OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say someone has been shot at Standing Bear Lake in northwest Omaha.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting around 2:50 p.m. Monday. The person who was shot was transported to the Nebraska Medical Center in serious condition. Police remained at the scene to search for a suspect.
No arrests have been made at this time. No further information has been released.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An attorney for an Omaha event planning company says customers who purchased travel vouchers from the business won’t be reimbursed any time soon.
Steve Lefler, attorney for the owner of Creative Creations, said Monday that consumers shouldn’t expect refunds or for unused vouchers to be honored. Creative Creations purchases the vouchers for airline flights at a reduced rate and resells them to the public.
The vouchers sparked protest last week when hundreds of customers discovered their vouchers wouldn’t be honored because the company had overbooked flights. Only a limited number of vouchers can be redeemed each month.
The Better Business Bureau says more than 500 complaints valued at nearly $500,000 had been received as of Monday morning.
Lefler says it wasn’t the company’s intent to take advantage of the customers.
THROOP, Pa. (AP) — Police say a Pennsylvania man decorating a relative’s grave for Easter with his wife has been killed after a headstone fell on him.
Police say 74-year-old Stephan Woytack was struck in the head Monday at Saint Joseph’s Cemetery in nearby Throop.
A cemetery caretaker tells WNEP-TV (https://bit.ly/1GHfbnF) that the Scranton couple visits the grave several times a year and ties a cross to it each year.
Caretaker Ed Kubilus says the bases of headstones often sink when the ground thaws, making them susceptible to tipping over.
Throop is about 5 miles northeast of downtown Scranton.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Four journalists arrested during last summer’s protests over the Ferguson shooting death of Michael Brown are suing St. Louis County’s police department for civil rights violations and unlawful detention.
The lawsuit filed Monday in St. Louis also names 20 unidentified St. Louis County officers.
Plaintiffs include two journalists who were covering last August’s protests for German publications, as well as a freelance reporter and a journalist for an online investigative publication. The suit describes them as U.S. citizens.
The lawsuit alleges that the journalists’ arrests for failing to disperse when ordered by police was unjustified and was an infringement of constitutionally protected freedom of the press.
A St. Louis County police spokesmen referred questions Monday to the county counselor, who did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal agency has fined Douglas County for violating child labor laws by letting four teenagers load a wood chipper last summer.
The U.S. Department of Labor issued $3,100 in fines after discovering that four underage employees operated a wood chipper while temporarily working on a maintenance crew for the county engineer. Child labor laws allow only adults to do this.
The Douglas County Board is slated to approve payment of the fines Tuesday.
Construction and maintenance manager Tom McDonald said the permanent employee in charge of the wood chipper didn’t know minors weren’t allowed to load it.
McDonald says a workers’ compensation claim filed after one of the teens bruised a finger prompted the Labor Department’s investigation and subsequent fines.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — Parents, community members and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod churches in Nebraska are considering opening a Lutheran high school in Columbus.
An informational meeting was held last week to gauge interest in the school. There are Lutheran schools in Columbus, but they do not teach students beyond the eighth grade.
Melanie Gustafson, a mother of four, said a conversation with other parents sparked the idea for a high school.
The process for creating the school includes seeking approval from the church councils and conducting a feasibility study to gauge interest in the school and evaluate what resources are available. The study will also establish if there are enough students to sustain the school.
It is not currently known where the school would be located or what the cost of tuition would be.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 4-year-old Philadelphia girl has been returned safely to her parents after slipping out of her house at 3 a.m. and getting on a transit bus in search of a snack.
Bus driver Harlan Jenifer said the girl swung her legs as she chanted, “All I want is a slushie.”
Surveillance video showed the preschooler sitting on the bus early Friday, chatting to other passengers. Jenifer stopped the bus and called police.
The police took the girl to a hospital, where she was reunited with her mother.
The girl’s father, Timothy Ridgeway, says, “Thank God for the bus driver stopping.”
Authorities say the girl’s family didn’t know she woke up and unlocked the back door before starting her trek through a downpour early Friday.
Officials don’t plan to file charges.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a Wisconsin pastor convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse for advocating the use of wooden rods to spank children.
The justices had no comment on their order Monday rejecting Philip Caminiti’s appeal of his 2012 conviction for urging church members to use so-called “rod discipline” on babies and toddlers.
Caminiti argued that prosecutors violated his religious freedom and the rights of parents to decide how to discipline their children.
The Wisconsin state appeals court ruled last year that a jury could have reasonably inferred that Caminiti’s teachings produced lawless action. The lower court said the state has a compelling interest in preventing child abuse.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln City Councilman Trent Fellers has proposed revamping the city’s audit advisory board by giving the City Council more control over the group, and ensuring that it conducts at least one performance audit per year.
The proposal calls for the new audit committee to do performance audits, rather than financial audits so the council will have a better view of departmental operations. The proposal will be introduced Monday, and discussed at a public meeting at an April 6 council meeting.
The original audit advisory board was created at the suggestion of Mayor Chris Beutler after he took office in 2007. That group was only used for four audits since its creation and has not had any assignments for a year and a half. The board sent the city a memo in mid-March that offered suggestions for future audits.
WASHINGTON (AP) — After nearly 100 years, the National Park Service holds some of the most beautiful and historic places in the country. But there’s also an $11 billion backlog of unfunded maintenance and a visitor base that’s aging and mostly white.
Now the park service is preparing for its centennial in 2016 by launching a major campaign Thursday to raise support and introduce a new, more diverse generation of millennials and children to the national parks.
Michelle Obama and Laura Bush will co-chair the campaign, calling on Americans to “Find Your Park” to enjoy their public lands. Behind the scenes, officials are also working to expand their fundraising and congressional support to improve the nation’s parks.
The push to “Find Your Park” is the third major campaign in the national parks’ history.
