LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State officials have rescheduled a fog seal project on Interstate 180 in Lincoln.
The work was to begin Wednesday. Now it is set to begin Sept. 3.
Fog seal is oil sprayed onto the surface of newer pavement to seal the fine cracks.
The Nebraska Department of Roads says all lanes in both directions will be closed on the interstate spur from Fletcher south to Cornhusker starting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 3. The lanes will be reopened at 6 a.m. Sept. 4.
Message boards will be used.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Prosecutors have dismissed charges against a former Omaha police officer in an alleged excessive force case.
Aaron Von Behren’s misdemeanor charges of being an accessory to a felony and obstructing governmental operations were dismissed Monday. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said authorities did not have admissible evidence to support the charges.
Von Behren was one of several officers involved in a March 2013 arrest of three brothers. He was accused of trying to coordinate officers’ stories to cover up the incident.
Former officer James Kinsella is accused of destroying a memory card used by one of the brothers to record the arrest. He later entered a no contest plea to misdemeanor charges.
The family of the men arrested has sued the Omaha police department.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A grand jury has declined to pursue any charges against Lancaster Countydeputies who fatally shot a man wielding an unloaded rifle.
The grand jury decision was released Monday by County Attorney Joe Kelly.
Sixty-four-year-old Doug DaMoude had barricaded himself in his former residence on May 30. Police say he’d broken back into his house after being evicted. Two locksmiths accompanied deputies and disabled the locks before the deputies rammed into the house’s entryway, where they were confronted by DaMoude.
Police say one deputy grabbed the rifle and struggled with DaMoude, as two other deputies fired five shots, striking DaMoude four times.
State law says grand juries must investigate whenever someone dies in police custody or while being arrested.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration has picked a Connecticut official to run HealthCare.gov ahead of a second open enrollment season looming as a test of competence for the feds.
Kevin Counihan leads Access Health CT, a health insurance marketplace seen as a national model.
As CEO of the federal exchange, Counihan’s challenge will be far bigger. Connecticut enrolled about 80,000 people, while more than 5 million signed up in the 36 states served by the federal marketplace.
Insurance exchanges offer subsidized private coverage to people who don’t have workplace health plans.
The role of federal CEO is new, created by Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to avoid a repeat of last year’s technical meltdown. Burwell also named Lori Lodes of the Center for American Progress as communications director.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — Two Columbus men have been accused of mail and wire fraud involving more than $4 million in counterfeit money orders and cashier’s checks.
Federal prosecutors say 51-year-old Howard Barta and 58-year-old Dennis Wood have been indicted for scheming to defraud hundreds of people who advertised items on Craigslist starting in January 2010. Phone listings could not be found for Barta and Wood. Online court records don’t list attorneys for them.
Prosecutors say Barta and Wood would agree to buy the Craigslist items and then send counterfeit cashier’s checks or money orders that greatly exceeded the sale prices. The sellers would be instructed to deposit the counterfeit items into their bank accounts and send back the extra money to the defendants.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal jury in Omaha has convicted a former acting director of cyber security at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of several child pornography counts.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Nebraska says 56-year-old Timothy DeFoggi, of Germantown, Maryland, is the sixth person to be convicted as part of the investigation targeting three child pornography websites — including one based and administered from Nebraska.
DeFoggi was convicted Tuesday of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to advertise and distribute child pornography and accessing a computer with intent to view child pornography. He faces up to life in prison when he’s sentenced Nov. 7.
An attorney for DeFoggi, John Berry, says he likely will appeal.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska woman and an Iowa woman have been sentenced for conspiring to commit wire fraud in a telephone scam aimed at the elderly.
U.S. Attorney Debrorah R. Gilg announced Monday that 24-year-old Tempest Amerson of Lincoln was sentenced last week to four months in prison. She says 45-year-old Rosland Starks received 20 months. Each will be supervised for three years after their release and will have to pay nearly $14,000 in restitution.
Gilg says the women defrauded victims from May 2011 to November 2013. She says co-conspirators would contact elderly victims and pretend to be a relative or a family friend dealing with an emergency. Amerson and Starks would receive part or all of the money transferred.
ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) — People are invited to join singer-songwriter and conservation advocate Erica Wheeler for The Soulful Landscape workshop Sunday at Eugene T. Mahoney State Park near Ashland.
Writers of all experience levels and others are encouraged to attend.
The workshop includes a presentation on place-based arts, followed by writing exercises. Participants will learn how to generate fresh metaphors for use in songs, stories, poems and essays.
The workshop is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the park’s Kountze Memorial Theater. The workshop is free, but a park entry permit is required.
CORONA, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California food company has recalled nearly 93,000 pounds of fully cooked chicken Caesar salad kits sold at Sam’s Club stores over concerns of possible listeria contamination.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service says the Daily Chef salad kits were shipped to the warehouse chain for sale in its in-store cafes nationwide.
The affected products by Corona’s APPA Fine Foods come in 11-ounce clear plastic containers with use-by dates through Sept. 17.
The USDA and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.
People who consume food contaminated with listeria are at risk of getting listeriosis, which can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion and convulsions.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Police in Wisconsin say that before she died, a wounded woman called 911 and identified the person who shot her as her brother-in-law, who had been a sheriff’s deputy.
A police affidavit obtained Tuesday says Kacee Tollefsbol called 911 around 1 p.m. Friday and said Andy Steele had shot her in the back. When police arrived at Steele’s home in the Madison suburb of Fitchburg they also found the body of his 39-year-old wife, Ashlee Steele, who had also been fatally shot.
The affidavit says the 38-year-old Tollefsbol, of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, also told a detective that Andy Steele had shot her before she died at UW hospital.
Steele was arrested but hasn’t been charged.
