SCRIBNER, Neb. (AP) — The city council in an eastern Nebraska community has decided to let voters decide whether to bar employing or renting residences to people living in the U.S. illegally.
The Scribner council voted 4-0 Monday to put a proposed ordinance on the November ballot. Last month the council gave the proposal an initial approval.
The push for such rules comes as the area prepares for an influx of workers for Costco’s new chicken processing plant in neighboring Fremont.
The Costco plant will employ 1,000 workers when it opens next year and could change the face of Scribner’s population, which is 96 percent white. Many officials interviewed for a state labor study have said the plant will likely require new residents to fill half the jobs.
Scribner’s ordinance mirrors a similar ordinance in Fremont, which went into effect four years ago.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha-based health system has created a community garden to offer patients more access to healthy food.
CHI Health recently planted five raised garden beds with nonprofit City Sprouts at the Creighton University Medical Center campus, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Officials intend the $326,000 project to provide produce to CHI Health patients. Nutritionists, physical therapists and behavioral health specialists can also use the garden to teach lessons on healthy eating and stress management.
The health system hopes to expand the garden to get neighbors involved, said Audrey Matthews, CHI Health’s healthier communities coordinator. CHI Health plans to hire a community health worker to identify families facing food insecurity, which refers to those who may not always know when or where they’ll get their next meal from, she said. The worker will make home visits, educate families about urban agriculture and help them plant gardens in their backyards.
Organizers will begin identifying families in South Omaha this fall, according to Matthews.
The health system is also working with local nonprofits, including City Sprouts and the Latino Center of the Midlands, to connect South Omaha residents to more fresh produce, Matthews said.
City Sprouts offers gardening classes in Spanish, said Roxanne Draper, the nonprofit’s executive director.
The Latino Center has a demonstration garden to show residents how to plant raised beds on their own.
Matthews said, “The more opportunities we can provide for the community to come to the property and be engaged, the better.”
YORK, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Lottery says a Powerball ticket worth $1 million was sold in York.
The ticket was bought at the Good2go Travel Center. The ticket figures matched all five white ball numbers but not the Powerball number drawn Saturday night.
Winning Nebraska Lottery Lotto tickets expire 180 days after the drawing. Prizes of $20,000 or more must be claimed in person at lottery headquarters in Lincoln.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new exhibit of photographs and other artifacts has been assembled to celebrate the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
The exhibit featuring images from Union Pacific’s collection will debut in Omaha this fall before moving to museums in Utah and California next year.
When the exhibit is displayed at the Joslyn Art Museum from Oct. 6 through Jan. 6, all three commemorative railroad spikes that marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad will be displayed.
The exhibit will then travel to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City. It will be displayed there next year from Feb. 1 to May 26.
The final planned display will be at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California next June 23 through Sept. 29.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol reports that troopers seized nearly 170 pounds of marijuana in two separate Hamilton County traffic stops.
The patrol says the first stop happened Wednesday night just north of Interstate 80 near Giltner, where a sport utility vehicle was pulled over. A drug-sniffing dog indicated the odor of drugs from the SUV, and troopers say they found 141 pounds of marijuana hidden in boxes in the back of the vehicle. The 26-year-old driver from California was arrested.
The second stop happened later Wednesday night near the same spot when another SUV was pulled over. Troopers say 27 pounds of marijuana was found hidden in luggage in that vehicle. The 37-year-old driver from Tennessee was arrested.
The combined estimated street value of the marijuana is more than $500,000.
WATERLOO, Neb. (AP) — Officials in eastern Nebraska are investigating after an infant was found unresponsive at a state park and later died.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called to Two Rivers State Park at Waterloo around 8:20 a.m. Friday and found a 3-month old baby boy unresponsive. Deputies say several of the baby’s family members were with the infant at a campground area, and some had begun CPR on the infant.
The baby was taken by medics to an Omaha hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
SPRINGVIEW, Neb. (AP) — Repairs and repaving are expected to begin Monday on U.S. Highway 183 in north-central Nebraska.The Nebraska Transportation Department says the project runs from Springview north to the South Dakota state line. The work will include paving, grading and bridge and guardrail repairs.
Traffic will be maintained with lane closures and one-lane work zones. The project is expected to be finished in early November.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln could welcome an autonomous shuttle service using driverless buses as early as next spring.
The city is testing a “self-driving micro-transit system” with a $100,000 grant awarded by Bloomberg Philanthropies for participating in its 2018 Mayors Challenge.
Lincoln officials are looking into using electric streetcars to reduce traffic congestion in several districts. Lincoln could win up to $1 million in the process to put its concept into action.
Officials would implement an autonomous shuttle pilot program if the city makes it to the next round of the challenge, said Lonnie Burklund, the city’s assistant director for Public Works and Utilities.
“In terms of the street network, there’s honestly not a lot of infrastructure that has to be built or altered,” he said.
Developers, including French manufacturer Navya, have designed autonomous shuttles to integrate into the city’s traffic, Burklund said. The shuttle relies on GPS rather than cameras, keeping the vehicle within up to 3 centimeters of its desired path, said Aaron Foster, the commercial manager for Navya’s North American division.
The autonomous shuttle will automatically begin to slow if an obstacle enters its path, he said.
“In the worst cases, if it’s an immovable obstacle, like a downed tree, the safety attendant on board can use a controller to drive around it,” Foster said.
A safety attendant would be present on each shuttle, but the vehicle would also be monitored remotely.
City officials envision riders accessing the driverless shuttle service by using a cellphone app, which would prioritize riders by the timing of their request.
The city is compiling feedback and research on its self-driving system testing to submit to Bloomberg next month. Lincoln will likely find out later this fall if it’ll advance to the next phase.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A current and a former member of the Winnebago Tribe’s governing council have pleaded guilty to misusing federal money to pay themselves bonuses.
The Sioux City Journal reports that former councilman Amen Sheridan entered his plea Friday in Omaha’s federal court. Current member Jeff Miller pleaded guilty to the same charge on Thursday.
As part of agreements that both signed with prosecutors, Sheridan and Miller are both expected to be sentenced to five years of probation on Oct. 19. Miller must repay $40,213, and Sheridan must repay $13,404.
The two are part of a group of nine former council members charged with giving themselves bonuses out of $388,972 in federal money intended to provide health care to tribal members.
The Winnebago Reservation is located in northeastern Nebraska and northwestern Iowa.
SCRIBNER, Neb. (AP) — The city council in an eastern Nebraska community has decided to let voters decide whether to bar employing or renting residences to people living in the U.S. illegally.
