and the officials who built the murder cases against them.

The six served a combined 77 years in prison for the 1985 killing of Helen Wilson in Beatrice before DNA testing cleared them in 2008.

List of world’s oldest people with confirmed ages

odd-newsThe Gerontology Research Group has confirmed the ages of dozens of living supercentenarians, those who are 110 and older. Nearly all are women, and most are located in North America, Europe and Japan, where proof-of-age records are more readily available.

Here are the 10 oldest people in the world whose ages have been validated by the group:

1. Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, 116, Italy

2. Violet Brown, 116, Jamaica

3. Nabi Tajima, 115, Japan

4. Chiyo Miyako, 115, Japan

5. Eudoxie Baboul, 114, France

6. Ana Vela-Rubio, 114, Spain

7. Mitsue Toyoda, 114, Japan

8. Marie-Josephine Gaudette, 114, Italy

9. Yukie Hino, 114, Japan

10. Giuseppina Projetto-Frau, 113, Italy

White House to honor 13 law enforcement officers for valor

omaha-policeThe White House said Friday that it will honor 13 law enforcement officers for acts of valor under fire.

Among those to be honored are three Santa Monica, California, police officers for their response to a 2013 rampage on a community college campus that left five people dead and a suburban Dallas officer who killed two armed men in a gunfight outside a provocative contest for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

President Barack Obama will present the officers with Medals of Valor for exhibiting “exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect others from harm.”

Those to be decorated are:

— Santa Monica police Officers Jason Salas and Robert Sparks and Capt. Raymond Bottenfield, who confronted gunman John Zawahri in the campus library at Santa Monica City College in June 2013, shooting and killing the 23-year-old when he pointed his assault weapon at them.

— Garland, Texas, police Officer Gregory Stevens, who exchanged gunfire with Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson in May 2015. Stevens killed both gunmen outside an exhibit hall in the Dallas suburb where the provocative cartoon contest was being held, heading off what investigators suspected was a planned mass shooting.

— Miami-Dade police Officer Mario Gutierrez, who was stabbed multiple times while subduing a knife-wielding man who tried to set off a massive gas explosion that could have caused massive casualties.

— Johnson City, New York, Patrolman Louis Cioci, who chased and captured at a crowded hospital a gunman who had just killed a fellow officer. Investigators believe Cioci saved the lives of hospital staff, patients and visitors.

— Midwest City, Oklahoma, police Maj. David Huff, who saved a 2-year-old girl after negotiations deteriorated with a man holding the child captive at knifepoint.

— Los Angeles police Officer Donald Thompson for, while off duty, crossing two freeway dividers and braving first- and second-degree burns while pulling an unconscious man from a burning car to safety.

— Omaha, Nebraska, police Officer Coral Walker, who shot and killed a man who had killed and injured multiple people during a shooting rampage.

— Philadelphia police Sgt. Robert Wilson III, who was killed when he drew fire from assailants during an armed robbery, saving store employees and customers.

— North Miami, Florida, police Officer Niel Johnson, who endured gunfire from an assault weapon in pursuing and capturing a man who had shot a Miami police officer and two bystanders.

— FBI Special Agent Tyler Call, who while off duty with his family helped rescue a woman whose ex-husband was holding her at gunpoint.

— Niagara County, New York, sheriff’s Deputy Joey Tortorella, who confronted and subdued a gunman who had shot and wounded his parents inside their home, preventing the gunman from threatening the safety of students at a nearby elementary school.

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