MURRAY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say four teenage girls were injured while tubing on a lake in eastern Nebraska’s Cass County.

Medics were sent Saturday evening to Lake Waconda, southeast of Murray. Cass County Sheriff William Brueggemann says the boat pulling the tube made a quick turn, which threw the girls into a rock wall on the northeast side of the lake.

One girl with head injuries was flown to Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Injuries to the other girls included a broken leg and pelvis. Three of them are 13; one is 15. Their names haven’t been released.

The boat driver was cited for negligent driving.

PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (AP) — An Iowa man has been sentenced to jail for his role in a fatal traffic accident in eastern Nebraska.

The Omaha World-Herald reports that Michael Bauman, of Rock Rapids, Iowa, was sentenced Thursday in Plattsmouth to 250 days in jail. He also was fined $1,000, and his driver’s license was revoked for a year. He’d pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular homicide.

Authorities say he was driving south on Nebraska Highway 43 south of Eagle around 9 a.m. on July 14, 2017, when he turned his semitrailer left into the path of a northbound motorcycle. Forty-seven-year-old Chris Badman died in the collision. He lived in South Bend, Nebraska.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man shot by officers rammed two police cruisers near the scene of a planned robbery in south Omaha.

None of the officers was injured during the incident Saturday evening near the GI Forum restaurant.

Police say a 911 caller said two men in a stolen sport utility vehicle were going to rob the restaurant. Officers soon found the SUV in the area and parked behind it. Police say the SUV driver then revved up and hit reverse to ram the cruisers twice, prompting two officers to open fire. They were identified as Jacob Chong and Matthew Stigge.

The SUV stopped and the driver and two passengers were handcuffed. The driver was taken to Nebraska Medical Center for treatment of gunshot wounds. His passengers were treated for minor injuries.

The driver hasn’t been charged yet.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An eastern Nebraska county and its medical provider are being sued over what complainants say is the inadequate treatment of inmates at the county jail.

Negligence and malpractice claims have been filed against Douglas County and the jail’s Tennessee-based medical provider, Correct Care Solutions. The contract company has come under scrutiny for inmate deaths and alleged poor treatment nationally.

The claims filed by attorneys Thomas White and Benjamin White outline more than a dozen Douglas County inmates denied proper treatment for their maladies, including advanced lung cancer, chlamydia, a stroke and a broken hip.

The Whites allege Correct Care has financial incentives to give minimal medical care.

An attorney for Correct Care says each case should be evaluated on treatment decisions, not attorneys’ theories.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The NAACP, American Civil Liberties Union and others are worried that a proposal to add school resource officers to Lincoln’s middle schools will lead to disproportionate treatment of minorities and marginalized groups.

The Lincoln City Council and the city’s Board of Education will vote this week on the Safe and Successful Kids initiative. The proposal will fund and administer six middle school resource officers and a threat-assessment officer, in addition to mental health services and support for community learning centers.

The NAACP, ACLU, and others are concerned that placing police officers in schools will feed into the “school-to-prison pipeline,” where young students of color, in particular, are funneled into the juvenile justice system.

Proponents say the initiative will make schools safer and create positive relationships between police and students.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two Omaha health systems are teaming up with a violence prevention group to try to stop escalating violence in Nebraska’s largest city.

The trauma centers at the Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University Medical Center-Bergan Mercy are often scenes of grief and anger as a result of violence. Because of that, the hospital’s two health systems — Nebraska Medicine and CHI Health, respectively — are partnering with YouTurn, which supports families in crisis during stressful times and works to defuse any potential retaliation stemming from violence.

YouTurn will provide “street outreach workers” to the two trauma centers to intervene and mitigate potential retaliation when victims of violence become patients there. Omaha police work in conjunction with YouTurn to deploy staff at each trauma center.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A private school in southeast Nebraska is offering an education that emphasizes outdoor time, practical learning and Christian values.

The Skyview Learning Academy, which sits on a 20-acre (8-hectare) plot with a pond and has a 60-tree orchard, opened its doors in 2014, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

Michele Ray founded the school located in Douglas, a village about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Lincoln. She said she wanted a different kind of school for her children than what’s offered in public schools. Ray said letting kids outside in nature and teaching them about healthy living should begin at an early age.

The school, which also has freely roaming dogs, cats and chickens, doubled its enrollment by its second academic year from 13 to 26. The school enrolled nearly 40 students for the 2017-18 year.

Ray said the school has replaced its cafeteria with classroom space to accommodate the growing number of enrolled students. She hopes to enroll 60 students next school year, which would allow for a teacher’s aide.

The school offers a media center, kitchen and gymnasium, but Ray hopes to add a two-level entryway, two more classrooms, a cafeteria and a mud room. It’s also built a new chicken coop and raised garden beds.

Skyview charges parents $600 per month to help fund projects. It also hosts an annual banquet that has raised between $5,000 and $6,000.

Tina Doerr, who enrolled her daughters in the school for the 2017-18 year, said she finds its tuition a worthwhile expense because of the unique learning experience.

“I love the nature focus and the Christian atmosphere,” she said. “I feel like being outside they develop so much better. It forces them to use their imaginations 100 percent.”

Doerr said the school allows students to learn at their own pace.

NEOLA, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man has died after the motorcycle he was driving hit a livestock trailer in western Iowa.

26-year-old Adam Blake, of Omaha, Nebraska, died following the crash Thursday night on a county road near Neola.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office says Blake was traveling southbound on the road behind a pickup truck pulling the empty trailer. Investigators say Blake hit the trailer when the truck slowed to turn left.

Officials say Blake died at the scene.

The crash remains under investigation.

YORK, Neb. (AP) — Officials say a southeastern Nebraska fencing and building materials manufacturer has lost one of its buildings following an explosion.

York Fire Chief Michael Lloyd said that firefighters were called to a building across the street from Ply Gem in York just before 2 a.m. Saturday by workers who reported an explosion. Arriving firefighters found the building fully engulfed in flames. Lloyd says it took crews five hours to extinguish the flames. No one was injured.

The Nebraska Fire Marshal’s office is investigating what caused the explosion.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an 18-year-old died after his sport utility vehicle collided with a pickup truck just south of Beatrice in southeast Nebraska.

The Gage County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that Shawn Vraspir, of Beatrice, was driving west on a county road when he didn’t halt at a stop sign and collided with the northbound pickup on U.S. Highway 77. He was pronounced dead at the scene Wednesday afternoon.

The office says the pickup driver was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries thought to be non-life-threatening. She was identified as 47-year-old Sadie Saunders, of Topeka, Kansas.