LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say no one was hurt when a fire broke out at an elementary school in Lincoln.
Lincoln Fire & Rescue says students and staffers evacuated Saratoga Elementary a little before 8:30 a.m. after smoke was noticed in an area near the school gym. Firefighters later contained the fire to a mechanical room.
The students were able to get their coats before going out into the subfreezing weather and were moved to a nearby church within 15 minutes.
WAKEFIELD, Neb. (AP) — An accountant charged with stealing nearly $110,000 from a northeast Nebraska church has pleaded not guilty.
Dixon County District Court records say 45-year-old Michael Pommer, of Wakefield, entered the written pleas Wednesday to 15 counts of theft. The records don’t show that a trial has been scheduled.
Pommer’s accused of taking the money from two bank accounts of Salem Lutheran Church without church officials’ authorization. The records say the bank account transfers occurred from June 24, 2016, to Sept. 5 this year.
A court affidavit says Pommer has since reimbursed the church nearly $115,000.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha authorities are checking the possibility that a woman slain more than 40 years ago was among dozens of women killed by a Texas prison inmate.
Omaha police said Wednesday that investigators are talking to Texas authorities about 78-year-old Sam Little, who confessed to slayings from 1970 to 2005. The FBI said Tuesday that it has corroborated 34 of his accounts about the killings.
Omaha police Lt. Darci Tierney says Omaha officers are looking into Little’s possible connection to the 1973 slaying of Agatha White Buffalo. White Buffalo was strangled and found upside-down in a 55-gallon drum at the Sturges Hide Co. in November 1973.
The FBI says Little is serving time for a 1994 murder and likely will stay in prison until his death.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Five longtime friends from Lincoln have claimed their $1 million Powerball prize.The friends began pooling their money to buy lottery tickets during the October jackpot run that pushed the Mega Millions prize to more than $1.5 billion and the Powerball to $688 million.
YORK, Neb. (AP) – A January sentencing has been scheduled for a Lincoln woman accused of embezzlement while working for the York city landfill.
According to court records, 59-year-old Lynn Rasmussen pleaded no contest Tuesday to misdemeanor theft. Prosecutors lowered the charge from a felony in exchange for her plea. Rasmussen also agreed to pay restitution of nearly $12,600. Her sentencing is set for Jan. 28.
Court documents say Rasmussen ran the scale house and accepted payments for material dumped at the landfill. Investigators say Rasmussen voided the cash transactions and threw away the physical tickets so there were no records of the transactions. Then she’d keep the cash for herself.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A bookkeeper accused of stealing more than $85,000 from a Columbus business is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 28.
Platte County District Court records say 45-year-old Jennifer Held, of Monroe, pleaded no contest to felony theft after prosecutors dropped four related counts. A hearing on restitution is set for Dec. 27.
The records say the owner of Clarkson TV & Appliance reported to police the discovery of unauthorized checks being written on the company account. The records also say Held acknowledged writing the checks, saying she needed the money for bills.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A convenience store clerk has been accused of selling alcohol consumed by a 17-year-old who later died when his speeding car crashed on the west end of Omaha.
Douglas County Court records say 29-year-old Kevin Hart is charged with procuring alcohol that resulted in a death. The records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for him.
Prosecutors say Hart sold the liquor to two teenagers on Oct. 11 who later sold it to George Gervase and another teen. The two teenagers who bought the liquor have been charged in juvenile court. Prosecutors say Hart knew the two were underage.
Gervase’s wrecked car and his body were found early the next day . His blood alcohol level tested out at nearly three times the legal limit.
PLAINVIEW, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a man died in a head-on collision southeast of Plainview in northeast Nebraska.
Pierce County Sheriff Rick Eberhardt says Tim Wacker was driving southeast Friday morning on Nebraska Highway 13 when his vehicle collided with an oncoming vehicle being driven by 25-year-old Chance Johnson, of Norfolk.
Eberhardt says the 48-year-old Wacker was killed. He lived in Plainview.
The sheriff’s office said Monday that Johnson was flown to a Sioux City, Iowa, hospital for treatment.
The collision is being investigated.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday for the trial of a former Omaha police officer charged after a deadly encounter with a mentally ill man.
Thirty-nine-year-old Scotty Payne is charged with felony assault and use of a weapon in the June 5, 2017, death of Zachary Bearheels. Police say the 29-year-old Bearheels was acting erratically at an Omaha convenience store and fought officers’ efforts to take him into custody.
Police cruiser video shows Payne using a stun gun on Bearheels and Officer Ryan McClarty dragging Bearheels by his hair and repeatedly punching him in the face. McClarty is scheduled to begin trial Jan. 14.
A judge ruled last month that jurors to be chosen for Payne’s trial will not learn that it led to the officer’s firing.
BRANDON, S.D. (AP) – A South Dakota man has his lost wallet back with some extra cash thanks to a stranger.
Hunter Shamatt thought he’d never seen the wallet again when he lost it on a flight to Las Vegas for his sister’s wedding. Inside was $60 cash and a check for about $400.
Shamatt tells KSFY-TV he received a package a few days later along with the wallet and a letter. The stranger wrote he found the wallet wedged between a seat and a wall on a flight from Omaha, Nebraska, to Denver. He added $40 so Shamatt would have “an even $100” to celebrate the wallet’s return. The stranger only signed the letter with initials.
Shamatt’s was able to thank the man after tracking down his return address in Omaha.
