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National NAACP Leader Urges Pursuit of Justice

NAACPCOLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The national leader of the NAACP says people should not be deterred from pursuing justice while possible hate crimes are being investigated, including an attempted bombing in Colorado Springs near the headquarters of the NAACP.

Cornell William Brooks told hundreds of people in Colorado Springs on Saturday that they should continue to fight bigotry, voter disenfranchisement, income inequality and unfairness in the criminal injustice system.

Brooks is visiting Colorado Springs in response to the Jan. 6 attempted bombing of a building that houses the organization’s offices and Mr. G’s Hair Design Studios.

No one was injured in the explosion that occurred next to the wall of the barbershop. So far, no arrests have been made and the case is still under investigation.

‘American Sniper’ Holds Top Spot at Weekend Box Office

box-officeLOS ANGELES (AP) — “American Sniper” hit the mark with moviegoers again.

The Navy SEAL drama starring Bradley Cooper topped the box office for a second weekend in a row with $64.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The total haul for the Warner Bros. film now stands at $200.1 million.

The Universal thriller “The Boy Next Door” featuring Jennifer Lopez as a teacher who engages in an affair with a younger man debuted in second place with $15 million.

The weekend’s other major new releases weren’t even in the neighborhood of “The Boy Next Door.”

The animated fantasy “Strange Magic” opened in a distant seventh place with $5.5 million, while the Johnny Depp dud “Mortdecai” flopped in ninth place with $4.1 million.

Bellevue Hiring Fair Scheduled for Veterans, Service Members

soldierBELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — An employment workshop will be held before next month’s hiring fair in Bellevue for veterans, service members and military spouses.

The workshop will focus on resume preparation, how to navigate hiring fairs, how to translate military skills and how to handle interviews.

The Hiring Our Heroes event will take place Feb. 18 at the Lied Activity Center, 2700 Arboretum Drive, Bellevue. The workshop is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by the hiring fair, which is set to run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Police: Lincoln Man Dismembered Wife and Hid Remains in Shed

Kevin Miller
Kevin Miller

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police say a man accused of killing his wife dismembered her body and hid her remains in a storage shed.

Police say Kevin Miller hit his 28-year-old wife, Kelsey Miller, in the head with a baseball bat and shot her three times in the early-morning hours of Nov. 27. He has pleaded not guilty.

Kelsey Miller’s remains were found in a storage shed in northeast Lincoln on Dec. 7, 11 days after she disappeared. Police disclosed the details in newly unsealed court records.

Police say they found four hand saws, a knife, air fresheners, a machete, buckets and several plastic containers inside the storage shed.

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Omaha Police Chief Pleads for Public’s Help in Shooting

omaha-policeOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s police chief is pleading for anyone with information about an early-morning shooting Saturday that left three dead and five injured to contact investigators.

Chief Todd Schmaderer (SHMAH-der) says as many as 50 people were in and around the small northeast Omaha home when shots were fired “by multiple shooters” around 2 a.m. No arrests have been made, and police say they are confident the shootings were gang-related.

Schmaderer says vast majority of people at the scene refused to help police. He says he understands witnesses’ fear but pleaded for them to come forward.

Schmaderer says police can protect the identity of witnesses who come forward and the information they provide.

UNL to Host Discussion on Cyberbullying

UNLLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is hosting a discussion about the growing national problem of cyberbullying.

The event sponsored by the College of Journalism and Mass Communications is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Nebraska Union auditorium.

The free, public discussion will be led by Sue Burzynski Bullard, a UNL associate journalism professor; Zach Myers, a doctoral candidate; Abi Beatty, a middle school counselor; and Jason Lucht, a former staff member at the university’s LGBTQ Resource Center. Journalist Bobby Caina Calvan will moderate.

The college is partnering with the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association as sponsors.

Tribute to Nebraska Capitol’s Designer to Go Up in Lincoln

NE-State-CapitolLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A monument honoring the architect of the Nebraska Capitol has been approved to go up in a Lincoln neighborhood.

The Capitol Environs Commission approved the monument to recognize Bertram Goodhue on Thursday.

The Near South Neighborhood Association in Lincoln plans to install it before May 10.

The concrete monument will be placed at Goodhue Boulevard and A Street in honor of the New York architect. The association plans to use a $2,500 grant it received from NeighborWorks Lincoln to pay for it.

Ed Zimmer, the city’s historic preservation planner, says the language for an engraved plaque still needs to be approved.

Goodhue Boulevard is one of the four axial streets that radiate out from the Capitol.

After 17 Years, Florida, Nebraska Company Lawsuit Continues

ne-supreme-courtOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Seventeen years after it started, a multimillion-dollar insurance dispute between the state of Florida and a Nebraska company continues to meander through the courts.

The Nebraska Supreme Court has ruled on aspects of the case four times, and the primary defendant, David Fulkerson, died in 2009. But none of that has ended the lawsuit that began in 1998.

Chris Welsh, president of the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys, says it’s unusual for a case to drag on this long.

The National Center for State Courts says Nebraska courts strive to have jury judgment in civil lawsuits within 18 months of when they are filed.

?The case centers on the relationship between Fulkerson’s former company, Countrywide Insurance Agency, and an insolvent insurance company that Florida regulators took control of in 1997.

2 Killed, 6 Wounded in Omaha Attack

crimeOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two women were shot and killed and six other people were wounded in an early-morning attack at a home in Nebraska’s largest city, Omaha.

Police say officers responded to a report of gunfire at a home at the intersection of North 34th and Parker streets shortly before 2 a.m. on Saturday.

The department said in a news release that two women in their 20s were dead at the scene and that three people were taken by ambulance to University of Nebraska Medical Center. One is in critical condition and the other two are in serious condition.

Three other wounded people were driven in a private vehicle to the hospital.

The department hasn’t identified the victims or any suspects in the shooting.

UNL Reassigns Assistant Professor Accused of Sexual Assault

Jeff Hawks
Jeff Hawks

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has reassigned an assistant professor accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy.

University spokesman Steve Smith said 33-year-old Jeff A. Hawks has been reassigned to faculty duties that don’t involve working with students. He had been a research assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering since 2011.

Hawks, a Lincoln youth baseball coach, was charged Tuesday with third-degree sexual assault of a child. Reports say the sexual abuse occurred during stretching exercises at a training session sometime between August and December.

Hawks has also been removed from his role in the Lincoln Sox youth baseball organization.

Hawks was released from jail Wednesday and has been ordered to avoid unsupervised contact with any unrelated child younger than 16.

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