PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. (AP) — A 30-year-old Grand Island woman has been convicted of two charges stemming from a fatal hit-and-run collision on Interstate 80 in eastern Nebraska.

Mandy MacDonald pleaded no contest on Monday to misdemeanor vehicular homicide and a felony count of leaving the scene of an injury accident. Prosecutors had lowered both charges in return for MacDonald’s pleas. Her sentencing is set for Feb. 9 in Cass County District Court.

Authorities say MacDonald lost control of her car on May 31 near the I-80 Greenwood exit and collided with another westbound vehicle. That vehicle ran into a roadside ditch and rolled, ejecting its driver, 50-year-old Kristin Olson, also of Grand Island.

Authorities say MacDonald fled but was stopped by a state trooper a few miles west.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus community was alerted to possible danger after security cameras showed what looked like two armed men in a campus parking garage.

But university police say the two turned out to be students playing some sort of game while shooting their airsoft guns.

University police Sgt. Aaron Pembleton said Tuesday that the two were spotted a little after 11 p.m. Monday by dispatchers using the cameras to check an unrelated matter. Students and staffers were warned via texts and emails to stay away from the area while officers checked the garage.

The officers later cited the two men for unlawful discharge of firearms inside city limits. Two other students with them were not cited.

Pembleton says all four attend classes at the university.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman has been given 51 to 65 years in prison for kidnapping and savagely attacking a woman over her boyfriend’s debt.

26-year-old Shavontae Green was sentenced Tuesday. She and her boyfriend, Ronald Ford Jr., were convicted for the attack on the 38-year-old woman.

Authorities say Ford was upset because the woman’s boyfriend owed Ford money for a laptop computer. Ford and Green went to the boyfriend’s house in January but found only the woman there. They beat her, kidnapped her and took her to their home.

Prosecutors say the woman was beaten again, sexually assaulted, burned with a cigarette, whipped with a chain, doused with boiling water and splashed with bleach.

The 33-year-old Ford is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.

The Nebraska State Patrol in conjunction with the Otoe County Sheriff’s Office and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is investigating the discovery of a body near Nebraska City.

Just after 7:00 p.m., Monday, November 23, the Nebraska State Patrol responded to reports from the Otoe County Sheriff’s Office of a female body in the Missouri River, south of Nebraska City in Otoe County.

A cause of death has not been determined and an autopsy has been ordered by the Otoe County Attorney. The name of the deceased is unknown at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

ARLINGTON, Neb. (AP) — A fire has completely destroyed a house in eastern Nebraska.

Matthew Thomas says his parents’ home in Arlington was destroyed in a fire Saturday night that began with smoke filling the property.

Fire crews arrived to a home engulfed in flames. The property was completely destroyed. No injuries were reported but two family dogs have not been located.

The American Red Cross has provided the affected family with clothes and temporary shelter. Thomas tells WOWT (https://bit.ly/1LwwXbh ) that the house was not insured and the family is unsure how they will recover.

Authorities have not released the cause of the fire.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 33-year-old man accused of hitting his mother with an SUV in Nebraska has been given at least two years in prison.

Anthony Flud was sentenced Monday to up to 11 years in prison on charges that include leaving the scene of an injury accident and operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest. He could be eligible for parole after three years and will receive credit for more than 220 days.

Flud faced multiple charges but later reached a plea deal.

Authorities say Flud twice struck his mother with an SUV in an attempt to evade an officer during an incident in February. He’s awaiting sentencing to charges in Douglas County.

WEEPING WATER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 53-year-old man has died after rolling his all-terrain vehicle in eastern Nebraska.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Department says the accident was reported a little after 9 a.m. Sunday and occurred about 1½ miles southwest of Weeping Water. Sheriff William Brueggemann says in a news release that Kurtis Bauers, of Weeping Water, lost control of his four-wheel ATV and it rolled at least twice.

The sheriff says Bauers died just after arriving at a Lincoln hospital.

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — One man has died in a two-vehicle crash west of Norfolk in northeast Nebraska.

19-year-old Wyatt Andersen, of Ashland, died in the late-night Friday crash at Highway 275 and a Madison County road.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Department says an eastbound pickup driven by 29-year-old Ryan Tripp, of Tilden, crossed the center line and collided head-on with a westbound pickup driven by Andersen. Andersen was pronounced dead at the scene.

Tripp was seriously injured and taken to Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk.

The crash remains under investigation.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Advocates for Syrian refugees are planning a candlelight vigil in to show support for people who are fleeing persecution.

The vigil is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday at Tower Square in downtown Lincoln. Religious leaders from a variety of faiths will speak at the event.

This vigil is sponsored by the group Nebraska Appleseed, the Center For People In Need, Refugee Empowerment Center, the Asian Community and Cultural Center and the Faith Coalition of Lancaster County.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha school district wants to know if parents and principals would support using metal detectors or drug-sniffing dogs in schools.

The district is asking about those measures this fall in a survey

District officials say they are haven’t decided to expand the use any of these measures. Superintendent Mark Evans says he wanted to gauge how principals, teachers and parents feel first.

The district has been using metal detectors at certain high school basketball games since 2010, and police officers are stationed in all middle and high schools.

But metal detectors haven’t been used during the school day in the Omaha area.

Several school board members appear open to using tougher security, but they want to know the survey results first.