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Police say foul play not suspected after body found in river

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha authorities have identified the body of a man found floating down the Missouri River.

Boaters spotted the body around 2:15 p.m. Sunday. An Omaha Fire Department river rescue team recovered it near Eppley Airfield on the northeast corner of the city.

Omaha police say investigators have identified the man but declined to release his name.

Police say no foul play is suspected in the death.

Colorado police: Boy, 3, accidentally shoots younger brother

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Police say a 3-year-old Colorado boy has accidentally shot and seriously wounded his 2-year-old brother, and a 30-year-old woman has been arrested.

Colorado Springs Police Department spokesman Howard Black says the older boy found a weapon and was playing with it when the gun discharged on Saturday.

The younger child’s condition was first listed as critical and later upgraded to serious. Neither boy’s name was released.

Police said Sunday that Monica Abeyta of Colorado Springs was arrested on suspicion of felony child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. Authorities haven’t described her relationship to the young brothers.

No phone listing could be found for Abeyta, and it wasn’t clear if she had an attorney who could speak on her behalf. She was not immediately listed in online jail records.

Omaha mayor picks labor relations lawyer as new HR director

Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert has selected the attorney who oversaw city labor relations as Omaha’s new human resources director.

Tim Young will replace Mikki Frost, who retired Friday.

Frost had led human resources through Stothert’s first term after also working as personnel director when Hal Daub was Omaha mayor, from 1995 until 2001.

Stothert cited Young’s ‘legal, investigative and negotiating experience” in announcing the hire Friday.

Young has been the city’s labor relations director since August 2015.

Before that, he worked for the Nebraska Department of Administrative Services, as assistant general counsel for the Nebraska State Patrol, as an assistant state’s attorney in McHenry, Illinois, and as a police investigator in Illinois.

Truck driver gets 90 days for 18-year-old’s crash death

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A truck driver has been given 90 days in jail for colliding with a motorcycle in western Douglas County as he was talking on a hands-free wireless device.

Court records say 48-year-old Michael Green was sentenced Thursday. He’d pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular homicide.

The accident occurred Aug. 9. Authorities say 18-year-old Madeline Fitzpatrick was a passenger on the motorcycle being driven by Jason Matthews when it collided with Green’s semitrailer at an intersection. She was pronounced dead at the scene, and Matthews was hospitalized.

Former student teacher takes plea deal in sex photos case

MADISON, Neb. (AP) — An August sentencing hearing is scheduled for a former Norfolk student teacher accused of changing a student’s grade after she sent him explicit photos of herself.

Court records say 24-year-old Sean Neal, who lives in Wayne, pleaded no contest to attempted contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Prosecutors had lowered the charge in exchange for Neal’s plea. Sentencing is set for Aug. 3 in Madison County Court.

Prosecutors say Neal had raised the grade the same day the 14-year-old Norfolk High School freshman sent the photos. She reported the incident to school officials within a day or two.

Man now faces murder charge along with son in Nebraska

BANCROFT, Neb. (AP) — Prosecutors have filed a murder charge against a 48-year-old man whose son faces the same charge in a northeast Nebraska slaying.

Jody Olson and his son, Derek, are charged with second-degree murder, arson and related crimes. They’re accused of killing 64-year-old Ernest Warnock, whose body was found March 11 in the rubble of his home north of Bancroft. Investigators have determined that he’d been stabbed to death during an altercation before the fire began.

Court records say Jody Olson originally was charged only with being an accessory to a felony. It’s unclear what led prosecutors to file the additional charges. Olson’s attorney and the prosecuting attorney didn’t immediately return calls Friday from The Associated Press.

Lincoln hotel home to honey farm

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A hotel in Lincoln has started a new honey farm on its roof.

Beekeepers Warren Nelson and his son, Trey, carried four bee-filled hives last week to the roof of the Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel, where they’ll multiply until the hotel is home to about 240,000 honey-producing bees.

About 40,000 of the bees originally arrived in Nebraska in April from California after the hotel contacted Valhalla Bee Farm, which Warren Nelson operates. Nelson says he took care of the bees at his home for a few weeks until they multiplied to nearly 100,000.

The hotel hopes to soon harvest up to 600 pounds annually. It’ll sell some in the gift shop, and its chef is already preparing to incorporate it into its menu.

California man arrested in Nebraska; marijuana seized

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Deputies say a California man has been arrested after more than 80 pounds of marijuana was found in his car during a traffic stop.

A Douglas County sheriff’s deputy pulled over a car driven by the 37-year-old man around 10 p.m. Thursday on suspicion of failing to signal a lane change.

Deputies say they could see silver heat-sealed bags partially covered by a sleeping back in the car and smelled coffee, which they suspected to an attempt to mask the odor of drugs.

Officials say a police dog indicated illegal drugs in the car, and a subsequent search turned up 82 pounds of marijuana.

The driver was arrested.

Montana officials identify Nebraska man who fell into river

POLSON, Mont. (AP) — Officials in northwestern Montana have released the name of a 23-year-old Nebraska man who is missing after falling into the Flathead River near a hydroelectric dam.

Lake County Sheriff Donald Bell said that Richard Mitchell of Minatare, Nebraska is the man who has been missing since mid-day Wednesday.

Bell says Mitchell was with Marissa Scott and Nathaniel Garcia, both of Gering, Nebraska, when they crossed guard rails and passed warning signs at an overlook at SKQ Dam near Polson. He said they were climbing down a cliff when Mitchell fell about 12 feet into the water.

The search for Mitchell continued Friday.

3 years in prison for soldier who lied way to Purple Heart

SEATTLE (AP) — A former soldier who lied his way to a Purple Heart and hundreds of thousands of dollars in government benefits has been sentenced to three years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle issued the sentence Thursday in Tacoma, Washington, to Darryl Wright.

Wright, a former National Guardsman, feigned injuries from an explosion in Iraq in 2005 and doctored statements from fellow soldiers to obtain two awards, a Combat Action Badge and a Purple Heart, which is reserved for those wounded in action.

The Army has since revoked those awards, though Wright still has the medals.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud. Prosecutors were seeking a prison term of five years, and they wanted the judge to order Wright to return the medals and a Purple Heart license plate.

Settle declined to go that far, but he did order Wright to repay nearly $650,000 in benefits.

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