SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska woman has been accused of a fatal stabbing in Sioux City.
The stabbing occurred early Sunday morning. Police have not released the victim’s name but said he or she died after being taken to a hospital.
The suspect soon was arrested after officers stopped her car because it matched the description of a suspect vehicle.
The woman was taken into custody on a charge of first-degree murder. She’s been identified as 20-year-old Melissa Camargo Flores, of Dakota City, Nebraska. She’s also been treated for a stab wound.
Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her.
NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man walking his dogs in Norfolk died after being struck by a vehicle.
The accident occurred around 6:35 a.m. Friday as 78-year-old Jean Dewald and the dogs were crossing a road. Police say he was taken to a local hospital and then died while being taken to an Omaha hospital. The woman driving the vehicle has been identified as 60-year-old Debra Coolidge.
ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) — A crude oil spill from the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota last November has turned out to be nearly twice as big as first reported.
Around 407,000 gallons (338,900 imperial gallons) spilled onto farmland when the pipeline broke near Amherst in Marshall County on Nov. 16, a spokeswoman for pipeline owner TransCanada Corp., told the Aberdeen American News. TransCanada had originally put the spill at 210,000 gallons (174,860 imperial gallons).
The new number would make the spill the seventh-largest onshore oil or petroleum product spill since 2010, as reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Repairs have since been made and the cleanup is done. TransCanada resumed using the pipeline 12 days after the leak.
“The remediation work on the property has been completed. We have replaced the last of the topsoil and have seeded the impacted area,” TransCanada spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said in an email to the newspaper late Friday.
A preliminary report indicated that the pipeline might have been damaged during construction in 2008. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is expected to release its final report on the leak in the next few weeks. The federal agency has estimated that the leak cost TransCanada $9.57 million.
Brian Walsh, an environmental scientist manager for the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said the state received the corrective action order report from the pipeline agency about a week ago. He’s reviewing the 4,000 pages to verify the data and make any necessary changes before the final report is published.
The Keystone Pipeline carries oil more than 2,600 miles (4,180 kilometers) from Alberta, Canada, to Oklahoma and Illinois.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A robber who shook hands with a Lincoln convenience store clerk before fleeing has been sent to prison.
Court records say 33-year-old Andrew Cummins was sentenced Wednesday to six to 10 years in prison. Cummins had pleaded guilty to robbing the Super C gas station and store in October.
Police say Cummins had asked for cash but left with liquor and cigarettes only after the clerk opened the register to show it was empty. A court document says Cummins had been apologetic to the clerk, even giving his name and saying he would return to pay for the items he was stealing.
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AP) — An airman has pleaded guilty to charges that he killed another airman at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha.
Officials say Airman 1st Class Timothy Wilsey entered the plea Thursday to a charge of premeditated murder. It carries a sentence of life in prison.
Prosecutors say he strangled 20-year-old Airman 1st Class Rhianda Dillard on Aug. 1, 2016. She joined the Air Force after graduating high school near Biloxi, Mississippi.
Three days before Dillard’s body was found in a dormitory, Wilsey was recorded by surveillance cameras walking into it with Dillard and leaving alone a short time later.
Wilsey was arrested 11 days later in Emporia, Virginia. An investigator says a journal written by Wilsey found on him at the time of his arrest described the killing in lurid detail.
BLAIR, Neb. (AP) — The Washington County Planning Commission has recommended against construction of two chicken operations but backed four others.
The commission adjourned early Friday morning, following testimony Thursday night by people for or against the proposals.
The operations could house up to 190,000 chickens each at sites near Blair, Arlington or Telbasta and provide chickens to the Costco processing plant in Fremont, slated to open next year.
Opponents shared with commissioners their concerns about traffic, noise, pollution, disease and property values. Backers said the operations would bolster the local economy and aid local ownership.
The commissioners had moved the meeting to a county courtroom to accommodate the big crowd. Some people wore T-shirts emblazoned with two words: “Neighbors United.”
The final decisions will be made April 24 by the Board of Supervisors.
BLUE HILL, Neb. (AP) — A Hastings hospital has agreed to pay more than $677,000 to settle a case of false claims submitted for Nebraska Medicaid and Medicare.
A news release from the Nebraska attorney general’s office said Thursday that Mary Lanning Healthcare discovered and then reported to authorities the improper billings by a contract doctor who worked at the hospital’s Blue Hill clinic. The false claims were made from January 2010 until April 2016.
The doctor, Daniel Mazour, surrendered his medical license on Dec. 14, 2016, in lieu of further discipline. His license had been placed on probation through Jan. 10, 2020. State records said Mazour didn’t adhere to professional standards in prescribing controlled substances for treatment of pain or other conditions.
Mazour didn’t immediately return a message left Friday by The Associated Press.
FRIEND, Neb. (AP) — A cash-strapped hospital in southeast Nebraska is seeking $800,000 to keep its Medicare funding and continue serving the area after nearly 90 years.
The Friend Community Healthcare System’s hospital will close if it doesn’t update its electrical system by the end of this year, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
The hospital’s generator is outdated and much of its electrical wiring is out of compliance, according to a 2016 inspection. The state Fire Marshal’s Office ordered the hospital to make repairs by January 2019 or it will lose Medicare funding, which the health care facility can’t operate without.
The potential closure could result in Friend residents traveling 30 minutes away from emergency care.
A bond issue on the May 15 ballot will seek to raise money to update the wiring and prolong the struggling hospital’s life.
The hospital district raised its levy last year to anticipate repair costs. But the district needs the money faster than it can collect, so the bond issue would serve as a loan. Bond payments would be paid off with taxes the district already receives, said Nick Svehla, a hospital board member.
“Everyone hears bond and they’re worried about their taxes going up,” said board member Jim Vossler. “But they shouldn’t.”
Approving the bond doesn’t guarantee longevity for the hospital, which recently operated at a deficit. The hospital generated $4.8 million in revenue last year but spent $5 million.
The hospital saw slight improvements in the number of patients visiting its clinic daily, but these numbers need to continue growing for the hospital to survive, Svehla said.
“We’re one of the largest employers in a town this size, and knowing there’s viable healthcare close to home is extremely important,” Svehla said. “Keeping something like this viable is greatly beneficial.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Actor and model Hopper Penn has been released from jail after he and actress Uma Von Wittkamp were arrested on drug charges earlier this week in Nebraska.
Here are some facts about the couple and their arrest:
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A FAMOUS FAMILY
Penn, 24, is the son of Sean Penn, the Academy Award-winning actor, filmmaker and political activist known for his roles in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” ”Mystic River” and “Milk.” His mother is Robin Wright, an actress and director known for her work in the Netflix drama “House of Cards” and movies including “Wonder Woman” and “The Princess Bride.”
Named after Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicolson, Hopper Jack Penn was born in Los Angeles but was largely raised in Ross, a small, exclusive town outside of San Francisco. He and his mother moved back to Los Angeles around the time Wright filed for divorce in 2009.
He’s also the nephew of singer-songwriter Michael Penn and the late actor Chris Penn. His sister, Dylan Frances, is a model and actress.
Hopper Penn has gained some fame of his own. He acted in the film “War Machine” with Brad Pitt, and models eyewear for Fendi, an Italian luxury fashion house. But he has shied from the label “actor,” noting his regular job at a Los Angeles pizza restaurant.
Von Wittkamp is less well-known, but played a role in the 2015 film short “Endings, Inc.”
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STRUGGLES WITH ADDICTION
Hopper Penn told the Evening Standard last year that he fell in with a “bad crowd” during his parents’ divorce, which was finalized in 2010. His spiral apparently began a month after he moved to Los Angeles, when he was badly injured in a skateboarding accident and had to undergo surgery for bleeding on the brain.
Penn has since admitted to using a variety of drugs, including methamphetamine, but said he sought treatment.
“I went to rehab because I woke up in (the) hospital and my dad said, ‘Rehab? Or bus bench?'” he said in the Evening Standard interview. “I was like, ‘I’ll take the bed.'”
A representative for the agency that represents Hopper Penn did not have any immediate comment.
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THE ARREST
Hopper Penn was arrested Wednesday afternoon with Von Wittkamp, his 26-year-old girlfriend, after a Nebraska State Patrol trooper stopped them on westbound Interstate 80 for allegedly failing to signal. A Hamilton County sheriff’s dispatcher said Penn and Von Wittkamp were released Thursday after posting $25,000 bond apiece.
Authorities said the trooper detected “drug activity” in the 1992 Volvo and searched the car. Inside, they said they found 14 grams of marijuana, four amphetamine pills and 3 grams of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug commonly known as mushrooms.
Penn was charged with possession of a controlled substance (psilocybin) and possession of marijuana. Von Wittkamp was charged with possession of a controlled substance (amphetamine) and possession of a controlled substance (psilocybin).
Possession of a controlled substance is a felony in Nebraska, punishable by up to two years in prison, a year of post-release supervision and a $10,000 fine. Because Penn allegedly had one ounce or less of marijuana and it’s his first offense in Nebraska, the marijuana charge is only punishable by a citation, a $300 fine and a possible drug-treatment course.
Deputy Hamilton County Attorney Benjamin Dennis said he didn’t have any information about the case beyond what was in court filings.
BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska man who robbed a bank so he could receive medical treatment in prison has been sentenced to probation.
A Gage County District judge sentenced Terry L. Bailes this week to three years’ probation for attempted robbery after he pleaded no contest. Bailes, 54, will serve probation in Missouri, where a friend agreed to help provide him a support system.
Judge Rick Schreiner acknowledged that a probation sentence is highly unusual in a bank robbery case.
“This was a bank robbery, but your motivation was not profit,” Schreiner said. “I take the motivation for the offense into consideration and the motivation was to survive.”
Bailes developed a hand condition preventing him from doing simple tasks. The condition eventually led to him losing his job and residence.
Bailes demanded money in October from a teller at Great Western Bank in Beatrice, and then asked the teller to call authorities, according to court records. He was unarmed and walked out with $10 in hand. Bailes then purchased cigarettes and waited for authorities to arrive.
He said he thought prison was the only way to receive medical attention because he was homeless and without family.
“I felt as though my back was against the wall,” Bailes said prior to his sentencing. “I know it was a poor judgment. This way, I think I can get medical care.”
Bailes will stay in custody for at least another 45 days to transfer his probation from Nebraska to Missouri, Schreiner said. The judge also required Bailes to earn a GED diploma as part of his sentence.
Schreiner acknowledged Bailes has a criminal history involving theft, but delayed his sentencing last month for Bailes to consider probation. The judge said he doesn’t “believe prison is for the poor and homeless.”
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska woman has been accused of a fatal stabbing in Sioux City.
