WAVERLY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 21-year-old man has died in a crash after losing control of his motorcycle in the southeastern Nebraska town of Waverly.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says the accident occurred a little before 11 p.m. Tuesday just south of Jamestown Street in Waverly. The office says Benjamin White, of Waverly, was speeding north on Canongate Road when he lost control of his motorcycle on a curve and struck a guardrail.
The office says White died at the scene.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Kids will be able to explore a snake pit, hold giant insects and learn how to make fishing lures and more during NaturePalooza in Lincoln on Tuesday.
The free annual event is designed to teach kids and families about nature through a variety of hands-on activities. This year’s NaturePalooza is scheduled to run from 3 to 8 p.m. at Hardin Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln East Campus.
There also will be demonstrations on bats, bicycle repair, composting, recycling, owls and tree rings.
More information is available online at go.unl.edu/naturepalooza.
AURORA, Neb. (AP) — A Hamilton County judge has dismissed drug charges against a St. Louis man arrested with 100 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle.
District Judge Rachel Daugherty ruled the state trooper didn’t have the right to search 30-year-old Jean-Patrick Ounanian’s Chevrolet Suburban. The case was dropped last month.
Ounanian was pulled over in February along Interstate 80. The trooper found the marijuana concealed in seven duffel bags in the SUV’s cargo area. He had been charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and for not having a drug tax stamp.
Daugherty says state prosecutors didn’t prove that Ounanian voluntarily consented to a search.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Turning the Creighton University Medical Center into a veterans hospital has surfaced as a new option for replacing Omaha’s aging federal facility.
Rep. Lee Terry, an Omaha Republican, says the option was one of three discussed Tuesday during a meeting between the Nebraska delegation and the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Robert McDonald.
Local financing to build the replacement and lease it back to the federal government also was discussed.
Officials say renovating the Creighton hospital would cost about $250 million, compared with the $560 million estimated for a new, replacement facility. Federal funding for the replacement facility remains mired on a list of VA construction projects.
The Omaha hospital serves more than 160,000 veterans in the VA’s Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Two people from South Dakota were arrested in Nebraska after a high speed chase through Howard and Hall counties.
30-year-old Lucas Johnson of Mitchell, South Dakota, was arrested in Hall County on Tuesday. He is charged with operating a vehicle to avoid arrest, driving under the influence and refusing to submit to a drug test.
A female passenger in the van with him also faces a similar charge.
Police say the chase started near St. Paul when the driver of a minivan left a gas station without paying. They say the van reached speeds of 105 mph before it crashed near Grand Island.
Johnson also faces a theft charge in Howard County.
He is being held on $15,000 bond. Online jail records didn’t indicate an attorney.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A state prison inmate says New Mexico correction officials aren’t allowing him to practice his religion and properly worship Satan behind bars.
Bernard Pritchard recently filed a lawsuit in state court alleging the chaplain and deputy warden at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility in Las Cruces treat his faith differently than others.
Pritchard is asking a judge to force the New Mexico Corrections Department to let him worship Satan more freely and wants $140,000 in damages.
The lawsuit doesn’t spell out specifically how Pritchard believes his rights were violated.
The New Mexico Corrections Department declined to comment on the lawsuit. Anthony Romero, deputy director of adult prisons, says officials try to accommodate all religions.
Pritchard is serving time on aggravated stalking charges.
TORONTO (AP) — BlackBerry has launched a new smartphone as the embattled Canadian company tries for a comeback.
Chief executive John Chen unveiled a large-screen, square sized phone called the Passport to a Toronto audience on Wednesday. London and Dubai also hosted launch events. No event was held in the U. S. where analysts say there is little demand or carrier interest.
BlackBerry lost relevance as a dominant smartphone company following the launch of Apple’s iPhone and the introduction of Google-powered Android phones
Chen says the Passport will be available in the U.S. on A&T on an exclusive basis by the end of the year. It is also available for $599 for a limited time on Amazon.
Chen says he expects to release a more popular phone called the “Classic” later this year.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials have revoked the child care license of a woman in Omaha following issues over contact with her husband.
The state Department of Health and Human Services said Monday that Michelle Hayes signed two licensing agreements stating her husband, Erron Holley, was not allowed on the premises of her home child care business in Omaha. Holley at the time had a criminal record involving kidnapping and marijuana possession charges.
In August, Hayes reported that Holley physically assaulted her while she was transporting children. He was arrested several days later on a domestic assault charge. Records show Hayes later communicated via phone with Holley, a violation of a protection order filed by Hayes.
The children also reported that Holley had been living at the home and they were fearful of him.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-addiction activists are calling for the Food and Drug Administration’s top official to step down, saying the agency’s policies have contributed to a national epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse.
In a letter released Wednesday, more than a dozen groups ask the Obama administration’s top health official to replace FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, who has led the agency since 2009. The FDA has been under fire from public health advocates, politicians and law enforcement officials since last October, when it approved a powerful new painkiller called Zohydro against the recommendation of its own medical advisers.
The new letter is the first formal call for new leadership at the agency over the issue.
Hamburg has supported broad use of the drugs, noting that 100 million Americans reportedly suffer from chronic pain.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amid continued scrutiny of problems at Rikers Island and other New York City jails, Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) said bluntly that the situation in the city’s correction department is very bad.
Speaking to reporters following remarks at the United Nations Tuesday, de Blasio reiterated that his administration inherited problems in the nation’s second-largest jail system that he’s working “to fix.”
He pointed to his naming of a reform-minded corrections commissioner, the allotment of $32.5 million in the budget and a new approach to guard training and supervision.
De Blasio was responding to comments made Monday by a federal prosecutor, who warned he may take legal action to force meaningful reforms. Last month, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (buh-RAH’-ruh) issued a scathing review of conditions for adolescent Rikers inmates.
