We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Man Suspected in Omaha Death Arrested in Colorado

omaha-police(AP) — Police say a 28-year-old man has been arrested in Colorado on a warrant charging him with first-degree murder and a weapons count in the 2010 shooting death of an Omaha man.

Omaha police said Wednesday that Dellshawn Evans was arrested in Denver. He is suspected in the death of 38-year-old James Dancer, whose body was found in a north Omaha home on Feb. 8, 2010. Police at the time said Dancer had been shot several times.

Police did not offer any other information, such as when Evans might be extradited to Nebraska.

Fire Races Through UNO Dorm

uno(AP) — Firefighters are on the scene of a two-alarm fire at an apartment dormitory on the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus.

The fire was reported shortly before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Flames could be seen shooting from the roof of one of UNO’s Scott Village student apartment complexes, located on the university’s Pacific campus at 64th and Pacific streets.

UNO spokesman Charley Reed says displaced students are being asked to go to the Scott Conference Center next door to the apartments or to nearby Mammel Hall.

Parents of UNO students can call 402-778-6211 for more information.

There’s no word yet on the cause of the fire.

The Scott Village student housing complex is made up of four-bedroom units, each with a kitchen.

Texas Officers Suspended for Homeless Sign Contest

police-lights-red(AP) — Two police officers in an oil-rich West Texas city spent weeks competing to see who could take the most cardboard signs away from homeless people.

Panhandling doesn’t violate any law in the city of Midland.

Nearly two months after the Midland Police Department learned of the game, the two officers were suspended for three days without pay. That’s according to findings of the internal affairs investigation obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

Advocate groups immediately blasted the department’s handling, suggesting that the punishment wasn’t harsh enough and that the probe should have been made public much earlier.

Police Chief Price Robinson said the actions were an isolated incident in a department of 186 officers and didn’t deserve a harsher punishment.

Child Dies from Infected Rat, Family Sues Petco

petco(AP) — Lawyers representing a San Diego family have filed a lawsuit against Petco Animal Supplies Inc., saying a 10-year-old boy died from rat-bite fever contracted from a male rat purchased at one of the national chain’s stores.

Attorney John Gomez told The Associated Press on Tuesday that his firm filed the lawsuit in San Diego County on Monday seeking an unspecified amount for the suffering endured by the Pankey family, whose son, Aidan, died June 12, 2013, hours after being rushed to the hospital with severe stomach pains.

The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office has confirmed the cause of the boy’s death was an infection from a rat.

The retailer in a statement expressed its condolences. Petco says safety is a top priority and it was looking into the matter.

FBI Director Ready to Hire, Restart Training

FBI(AP) — FBI Director James Comey says he’s authorized new hiring and is ready to order resumption of training new agents following last month’s passage of a $1.1 trillion federal spending bill.

The spending measure also scaled back automatic spending cuts that had led the FBI to eliminate more than 2,000 positions, institute a hiring freeze and suspended training of new agents at its academy at Quantico, Va.

Comey said Tuesday at a visit to the FBI’s Omaha field office that he has already signed off on opening 700 positions within the agency’s field offices across the country. The Omaha field office covers Nebraska and Iowa.

Comey, who took over the FBI in September, plans to visit all of the agency’s 56 field offices in the coming weeks.

Lincoln High School Booster Club Member Arrested for Theft

handcuffs(AP) — A former member of a booster club at Southwest High School in Lincoln has been arrested on felony theft charges.

Lincoln police spokeswoman Katie Flood says 47-year-old Amy Luebbe is in custody. Police investigators believe Luebbe took gift cards and cash from the club’s petty cash fund and altered deposits between October 2011 and October 2013.

An audit revealed that more than $14,000 was stolen.

Gift cards were sold by the booster club as a fundraiser and the club got to keep a percentage of the profit.

An electronic message sent to parents Tuesday says the club reported a theft to the police and is cooperating.

The case is not yet in online court records and it’s unclear whether Luebbe has an attorney.

Regulator: Banks in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota Healthy

economy(AP) — The regulator of nationally chartered banks says community national banks and federal savings associations in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota have recovered from the effects of the financial crisis and economic downturn.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says in a statement released Tuesday the vast majority of the 87 institutions it supervises in the three states have received the agency’s highest ratings.

Bank composite ratings run on a scale of 1-to-5 with 1 being the healthiest.

Kay Kowitt, District Deputy Comptroller for the region says 97 percent of national banks and federal savings associations in the three states earned a composite rating of 1 or 2 in 2013. In 2011 just 82 percent received those ratings.

She says bank earnings have improved and capital levels are satisfactory.

Heineman Open to Different Neb. Property Tax Bills

dave-heineman(AP) — Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has called on lawmakers to reduce the taxable value of farm and ranch land, but he’s willing to embrace alternative proposals that would reduce property taxes.

Heineman said Tuesday that he would also support proposals to increase funding for Nebraska’s property-tax credit fund, which is used to offset property tax bills statewide.

The Nebraska Farm Bureau and Nebraska Cattlemen have argued that reducing the taxable value of ag land would help farmers and ranchers. Opponents say it would erode the local tax base for rural schools, and do little to benefit urban residents.

The property tax credit fund has held steady at $115 million, while statewide property values have increased.

Heineman says he wants to see “responsible and meaningful” income- and property-tax relief passed this year.

2 Neb. Inmates Sue for the Right to Marry

ACLU(AP) — A civil liberties organization is suing the Nebraska prison system on behalf of two inmates who say their constitutional rights are being violated because they haven’t been allowed to marry each other.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of inmates Paul Gillpatrick and Niccole Wetherell.

The two say they’ve been engaged for more than two years, but can’t get married because prison officials are “unwilling to place the couple in the same room or to use modern technology to make other arrangements to allow the ceremony to go forward.”

Gillpatrick, 42, is serving 55 to 90 years in prison for second-degree murder. He is eligible for parole in 2039. Wetherell, 33, is serving life in another state prison for first-degree murder.

First Colorado County Reports Pot Taxes

Colorado-Marijuana(AP) — A southern Colorado county with two recreational marijuana stores is the first in the state to announce tax totals from the new industry.

Pueblo County says Tuesday that its two shops had about $1 million in total sales in January, producing about $56,000 in local sales taxes.

So far, it’s the only place between Denver and the New Mexico state line that allows recreational pot stores.

County Clerk Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz projects the marijuana industry will generate roughly $670,000 in new tax revenue for his county this year.

Colorado has more than 160 licensed recreational pot stores, all of whom had to report sales taxes Feb. 20. Pueblo County is the first to make the sales tax totals public. State totals are expected early next month.

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File