OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha authorities say a woman wanted in a fraudulent ticket scheme involving Taylor Swift concerts has turned herself in.

Police say 42-year-old Samantha Graeve was arrested Wednesday and has been charged with theft by deception. Authorities say the Omaha Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority made a theft by deception report alleging that a former employee had printed and sold about 200 unauthorized tickets to the musician’s concerts on Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 at the CenturyLink Center.

Authority spokeswoman Kristi Andersen said the total face value of the tickets was about $25,000. The authority’s board voted earlier this week to reimburse the scam’s victims.

Graeve was a premium seating manager before she was fired June 22. Anderson declined to comment on why Graeve was fired.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Graeve has an attorney.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A middle school science teacher in Omaha is a winner of the Milken Educator Award for excellence in education, which comes with a $25,000 prize.

Courtney Matulka is one of 40 winners who will be named across the country over the next six months.

Matulka was surprised with the award Wednesday during a school assembly at Beadle Middle School in the Millard Public Schools system.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, state Education Deputy Commissioner Deborah Frison and a Milken Educator Awards representative presented the national educator award to her.

Matulka has been teaching since 2009 and graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2008 with an education degree. She earned her master’s degree in secondary education at UNO in 2010.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Several members of the Lancaster County Board have expressed support for strengthening wind-energy regulations beyond a current proposal.

The board didn’t take action on proposed regulations Tuesday. More than 30 people spoke during the four-hour public hearing, with most of them seeking greater restrictions than those in the proposal.

The proposed regulations address issues with noise generated by functioning wind turbines and the distance from individual wind turbines to nearby properties and homes.

A bid by Oregon-based Volkswind USA to build more than 50 wind turbines in southern Lancaster and northern Gage counties prompted the proposed regulations. An attorney representing the company has said the regulations could prevent the project from happening.

The board may vote on the proposed regulations Oct. 27.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The ride-hailing service Lyft has paid an undisclosed fine to settle a complaint filed by Nebraska regulators.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission accused the company in July of failing to seek authority to operate in Nebraska and of operating illegally in the state for more than a year.

Lyft later applied for the authority, which was granted in September.

The commissioners agreed to close the complaint Tuesday, after Lyft paid the fine.

Mark Breiner, director of the transportation division of the Nebraska Public Service Commission, said Wednesday that the settlement includes a provision that the amount of the fine not be disclosed.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha Public Schools meeting called to gain community feedback on proposed updates to the district’s sex education curriculum was canceled early when the bigger-than-expected crowd turned rowdy.

An estimated 1,000 people showed up Tuesday evening. There was intermittent cheering and jeering, and some people yelled questions to district administrators and the school board about what the updated curriculum would include.

The meeting was ended early when some people in the crowd exchanged shouts and shoves before police officers stepped in.

Opponents of the district’s sex education curriculum, which includes sections on abstinence as well as contraception, passed out pamphlets and picketed on a sidewalk near the district building before the meeting.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A former guard at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution accused of trying to smuggle drugs to inmates has been sentenced to 18 months of probation.

21-year-old Michael Splittgerber was sentenced Monday. He pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to convey an article to a committed offender.

Prosecutors say Splittgerber offered to sneak marijuana into the prison to an inmate in May 2014.

According to an arrest affidavit, prison officials learned of the offering when an inmate reported to Splittgerber’s superior that the guard told the inmate he had something for him. Authorities say a search of Splittgerber’s pockets by prison officials turned up marijuana inside a staff-issued plastic glove.

Splittgerber worked for the Department of Correctional Services from December 2013 to June 2014.

INLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 21-year-old Hastings woman has died after the pickup she was driving ran off a rural road and crashed in Clay County.

The accident occurred a little before 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, about 4½ miles northeast of Inland.

Clay County Sheriff Jeff Franklin says Jennifer Spatz was driving south when her truck ran into the west ditch and crashed, tossing her through the truck’s sunroof. Her passenger, 24-year-old Andrew Taylor, also of Hastings, used his cellphone to call 911. He was treated at a Hastings hospital and released.

The accident is being investigated.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Court of Appeals has ruled that a man in prison for molesting his 6-year-old daughter should not have his parental rights terminated under the state law used to sever those rights.

The decision Tuesday came as part of a case in which the girl’s stepfather seeks to adopt her and her two younger brothers.

The appeals court faulted the termination by a court judge, instead of a juvenile court judge, under a state adoption law that allows the termination of parental rights if the parent has abandoned the child for at least six months prior to the adoption filing.

The appeals court said the imprisoned father had sent the children letters and cards in the six months before the adoption action was filed.

BURWELL, Neb. (AP) — Divers have recovered the body of a man who is believed to have drowned at Calamus (KAL’-uh-muhs) Reservoir in central Nebraska.

Capt. John Hogmire of the Burwell Volunteer Fire Department says the body of 38-year-old Wesley Sell, of Arcadia, was found shortly before 9 p.m. Monday. Hogmire says the body was found in 39 feet of water, about 100 feet from where his boat was found.

He and three family members were fishing on Oct. 11 when the boat sank near Virginia Smith Dam. Other anglers rescued Sell’s two teenage children and an adult relative.

Boats, planes and a drone were deployed on and over the water as authorities searched the shoreline. Windy weather and rough water hampered searchers.