(AP) — A 28-year-old Lincoln man has been sentenced to jail for groping or slapping the backsides of women jogging on city trails.
Christopher Jackson was sentenced on Monday. Online court records say Jackson had pleaded no contest to three counts of sexual assault and one count of misdemeanor assault.
Lincoln police say women had reported separate incidents in September. They said their attacker would ride up on a bicycle from behind them and would reach out to grab or slap their buttocks.
(AP) — At least 35 deaths have been reported from a large, stubborn storm system making its way through the South after pummeling the central U.S.
In Mississippi, officials say 12 people died Monday, nine in Winston County, where hard-hit Louisville is the county seat. Three others died in separate traffic incidents.
In Alabama, three people were reported dead, two in the northern part of the state and one in Tuscaloosa. There, officials say a University of Alabama student died Monday when he took shelter in a home’s basement and a retaining wall collapsed on him.
Tennessee officials say two people died in a home when a suspected tornado hit Monday night.
On Sunday, 15 were killed as a tornado blasted through Arkansas. One person died in Oklahoma, and two in Iowa.
The American Red Cross is responding across the South and Midwest to help people affected by the massive storm system that has destroyed neighborhoods and left thousands without power.
Red Cross workers opened or supported community shelters in seven states Monday night including Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Virginia. More than 100 people sought refuge in the shelters and many more visited them for meals and information about what help is available. If someone needs to find a shelter, they can contact their local Red Cross chapter or access the Red Cross shelter map on redcross.org, which is updated every 30 minutes with shelter locations by address, city, state and/or zip code.
“Two well-trained disaster responders from Lincoln will deploy to hard hit Arkansas and Mississippi,” said Jill Orton, Region Disaster Officer. “These two men will join hundreds of other Red Cross workers who are providing immediate assistance to the residents who have been touched by this disaster.”
Red Cross workers are providing health and mental health services and Red Cross emergency vehicles are distributing food and relief supplies throughout the affected states as weather conditions permit. The Red Cross is mobilizing additional disaster workers and emergency vehicles to move into the affected states to provide additional help when it is safe to do so.
“It’s heart wrenching to see the destruction this storm has caused and that so many people have lost everything,” said Richard Reed, senior vice president, Disaster Cycle Services for the Red Cross, who is in Arkansas. “Red Cross workers are here now, providing shelter, food and comfort, and we’ll be here for weeks to help people as they begin to recover.”
More than 75 million people are still at risk from this storm system which threatens communities from the southeast coast to the Great Lakes and into the Mid-Atlantic region. Parts of Alabama and Mississippi face the highest threat today in communities already battered by the storm Monday.
DOWNLOAD TORNADO APP People should download the free Red Cross tornado app onto their mobile devices. The app includes a warning siren and alert when a tornado warning has been issued and an all-clear alert when the warning expires or is cancelled. Users can find Red Cross shelters and utilize the app’s “I’m Safe” button to let loved ones know they are okay. The Red Cross sent out 4.4 million severe weather notifications in the last 48 hours through its tornado app for tornado and thunderstorm watches and warnings.
TORNADO SAFETY People should know how their community will warn them about the storm. Other steps include the following:
(AP) — A teenage student driver and his instructor out for a lesson on an Ohio road have been killed in a two-vehicle crash at an intersection.
An Ohio Highway Patrol preliminary investigation indicates 16-year-old Joseph Franks was driving a car in Waterville Township while Thomas Smith was instructing him Monday. It says they drove past a stop sign and were hit by a minivan.
Lt. Bill Bowers says the car flipped and ended up in a nearby house’s yard.
The student driver and the instructor died at the scene. The student was from Swanton. The instructor worked for Key Driving School Inc. and was from Whitehouse. The minivan driver was hospitalized. All three had been wearing their seat belts.
Driving school owner Bonnie Lech tells Toledo’s The Blade newspaper (https://bit.ly/1jactv4) her “heart cries out” for the victims.
(AP) — Police say at least six people are injured after a shooter opened fire at a FedEx center north of Atlanta.
Cobb County police spokesman Michael Bowman says an active shooter was reported early Tuesday at the FedEx package sorting facility in Kennesaw. He says police have surrounded the building and are working to clear it. He calls the situation “active and fluid.”
Marietta police spokesman David Baldwin says six injured patients were taken to nearby Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, one of them with potentially critical injuries. Police didn’t’ immediately say if anyone has died.
FedEx spokesman Scott Fiedler says the company is cooperating with authorities.
(AP) — A man has been sentenced to prison after being convicted of two bank robberies in Omaha that occurred while he was on furlough from prison for four previous robberies.
U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg announced Monday that 59-year-old Albert Dansby was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Omaha to seven years in prison for two bank robberies.
Dansby was serving more than eight years in prison for four bank robberies when the Bureau of Prisons placed him on furlough. The bureau put him on a bus from a Texas facility to a half-way house in Hastings, Neb.
Dansby left the bus in Omaha on July 24, 2013, and robbed a bank of $1,914. On Aug. 9, he robbed another Omaha bank of $3,502.
Omaha police arrested him on Aug. 11, 2013.
(AP) — A judge had denied bail for an Omaha man charged in a December shooting on a city street.
Bail was denied Monday for 21-year-old Teon D. Hill.
He’s charged in the killing of 34-year-old Virgil Dunn, who was shot Dec. 10 while walking on an Omaha street. He died the next day at an Omaha hospital.
Hill appeared in court for the first time since his arrest Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder, use of a gun to commit a felony and two counts of use of a gun by a prohibited person.
(AP) — Authorities are ending the active search for bodies more than five weeks after the Washington state mudslide.
Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary said Monday that it was a difficult decision because two people are still missing. So far, 41 victims have been recovered. He said 11 people were saved the day of the March 22 slide about an hour northeast of Seattle.
The painstaking search for the missing has involved hundreds of people and dogs who combed the debris field, at times digging with their hands.
County Executive John Lovick says a commission will independently review what happened before and after the slide.
Transportation officials say it could take up to three months to clear debris from the mile-long stretch of highway buried in the disaster.
(AP) — Authorities say three people died and six were injured when a sport utility vehicle left the road and rolled in northeast Nebraska.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office says the crash happened about 7 a.m. Monday on Highway 81, a couple miles south of the junction with Highway 20.
A northbound Ford Excursion left the highway and went into a ditch. It then rolled several times.
All nine occupants were ejected from the vehicle, killing three of them. The six survivors were taken to a hospital in Norfolk.
All of those involved were males. Authorities aren’t releasing their names or ages until relatives can be notified.
(AP) — A car driver has been killed in a collision with a semitrailer in eastern Nebraska.
The accident occurred around 6:10 a.m. Monday on U.S. Highway 275 about a half mile east of Scribner.
Dodge County Sheriff Steve Hespen says the westbound car crossed the center line and rammed the oncoming truck.
The car driver was pronounced dead at the scene. His name isn’t being released yet. Hespen identified the truck driver as 72-year-old Ronnie Billheimer, of Randolph, Neb. Hespen says Billheimer wasn’t injured.
