SCRIBNER, Neb. (AP) — High water has led officials to close portions of an eastern Nebraska recreational area.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says parts of Dead Timber State Recreation Area have been closed until further notice.
The commission says the road beyond the electrical camping area has been closed, and that the closure has been marked. The electrical camping area remains open.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln woman has been accused of stealing nearly $28,000 while managing a convenience store last year.
Online court records say 33-year-old Nickole Thompson is charged with felony theft. A public phone listing couldn’t be found. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call Friday from The Associated Press.
A court document says Whitehead Oil Co. auditors found the cash was missing from extra change she’d sought while working in the U-Stop store from January through Oct. 15, 2015. She quit that month. The document says cash deposits into Thompson’s personal account were consistent with the amounts she’d received from what the company called the “extra change account.”
Her next court appearance is scheduled for May 31.
FORT CALHOUN, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Public Power District officials are considering closing a more than 40-year-old nuclear power plant in Fort Calhoun, causing concerns about the potential economic fallout.
Officials announced potential plans Thursday to close the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station at the end of the year. The district chief executive has recommended the closure, but the move still requires the utility board’s approval next month.
About 150 of the nearly 700 workers at the plant live in Fort Calhoun, Blair or elsewhere in Washington County. Local businesses often reap benefits from workers who commute there.
A local economic development official says there is enough time to assess the workers’ skills and find a way to keep them in the area.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in the case of a former public address announcer at Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium accused of bilking thousands of dollars from an elderly woman.
A judge declared a mistrial Thursday for 50-year-old Patrick Combs. After deliberating for more than two days, jurors had voted 11-1 to acquit Combs of theft, abuse of a vulnerable adult and other charges.
Prosecutors accused Combs of writing over $100,000 in checks on the woman’s account for personal expenses, charging more than $2,200 on her credit card and attempting to transfer $1.75 million from her account.
Combs testified the woman and her husband, who have both died, wanted him to inherit their money.
Combs will go to trial in June for a separate theft case involving an elderly woman.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man says he’s not dead, despite what the Social Security Administration has said.
Chuck Zellers said he learned the sad news in March after his Social Security deposit was removed from his bank account while he and his wife, Alice, were in Ajo (AH’-hoh), Arizona. They drove to Phoenix and talked to a woman at the Social Security office. She checked her computer and then told him, “‘Oh, by golly, you are dead.'” He laughed.
She told Zellers that somehow, someone or something mistakenly told the government that Zellers had died.
So he’s spent the past few weeks going from agency to agency, business to business, proving with various documents that Charles Richard Zellers II, of Lincoln, Nebraska, is not dead yet.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two Omaha agencies have collaborated to create a $31 million village to house older adults, troubled kids and mothers seeking treatment for substance abuse.
An open house Thursday evening will mark the completion of the North Omaha Human Services Intergenerational Campus established by Heartland Family Service and Holy Name Housing Corporation.
The campus features dormitories for troubled kids, cottages for older adults and nearby housing that allows mothers to live with their children while getting treatment for addiction. Residents receive supplemental services, such a meals and medical care.
Sister Marilyn Ross, the retired executive director of Holy Name Housing who helped organize the project, says the project was initiated out of the need to stabilize low-income families in north Omaha.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former village board chairman is scheduled to be sentenced next month for child enticement.
Court records say 56-year-old Steven Klingelhoefer pleaded guilty to enticement with an electronic communication device and to possession of child pornography. He entered the pleas after prosecutors lowered the enticement charge. His sentencing is set for June 21.
He resigned in November as chairman of the Amherst Village Board.
Prosecutors say Klingelhoefer tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl in Lincoln, where he was arrested on Nov. 20. Authorities say the person he was exchanging emails and text messages with was actually an undercover officer working for the Nebraska attorney general’s office.
SCHUYLER, Neb. (AP) — A former bank employee who faked loans to steal from a bank branch in Schuyler has been given probation and been ordered to pay restitution.
Online court records say 38-year-old Diana Sanchez was sentenced Wednesday to 24 months of probation and 100 hours of community service. She’d pleaded no contest to four counts of theft after prosecutors dropped five more counts.
Prosecutors say Sanchez accessed customer information at the Pinnacle Bank branch to create and process loan checks ranging from about $5,000 to $30,000. Court documents say she cashed the checks at the bank and pocketed the money. Documents say the loans totaled nearly $157,000.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Public Power District is evaluating its long-term options for generating electricity.
The utility’s board meets Thursday and plans to discuss its options, which might include changing the mix of coal, nuclear, natural gas and wind power plants it relies on.
OPPD spends about $650 million a year on generating power, and that represents a little over half of its budget. So it wants a cost-effective mix.
But the utility also has to make sure it’s mix of power plants can comply with environmental rules and restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions.
OPPD typically gets about 30 percent of its power from its Fort Calhoun nuclear plant. The utility spent more than $100 million to repair Fort Calhoun after flooding and a small fire caused damage in 2011.
NORTH LOUP, Neb. (AP) — A 24-year-old North Loup woman has been accused of abusing her 4-week-old daughter.
Online court records say Jocelyn Nordin is charged with intentional child abuse. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her. A home phone number for Nordin could not be found.
Valley County prosecutors say Nordin called 911 last week 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, bleeding in the brain and damage to her eyes.
Authorities say the baby had been dropped on her head twice and had been violently shaken.
