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UNL Imposes Budget Cuts

UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman
UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman

(AP) — Budget cuts to cover a $4.65 million shortfall have been imposed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Chancellor Harvey Perlman told university workers in an email that the cuts were made effective Tuesday.

Trimming a point off a planned 3 percent increase to UNL’s salary pool next year will save $3.2 million. Other cuts include eliminating nonfaculty positions.

University officials have said factors contributing to the deficit include a $2.2 million shortfall carried over from the previous fiscal year, $800,000 from a systemwide budget reallocation and $570,000 in new building maintenance and operation costs.

Perlman also has said that UNL’s enrollment figures, which were flat this spring, did not alleviate the budget shortfall as planned.

Tickets Remain for Nebraska Cattlemen’s Ball

cattlemens-ball-2014(AP) — Organizers of this year’s Cattlemen’s Ball say there are still a few tickets left for the event.

The ball is scheduled for June 6-7 at the Hoot Owl Ranch near the Banner County community of Harrisburg in the Nebraska Panhandle.

The theme for the event is “Corral a Cure for Cancer.”

The Cattlemen’s Ball of Nebraska has been held yearly since 1998 at a different ranch. Ninety percent of the proceeds go toward cancer research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The remainder goes to regional medical organizations.

Tickets are on sale at https://cattlemensball.com/ .

Report Urges End to Drug Combinations in Executions

sodium-thiopental(AP) — A constitutional rights group is calling for replacing the use of drug combinations in executions with a single drug that would minimize pain and suffering.

The Constitution Project says states should use the most scientifically reliable method in death-penalty cases. That means using only drugs approved by federal regulators for use in humans. The group also is asking that the public to have an opportunity to comment before states adopt lethal injection procedures.

The group says states relying on lethal injection as a means of execution should use a deadly dose of a single anesthetic or barbiturate approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, rather than complex mixtures of drugs, the dosage and administration of which can easily be miscalculated.

Lawsuit Settled in Boy’s Death at Lake Near Wahoo

gavel-and-scale(AP) — A lawsuit filed after the drowning of an 11-year-old boy who was fishing in Lake Wanahoo has been settled for $300,000.

The lawsuit was approved March 26 in Saunders County Court.

The parents of Bayden Jacob Martinez-Rush filed the suit after he died June 12, 2012, while fishing alone at a dam spillway near Wahoo. His leg apparently became caught in a concrete pipe because of the water’s force and suction.

Under the settlement, the Lower Platte North Natural Resources District is responsible for $200,000 and Olsson Associates, the engineering firm that designed the dam and spillway, is responsible for $100,000.

The money will be divided between Bayden’s parents, Danelle June Rush and Raul Ernesto Martinez. Rush’s share will go to Bayden’s three siblings.

Tornado-Stricken Town Rebuilds with Clean Energy

greensberg tornado(AP) — After a mammoth tornado wiped out most of Greensburg, Kansas, in 2007, supporters of clean energy seized on an unusual opportunity to rebuild a town from the ground up with the latest green technology.

They came up with a sustainable-power dreamscape: wind turbines to power hundreds of homes, futuristic buildings with environmentally friendly features and a gleaming new school that runs on less than half the water of its flattened predecessor.

But the reimagining of Greensburg has failed to provide what it needs most: people. The storm sent half the town packing, accelerating an exodus from rural Kansas that had been underway for decades.

Those who stayed now acknowledge that the reborn town is serving a population of only about 800 and is still looking for answers.

Florida Company Buying Lincoln-Based Three Eagles Communications

radio tower(AP) — A Florida-based company says it’s buying Three Eagles Communications and its 48 stations in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota.

Digity Cos. made the announcement on Monday. Terms are not being disclosed and the purchase requires approval from federal regulators.

Three Eagles is based in Lincoln. Digity is based in West Palm Beach, Florida, and owns, operates or has under contract 113 stations around the country.

Omaha Firefighters Find Pot as They Battle Blaze

omaha-f-d(AP) — Firefighters have found marijuana growing in the basement of a south Omaha house where they battled a blaze after a water heater exploded.

Firetrucks were sent to the home around 2:15 p.m. Monday. Two men reported that after the water heater blew up, flames spread throughout the basement and up to the main floor. The men were taken to an Omaha hospital for treatment of their burns.

Investigators later removed nearly three dozen marijuana plants from the basement, as well as some psychedelic mushrooms and grow lamps.

Police Sgt. Mark Noonan says the injured men are suspected of growing the marijuana in the basement space they were renting. Charges are pending.

Woman, 75, Testifies at Her Wyoming Murder Trial

alice udenCHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — An elderly Missouri woman on trial in Wyoming says she shot her husband in the mid-1970s to protect her toddler daughter.

Seventy-five-year-old Alice Uden, of Chadwick, Missouri, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ronald Holtz.

Uden testified Tuesday she shot the 25-year-old at their home in Cheyenne. She says Holtz drove a taxi at night and became enraged when Uden’s 2-year-old daughter cried while he was trying to sleep.

She says Holtz stormed into the girl’s room, and she shot him next to the crib.

Prosecutors say Uden shot her husband as he slept.

Police arrested her and 71-year-old Gerald Uden in September. Gerald Uden has pleaded guilty to murdering his ex-wife and her two children in central Wyoming in 1980.

Prosecutors haven’t linked the cases.

Workers find baby in closet of Wichita apartment

police-car-lights-150x150WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 1-year-old Wichita boy has been placed with his grandmother after maintenance workers found him in a closet while his parents were out of their apartment.

KWCH-TV reports the workers were fixing the apartment’s air conditioner around 11 a.m. Tuesday when they noises from behind the closet door. Police Lt. Alan Prince says the baby was thirsty and had a wet diaper.

Prince said the mother returned after a 30-minute trip to take the baby’s father to work. She told officers she had putting the sleeping boy on a mattress inside the closet during such trips for about two months.

The mother has not been arrested. Prince said authorities will work to get her the information and help she needs.

Iowan Accused of Thefts from Nebraska Cemetery

cemetery-flowers(AP) — A 52-year-old Iowa man has been arrested, accused of stealing dozens of brass vases from an eastern Nebraska cemetery.

Gary L. Hostetter, of Carter Lake, Iowa, is accused of stealing the vases from Fremont Memorial Cemetery last month. He was arrested on Friday.

Dodge County Jail records say Hostetter remained in custody on Tuesday. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.

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