PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — Sarpy County prosecutors are accusing a former Gretna school bus driver of stalking a woman he met when she rode the bus as a girl.

32-year-old Kevin Klingensmith is charged with felony stalking.

Deputy Sarpy County Attorney Phil Kleine says officers were called to the woman’s residence on April 20 after the family spotted someone running across the property.

Kleine says investigators used camera footage to identify the man as Klingensmith.

Klingensmith’s attorney says his client denies he was on the property.

Court records show that judges have approved nine protection orders against Klingensmith that were sought by the accuser’s family, starting when she was 11 years old.

Kleine says Klingensmith met her when he was a bus driver for Gretna Public Schools.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska farmer has been chosen to lead the U.S. Grains Council trade group.

Alan Tiemann says he is looking forward to continuing his work with the group to open markets for U.S. grain. Tiemann had been serving as vice chairman for the previous year.

Much of Nebraska’s corn crop is consumed nearby by either livestock or the ethanol industry but strong export demand for the grain helps boost crop prices.

Tiemann farms near Seward and has been working in agriculture for more than 35 years. He also serves on the Nebraska Corn Board.

COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — The Columbus City Council has upheld the eviction of a pair of noisy parrots from the city, despite pleas from the birds’ owners for their return.

The council voted unanimously last Monday to uphold a decision to revoke Blanca Leon’s rights to have the birds.

Neighbors had complained that the birds were kept in cages on an open front porch from May to October and that their singing, talking and squawking could be heard blocks away.

Leon promised to keep the birds inside if they were allowed to return to Columbus from the ranch outside city limits where they’re currently being kept.

But city officials cited a litany of pet-related violations by Leon for its decision not to allow the birds to return.

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CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — The life sentence delivered by a divided jury to Colorado theater shooter James Holmes for murdering 12 defenseless moviegoers averts an uncertain path to execution in a state that has put only one man to death in nearly a half-century.

Colorado rarely carries out capital punishments. Only one man in the state has been put to death since 1967.

Still, many observers figured this notorious mass-murder would be the exception that proved the rule. Prosecutors refused a pre-trial plea deal that would have kept him behind bars for life, calling Holmes the personification of evil and saying that death was the only appropriate response.

The verdict means Holmes will remain behind bars forever, averting an appeals process that would have taken decades of public hearings and millions of taxpayer dollars to resolve.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Residents in Iowa — and neighboring Nebraska across the Missouri River — are taking advantage of Iowa’s sales tax holiday this weekend.

The annual sales tax holiday coincides with back-to-school shopping. It began Friday and wraps up Saturday.

The Iowa holiday allows shoppers to buy select clothing and footwear priced at less than $100 without paying sales tax or local option taxes. The two days are usually among the best of the year for Iowa retailers.

Retailers say the event draws thousands of people from Nebraska to the state for back-to-school shopping, too. Nebraska is one of 34 states that doesn’t have a sales tax holiday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The attorney for a former public address announcer at Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium accused of bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars from two elderly women says his client is not guilty.

Attorney Bob Creager said police and prosecutors rushed to judgment and filed unfounded criminal charges against 49-year-old Patrick Combs.

Authorities say Combs spent about $363,000 of the women’s money on cars, home repairs and gifts to friends. He’s charged with two counts of theft and one count of attempted theft, abuse of a vulnerable adult and unauthorized use of a financial transaction device.

Creager says Combs was a lifelong family friend of one woman he’s accused of bilking.

The Nebraska Athletic Department says Combs is no longer the Nebraska public address announcer.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police are seeking a suspect after a man was shot to death Saturday on an Omaha street.

Police say they were informed of shots fired just before 10 a.m. Saturday in north Omaha. Upon arrival, officers found a man with an apparent gunshot wound.

The man was taken to CHI Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, where he died.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers or the department’s homicide unit.

Authorities have not yet released the name of the victim or other details of the shooting.

DENVER (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration says a Delta Airlines flight that originated from Boston made an emergency landing in Denver because hail damaged the plane.

FAA spokesman Ian McGregor said the plane landed safely at Denver International Airport at 8:42 p.m. Friday. The flight’s destination was Salt Lake City International Airport.

McGregor says hail pelted the plane, damaged its nose cone and cracked its windshield.

The federal agency continues to investigate.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded a 2-year-old girl a staggering $17 million, finding that subpar care at a Bellevue hospital led to her severe disability.

The verdict issued this week could test Nebraska’s strict cap on medical malpractice awards. Nebraska tort laws cap those awards at $2.25 million. The cap at the time of the girl’s birth was $1.75 million.

A Bellevue Medical Center administrator said the hospital was not at fault. A spokesman for Nebraska Medicine, of which the hospital is a part, says no decision has been made on whether to appeal the verdict.

The girl’s mother, Doran Schmidt, sued the hospital, alleging that hospital workers were negligent in the hours leading to the girl’s complicated birth on Nov. 2, 2012.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Officials have rolled out a new bike sharing program that will provide students and staff of the Central Community College in Grand Island with another way to get to and from campus.

Students and employees can check out one of five new bicycles for a 24-hour period. A grant worth more than $10,500 from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska funded the program, which was revealed on Thursday.

The program’s launch was perfect timing for psychology student Gach Rom, whose car recently broke down. Rom says the program should encourage Grand Island residents to think more about health as well as environmental sustainability.