OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Homicide detectives are investigating the slaying of a man whose body was found in a northeast Omaha yard.
Police say officers and medics who were sent to the neighborhood a little after 8 a.m. Tuesday found an unresponsive man. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
His name has not been released. No arrests have been reported.
COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — A 20-year-old Columbus woman who crashed a stolen pickup has been sent to prison for theft and trying to get away from officers.
Platte County District Court records say Mallory Smith pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge connected to the Nov. 16 chase in Platte and Butler counties that ended when she crashed near Bellwood. She also pleaded no contest to a felony theft charge.
On Monday Smith was sentenced to a year for trying to flee and 20 to 36 months for theft. The sentences are to be served at the same time.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Smoke from a large fire at an Omaha recycling center wafted across the city and lingered as a smelly haze long after after flames were extinguished.
Several fire crews responded to the fire around 5 a.m. Tuesday at International Paper Co. in east Omaha and remained on the scene for hours, working to put out smoldering paper and cardboard that had been awaiting processing.
A breeze blew smoke from the blaze toward parts of downtown and midtown Omaha, bringing with it a prominent odor. Health officials cautioned residents about the health risks associated with visible smoke.
An employee with the company estimated that hundreds of tons of paper and cardboard had been outside when the fire sparked. No injuries were reported in the fire.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — A June trial has been scheduled for a Florida woman accused of drowning a puppy in a south-central Nebraska airport bathroom.
In a document filed in Hall County District Court on Friday, 57-year-old Cynthia Anderson waived her right to a preliminary hearing and asked that a plea of not guilty be entered. Anderson, who is from Edgewater, Florida, is charged with felony cruel neglect of animals. Her trial is set to begin June 8.
On Jan. 23 Anderson was barred from boarding a flight at the Central Nebraska Regional Airport in Grand Island because the puppy was so young and not properly contained.
Authorities say Anderson then was seen entering the bathroom. Another woman soon reported finding a dead Doberman puppy in a toilet.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities have released the names of two drivers involved in a fatal collision in south Lincoln.
The accident occurred around 3 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Old Cheney Road and Nebraska Highway 2. Police say a car was struck by another westbound vehicle.
The car driver was pronounced dead at a Lincoln hospital. On Tuesday police identified him as 81-year-old Monty McMahon, of Lincoln. The woman driving the other vehicle was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. She was identified as 50-year-old Laurie Clemons.
Officers are still investigating the accident.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska appeals court has rejected an appeal from an Omaha man serving up to 90 years in prison for robbing a store at gunpoint, then arranging from jail to have a witness shot.
Prosecutors say Gatdet Chuol and another man robbed an Omaha clothing store at gunpoint in June 2011. After Chuol was arrested and jailed, authorities say he recruited his younger brother to kill store manager Matthew Kim to keep him from testifying.
Kim was shot up to nine times, but survived.
On Tuesday, the Nebraska Court of Appeals upheld a judge’s rejection of Chuol’s motion for post-conviction relief, saying there was no merit to his arguments that prosecutors breached the terms of a plea agreement and that his lawyer was ineffective.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Innovation Campus has repurposed trees from the former State Fair Park for furniture at the research campus.
The 250-acre research campus facilitates partnerships between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the private sector.
Last week, a boardroom table crafted from green ash trees was installed in the Innovation Commons to be used by various groups, according to developer Josh Berger. It took over 300 man-hours for Jay Ryan of Jay’s Woods in Bennet to create the template for the 22-foot-long table, and glue strips of green ash together. The table’s base was constructed by TMCO of Lincoln.
Another table that will be built from wood from the fairgrounds this spring will be installed in the campus’ Food Innovation Center, which will open later this year.
TOBIAS, Neb. (AP) — A 49-year-old woman has been killed in a vehicle crash in western Saline County.
The accident occurred a little after 11 p.m. Sunday on County Road 600, about six miles northeast of Tobias. Sheriff Alan Moore says Cynthia Crabtree was driving south when she lost control of her vehicle. It went into a ditch and struck a utility pole. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash is being investigated.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln authorities say a woman broke a basement window to escape a house fire with her four-month-old baby.
Fire investigator Chuck Schweitzer says an improperly discarded cigarette sparked the Monday afternoon blaze, which started on the home’s front porch. The mother and child were sleeping downstairs when the mother smelled smoke and went upstairs.
Schweitzer says the woman saw heavy smoke and flames on the first floor before returning to the basement. She broke a window, escaped from the home with her child and called 911.
Schweitzer says he found heavy damage inside the home from smoke and flames as well as water damage.
GRETNA, Neb. (AP) — A Sarpy County worker has been injured in a collision between his road grader and a locomotive at a crossing in rural Sarpy County.
The accident occurred around 10:45 a.m. Monday near Capehart Road and 227th Street, southwest of Gretna. The Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office says 54-year-old Todd Gloe was grading a gravel road when his machine was struck by the locomotive at the head of the westbound train. Gloe was flown to an Omaha hospital.
Traffic at the crossing is controlled by stop signs.
