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Police: Man arrested after stabbing Omaha hospital staffer

Rogelio Morales

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Nebraska man found guilty of second-degree murder in northwest Iowa for the death of his estranged wife has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Rogelio Morales, of Hubbard, Nebraska, was found guilty last month of killing 21-year-old Margarita Morales on April 19, 2015, in his car near a Sioux City residence. He was sentenced Friday in Woodbury County District Court.

Court documents say Morales told investigators a fight broke out when his wife told him she no longer wanted to be in a relationship and that she was seeing another man.

Morales’ defense attorney has said Morales suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had argued he should be convicted of voluntary manslaughter, not murder.

Nebraska man sentenced to federal prison for child porn

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 21-year-old Plattsmouth man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for producing child pornography.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Omaha says Cody Childers was sentenced Friday in Omaha. He will be under supervision for 10 years following his release and must register as a sex offender. There is no parole in the federal prison system.

Investigators say Childers used Facebook to contact minor girls in and outside of Nebraska and request sexually explicit photographs from the minors. Officials say he obtained sexually explicit photos of three girls in Nebraska between the ages of 13 and 15.

Traveling 9/11 memorial to make appearance in Lincoln

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A national memorial for thousands of service members killed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be making its debut in Nebraska before traveling throughout the country.

The Remembering Our Fallen National Memorial will be dedicated Saturday at Lincoln’s Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Bill and Evonne Williams have spent years building the $200,000 memorial, which consists of 25 10-foot (3 meters) towers with photos of more than 4,000 service members killed in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bill Williams expects about 200 Gold Star families from five states to view the Tribute Towers.

The memorial is also scheduled to make an appearance at the Pentagon and Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in September; in New York for Veterans Day; and at California’s Reagan Library.

Man charged with 2nd-degree murder in Omaha slaying

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a 25-year-old man suspected of killing an Omaha man last September.

The body of 30-year-old Ernesto Saavedra was discovered Sept. 7 behind a building in northeast Omaha. Authorities haven’t said how he died.

Police say the suspect, Marquez Sanders, was taken to Omaha on Wednesday from the Pottawattamie Count Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he’d been in custody.

Nebraska court records say Sanders is charged with second-degree murder. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.

Nebraska State Patrol IDs man killed in motorcycle crash

VALLEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in eastern Nebraska have identified a man killed in a motorcycle crash.

The Nebraska State Patrol says 24-year-old Blake Escamilla, of Fremont, died when the motorcycle he was driving collided with a semitrailer.

The collision occurred around 6:15 a.m. Thursday near the intersection of U.S. Highway 275 and Nebraska Highway 36, northwest of Valley. Investigators say the eastbound semi was trying to turn left onto Highway 36 when it collided with the westbound motorcycle.

Escamilla was pronounced dead at the scene. The 50-year-old truck driver was not injured.

The patrol is investigating the crash.

2 Omaha officers involved in June death of man fired

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Two Omaha police officers involved in the death last month of a mentally ill man who had been shocked with a police stun gun a dozen times are no longer employed by the city.

An attorney for the city confirmed Thursday that Scotty Payne and Ryan McClarty are no longer with the Omaha Police Department. Police Chief Todd Schmaderer had recommended last month that both Payne and McClarty be fired for their conduct involving 29-year-old Zachary Bearheels.

Police say Bearheels died June 5 after being shocked 12 times with a Taser, punched and dragged by his hair by the officers. Police say they encountered Bearheels after responding to a disturbance call at a convenience store.

Homeland security secretary says ports a terrorism priority

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says security at the nation’s ports is a top priority to preventing terrorism.

Kelly boarded a Coast Guard cutter in Long Beach on Thursday and watched a new unit conduct a demonstration responding to a mock radiological threat.

Members of the Coast Guard descended from helicopters with their rifles drawn and stormed the vessel as part of the exercise. Kelly watched from a deck above as they charged stairwells to search the ship.

Kelly says the threat to the nation’s ports is “always changing” and the U.S. will continue to train for evolving threats.

Former wine store employee takes deal in gift-card scheme

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man who’d worked at an Omaha wine and spirits store has taken a plea deal in a gift-card scheme.

Court records say 29-year-old Brenton McLaurine pleaded no contest last week to one felony theft count. Prosecutors dropped a second count in exchange. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 7.

Records say McLaurine was fired from the Village Pointe Brix store in May 2016. The records say the manager found multiple gift cards that had balances in the thousands of dollars, including one that reached more than $68,000. The company’s software let employees add money to gift cards through cash transactions and then void them, leaving the totals on the cards.

The two Brix stores closed in January, leaving customers with gift cards they couldn’t redeem.

Authorities ID South Dakota teen who died in Nebraska crash

BRUNSWICK, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of a South Dakota teenager who died after a car accident in northeast Nebraska.

He’s been identified as 16-year-old Jordan Rossiter, who lived in Yankton.

The accident was reported around 6 a.m. Monday, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) southwest of Brunswick. The Antelope County Sheriff’s Office says the car was northbound on Nebraska Highway 14 when it ran off the roadway into the west ditch and rolled before hitting a tree.

The Sheriff’s Office says Rossiter died later at Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk.

Plastic surgeon concludes eagle’s head wound was a burn

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ELMWOOD, Neb. (AP) — A plastic surgeon has determined what caused a mysterious head wound on a bald eagle found in southeast Nebraska.

Fishermen spotted the bird on the ground south of Syracuse last month. There were no feathers on its head — just a scab. They reported the eagle to a state conservation officer, who took it to Fontenelle Forest’s Raptor Recovery center near Elmwood.

Dr. Coleen Stice removed the scab from the eagle’s head Sunday. Stice said the wound was a burn, possible suffered from the bird hitting an electrical wire.

Recovery center officials plan for Stice to attempt a skin graft on the eagle in a couple of weeks. They also say the bird is regaining its strength.

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