The Nebraska State Fair increased in attendance this year by 1% over the 11 days the fair is open. A total of 336,987 people made it to the Grand Island Event this year.

This year is the third straight year the attendance at the fair has gained attendance since the fair moved locations from Lincoln onto Grand Island.

Attendance levels was threatened by rain and high temps, Fair Executive Director Joseph McDermott says organizers were happy with the numbers.

According to nearly 11,000 surveys completed by fair goers 30% of the survey takers were from Central Nebraska, 39% were from Grand Island, and 16% were from Omaha or Lincoln.

Nearly hundreds of people have joined the cause to help a family affected by the killing death of their relative who lived in Omaha.

The victim Gilberto Hernandez-Vazquez was killed August 23rd while he was pushing his ice-cream stand that he used to service his south Omaha Neighborhood.

The idea relatives thought they would made from fundraising and donations was about $500, but so far more the $4,000 has been raised. Assumption Guadalupe School also held a garage sale. School Principle of the school Rob Laird says donation will help with medical and funeral expenses.

No arrests have yet been made.

A 25-year-old Vermont man has been arrested on a drug charge in Nebraska.

The Nebraska State Patrol says Nathaniel Miller, of Jericho, Vt., was driving a pickup east on Interstate 80 near Lincoln when he was pulled over just before 9:30 a.m. on Monday. The trooper says the pickup didn’t have a front license plate.

The trooper says Miller gave his permission to search the truck. The patrol says more than 104 pounds was found in packages hidden in the truck bed.

Miller faces a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. A Lancaster County jailer said Miller remained in custody on Tuesday. Online court records don’t yet list the case.

An Omaha banker has been given 16 months in prison for mail fraud.

Michael Breault had pleaded guilty in April to six counts. He was sentenced last week.

Breault was vice president and director of Charter West National Bank when the fraud occurred between March 2005 and September 2009.

Authorities say Breault applied for nearly $600,000 in loans using names of people without their permission by forging signatures.

Prosecutors say Breault has already made restitution of $206,000 to the bank, and he’s been ordered to make addition restitution of more than $38,000 to Kingswood Athletic Association.

By: Vicky Cerino

For the eighth straight year, student enrollment at the University of Nebraska Medical Center set a record high with 3,655 students enrolled for the 2012-13 school year — an increase of .8 percent over last year’s record of 3,626.

“Our programs continue to be robust and grew modestly this year in response to the identified health related manpower needs of Nebraska,” said Dele Davies, M.D., vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean of graduate studies. “We continue to attract the brightest and the best students while seeking to resolve the most significant health professional needs within our rural and urban communities.

“This year, we expanded our public health offerings with new doctoral programs added in biostatistics and epidemiology. In addition, we saw a higher demand for our nursing Ph.D. programs.”

Listed below are enrollment highlights from UNMC.

 

Graduate Studies

Enrollment in doctoral and master’s programs in graduate studies increased by 3.8 percent, going from 445 students in 2011 to 462 in 2012. The number of students enrolled in doctoral programs increased 5.4 percent, going from 369 to 389.

 

College of Dentistry

The College of Dentistry admitted 48 new dental students as well as 24 new dental hygiene students, bringing enrollment in the college to 278, including 43 graduate and post graduate students. This year’s GPA for entering dentistry students is 3.75 and the entering dental hygiene class had a 3.59 GPA. There were 835 applicants for the 48 slots in this year’s dental class.

 

College of Medicine

There are 132 new medical students entering their first year of medical school, bringing the total enrollment to 518, with 12 enrolled in the M.D./Ph.D. program. The new students were selected from a total of 1,513 applicants, one of the largest numbers of applicants in the last 18 years.

 

College of Nursing

A total of 1,021 students are enrolled in the seven undergraduate and graduate nursing programs in Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, Scottsbluff and Norfolk. The college received 639 qualified applicants this year for 391 slots in its bachelor’s degree in nursing programs. The incoming bachelor’s students’ GPA is 3.64 based on the students’ first two years in undergraduate college.

 

College of Pharmacy

Fifty-nine new students with a GPA of 3.624 were accepted into the College of Pharmacy’s Doctor of Pharmacy degree program. The new students bring the total enrollment in the four-year program to 228 students.

 

College of Public Health

Enrollment in the College of Public Health this fall is 196, which includes 46 doctoral students, 100 master’s students, and 50 certificate and non-degree program students. This represents a 33 percent increase in enrollment over last fall.

 

School of Allied Health Professions

For the 2012-13 academic year, there are 249 new SAHP students. Total enrollment in the school’s traditional programs is 403 students, and 339 students are enrolled through distance education degree programs. There were 897 applicants this year — a 9.1 percent increase over last year.

 Munroe-Meyer Institute

MMI provided interdisciplinary training and practicum experiences to 170 students in the 2011-2012 academic year. Trainees included eight undergraduate students, 45 master’s level students, 66 doctoral level interns, and 51 post-doctoral fellows.

A California-based website operator has sued the state of Nebraska over its requirement that she get a Nebraska license in order to market Nebraska homes.

Leslie Young’s federal lawsuit says the Nebraska law violates her First Amendment rights. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in U.S District Court in Lincoln. She seeks an order that would stop the state from enforcing the law.

Her Elist.me website carries advertising for properties listed on ForSaleByOwner.com.

Young says she is merely publishing information about the listings and doesn’t get a commission if a home sells and doesn’t provide other services to homeowners.

Nebraska Real Estate Commission Director Greg Lemon declined to specifically comment about Young’s lawsuit.

The U.S. Drought Monitor’s most recent map shows nearly all of Nebraska remains in extreme or exceptional drought.

The latest map, released Thursday, shows slightly more than 97 percent of the state in extreme drought, a slight decrease from last week’s 98.30 percent in extreme drought.

However, the map shows exceptional drought expanded slightly in Nebraska over the last week, from 22.53 percent of the state to 23.33 percent as of Tuesday morning.

Nebraska is missing out on the rain brought by Hurricane Isaac, which made landfall Monday on the Gulf Coast and is crawling north and east. The system brought heavy rains to drought-parched Arkansas on Thursday, and could move into Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio as early as Friday, dumping as much as 12 inches of rain.

A 34-year-old Kansas woman is scheduled to be sentenced in October for vehicular homicide in south-central Nebraska’s Hall County.

Kathy Teichmeier, of Almena, Kan., pleaded no contest on Tuesday. In return prosecutors dropped a charge of driving on a suspended license.

The charges stemmed from a June 25 collision between Teichmeier’s vehicle and two motorcycles on Interstate 80 near Grand Island.

Officials say Teichmeier was driving east when she tried to make a U-turn. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office says Teichmeier’s vehicle clipped the rear wheel of a motorcycle driven by C. Lloyd Hermanson. He avoided crashing. But the motorcycle driven by his wife, 58-year-old Nancy Hermanson, crashed into Teichmeier’s vehicle. She died at a hospital.

Teichmeier’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 11.

A Lincoln woman has been sentenced to two to four years in prison for beating her infant son.

Twenty-two-year-old Nicole Westwood was found guilty of child abuse earlier this year for breaking as many as 10 bones of her then 4-month son.

She was sentenced on Thursday in Lancaster County District Court.

Westwood’s defense attorney requested probation or to let her serve the time in a county jail. The judge, siding with the prosecution, denied probation and sent her to prison.

The boy, who has recovered, and his older sister were placed in protective custody.

Police say a motorcyclist is dead after losing control of her bike and crashing it into a car in northwest Omaha.

Police say the crash happened Thursday morning on Military Avenue. Investigators say Stacy Hauser, of Omaha, was driving a motorcycle eastbound on the road when she had problems negotiating a curve and drove into oncoming traffic. An oncoming car swerved to try to avoid Hauser, but couldn’t.

Police say Hauser was thrown into the car’s windshield, then to the ground. She was taken to Creighton Medical Center, where she died, despite wearing a helmet and other safety equipment.

Hauser had turned 33 on Wednesday.

Police say the driver of the car was not at fault and no charges are expected.