(AP) — The airport in Grand Island is seeing a small increase in passengers.
56,902 passengers used the Central Nebraska Regional Airport in 2013. That’s an increase of 843 passengers over the count in 2012.
The 6,162 passengers in December set a one-month boarding record at the airport.
The airport is served by American Eagle Airlines and Allegiant Airlines.
(AP) — The security breach that hit Target Corp. during the crucial holiday season seemed to be part of a broader scam that affected several retailers, according to a report published by a global cyber intelligence firm that works with the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security.
The report, released Thursday by iSight Partners of Dallas, offers more insight into the breach at Target, which affected 40 million credit and debit card accounts and stole the personal information of as many as 70 million customers.
The report confirms that a malicious software that infiltrated the point of sale system at the registers was “almost certainly derived” from BlackPOS, a crude but effective software product.
Last week, Neiman Marcus said it was hit by a security breach over the holidays.
(AP) — Officials are tightening security at the Platte County Courthouse in Columbus.
The county Board of Supervisors this week changed rules to require that every package that enters the courthouse must be scanned. When employees enter through the courthouse’s front doors, they also must walk through a metal detector.
Visitors to the courthouse already have had to walk through a metal detector and have their bags scanned, but employees previously were exempt. Delivery people also didn’t previously have to put packages through scanners.
Employees who use access cards to enter through other courthouse doors still are exempt from the new rules.
This is the second time in three months that supervisors have discussed courthouse safety.
(AP) — A 43-year-old Lincoln bus driver who was fired after being caught on video punching a passenger has been sentenced to probation and community service.
Troy Fischer was sentenced Thursday in Lancaster County Court to a year of probation and 100 hours of community service.
A surveillance video of the incident, which was posted online, showed Fischer repeatedly punching 40-year-old passenger Torrance Rose on March 23. Fischer also is shown dragging Rose off the vehicle and leaving him on the side of the roadway east of downtown Lincoln.
Fischer eventually was suspended without pay by the city bus service, StarTran, and then fired on April 11.
Fischer had faced up to a year in jail. He pleaded guilty in July to misdemeanor assault.
(AP) — Lincoln police have identified a man whose body was found in a city park as a 27-year-old Lincoln resident.
Police identified the man as Jarvis James Long.
His body was found Thursday morning in Peter Pan Park, a neighborhood park that typically filled with children.
Officer Katie Flood says the body had obvious wounds, but police declined to release additional details.
The death is Lincoln’s first homicide of 2014 and the first killing in the city since Dec. 1.
(AP) — It took firefighters several hours to extinguish a stubborn field fire kept alive by gusty winds that at one point threatened the community of Bradshaw.
Firefighters were called to the fire about 11:15 a.m. Thursday in a field filled with corn stubble.
Crews fought the fire for about three hours as wind gusts topping 50 mph pushed flames toward U.S. Highway 34. Because of smoke, officials directed traffic along part of the highway.
Bradshaw Fire Chief Todd Hellerich says firefighters would douse the flames, but the wind would ignite embers. He feared those gusts would carry embers into Bradshaw and threaten buildings, but crews managed to finally extinguish the fire.
Bradshaw is a city of about 275 people. It’s 14 miles west of York.
(AP) — Detroit police say a 4-year-old girl accidentally shot a 4-year-old boy to death at a home on the city’s west side.
Police Capt. Rodney Cox said the shooting happened Thursday afternoon. Police say the girl and boy and a 5-year-old were playing in a bedroom and found the gun.
Cox also said an adult was in the home at the time, though it’s not yet clear exactly where.
The Associated Press left a telephone message for Detroit police Thursday night seeking information.
(AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has compared past “Summer of Mercy” anti-abortion protests in Wichita to the state’s abolitionist movement that helped end slavery.
Brownback made the comparison Wednesday evening in his annual State of the State address. The speech was broadcast statewide on public television and radio.
The Republican governor is a strong opponent of abortions. He said the “Summer of Mercy” protests in 1991 and 2001 arose when Kansans could no longer tolerate what he called the death of innocent children.
The protests were held outside the Wichita clinic of Dr. George Tiller, who was killed in 2009 by a man professing strong anti-abortion views.
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri CEO Peter Brownlie called Brownback’s remarks insensitive and said many Kansans saw the protests as an embarrassment.
(AP) — The third suspect in an Omaha homicide has been arrested.
Police said Thursday that 27-year-old Amber Perez had been booked into Douglas County Jail. She’s charged with first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony.
Perez and two other people are suspected in the Oct. 8 slaying of 31-year-old Rodney Hunt.
Perez remains in custody. Online court records don’t list the name of her attorney.
(AP) — A 29-year-old Lincoln man has been given 20 to 42 years in prison for robbery and trying to persuade his girlfriend not to testify against him.
Online court records say Dustin Langenberg was sentenced Wednesday in Lancaster County District Court. He’d been convicted on one robbery count and two of witness tampering.
Authorities say Langenberg and two other men attacked a 33-year-old Lincoln man at his home on Nov. 4, 2011. Authorities also say Langenberg tried to persuade his girlfriend not to testify against him regarding what he’d said before and after the robbery.
