YORK, Neb. (AP) — A truck driver has died after one tractor-trailer rammed into the back of another on Interstate 80 in southeast Nebraska.

The fiery crash occurred late Wednesday afternoon just west of the Bradshaw exit.

Bradshaw Fire Department Chief Todd Hellerich says his department responded to a call about a grass fire just east of the highway exit a little before 4:20 p.m. While firefighters were putting out that fire, one eastbound semi hit the rear of another on the nearby interstate.

The driver whose truck did the ramming was ejected and later died. The driver of the other semi was taken to a hospital. Their names have not been released.

The crash is being investigated.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — The Fremont Dinner Train likely will rumble out of town for the last time later this year and head to Kansas.

The train will end its run after 23 years in Fremont.

Train manager Bruce Eveland says he’s working to relocate the dinner train to Baldwin City, Kan.

The train includes a multi-course dinner as passengers travel along a scenic 18-mile round-trip route.

Eveland says the train needs to end service in Fremont because of a decline in riders and questions about needed repairs to the locomotive and railroad line, owned by Railroad Materials Salvage Inc.

Eveland has told officials he intends to shut down by the end of the year.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 27-year-old Lincoln man who has a history of run-ins with police has been sent to prison for assaulting an officer.

Matthew Heath was sentenced Tuesday to four to five years in prison. He was convicted in July of assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.

Prosecutors say Heath poked Lincoln officer Alan Grell in the chest, which touched off a fight during which Heath kicked Grell and touched his holstered handgun. Heath said he was defending himself.

Court records say Heath served jail and prison time for resisting arrest in 2008 and 2009 and for assaulting an officer in 2006.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Roads says traffic on two major roadways in and near Lincoln will be interrupted next week for maintenance.

Lincoln’s Interstate 180, a short spur linking U.S. Interstate 80 with downtown Lincoln, will be closed from 6 p.m. Monday until 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Detour routes for I-180 traffic from westbound and eastbound I-80, as well as US Highway 34, will be marked.

Also, work on U.S. Highway 77 from Lincoln to six miles north of Beatrice is expected to force traffic into one lane and reduce the speed limit to 45 mph. The work starts Monday and is expected to last four days.

The disruption is to allow road crews to spray oil to seal fine cracks in the roadways.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The amount of money Nebraska’s farmers and ranchers invested in their businesses grew 10 percent last year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Nebraska farmers and ranchers spent $17.32 billion in 2011.

Livestock expenses remained the biggest category accounting for about 21 percent of spending. Those expenses stayed roughly flat at $3.58 billion.

Land rent grew 8 percent to $2.08 billion in 2011.

The average expenditure per farm or ranch grew 11 percent to $370,085 in 2011. That’s up from $333,475 the previous year.

The USDA says the results are based on data from Nebraska farmers and ranchers who took part in the Agricultural Resource Management Study.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 41-year-old Lincoln man has been given four to eight years in prison for selling crack cocaine.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Jaquant Ford twice sold crack to an undercover officer in 2011.

Ford pleaded guilty in January and was given a chance to avoid prison if he completed the Drug Court program. But Ford didn’t complete it, so he was sentenced to prison.

GERING, Neb. (AP) — A grand jury will investigate the 2008 death of a 2-year-old Gering girl.

A Scotts Bluff County judge says Wednesday that a grand jury will be convened in the death of Juliette Geurts. An autopsy showed she died of blunt-force trauma to the head and abdomen.

District Judge Randy Lippstreu’s decision follows a petition with more than 1,700 signatures. Nebraska is among six states that allow grand juries to convene by petition.

The petition was started earlier this year by relatives and others who were dissatisfied with the efforts to find out whether the toddler was a homicide victim and who might have killed her.

No date is set for the grand jury to convene.

GRETNA, Neb. (AP) — An off-duty Ashland police officer has been killed in a three-vehicle crash between Gretna and Ashland in eastern Nebraska.

Authorities say 58-year-old Daniel Ottis had been an Ashland officer for 10 years.

The crash was reported a little before 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Investigators say a pickup headed northeast had stopped to turn left off U.S. Highway 6 when it was stuck from behind by another pickup and was pushed into the path of Ottis’ motorcycle, which was headed southwest.

Ottis was pronounced dead at the scene. The two pickup drivers weren’t hurt.

The accident is being investigated.

(Lincoln, Neb.) Gov. Dave Heineman today was joined by Dr. Roger Breed, Nebraska Commissioner of Education, and Rod Bates, General Manager of Nebraska Educational Telecommunications to announce the Nebraska Virtual Library system is now online and ready to use. The launch of the new online learning library offers more than 20,000 digital resources for Nebraska’s teachers and students as a free statewide resource.

 

“This is a significant step forward for the future of education in Nebraska,” said Gov. Heineman. “The Virtual Library will provide Nebraska teachers and students with enhanced digital resources to enrich teaching and learning.”

 

The Nebraska Virtual Library contains multi-media resources including audio, video and interactive components continually updated from the Library of Congress, National Archives, PBS NewsHour, NOVA, American Experience, Electric Company, and SciGirls. Access to the virtual library can be found at www.net.pbslearningmedia.org.

 

This new site is part of a larger statewide educational initiative announced last August by Governor Heineman.  The Nebraska Virtual Partnership, formed to serve learners from preschool through high school and emphasize science, technology, engineering and math, includes leaders from the Nebraska Department of Education, UNL Independent Study High School, Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council and NET.

 

“Nebraska educators at all levels are now charged with bringing a rigorous and rich curriculum into their classrooms every day,” said Dr. Roger Breed, Nebraska Commissioner of Education. “The NET Virtual Learning Library blends content with memorable visual images that supports classrooms that are standards-based and engaging.”

 

“We’re committed to expanding the state’s educational impact through the power of digital technology,” said Rod Bates, NET General Manager.

 

“A major goal is to provide educators with strategies, tools and professional development resources needed to fully utilize digital learning,” said NET Assistant General Manager of Education Gary Targoff.  “Learning objects are aligned to core standards and include lesson plans and teacher resources. Teachers can also set up class accounts for student access.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Broadcasters Association is inducting two new members into its Hall of Fame.

The group will induct longtime television and radio broadcaster Mark Ahmann and broadcasting teacher Peter Mayeux on Aug. 15.

Ahmann worked in Michigan and Iowa before taking positions in Nebraska. He was known as the face and voice of Nebraska high school sports when he hosted KOLN/KGIN’s Friday Night Sports Roundup from 1972 to 1980. He worked as general manager at KTCH in Wayne from 1986 to 1997 and continues to have a weekday show on the station. He was inducted into the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

Mayeux taught broadcasting at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for 36 years until retiring in 2005. He wrote the book, “Writing for the Broadcast Media.”