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Texas teacher impregnated by student, 13, turns self in

Alexandria Vera
Alexandria Vera

HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston-area teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy who impregnated her has surrendered at a suburban jail.

Harris County authorities had issued an arrest warrant for 24-year-old Alexandria Vera, an English teacher in the Aldine School District. The boy was an eighth-grader she met last summer.

She appeared Wednesday at the jail in adjacent Montgomery County. Sheriff’s spokesman Brady Fitzgerald says Vera posted a $100,000 bond and was released.

Court documents show the boy’s parents didn’t object to their relationship. She told a school district investigator they were “very supportive and excited” when she disclosed her pregnancy. The probable cause document said she aborted the pregnancy after a child welfare investigator questioned her.

School officials say she’s been removed from her job.

Police chief: UCLA shooting was murder-suicide

crime-scene-police-shootLOS ANGELES (AP)–The Los Angeles police chief says the shooting of two men at UCLA was a murder-suicide.

Chief Charlie Beck said Wednesday there was no continuing threat and the campus is safe.

The shooting occurred in a small office in an engineering building. The chief says a gun was found along with what might be a suicide note.

No identifications have been released.

Hall County officials say courthouse is too small for needs

hall-county-courthouseGRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A discussion about bathrooms in the Hall County courthouse has prompted officials to say that the building in Grand Island is becoming too small for the county’s needs.

The county’s facilities director, Loren Humphrey, told the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that the board will have to address the problem sometime in the near future.

The courthouse’s restrooms were recently renovated to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Supervisor Gary Quandt says the renovation decreased the number of available toilets and urinals from 23 to 19 as part of a $3 million project that renovated heating, air conditioning and the restrooms. He said having fewer restrooms is a concern because the courthouse is busier than it was when it was built in 1904.

Nebraska Christian College merges with California school

college-campusPAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Christian College in suburban Omaha plans to merge with a California-based school.

Officials say the agreement with Hope International University of Fullerton, California, will provide regional accreditation, expanded course offerings as well as ensure long-term financial stability.

The colleges will share online learning and classroom technologies, library resources and research databases.

Nebraska Christian College was founded in Norfolk in the 1940s and moved to Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn) in 2006. Enrollment has averaged 150 to 175 students in recent years.

Hope International University was established in 1928 and offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees, certificate programs and credential programs to about 2,000 students worldwide.

Omaha suburb removing diving boards at municipal pools

swimming-poolBELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Substandard diving boards are being removed from an Omaha suburb’s municipal pools.

The dive envelopes — the size and depth of the diving areas — at the Bellevue pools don’t meet state Department of Health and Human Services standards. Public works director Jeff Roberts says the problem surfaced during surveying of the swimming pools for future modifications.

Roberts says the pools are 8 to 12 inches shallower than they should be and the shape of Bellevue’s pools also is an issue.

Bellevue’s five pools were built in the 1960s and 1970s. The city has been looking at ways to improve its pools since a 2013 report found that the pools were leaking and didn’t comply with federal disability laws.

Fremont to pay for chicken plant’s water, sewer study

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FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Fremont will pay for a study of water and sewer services at a proposed chicken plant site despite opponents’ arguments that doing so violates state law.

The City Council voted Tuesday night to spend nearly $200,000 for the study, which city officials say will focus on extending services to the site selected by Costco Wholesale. City utilities manager Brian Newton said if the payment violates a law, the city will just bill Costco.

But Jane Kleeb, founder of the activist group Bold Nebraska, says governments can’t spend taxpayer money and plan on getting reimbursed. She says the company should pay up front.

Opponents have raised concerns about the plant’s potential impact on schools and housing. Backers have said the plant would create 1,100 new jobs.

Police: Taxi driver injured in incident over fare in Lincoln

lincoln-policeLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police say a taxi driver was assaulted by a passenger in Lincoln.

Lincoln police Officer Katie Flood says that the 27-year-old driver was trying to drop off a passenger early Monday when the passenger began to argue over the $15 fare. According to Flood, the driver told police that the passenger punched him in the back of the head and the two struggled outside of the car.

Witnesses called police. Flood says the driver was taken to a hospital with injuries, including a gash to the head.

Police say the passenger has not been cited.

2 dead, 57 hospitalized after Tampa music festival

police-lights-redTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say two people are dead and 57 others were hospitalized after attending a Tampa music festival.

The Sunset Music Festival was held at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday and Sunday.

Tampa police reported in a news release that a 22-year-old Melbourne man and a 21-year-old Kissimmee woman were hospitalized Saturday. The man died Sunday, and the woman died Monday. The medical examiner’s office wasn’t immediately reporting a cause of death.

Police didn’t say why the 57 other people were hospitalized.

Police also reported 25 felony arrests, eight misdemeanor arrests and 16 marijuana civil citations at the festival.

Missouri woman sentenced for posting teen’s nude photos on Facebook

facebook-logoSPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman who posted nude photos of a 15-year-old girl on Facebook has been sentenced to a year in federal prison.

49-year-old Michelle Renee McCoy, of Carl Junction, was sentenced Tuesday for possession of child pornography.

Prosecutors say McCoy, an acquaintance of the girl, found the pictures on the girl’s phone. McCoy sent them to her own phone then posted them on the girl’s Facebook page. She also changed the password so the victim couldn’t remove the pictures.

McCoy’s attorney said his client posted the pictures to shame the victim and teach her a lesson. He asked that she receive probation because she was not a typical child pornographer.

Prosecutors asked for a three-year prison sentence, saying the victim was humiliated.

Prosecutor to jury: DEA workers lied about owning strip club

dea-badgeNEW YORK (AP) — A New York prosecutor has told jurors at a criminal trial that a Drug Enforcement Administration supervisory agent and another employee lied by not disclosing their ownership in a New Jersey strip club.

Prosecutor Paul Monteleoni says the men did so because the ownership could prevent them from maintaining DEA top-secret security clearance.

The prosecutor made the accusation Tuesday during opening statements in the trial of Glen Glover, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, and David Polos, of West Nyack (NY’-ak), New York. Glover is a suspended DEA telecommunications specialist. Polos is a retired former assistant special agent in charge of the New York office.

Defense attorney Marc Mukasey says prosecutors wrongly took an investment and hobby and insisted it should have been described as a job on a government document.

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