OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say two northeast Nebraska girls who were the subject of an Amber Alert were found safe in Omaha, and the aunt suspected of taking them was arrested.

The alert was issued Friday afternoon for the two Hartington sisters, 11 months old and 9 years old.

Within two hours, a tip from the public led officials to an Omaha hotel, where they found the girls.

The girls’ 33-year-old aunt, Leah LaCroix of Aripeka, Florida, was arrested without incident. LaCroix is charged in an arrest warrant with two counts of kidnapping.

Before her arrest, authorities had said they believed LaCroix was armed and that the girls were in danger.

LaCroix remained jailed Saturday and could not be reached for comment. There is no attorney listed for her in online court records.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police say a sport utility vehicle that crashed into a south Lincoln business caused about $20,000 in damage to the building.

Police say the crash happened around 1:40 a.m. Friday, when a Jeep ran into Cardinal Management in the Pine Ridge office complex.

The accident was only discovered after a Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputy driving by saw the Jeep lodged in the building’s wall.

Police say alcohol was found in the Jeep. A 28-year-old man believed to be the Jeep’s driver was found walking nearby with cuts on his face and blood on his shirt. He was treated at a local hospital and ticketed by police.

HUBBARD, Neb. (AP) — A newly opened lake in northeast Nebraska is drawing anglers and recreationalists from the area, including across the Missouri River in Iowa.

The gates on the Danish Alps State Recreation Area near Hubbard opened Wednesday.

Located just south of Nebraska Highway 35, the park is named for the local hilly terrain that is reminiscent of the Danish homeland of the immigrants who settled in the area. The 746-acre park includes RV and tent camping, equestrian camping facilities, day use areas, a walking and hiking trail and equestrian trail.

The centerpiece is 226-acre Kramper Lake, named after Vince Kramper, a Dakota City farmer and conservationist. The lake has been stocked with largemouth bass, bluegill, black crappie, walleye and channel catfish.

LINCOLN – An incident at a boat ramp at Willow Creek State Recreation Area near Pierce in northeast Nebraska has claimed the life of a woman.

 On the afternoon of July 10, emergency personnel, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission responded to a call of an unconscious 74-year-old Oakland, Ore., woman. She was transported to Faith Regional Medical Center in Norfolk, where she passed away that night.

 Witnesses reported the woman was boating with her family and had just stepped off the boat onto the dock when she apparently lost her balance, falling off the end of the dock into the water. She had remained under the dock a short time before family members were able to remove her from the water and witnesses began performing CPR.

 The victim was wearing an inflatable life jacket but apparently was unable to deploy it.

 The name of the victim has not been released, pending notification of relatives.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say excessive speed was a factor in a crash that killed a 24-year-old Omaha driver.

The crash happened Friday afternoon near 42nd Street and Sorenson Parkway in midtown Omaha. Investigators say Antwaun Rollerson was driving westbound on Sorenson Parkway when he crossed into the right lane, hit a curb and flipped the car.

Rollerson, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene. A 16-year-old passenger in the vehicle who was wearing a seat belt escaped uninjured.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has reversed a workers’ compensation court ruling favoring an employee hurt during a company party.

The case stems from a 2010 cookout Aurora Cooperative, which owns grain elevators in southeast Nebraska, held for its customers in Ong. A co-op employee, John Jacobitz, was injured in a fall from the back of a pickup during the cookout while helping move a grill to a company shed.

The workers’ compensation court based its finding for Jacobitz on the fact that “the co-op received a substantial benefit from Jacobitz’s attendance.” But the Nebraska Supreme Court said Friday that the standard for whether an employee is entitled to benefits when injured at a social event tied to employment is “a substantial direct benefit,” not merely a “substantial benefit.”

ARBORVILLE, Neb. (AP) — The director of the York County Historical Society wants county commissioners to declare the tiny Zion Cemetery abandoned so it can be cleared of thick weeds, grass and debris.

The two-acre cemetery is located on farm ground in the township of Arborville and is inaccessible by vehicle.

The historical society’s director, Nancy Beach, wants commissioners to declare the cemetery as fully abandoned so work can be done at the site. She says she’ll work to gather the signatures of 35 county residents who support the abandonment of the cemetery as required by state law.

She says that the county surveyor has agreed to re-survey the property. Once that’s done, she says she’ll present documentation to commissioners so they can take action.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A judge has ordered a 12-year-old suspect in a deadly Omaha shooting to remain in a youth detention center.

The boy had his first court appearance Friday, with prosecutors saying he is a member of one of Omaha’s most violent street gangs. His pretrial hearing was set for July 21.

The boy is one of three suspects charged with first-degree murder in the June 29 slaying of 31-year-old Jamymell Ray. Prosecutors say Ray was shot when the boy and two teens lured him and another man to a park on the premise of a marijuana deal.

The youngest suspect was arrested Tuesday in Minneapolis. The other two suspects, ages 15 and 17, were arrested in Omaha last week.

Editor’s Note: The Omaha Police Department has identified the suspects as 17-year-old Jamal Milton, 15-year-old Shuntayvious Primes-Willis and 12-year-old Jarrell Milton.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A jury has awarded $75,000 to a Lincoln woman in a lawsuit that accused police and the local Crime Stoppers organization of libel and slander.

A posting on the Crime Stoppers website had accused 26-year-old Shayla Funk of using someone’s stolen credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM.

A video had shown Funk withdrawing cash from her own account in April 2013, but because of an incorrect time stamp on the video, the bank had given police video of the wrong person.

Funk sued the Lincoln-Lancaster County Crime Stoppers Inc. and the Lincoln Police Department. She contended they libeled her by calling her a thief in posts on the Crime Stoppers website and slandered her in two television segments.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the first-degree murder convictions and three life sentences of a man who killed two Brazilian missionaries and their 7-year-old son in Omaha.

Jose Oliveira-Coutinho alleged numerous errors by the trial court in his appeal. On Friday, the state’s high court rejected them all.

Oliveira-Coutinho was one of three Brazilian men charged with killing Vanderlei Szczepanik, his wife, Jacqueline, and their son, Christopher. Valdeir Goncalves-Santos was sentenced to 20 years for his role. The other man remains in Brazil.

Prosecutors say the men beat Vanderlei Szczepanik to death and hanged his wife and son before throwing their bodies in the Missouri River. The family was last seen alive in December 2009. Christopher’s body was recovered in 2011, but his parents’ bodies were never found.