OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say two firefighters have been injured while battling a blaze at a house just north of Omaha.
The fire was reported at 1:20 a.m. Thursday in the Ponca Hills area, east of U.S. Highway 75.
The occupants escaped without harm. The two firefighters were taken to an Omaha hospital.
The fire cause is being investigated. Officials suspect the blaze began in a pickup before spreading to a garage and then the house.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming man previously convicted of sexually assaulting a child has been sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison after authorities seized the largest collection of child pornography in the U.S.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Internet Crimes Against Children Association say the sexually explicit images and videos of kids made up the biggest cache ever found in the country.
63-year-old Richard Person on Tuesday received a term of 19 years and seven months for possession of child pornography.
His attorney argued for 14 years, saying Person cooperated with investigators and knew his behavior was wrong. In court, Person said, “I’m very sorry to all the people I let down.”
Person had served eight years for a 2001 conviction of sexually assaulting a child.
LA VISTA, Neb. (AP) — Friends have gathered to remember a former classmate who was killed after being hit by a train in La Vista.
Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Wilson and 18-year-old Dillon McHenry were hit by a BNSF Railway train while walking along the tracks over the Papio Creek around 8:40 p.m. Monday.
Their friend, 18-year-old Edward Zielinski, says he and the two men were on the tracks when they saw the train. Zielinski jumped into the water below, but the other two men went off the bridge after the train hit them.
Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene. McHenry was taken to a local hospital and is now in fair condition.
An investigation shows the train didn’t blow its whistle. La Vista police are reviewing video from the train’s camera.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says a routine traffic stop on Interstate 80 near Lincoln turned up close to 50 pounds of marijuana in a pickup.
The sheriff’s office says the stop occurred around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, and deputies conducted a probable-cause search. Deputies say they found 49 one-pound bags of marijuana packed into totes in the bed of the pickup. Authorities estimate the street value of the marijuana at $250,000.
The search also turned up hash oils and a handgun.
Two men in the truck were arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana with intent to deliver and other counts.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 30-year-old Lincoln man has been sentenced to two years in prison for arranging to meet a 13-year-old girl for sex in a grocery store parking lot last November.
Anthony Dyer was sentenced Tuesday in Lancaster County District Court. In June, he pleaded no contest to a charge of enticement by an electronic device.
Prosecutors say Dyer exchanged sexually explicit text messages in November with a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but was actually an undercover deputy sheriff posing as a young girl. Prosecutors say Dyer arranged for them to meet for sex in Fallbrook. Dyer was arrested when he showed up.
LA VISTA, Neb. (AP) — Federal safety regulators are proposing $70,000 in penalties against an Omaha-area builder for safety violations.
The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release Tuesday that it is proposing the penalties against R&M Equipt LLC, of La Vista. The agency says citations were issued last week after inspectors saw four of the company’s employees working on Feb. 5 at heights greater than 10 feet without adequate fall protection.
Company owner Matt Myers said Wednesday that the work violations were immediately rectified and that he and his company are working with OSHA on resolving the complaint.
MADISON, Neb. (AP) — A woman accused of kidnapping her newborn son from a Norfolk hospital has taken a plea deal.
Court records say 34-year-old Lacee Tuttle, of Pierce, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Madison County District Court to felony violation of a child custody order and misdemeanor child abuse or neglect. Prosecutors dropped a kidnapping count in exchange for Tuttle’s pleas. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 24.
Authorities say she took her 2-day-old son from Faith Regional Health Services on July 10, triggering a statewide Amber Alert. The baby and Tuttle were found hours later.
Authorities say Tuttle tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana while at the hospital, which is why custody was given to a state agency.
WALNUT, Iowa (AP) — A highway bridge in western Iowa has been dedicated as a memorial to a slain Omaha police officer.
The Interstate 80 bridge that carries traffic into Walnut has been named the Kerri Orozco Bridge. A scholarship fund also was announced at the bridge dedication ceremony Tuesday.
Orozco was fatally wounded on May 20, 2015, when Marcus Wheeler opened fire on officers who were trying to arrest him. Wheeler was killed when another officer returned fire. Orozco was one day away from going on maternity leave to care for the daughter she had delivered prematurely three months earlier.
Orozco and her family lived in Council Bluffs, and she was a native of Walnut.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The chairman of the Omaha community college board has stepped down from the position but is still resisting calls for his resignation from the board.
Fred Conley resigned the chairmanship of the Metropolitan Community College Board of Governors at a special meeting Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Education has threatened to withhold student aid and other federal funding from the college if Conley remains on the board because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued an order prohibiting the federal government from doing business with Conley. HUD officials have said Conley didn’t disclose a potential conflict of interest while serving on the Omaha Housing Authority board.
The college board voted July 26 to ask Conley to leave the board. He’s refused but has said he won’t seek re-election.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Republican majority of the Lincoln City Council has passed an altered version of the mayor’s proposed recycling ordinance.
The ordinance passed Monday eliminates the landfill ban on paper and cardboard that supporters of Mayor Chris Beutler’s (BYTE’-lur) proposal say is imperative to boosting the recycling rate.
The new ordinance retains a requirement that waste haulers offer curbside recycling and give the city data about the number of customers and pounds of material diverted from the landfill.
Councilman Trent Fellers, a Republican and author of the new version of the recycling ordinance, says his proposal moves Lincoln’s recycling forward.
Mayoral aide Jon Carlson says that a landfill ban on paper and cardboard is what drives a higher recycling rate and that without the ban, the ordinance loses effect.
