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Plattsmouth Girl Faces Homicide Charge in Crash Death of Little Sister

gavel-and-scalePAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — An 18-year-old from Plattsmouth faces a vehicular homicide charge for a collision that fatally injured her little sister last month.

Sarpy County prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday that the driver was 17 when the accident occurred on Jan. 13.

Prosecutors say she failed to yield the right of way when she tried to turn west onto Platteview Road off northbound U.S. Highway 75. Her sport utility vehicle was struck by a southbound minivan and then a car.

The teenager’s 7-year-old sister was in a right rear passenger seat of the SUV. The younger girl was taken to an Omaha hospital, and authorities say she died there on Jan. 19.

The Associated Press is not using the sisters’ names because the AP generally doesn’t name juveniles accused of crimes.

Man Convicted in Deaths of ‘American Sniper’ Author, Friend

Eddie Ray Routh
Eddie Ray Routh

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — A former Marine has been convicted in the deaths of “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle and Kyle’s friend at a shooting range.

Jurors returned the verdict Tuesday against Eddie Ray Routh, whose attorneys had mounted an insanity defense and said he suffered from psychosis. Since prosecutors didn’t seek the death penalty in the capital murder case, the 27-year-old receives an automatic life sentence without parole in the deaths of the famed Navy SEAL and Chad Littlefield.

The men had taken Routh out shooting in February 2013 after Routh’s mother asked Kyle to help him. Family members say Routh suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq and in Haiti.

The case drew intense interest, largely because of the blockbuster film based on Kyle’s memoir about his four Iraq tours.

Police: Man Shot by Omaha Officer Had No Weapon

Danny Elrod
Danny Elrod

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Police Department says a robbery suspect who died after being shot by an officer did not have a weapon.

Police said Tuesday that 39-year-old Danny Elrod died at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The officer involved in Elrod’s shooting has been identified as 31-year-old Alvin Lugod, a six-year veteran with the department.

The department says officers were dispatched to a business around 6:30 p.m. Monday on a report of an armed robbery. Police spokesman James Shade (shayed) says officers saw the male suspect running near the store. An altercation broke out as officers attempted to arrest Elrod, and Lugod fired several shots at him.

Authorities say the incident was captured on two cruiser video cameras.

Lugod has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation into the shooting.

Alaska Quietly Becomes 3rd State to Legalize Marijuana

marijuana-budJUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska today became the third U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults, and it has been a subdued milestone.

Unlike in Colorado and Washington state, there have been no street parties or public smoking displays in Alaska’s biggest cities.

But backers of legal pot said the mild reaction was fitting because they are aiming to promote responsible consumption of marijuana as they work with lawmakers during the next few months in preparing its sale.

Pot advocate Bruce Schulte says he hopes people consume responsibly, and not illegally by smoking in public. He says he wants to see the industry thrive in a responsible, regulated fashion, and he says part of that is responsible consumption.

Police in Anchorage were prepared to hand out fines, but as of late Tuesday morning, none has been issued by overnight officers.

28 Hurt When Train Crashes Into Truck on Tracks in California

police-lights-redOXNARD, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California commuter train slammed into a truck abandoned on the tracks early Tuesday, sending three rail cars tumbling onto their sides and injuring 28 people in the fiery crash.

The accident occurred around 5:45 a.m. in Oxnard, about 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Four people, including the train engineer, had critical injuries.

The truck driver was found several miles away, and authorities are questioning him about why the vehicle was left on the tracks.

Little was left of the truck except scorched and mangled wreckage, with some debris found in a nearby intersection and some close to the tracks.

The Metrolink train carrying 48 passengers and three crew members was heading from Ventura County to Los Angeles. The injured people were taken to several hospitals.

Omaha Man Gets 8-10 Years for Vehicular Homicide

jailOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 24-year-old man has been imprisoned for colliding with a motorcycle while driving drunk and in the wrong direction on an Omaha interstate.

On Tuesday a judge sentenced Victor Perez, of Omaha, to eight to 10 years in prison. Perez had pleaded no contest and was convicted of vehicular homicide while driving under the influence. In exchange for Perez’s plea, prosecutors dropped a charge of failure to stop and render aid.

Prosecutors say Perez’s blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit on June 23 when his SUV hit the motorcycle driven by 42-year-old Mickey Riesberg, who died later. Omaha police say the accident occurred just east of the U.S. Highway 75 north-Interstate 480 south split. Officers say the SUV was going east in the westbound lanes.

Pilger Woman Meets People Rebuilding Home Leveled by Tornado

pilger-tornado-3PILGER, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska woman whose house was leveled by a tornado has met the volunteers who are rebuilding her home.

Alice Schultz of Pilger met the volunteers of the Mennonite Disaster Service for a meal Saturday. The Pennsylvania-based network had begun to rebuild her house that was damaged on June 16.

Schultz’s home is one of five that is being rebuilt by the network. A majority of the unpaid volunteers are famers from Iowa who are of the Amish and Mennonite faith. According to the on-site project director for the network, Marlin Gingerich, the volunteers rarely to get to meet the owners of the homes they rebuild.

The volunteers are being housed in the Norfolk City Auditorium for the next several months while they rebuild homes.

Appeals Court Considers Warrantless Cellphone Monitoring

cellphoneATLANTA (AP) — A federal appeals court in Atlanta is considering whether investigators must obtain a search warrant to obtain cellphone tower tracking data.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June ruled investigators must get a search warrant to get the data, which is widely used to show suspects were in the vicinity of a crime.

The federal government asked to have the decision reconsidered by the full court and oral arguments were held Tuesday.

The issue arises from a Miami case in which federal prosecutors used a court order to get cellphone tower data over a 67-day period for Quartavious Davis, a suspect in a string of robberies. A defense attorney argued prosecutors should have gotten a warrant, which has a higher burden of proof.

Body of Skier Who Died in Colorado Avalanche Recovered

ambulance-lightsASPEN, Colo. (AP) — The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado says the body of a skier who died in an Aspen Mountain avalanche has been recovered.

The body had been found Monday afternoon at the bottom of a snow-covered chute at about 9,400 feet after a fellow skier notified emergency workers of the avalanche and missing skier.

Conditions were too dangerous to attempt a recovery in the Castle Creek Valley on Monday.

A five-person Mountain Rescue Aspen team set out early Tuesday and completed the recovery in about three hours.

The skier’s name has not yet been released.

Obama to Veto Keystone XL Pipeline Bill

obama-fundraiserWASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will veto a Republican bill on Tuesday that would have approved construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The bill arrived at the White House from Congress on Tuesday morning. The White House says Obama will veto it by the end of the day. It’s the third veto of Obama’s presidency.

The move puts a freeze on a top GOP priority, at least temporarily. It also reasserts Obama’s authority over a project that’s become a flashpoint in the national debate about climate change.

Republicans may try to override Obama’s veto, but they haven’t yet shown they can muster the necessary two-thirds majority in both chambers. Republican Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota says Republicans are about four votes short in the Senate and 11 votes short in the House.

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