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Sculpture at Disney World honors boy killed by gator

Lane Graves

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Walt Disney World has erected a lighthouse sculpture to honor the memory of a 2-year-old Nebraska boy who was killed by an alligator last year at one of its hotels.

Area television stations reported that the lighthouse was installed within the past week near where the boy died at the Florida resort.

Last year, an alligator grabbed little Lane Graves, who was playing along the Seven Seas Lagoon beach outside Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. The child’s father, Matt Graves of Omaha, jumped into the water to try to free his son, whose body was found 16 hours later. His death was ruled an accident.

Grand Island police release name of hit-and-run victim

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Police have released the name of a man killed by a hit-and-run driver in Grand Island.

Police identified him as Justin Foster, who’d moved to the city from Arizona a couple months ago. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident early Monday morning.

Authorities are still looking for the driver and the vehicle that hit Foster. No arrests have been reported.

Ex-tribal council member gets probation for casino theft

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A former council member for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska who’d pleaded guilty to stealing from the tribe’s casino in Iowa has been given five years of probation.

A U.S. district judge in Omaha also told Lawrence Payer on Monday that he must pay $36,000 in restitution. Payer had pleaded guilty to theft from a gaming establishment on Indian lands.

Also Monday in Omaha, another former tribal council member pleaded guilty to the same charge. The sentencing for Thomas Snowball is scheduled for Nov. 6.

Authorities say nine former council members conspired to siphon more than $327,000 from the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa.

Man working at nearby cemetery hit while crossing highway

HARTINGTON, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a northeast Nebraska man was fatally injured when he was struck by a vehicle while walking across a highway.

The accident occurred just before 6 p.m. Monday on the south end of Hartington.

The Cedar County Sheriff’s Office says 55-year-old Daniel Leise had been working with other volunteers at a nearby cemetery before he was struck by the eastbound vehicle while crossing Nebraska Highway 84. The Sheriff’s Office says Leise died later at a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital.

The office says the vehicle was driven by 72-year-old Alton Halle, also of Hartington.

The accident is being investigated.

Federal appeal in Nebraska soccer player killing rejected

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that the due process rights of a man serving decades in prison for the 2004 shooting death of a Nebraska soccer player were not violated.

Lucky Iromuanya was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of 21-year-old Jenna Cooper, a starting University of Nebraska-Lincoln soccer player. Iromuanya never denied firing the shot outside a Lincoln party that struck Cooper in the neck, but said he only intended to fire a warning shot at a drunken man who confronted him.

On Monday, an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said Iromuanya’s jury would likely have been instructed to consider a manslaughter conviction if his trial had been held after 2011 — the year a Nebraska Supreme Court decision determined that manslaughter is an intentional killing without malice upon a sudden quarrel.

But, the panel said, the 2011 case could not be applied retroactively.

Investigators unable to say what caused Osmond fire

OSMOND, Neb. (AP) — Investigators for the Nebraska State Fire Marshal have been unable to determine what caused a fire that destroyed a building in downtown Osmond.

Nobody was in Tiger Town Food & Floral Center when flames erupted July 9 in the three-story brick structure.

Investigators say the blaze was accidental, but the cause is unknown.

The fire left the northeast Nebraska community without a grocery store for its 770 or so residents.

Grand Island police say man killed by hit-run driver

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Grand Island authorities say a 29-year-old man has been killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Police say officers were dispatched to the scene around 4:30 a.m. Monday to check a report about a man lying on the ground. He was soon pronounced dead.

Police say the man had moved to Grand Island from another state a couple months ago. His name hasn’t been released. An autopsy has been ordered.

Authorities are looking for the driver and the vehicle that hit the man. No arrests have been reported.

Authorities ID man whose body was recovered from lake

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of an Omaha man whose body was recovered from a lake near Fremont in eastern Nebraska.

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office identified the man Monday as 45-year-old Eugenijus Balsys.

His body was recovered around 9:20 p.m. Sunday from Lake Victory. Sheriff Steve Hespen says he fell off a personal watercraft earlier Sunday while moving it from a campsite to a docking location.

Lincoln officials mull police radio dispatch accessibility

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln officials are wondering whether to restrict public access to police radio dispatches.

Public safety officials are seeking input internally, from media outlets and others over access to the police department’s primary channels.

Dispatchers on police radio channels relay information to officers on everything from minor crashes to shootings. News outlets often depend on those channels to track crimes and accidents in the city.

Public Safety Director Tom Casady says the city’s switch to a new digital radio system by early 2018 gives the police department the option to encrypt its radio channels. He says the potential for encryption has officials weighing privacy, officer safety and criminal apprehension concerns while considering the merits of police transparency.

Woman’s body found in wooded area of Cass County

WEEPING WATER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a woman whose body was found in a wooded area near Weeping Water in eastern Nebraska.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says the discovery was reported Saturday evening.

An autopsy has been ordered. The woman’s name hasn’t been released.

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