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Driver killed in Grand Island crash, police say

Grand-Island-PoliceGRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a driver has died in a Grand Island crash.

Police say the vehicle ran off an overpass and struck a building around 1 a.m. Friday. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver’s name has not yet been released.

Police suspect the driver may have been speeding.

5-year-old flown to Omaha hospital after fall from window

cass county sheriffLOUISVILLE, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 5-year-old child was flown to an Omaha hospital after falling from a second-story window in Cass County.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office says the incident was reported around 2:15 p.m. Thursday in Louisville (LOO’-iss-vihl). The child was taken to the Louisville High School football field, where a medical helicopter landed so it could fly the child to Nebraska Medical Center.

Details about what happened and the child’s name and condition have not been released.

Former Hastings officer sentenced for fundraising scam

Jerry Esch
Jerry Esch

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A former Hastings police detective has been sentenced to 10 days in jail and two years’ probation for running a fraudulent fundraiser.

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office says 46-year-old Jerry Esch was sentenced Wednesday in Adams County District Court. Esch also was ordered to serve 120 days of home confinement and pay $7,500 in restitution. He pleaded guilty in January to one misdemeanor count of theft.

Prosecutors say that in November 2015, Esch was an officer with the Hastings Police Department when he created a GoFundMe page, asking for money to cover medical expenses for cancer treatment.

Officials say Esch did have cancer, but did not have the medical bills he claimed to have incurred.

He is no longer a Hastings police officer.

Omaha zoo’s last Malayan tiger euthanized following illness

henry-doorly-zooOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The last of the Malayan tigers at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium has died.

Zoo officials say the 20-year-old, three-legged tiger named Mai was euthanized Wednesday morning after her health recently declined.

Mai had been at the zoo since 2003. She had been found with her front left leg in a poacher’s trap, and veterinarians amputated the limb. She underwent rehabilitation at a Malaysian zoo before arriving in Omaha.

She gained notoriety again in 2015 when she bit a woman who broke into the zoo after hours and tried to pet the tiger.

The zoo has said it will no longer keep Malayan tigers. It will instead focus on the care of its existing tiger species, Amur and Bengal.

Colorado has backed off plans for marijuana clubs

Colorado-MarijuanaDENVER (AP) — Colorado lawmakers have backed off plans to regulate marijuana clubs, saying the state would have invited a federal crackdown by approving Amsterdam-style pot clubs.

The state House voted Thursday to amend a bill that would have set rules for how private pot clubs could work.

Bring-your-own pot clubs had bipartisan support in the Legislature but strong opposition from Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Colorado already has about 30 private pot clubs, but they operate under a patchwork of local regulations and are sometimes raided by law enforcement. The bill would have set up the nation’s first statewide regulations for pot clubs.

The House amendment effectively removes club regulations, and the remaining bits of the bill are relatively minor. The bill could face yet more changes before a final vote.

Nebraska officials plan to complain to Kansas about smoke

lancaster-co-health-departmLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska officials say they’ll complain to Kansas about smoke from its agriculture burning that sometimes makes it unhealthy to breathe in some parts of Nebraska.

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department issued a health warning Wednesday, warning people to stay indoors.

Gov. Pete Ricketts’ spokesman Taylor Gage says Nebraska officials will follow up with their counterparts in Kansas. On Wednesday he said the “air quality today is unacceptable.”

Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler’s (BYTE’-lur’s) chief of staff, Rick Hoppe (HAH’-pee), says officials are reviewing all options, “including potential legal action.”

Officials have said the smoke originates mostly in Kansas’ Flint Hills area. A Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokesman says he can’t immediately say what Kansas’ response might be.

Woman injured by discus at school track meet wins lawsuit

lawsuit-settlementOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A woman who was struck in the head by a discus at a 2014 state track meet in Nebraska has been awarded $350,000 in a settlement.

83-year-old Bernice Gorecki filed a lawsuit in 2015 after being hit by a student-athlete’s discus while standing in the visitor area of the track meet at Burke High School in Omaha.

She and her husband sued the Omaha Public Schools and the Nebraska State Activities Association, alleging the entities failed in their duty to keep spectators safe.

District spokeswoman Monique Farmer says a spectator fence has now been pushed back farther.

Gorecki’s attorney, David Mullin, says he can’t comment on Gorecki’s injuries or her recovery.

Father, son charged in slaying of northeast Nebraska man

gavel-and-scaleBANCROFT, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have charged a father and son in the slaying of a northeast Nebraska man whose body was found in his burned home.

Court records say 27-year-old Derek Olson is charged with second-degree murder, arson and related crimes. His father, 48-year-old Jody Olson, is charged being an accessory to a felony. Both men remained in custody Thursday, pending $1 million bail. Derek Olson’s attorney declined to comment. His father’s didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.

A court affidavit says the body of 64-year-old Ernest Warnock 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.

Iowa man charged after 4-year-old boy kills self with gun

gavel-and-scaleELGIN, Iowa (AP) — The owner of a gun that a 4-year-old boy used to kill himself in Iowa last summer has been charged with illegally owning the firearm after telling police he uses marijuana.

Daniel Henriksen, 29, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to being an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm. He wasn’t there when 4-year-old Jayden Choate shot himself in Henriksen’s trailer on June 17 in Elgin, a town in northern Iowa.

An affidavit signed by an Iowa agent says the boy and his younger brother and sister were trying to nap while their mother and another individual were sitting on the deck. The agent says Jayden found Henriksen’s handgun and unintentionally shot himself.

The affidavit says Henriksen, as a marijuana user, was ineligible to own the gun.

Man pleads not guilty to setting Lincoln vet clinic on fire

Ldavid-fenstemakerINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man suspected of setting a veterinary clinic on fire Jan. 1 has pleaded not guilty.

43-year-old David Fenstemaker was arrested two days after the fire at the Pet Care Center in Lincoln on suspicion of second-degree arson and burglary.

Police say surveillance video captured a masked man inside the clinic the night of the fire.

Less than an hour later, firefighters put out a small fire that caused an estimated $20,000 in damage, mostly to the contents of an office and break room.

No staff members were there at the time, and no animals were injured.

A trial date in the case has not yet been set.

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