OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police are investigating the shooting death of a man in central Omaha.
Police say officers were called to the Sonesta Suites hotel just before 2:30 a.m. Wednesday for reports of a shooting.
Arriving officers found 31-year-old James Middlebrook dead inside an upstairs unit.
Police say a person of interest was taken into custody for questioning on Wednesday, but no arrests had been announced by Thursday afternoon.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police say a man has died in a three-vehicle crash in north-central Omaha.
Police say the crash happened Wednesday morning at Maple and 94th streets when a sport utility vehicle began weaving, went over a curb and crossed two lanes of traffic and across a center median before hitting a pickup truck and a car traveling the opposite direction.
Forty-nine-year-old Kenneth Evans of Omaha, who was driving the SUV, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are investigating whether a medical condition suffered by Evans led to the crash.
The driver of the pickup suffered a knee injury, and the driver and a passenger in the car were uninjured.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police have arrested a Lincoln man accused of stabbing another man with a pitchfork.
The stabbing happened Thursday morning during an argument between the two men. Police say officers found a 65-year-old man on the front porch of a Lincoln apartment bleeding from his forearm. The victim told officers he and his fiance were at the apartment of 55-year-old Michael Staska when he and Staska began arguing.
Police say Staska told the victim to leave, but wanted the fiance to stay. Staska told police he used the pitchfork to “shoo” the victim from the apartment.
Police say the older man suffered puncture wounds to his left arm and lower back. Staska was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault and use of a weapon.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — Police have arrested a 19-year-old Grand Island man accused of hitting a patrol officer while speeding away from a traffic stop.
Westley Weller was wanted on three drug-related warrants when he was stopped early Wednesday morning.
Police say Weller’s vehicle was stopped because one of its headlights was out. Police say that when officers discovered the warrants for him, Weller refused commands to get out of the car and resisted when officers tried to remove him. Police say Weller then sped off, hitting an officer as he pulled away. The officer was not seriously injured.
Weller was arrested without incident around noon Wednesday and now faces additional charges, including attempted assault on an officer.
Television station KSNB reports that Westley Weller was wanted on three drug-related warrants when he was stopped early Wednesday morning.
Police say Weller’s vehicle was stopped because one of its headlights was out. Police say that when officers discovered the warrants for him, Weller refused commands to get out of the car and resisted when officers tried to remove him. Police say Weller then sped off, hitting an officer as he pulled away. The officer was not seriously injured.
Weller was arrested without incident around noon Wednesday and now faces additional charges, including attempted assault on an officer.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man who left his two preschool children in a minivan overnight during a strong thunderstorm while he got drunk has been sentenced to probation.
29-year-old Charles Bibbs was given three years’ probation Tuesday. In a plea agreement, Bibbs pleaded guilty to one count of intentional child abuse.
In June, Omaha police found the boys, ages 4 and 5, and a dog in the unlocked van in a library parking lot. Bibbs told police he left the boys there, with the van running, around midnight to go drinking in a bar, forgot about the boys and went home with a woman he met in the bar.
Just hours before leaving the boys, Bibbs had been released from prison for a fourth-offence drunken driving conviction. The children have been named wards of the state.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal investigators determined that a broken rail caused the fiery 2017 train derailment in northwest Iowa that released 322,000 gallons of ethanol.
The National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday that Union Pacific’s maintenance was inadequate before the March 2017 derailment near Graettinger, Iowa, and Federal Railroad Administration inspectors didn’t do enough to identify flaws in the track.
No injuries were reported in connection with the derailment in a rural area about 160 miles (257 kilometers) northwest of Des Moines that caused at least $4 million in damage. Five of the 20 derailed tankers plunged into Jack Creek.
The NTSB said Omaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific should strengthen its track maintenance and inspection program, especially on rail lines that carry hazardous materials, such as ethanol, to help prevent future derailments. The agency also recommended that the FRA improve its training for its inspectors
The train in this derailment was carrying ethanol for export that had not been denatured by adding chemicals, the NTSB said. The agency wants to study whether it’s safer to transport ethanol before it is denatured.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza said the railroad cooperated with investigators during the review and would evaluate the findings.
“Union Pacific will continue working diligently to identify and implement improvements to inspection and maintenance programs across our system,” Espinoza said.
An FRA spokesman said that agency will review the NTSB findings and issue a written response within 90 days.
After the derailment, 14 of the 20 derailed tanker cars released ethanol. The resulting fire took more than 2½ days to burn itself out.
About 400 feet of track and the trestle bridge were destroyed.
The derailed cars were considered by federal investigators as older, less sturdy tankers of the type being phased out over the next several years.
Federal rules enacted in 2015 call for replacing or retrofitting the aging, soda can-shaped rail tankers by 2029, although most would have to come off the tracks sooner. Those that carry ethanol would have to be replaced by 2023.
The NTSB reiterated one of its previous recommendations for regulators to adopt a more detailed schedule for replacing older tank cars with intermediate goals before 2023.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say the remains of a World War II soldier from Lincoln have been identified and are being returned to his hometown for burial.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Tuesday in a news release that the burial is scheduled Nov. 14 for U.S. Army Sgt. Eugene McBride. He’d been listed as accounted for on Sept. 10 — no longer listed as missing in action.
The agency says the 20-year-old McBride was killed by an artillery shell blast on Jan. 30, 1945, near Huppenbroich, Germany. He was a member of the 311th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division.
Positive identification could not be made, but the remains thought to be connected to McBride were interred at the Rhone American Cemetery in France on Jan. 7, 1952.
The agency says the remains were removed in June 2017, analyzed and positively identified.
MACY, Neb. (AP) — A northeast Nebraska couple accused of locking their 10-year-old foster son in a basement room have pleaded not guilty.
Krista Parker entered her pleas Monday to charges of kidnapping, child abuse-neglect and false imprisonment. Charles Parker entered his pleas last week to the same charges.
A court document says officers with Omaha Nation Law Enforcement Services went to the Parkers’ home in Macy on Sept. 15 after receiving a call about a boy locked in a storage room. Officers found the boy locked in the dark basement room with no windows or ventilation. The room reeked of urine and feces.
WAKEFIELD, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say an accountant has been charged with stealing nearly $110,000 from a northeast Nebraska church — money that court records say he’s already more than paid back.
Dixon County District Court records say 45-year-old Michael Pommer, of Wakefield, is charged with 15 counts of theft. He didn’t immediately return a call Wednesday from The Associated Press.
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) — An Omaha man has been imprisoned for selling counterfeit Mickey Mantles and other trading cards online.
Federal prosecutors say 45-year-old Thomas Beatty Jr. was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha to 30 months and ordered to pay restitution of $142,000. He also must serve three years of supervised release after leaving prison.
Beatty had pleaded guilty to mail fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors say that from June 2017 through November 2017, Beatty advertised and sold online what were described as rare and valuable sports trading cards. Among them were two of former New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle, one of Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Namath of the New York Jets and one of basketball legend Bill Russell.
Prosecutors say the cards were counterfeits worth less than $10 each.
