LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A man died after being found unresponsive at the base of a flight of stairs at his workplace in Lincoln.
Lincoln police say officers were called to Nebraska Machinery around 9 a.m. Monday after co-workers found the unresponsive man.
CPR was performed on the man until paramedics arrived, but he died later at a Lincoln hospital.
The cause of the man’s death wasn’t immediately clear on Monday.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A growing number of states are working to help patients make it clear to medical professionals they don’t want to be prescribed powerful opioids.
Connecticut and Alaska are two of the latest considering legislation this year that would create a non-opioid directive that patients can put in their medical files. It formally notifies health care professionals the person does not want be prescribed or administered the medications.
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania passed similar legislation last year.
While patients typically have the right to make decisions about their medical care, proponents of the directives contend such documents make a patient’s wishes clear, especially in advance of medical care. Proponents say such directives also empower those patients who might fear relapsing into addiction or becoming addicted to the drugs in the first place.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Some Lincoln residents and police say a spike in crime ultimately bonded residents to the officers who protect them.
Over the past three years, four homicides have occurred in the Belmont area — all in 2016. Of the 12 arsons reported in three years, eight happened last year in the north-central Lincoln neighborhood.
Police started to re-evaluate their patrol tactics in Belmont after the eight arsons and four homicides in one year. Capt. Anthony Butler says officers assigned to the northwest team took the year hard.
Officers have worked on forming better relationships with residents. They started by going door-to-door introducing themselves. Then midway through last year the department hosted what organizers called community conversations.
The goal: Make people comfortable in calling police.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The two remaining finalists for the Omaha superintendent job have withdrawn, forcing the school board to reopen the search it began last fall.
The school board was expected to pick either Sioux City, Iowa, Superintendent Paul Gausman or Reading, Pennsylvania, Superintendent Khalid Mumin at its meeting Monday night.
Instead, the board will have to come up with a new plan to replace retiring Mark Evans at the end of the school year.
Gausman and Mumin issued a joint statement Saturday saying they decided to withdraw because they believe neither had broad support from the board.
School board member Ben Perlman says the board felt that neither Gausman nor Mumin were a perfect fit for the district. So the board will have to keep looking.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium has announced the name of gorilla born in January.
The zoo says “Kgosi” (GO-zee) was the name picked by Henry Doorly keeper for the male western lowland gorilla born Jan. 18. The name, an African word meaning “king,” was submitted by 13-year-old Aven Cramer, of Omaha.
The name was selected from a total of 825 names submitted.
The parents of Kgosi are 21-year-old Timu and 22-year-old Tambo. The mother, Timu, came to the zoo from the Cincinnati Zoo in 1996. This is her fourth baby. The father, Tambo, arrived in 2001 from the Bronx Zoo. Kgosi is his first offspring.
WAVERLY, Neb. (AP) — A former Waverly city councilman will receive $40,000 from the city to settle a two-year legal fight over wheelchair sidewalk access.
Waverly doesn’t admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement with Larry Nedrow.
Nedrow’s legal fight with the city began in June 2015 when he couldn’t get onto the sidewalk north of Waverly Intermediate School because his electronic wheelchair couldn’t navigate the curb. He says after a filing a second complaint and taking up the issue with school officials, nothing was done.
Nedrow then filed a federal lawsuit in March 2016 alleging discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires city sidewalks to be wheelchair-accessible.
City officials said the sidewalk was the school district’s responsibility.
WAYNE, Neb. (AP) — A large field fire in northeastern Nebraska has been extinguished with the help of seven different fire departments.
The fire Friday afternoon in Wayne County burned around 260 acres of field and 100 hay bales. The fire was in a rural area outside of Wayne.
Officials say winds and dry conditions helped spread the fire.
Norfolk, Winside, Wisner, Humphrey, Wayne, Hoskins and West Point fire departments all responded. No one was hurt.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 14-year-old boy has been killed in a crash near the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian bridge in Omaha.
Police say the crash was reported around 2:25 a.m. Saturday, and first responders found a car that had been speeding, lost control and hit a utility pole.
Police say the 15-year-old driver and another front seat passenger were wearing seat belts and were not injured. But 14-year-old Kevin Ramirez-Cabrera in the back seat was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died of his injuries. Investigators say he was not wearing a seat belt.
RICHLAND, Neb. (AP) — A Columbus woman has been killed in a rollover crash along U.S. Highway 30 near Richland.
A Colfax County sheriff’s deputy spotted the crash around 2:15 a.m. on a county road just east of an exit to Richland.
The deputy says a man and a woman were thrown from the sport utility vehicle and taken by ambulance to a Columbus hospital, where the woman was pronounced dead.
Officials say the man’s injuries are serious, but that he is expected to live.
Authorities have not yet released the names of the man or woman pending notification of family members.
Authorities have not determined who was driving, but are investigating. Investigators say neither was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
AINSWORTH, Neb. (AP) — Authorities will get to keep nearly $41,000 seized during a traffic stop in Brown County.
Authorities say a Nebraska state trooper stopped a speeding vehicle Jan. 6 on U.S. Highway 183. Brown County Attorney David Streich has said the trooper gained permission to search the vehicle and found the cash in a bag. Both people in the vehicle denied any knowledge of the money, leading the trooper to seize it.
A district court judge ruled Tuesday that the money was used in violation of drugs laws and ordered the cash to be forfeited. After court costs are deducted, the money will be divided between the Brown County Drug Law Enforcement Fund and the local school district.
