GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Fire officials say carelessly discarded smoking materials caused a fatal blaze at a high-rise apartment building in Grand Island.

An automatic alarm that activated at 1:10 p.m. Saturday alerted the fire department to the blaze at the 11-story Centennial Towers apartments.

Fire Division Chief Tim Hiemer says the fire broke out in an apartment on the south end of the ninth floor. Hall County Attorney Jack Zitterkopf identified the occupant as 56-year-old James Curfman, who was taken to a Lincoln hospital for treatment of burns and smoke inhalation.

A woman who lived down a hall fell to her death. She was identified as 63-year-old Sarah Nyayual Both, who had come to the United States from Sudan.

Hiemer says the building’s concrete block walls kept flames from reaching other apartments.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A fire in an 11-story apartment building killed one person and critically injured another, so Grand Island authorities are talking again about the need to retrofit older buildings with sprinkler systems.

The fire was reported shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday. Most of the residents escaped the building safely after fire alarms went off.

Grand Island Fire Chief Cory Schmidt says the fire started on the ninth floor. A woman fell from a window on the ninth floor and died. Schmidt says another person was critically injured with burns.

The 134-foot-tall building challenged firefighters. The tallest ladder truck on scene had a 95-foot platform.

Schmidt said the building was not equipped with a sprinkler system because it wasn’t required when it was built.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two Nebraska communities are receiving federal money to help them complete sewer upgrade projects.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced the funding for Clearwater and Lewiston. A total of 141 projects nationwide will share $314 million.

The grants are designed to help rural communities upgrade their infrastructure for water and wastewater.

Clearwater will receive a $1.8 million loan and an $861,000 grant.

The USDA says Lewiston will receive a $208,000 loan and a $250,000 grant for its project.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty in June to manufacturing explosive materials in a shed behind his Ralston house has been sentenced to six months in prison.

51-year-old Jeffrey Belmont was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court.

Authorities raided Belmont’s home last June and seized a stash of improvised devices and more than 2,000 pounds of chemicals used to make flash powder — a powerful, illegal explosive.

In 2005, one of Belmont’s rocket fireworks injured a 13-year-old boy, and authorities confiscated more than 2,000 pounds of commercial-grade fireworks from Belmont’s home.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The foundation of the late talk show host Johnny Carson has announced a $20 million gift to help create an academic program and facility focused on emerging media at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The university announced the gift on Friday.

The gift will help renovate about 30,000 square feet of the former Nebraska Bookstore building into the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts. NU bought the building in June.

Graduates who complete coursework in the new program can use the skills they learn in filmmaking, game design, television production, theater, advertising, social media, business, architecture, science, education and agriculture.

The center is expected to open in 2018.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 21-year-old Palmyra man convicted in the 2014 crash death of a motorcyclist in Lincoln has been placed on two years’ probation, with a 60-day jail term and community service.

Cody Dietz was sentenced Friday in Lancaster County Court. He was found guilty in September of misdemeanor vehicular homicide. He had faced up to a year in jail.

Dietz’s lawyer had argued at trial that 24-year-old Jaclyn “Jaci” Kehling should not have been speeding and weaving through traffic on Aug. 4, 2014, just moments before her motorcycle ran into the back of Dietz’s sedan as he turned left.

But prosecutors said that if Dietz had taken more time to check oncoming traffic, Kehling would not have collided with his car

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Grand Island Northwest Public Schools board will consider a proposal to institute random drug testing for students who participate in extracurricular activities.

Superintendent Matt Fisher said the matter was placed on Monday’s agenda because some staff members have expressed concerns. Fisher also said a number of other schools are performing random drug testing of activities participants.

If the board is interested in pursuing such a policy, administrators will begin exploring various testing policies and present something for the board to consider at its December meeting.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado marijuana dispensary is opening what is thought to be the world’s first combination pot dispensary and gas station.

The Gas & Grass business opens Saturday in Colorado Springs. It is a gas station adjacent to a Native Roots medical marijuana dispensary.

Colorado does not allow pot shops to sell non-marijuana products. So the gas station and pot shop will have distinct entrances. But medical marijuana patients that shop at Native Roots will get discounts on the gasoline, similar to a grocery store loyalty program. Members of the public who don’t shop at the dispensary can also fill up at the station.

Native Roots plans to open a second Colorado Springs location next month.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The new Judicial Branch Education Training Center has opened, hosting its first events last month.

The state’s court system announced that 30 probation officers and instructors christened the building, located in west-central Lincoln, on Oct. 19 with two sessions of new probation officer training.

The opening of the facility allows Judicial Branch Education to provide training in its own offices and forego the use of hotel training space. The building allows up to four training sessions to occur simultaneously. Each room is fully equipped with computers, screens, sound systems and marker boards.

Judicial Branch Education administrative offices and Court Improvement Project offices will also be housed within the new facility.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction and lengthy sentence of an Omaha woman for the 2013 killing a 4-month-old baby in her care.

Sarah Cullen was convicted last year of intentional child abuse resulting in the death of Cash Bell and was sentenced to 70 years to life in prison. Doctors said the baby had been violently shaken.

In her appeal, Cullen primarily argued that evidence of the baby’s prior injuries while in her care should have been excluded from her trial. She also argued that her sentence was excessive.

On Friday, the high court rejected all of her arguments, saying her sentence was within the range allowed by law and that evidence of the baby’s prior injuries helped prove Cullen’s actions were intentional, rather than simply negligent.