HUMBOLDT, Neb. (AP) — State health and environment officials have issued a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Kirkman’s Cove near Humboldt in the southeastern corner of Nebraska.

Officials say in a news release Friday that the alerts were issued following tests of the lake water.

Skin exposed to the toxin from certain strains of blue-green algae can develop rashes and blisters. Someone who drinks water containing the toxin is at risk for headaches, nausea and muscular pain.

Nebraska lakes will continue to be monitored weekly throughout the 2018 recreational season. Sampling results for harmful algal blooms and bacteria will be updated every Friday and posted on the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality’s website at http://deq.ne.gov .

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — The body of a Bellevue woman whose husband confessed to police that he killed her has been found in the Missouri River.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that the body of 32-year-old Jennifer Norton was pulled from the river around 9:30 p.m. Friday, following a three-day search.
Bellevue Police Capt. Tom Dargy says an autopsy has been scheduled.

The woman’s husband, 37-year-old Brandon Norton, is being held without bail on a charge of second-degree murder.

He was arrested after walking into the Sarpy County Jail on Tuesday evening to tell authorities that he had killed his wife the day before and dropped her body from a bridge into the river.

Authorities have said Brandon Norton told investigators how he killed his wife, but officials have not released that information.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two longtime suspects in the killing of a 24-year-old Lincoln woman have been charged with first-degree murder.

Authorities announced the charges Monday against 51-year-old Aubrey Trail and 23-year-old Bailey Boswell, both of Wilber.
Trail has publicly acknowledged that he’s responsible for the death of Sydney Loofe, who went missing in November. Loofe’s body was found in a rural Clay County field in December.

Trail and Boswell have been in the Saline County jail on unrelated charges since late November and have long been considered suspects. They also were charged Monday with improper disposal of human skeletal remains, a felony.

Boswell and Trail will appear in Saline County District Court on Tuesday. Attempts to reach them for comment Monday were unsuccessful.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 33-year-old Omaha man has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for swapping child pornography.

U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Joe Kelly announced that Owen Drew was sentenced Friday to 70 months in prison. He’ll be required to register as a sex offender when he’s released from prison.

Officials say that over a year’s time ending in May 2017, Drew knowingly received a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. In April 2017, FBI officials identified Drew through his use of peer-to-peer file exchange software in which an undercover agent downloaded multiple child pornography files being shared from Drew’s computer. Officials say a subsequent search of Drew’s laptop turned up multiple child pornography videos.

WAVERLY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man died after his motorcycle collided with an oncoming sport utility vehicle in eastern Nebraska.

The collision occurred around 5 p.m. Sunday on U.S. Highway 6 just east of Waverly. The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says the eastbound motorcyclist rode into the westbound lane and struck the SUV.

The motorcyclist has been identified as 51-year-old Ronald Corum Jr., who lived in Greenwood. An autopsy was ordered.

The SUV driver has been identified as 44-year-old Mark Leavitt, who lives in rural Lincoln. He and one of his six passengers were treated for minor injuries. The others weren’t hurt.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha officials and residents are discussing a possible youth curfew following a gang shooting that led to a bystander being killed.
City Council Vice President Chris Jerram is talking to constituents about introducing a youth curfew to apply only during the summer. He says he’s looking into a 10 p.m. curfew for youth under 16 and an 11 p.m. curfew for those under 19, with exceptions.

The discussions come after a shooting earlier this month between gang members that killed a bystander and injured six others.

Experts disagree on how effective curfews are at reducing crime.

Mayor Jean Stothert says the city would need to analyze juvenile crime statistics and other data to show that a curfew is warranted. She says the city couldn’t impose a curfew based on “one isolated incident.”

VALLEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say they’ve recovered the body of a man whose pontoon boat was found adrift on an eastern Nebraska housing development lake.

The body was found Monday morning at Ginger Cove, a lakeside residential area between Valley and the Platte River, in western Douglas County. The man’s name hasn’t been released. He was a Ginger Cove resident.

He was last seen around 1 a.m. Saturday. The search began Saturday afternoon and resumed Sunday morning. It was called off around 2 p.m. because of the heat’s effect on searchers.

His death is being investigated.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a $28.1 million judgment against Gage County and two law enforcement officials for a Nebraska case involving six people who were wrongfully convicted of murder.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn the jury’s 2016 verdict in a ruling issued Monday.

The verdict was awarded to the group, known as the Beatrice Six, for their wrongful conviction in the 1985 rape and killing of 68-year-old Helen Wilson. They spent more than 75 years combined in prison until DNA evidence cleared them in 2008. The evidence instead pointed to an Oklahoma City man who died in 1992.

The lawsuit alleged that law enforcement officials recklessly strove to close the case despite contradictory evidence.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A police officer and a man he was trying to arrest were wounded when they exchanged gunshots at a house in eastern Nebraska, police said Friday.

The gunbattle broke out Thursday evening when two officers arrived at the Columbus home to serve an arrest warrant. One took up a position at the rear of the house. A woman leaving the house told the other officer to go in the front door, police Capt. Todd Thalken said Friday, but the officer soon saw the man he sought, holding a handgun.

Thalken said it appears the man fired first, setting off the gunbattle, with the man switching to a rifle.

The man was hit five or six times and the officer at least twice, Thalken said. The officer stationed at the rear of the house reached the front as the shooting died down, so he never fired his weapon and wasn’t injured, the police captain said.

Thalken identified the wounded officer as Sgt. Brad Wangler, a 19-year veteran of the Columbus force, and the man as 24-year-old Jorge Robledo. Court records also list his first name as Jorje. The arrest warrant listed drug charges and other crimes in Hall County.

Both men were treated at Columbus Community Hospital before being transferred to Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. A hospital spokesman refused to comment.

Wangler was in stable condition, Thalken said and is expected to undergo surgery on his throat, where one bullet went in and then out. Thalken said he didn’t have any information about Robledo’s condition.

It’s unclear whether the woman who told Wangler to go in the house knew Robledo was armed, Thalken said. Her actions will be investigated by Columbus police and the Nebraska State Patrol, he said.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Education plans to spend more than $420,000 on consulting services for state interventions in low-performing “priority schools.”

The state is contracting with a North Carolina-based firm and one of the state’s educational service units to continue work in three schools: Druid Hill Elementary in Omaha, Santee Middle in Niobrara and Loup County Elementary in Taylor. The Omaha school was taken off the priority list last year but will continue to be monitored.

Schuyler Central High School near Fremont was designated a priority in February. The department is finalizing a plan with the school, despite pushback from district leaders who compared the priority label to a “scarlet letter.”

Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt dismissed that notion, saying: “Priority school, to me, is that you’re our priority at the department of education.”

“We aren’t the regulators on the outside saying ‘get better,'” he said. “We are partners and regulators.”

State lawmakers established the priority school system in 2014 after a law mandated classifying schools and districts by performance and intervening in three with the lowest classification.

The designation identifies schools that are demographically shifting and low achieving so state officials can diagnose problems and try to fix them.

Each institution is selected because it represents a category of Nebraska schools that face similar challenges, such as urban schools, Native American schools, small community schools and demographically shifting schools.

The education department plans to divert $118,000 to Schuyler to focus on English-language learners. The school has experienced a dramatic demographic change over the past 18 years, which is attributed to a nearby meatpacking plant.

About $21,000 of the consulting work will go toward ensuring that Druid Hill Elementary, though off the priority list, can maintain the progress it has made.

The department designated $60,000 to Loup County Elementary to bolster instructional leadership and $114,000 to Santee to build a school culture for students and staff.