COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Crews from Council Bluffs and Omaha had to work hard to rescue a woman who had jumped from a bridge connecting the two cities and landed in the structure beneath the bridge deck.

The Omaha woman stopped her vehicle on the Veterans Memorial Bridge on Thursday afternoon and jumped off the south side of the bridge, which spans the Missouri River.

Police say she fell about 10 feet, landing on an iron catwalk and breaking her right ankle.

Fire and rescue teams from Council Bluffs and Omaha responded. They used ropes to lower themselves to the woman, moved her to a basket and then pulled her up to safety.

Eastbound traffic on US Highway 275 was closed for more than two hours.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Don’t bring your selfie stick to Disney World.

Officials announced Friday that a ban takes effect Tuesday at all four Disney theme parks in Orlando as well as at Disney’s water parks and Disney Quest, a gaming attraction at Downtown Disney.

Spokeswoman Kim Prunty said selfie sticks have become a “growing safety concern for both our guests and cast.”

Selfie sticks will also be banned at Disneyland Resort in California on Tuesday and at Disney’s parks in Paris and Hong Kong starting July 1.

Officials say guests will have the option of turning in their selfie sticks for pick-up later, or returning them to their cars or hotel rooms.

The sticks have been banned at a growing list of museums, music festivals and sports venues.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has reversed a ruling that denied a prisoner’s request to sue prosecutors and other attorneys without having to pay the costs of his claim.

The court said in a ruling Friday that a Lancaster County judge erred when she denied the inmate’s request for legal status as a pauper.

The inmate, Paul Castonguay, was convicted of first-degree sexual assault in Douglas County but filed his complaint against prosecutors, public defenders and two other attorneys in Lancaster County.

Judge Stephanie Stacy denied his request for pauper status on her own accord after concluding that Lancaster County wasn’t the proper venue for the case.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have identified the two deputies involved in the shooting of a man in a west Omaha convenience store parking lot this week.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says 15-year-veteran Wade Grim fired several shots that hit 32-year-old Taylor Culbertson, of Omaha.

Officials say Culbertson confronted another deputy, 9-year-veteran Chad Miller, with a gun Tuesday morning when he was ordered out of his vehicle. Investigators say a struggle over the gun ensued, and a shot was fired from Culbertson’s gun. Grim, who had arrived as backup, then shot Culbertson.

Culbertson remains at an Omaha hospital.

Neither deputy was injured. Both have been placed on administrative leave, per department policy in officer-involved shootings.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Hastings officials will ask Amtrak to reconsider its decision to no longer employ a ticket agent at its train station.

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari tells the Hastings Tribune that it discontinued the position after an employee left to accept another job within the company.

Hastings Mayor Vern Powers says he was disappointed when he learned of Amtrak’s decision to eliminate the ticket agent job last week. He says that he hopes it isn’t the company’s first step to discontinue service to Hastings.

With the position gone, customers departing from the Hastings station will have to purchase their tickets online in advance and either print or transfer their ticket information to a mobile device for scanning.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) — Douglas County officials say turkey vultures are creating a hazard to planes at the Fremont Municipal Airport.

U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife inspector Scot Rosendahl told the Dodge County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday the vultures have been a problem at the airport for nearly three years.

Rosendahl says the birds are troublesome on the runway and in the air near the airport, where the large birds are potentially threatening to relatively small aircraft.

Rosendahl says he hopes to buy pyrotechnic guns that can frighten the birds with a booming sound, prompting them to leave.

He says the equipment has worked at other airports but acknowledged the turkey vultures can be difficult to scare off.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 27-year-old Omaha man faces an automatic life term in prison for killing another man after an argument about a prostitute.

A Douglas County jury in Omaha convicted Corleone McCurry after nearly five hours of deliberation on Wednesday. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and two weapons counts in the slaying of 41-year-old Timothy Marzettie at Marzettie’s house on June 25, 2014.

Prosecutors say the two had gotten into a dispute about a woman who had once worked as prostitute for Marzettie.

OAKDALE, Neb. (AP) — A former village clerk convicted of stealing from her village in northeast Nebraska village has been given two to four years in prison.

Online court records say 31-year-old Megan Brandt had pleaded no contest and was convicted of theft. Prosecutors dropped a second charge in exchange for Brandt’s plea. At her sentencing Wednesday in Antelope County District Court, Brandt also was ordered to make restitution of more than $25,000.

The village has about 320 residents.

An arrest affidavit says bank records indicate Brandt signed and forged numerous checks from village of Oakdale accounts in 2013 and 2014 made payable to her or her husband. Brandt also was accused of making unauthorized withdrawals from village accounts using an ATM card.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation after authorities say a worker was killed at a construction site.

A 41-year-old man from Sedalia, Missouri, died Wednesday when a piece of metal fell 130 feet from a crane and hit him in the head . The metal shattered his hard hat.

According to police, the incident happened on the southeast edge of the downtown campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Lincoln Police Sgt. Ed Sheridan said the man’s co-workers performed to CPR to try and save him, but he died before paramedics arrived.

UEHLING, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 1-year-old eastern Nebraska girl is expected to recover after being run over by a pickup driven by her mother.

The accident occurred Wednesday morning in the Dodge County community of Uehling.

Matt Schott, who is police chief for Hooper and Uehling, says the infant’s mom was backing out of a driveway and didn’t see her.

The baby was taken to a Fremont hospital and then transferred to the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

Schott told the Omaha World-Herald that he’d talked to the girl’s father, who said she didn’t have any broken bones and that it looked like she was going to be OK.