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Nebraska commission sets Ralston hearing for Keystone XL

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska state commission that is reviewing a proposed route for the Keystone XL pipeline has scheduled another hearing in Ralston to hear public input.

The Nebraska Public Service Commission says it will hold the hearing at the Ralston Arena on July 26 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Doors will open at 9 a.m.

Commissioners will accept comments on a first-come, first-served basis. Speakers will have three to five minutes to give their comments.

The commission has held similar public hearings in Norfolk, York and O’Neill and will hold a more formal evidentiary hearing with legal arguments Aug. 7-11 in Lincoln.

The pipeline would transport oil from Canada, across Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with an existing pipeline to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.

Woman gets 5-7 years for crash death while driving drunk

Emily Standley

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 19-year-old woman has been imprisoned for causing a fatal crash while driving drunk last November in Douglas County.

Online court records say Emily Standley was sentenced Tuesday to five to seven years in prison. She’d pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide. The judge credited her for seven days served in custody and revoked her driver’s license for 15 years.

Investigators say Standley was driving Nov. 4 when she ran a red light just north of Omaha and was hit by a pickup. The crash killed 18-year-old Jason Hald, who was a passenger in Standley’s car.

Investigators say Standley’s blood alcohol content was 0.113 — well over the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

Ex-director who stole from nonprofit gets jail, probation

AUBURN, Neb. (AP) — A southeast Nebraska judge has sentenced a former director of a nonprofit organization to jail and probation for stealing from the organization.

Nemaha County Judge Curtis Maschman gave Dawn Parriott 21 days in jail and 24 months of probation at her sentencing Tuesday in Auburn. The 46-year-old Peru resident had pleaded no contest to three misdemeanor theft counts.

Parriott also was ordered to make restitution.

A state audit showed documentation may have been falsified for nearly $8,900 in travel reimbursements for Parriott as director of Project Response. The Auburn-based agency’s mission: help the homeless and victims of sexual and domestic abuse.

Lincoln officers investigated for drugs file civil lawsuit

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two Lincoln police officers investigated for steroids say in their federal civil rights lawsuit that their fellow officers subjected them to unlawful policing.

Officers Tim Cronin and Josh Fullerton weren’t charged or punished in the criminal and internal investigations that started in the fall of 2015.

Attorney Douglas Philips alleged in the lawsuit filed Monday that the officers were subjected to unlawful arrest and illegally denied access to their attorney. He also said their property was unlawfully searched.

The lawsuit names current narcotics unit Capt. Chris Peterson, former Chief Jim Peschong, Assistant Chief Brian Jackson, several officers and the department’s lawyer as defendants in the case.

Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister says department officials are evaluating the officers’ claims and working with the city attorney’s office to review previously completed internal investigations.

Colorado announces largest pot bust since drug was legalized

DENVER (AP) — Dozens of Coloradans are accused of running a marijuana trafficking ring in which they pretended to be growing weed for sick people but illegally shipped the drug out of state.

A Denver grand jury has indicted 62 people and 12 businesses in case that involved federal and state agents executing nearly 150 search warrants in 33 homes and 18 warehouses in the Denver area.

The indictment was returned June 9 and announced Wednesday by state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman.

Coffman says it is the largest illegal marijuana operation since Colorado legalized the drug. She says that “the black market for marijuana … continues to flourish.”

Coffman says that the enterprise was producing more than 100 pounds a month of illegal pot for shipment to Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, Ohio and Oklahoma.

Omaha man sentenced to prison for fatal crash last year

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 60-year-old Omaha man has been sentenced to 40 to 50 years in prison for causing a crash last year that killed a motorcyclist.

Kevin Malone was sentenced Wednesday in Douglas County District Court. He was convicted in May of felony motor vehicle homicide, manslaughter, leaving the scene of a crash and driving without an ignition interlock device.

Police says Malone was drunk when his car crashed into a motorcycle driven by 43-year-old Justin Hart of Omaha on Aug. 31. Hart died at an Omaha hospital.

Police say Malone drove from the crash scene. Numerous witnesses provided police with a description of the vehicle and driver.

Man gets 5 years supervised release for defrauding banks

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Plattsmouth man has been sentenced to five years of supervised release for defrauding banks.

Mark Tincher also was fined $50,000 at his sentencing Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha and told to pay more than $833,000 in restitution. He pleaded guilty in March to fraud.

Prosecutors say that between April 2010 and June 2010, Tincher manipulated checks between four banks at which he maintained accounts. His action, called check kiting, artificially inflated the balances.

At one time Tincher ran Tincher Chevrolet Oldsmobile in Plattsmouth. It closed in July 2011.

Inmate gets 8-12 years for punching Lincoln prison guard

Brendan Horner

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska inmate has been given more time to serve because he assaulted a prison guard.

Brendan Horner was given eight to 12 years at his sentencing Monday in Lincoln. He’d pleaded no contest.

Authorities say Horner grabbed the guard March 26 last year at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln when the guard entered Horner’s cell to look for marijuana the guard smelled. Prosecutors say Horner threw the guard to the floor and punched the guard several times before other guards intervened.

Horner’s been serving time for shooting a man during a June 2012 road rage incident in Lincoln.

Dance instructor gets 12-14 years for teen girl sex assaults

WILBER, Neb. (AP) — A southeast Nebraska dance instructor has been imprisoned for sexually assaulting two teenage girls.

Vinson Jenkins was given 12 to 14 years during his sentencing Monday in Saline County District Court in Wilber. He’d pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted sexual assault.

Authorities say one of the 14-year-olds said Jenkins sexually assaulted her April 25, 2016, in the basement of his Crete home. The other girl told a Crete officer that Jenkins repeatedly sexually assaulted her from August through December 2015 at the Dynamic Dance Company studio.

Officials reject petition over Grand Island post office

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Federal officials have dismissed a petition seeking review of a decision to close the downtown Grand Island post office.

The U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission earlier this month dismissed the petition by the Hall County Board of Supervisors. The commission said in dismissing the petition that it has no jurisdiction in the matter because the postal plans constitute a post office relocation rather than a closure.

In April, the U.S. Postal Service announced that Grand Island’s main post office will relocate from downtown to a building on the western edge of town in an effort to save money.

The building that houses the downtown post office, owned by Union Pacific Railroad, is set to close by June 2018.

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