NELIGH, Neb. (AP) — A November trial has been scheduled for two Nebraskans accused of cattle theft.
27-year-old Benjamin Johnson, of St. Edward, and 23-year-old Rebecca Robbins, of Lyons, have pleaded not guilty to three felony charges facing each. Their trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 17.
Johnson and Robbins are accused of selling about $100,000 worth of cattle taken from a Brunswick farm. The livestock has since been returned.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a 48-year-old Omaha man has been convicted of conspiracies to launder money and sell controlled substances, among other crimes in Nebraska and Iowa.
John Ways Jr. was found guilty on Wednesday after a 13-day trial in U.S. District Court in Omaha.
Prosecutors say that from February 2010 to December 2012, Ways operated head shops in Nebraska and Iowa called Exotica. Among other things, the stores sold drug paraphernalia and controlled substances that included synthetic drugs such as K2 and bath salts. Prosecutors say Ways laundered the proceeds from the sales through transactions at various banks and credit unions in the Omaha area.
He faces up to 55 years in prison and must forfeit more than $1.1 million in cash and property.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Police are scratching their heads trying to work out who donated a human skull to a thrift store in Austin, Texas.
Homicide Detective Derek Israel said Wednesday that foul play is not suspected and that he just wants to know how the adult skull came to be left at the Goodwill store.
Goodwill store staff discovered the skull while sifting through donations on July 16. A spokeswoman says it could have been gifted up to a week prior to its discovery.
No other details about it have been released.
This is at least the fourth skull to be donated to the international nonprofit this summer. Three were donated in July to a Goodwill store in Bellevue, Washington.
ST. ANTHONY, Idaho (AP) — A Nebraska man has died in an all-terrain vehicle crash at the St. Anthony Sand Dunes in eastern Idaho.
The Freemont County Sheriff’s Office says Phillip J. McDonald of Hastings died Wednesday at the area popular with ATV and motorcycle riders.
Authorities received a report of a crash at about 1:30 p.m.
Emergency responders pronounced McDonald dead at the scene.
Authorities didn’t say how the crash happened or if McDonald was wearing a helmet.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A grand jury will review the shooting at a fast-food restaurant in Omaha that killed a robbery suspect and a crew member from the TV show “Cops.”
Omaha’s police chief says police and prosecutors have reviewed video of Tuesday’s shooting and found that the officers “had no choice” but to open fire after robbery suspect Cortez Washington pointed what looked like a real gun. It turned out to be a pellet gun.
Officers shot and killed Washington and a shot slipped past the bulletproof vest that sound man Bryce Dion was wearing.
Dion is the first crew member of the long-running show to be killed while filming police in action.
Chief Todd Schmaderer says it is “ridiculous” to suggest the officers overreacted knowing that cameras were recording them.
Schmaderer says his department is taking Dion’s death very hard.
CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple will show off its newest products Sept. 9. The iPhone and iPad maker set the date in invitations mailed Thursday to reporters and others who typically come to see the unveiling of Apple’s latest twists on technology.
These events have become an annual rite since the 2007 release of the iPhone. This year’s gathering may be the most anticipated since Apple Inc. took the wraps off the iPad in 2010.
True to its secretive nature, Apple isn’t giving any clues about what’s on the Sept. 9 agenda.
The Cupertino, California, company is widely expected to release an iPhone with a larger screen than the 4-inch display on the previous two generations of the device. Apple’s first smartwatch also is a possibility.
PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska authorities say a Papillion mother faces a felony child abuse charge for leaving her toddler home alone while she was out drinking.
The 25-year-old was arrested Friday night. It’s unclear if she has been charged.
Freeman says the woman was pulled over for drinking and driving and tested at more than twice the legal blood alcohol level. She told police she had to get home.
Police say they found her home unlocked and her 3-year-old son asleep in a bedroom.
The woman also faces third offense drunk driving charges.
FARMINGTON, Conn. (AP) — A school bus driver in Connecticut has been charged with driving drunk with 20 students on her bus.
Police in Farmington, Connecticut, say 44-year-old Tammy Costello, of Bristol, was arrested Wednesday morning after an officer saw the school bus swerve partially off a road. Students also told police the bus hit some curbs. No one was hurt.
Authorities say Costello’s blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit for commercial drivers.
Costello was released on bail and is to appear Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court.
Costello didn’t immediately return a phone message Thursday. It’s not clear if she has a lawyer.
M & J Bus Co. says it suspended Costello and all its drivers are subjected to random drug and alcohol testing. School officials notified parents about the incident.
CENTENNIAL, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming pastor was shot and wounded with his own handgun after apparently interrupting a burglary at his rural church.
The Albany County Sheriff’s Office says 44-year-old pastor Dennis Lynn Davis was airlifted to a Cheyenne hospital Tuesday evening with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
No information on his condition was immediately available Wednesday.
Albany County Undersheriff Rob DeBree said deputies were called to the Centennial Valley Community Church, about 28 miles west of Laramie, at about 8:20 p.m.
DeBree stated Davis was shot with his own .380-caliber handgun during a struggle with the burglar.
Davis said the burglar was about 6 feet tall and wore a black ski mask and camouflaged clothing.
The shooting prompted a search around Centennial, a picturesque village at the foot of Wyoming’s Snowy Range.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A pet cat has died after it was bitten by a Lincoln police dog tracking men suspected of robbing a taxi cab driver at gunpoint.
Police officers and the canine were searching for the robbers on Friday.
Jackson says the officers lost trail of the robbery suspects and that the dog was trying to pick up a scent in the area. He says the cat ran into the dog on a porch.
The dog’s bite broke the cat’s back. Jackson says the cat died after it was taken to a private veterinary clinic.
Jackson says he doesn’t know if the cat died from the dog’s bite.
