SPENCER, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 65-year-old man has died in northern Nebraska after being knocked to the ground by falling bales of alfalfa.

The accident occurred Tuesday afternoon around 5¼ miles west of Spencer. The victim was identified as David Kocian.

The Boyd County sheriff’s department says in a news release that Kocian and another man were loading the bales onto a semitrailer when a stack of three bales fell over, knocking Kocian to the ground.

The department says Kocian was taken to Niobrara Valley Hospital in Lynch, where he was pronounced dead.

 

MARYSVILLE, Kan. (AP) — Officials in northeast Kansas are warning people to be on the lookout for a man who is impersonating a police officer who stops vehicles and demands to be allowed to search them.

Five incidents have been reported this week.

The first report came in Sunday evening. On Wednesday night, the man stopped a vehicle near Liberty, Nebraska, just north of Marysville.

The man, who wears a black uniform with a badge, uses a single red light on his white 4-door truck. He is described as white, in his 40s, about 6-foot-1, with brown hair and a black mustache.

Marysville Police Chief Todd Ackerman says several area agencies and the Kansas Highway Patrol are searching for the suspect’s vehicle.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The founder of TD Ameritrade plans to create a religious retreat center in the wooded hills above a scenic Platte River valley between Lincoln and Omaha.

The center will be set on a 931-acre parcel bought for $13.6 million last month by The Cloisters on the Platte Foundation. Billionaire Joe Ricketts created the foundation last year.

The land is on the east side of the Platte River, across from Eugene T. Mahoney State Park.

The 73-year-old Ricketts founded TD Ameritrade, which has grown into one of the largest online discount brokerages in the world. He is the father of Gov. Pete Ricketts, and his family owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for possession of child pornography.

Nebraska’s U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg says 53-year-old Glenn Ogden was sentenced last week in Lincoln’s federal court to 13 years. There is no parole in the federal system.

After his release, Ogden will be required to register as a sex offender.

Gilg says an undercover Nebraska State Patrol investigator was contacted in January 2014 by Ogden, who expressed interest in having sex with a 4-year-old girl. Ogden also sent 14 images of child pornography to the investigator.

Authorities say Ogden was arrested after he traveled from Lincoln to Kearney to meet with the undercover investigator.

CLAY CENTER, Neb. (AP) — A 53-year-old truck driver has been given 40 years in prison for the crash deaths of three people in south-central Nebraska’s Clay County.

Kenneth Johnson, of Eagle, was sentenced on Wednesday. He’d pleaded no contest in November to two counts of manslaughter. Prosecutors dropped a third count and a charge of being a habitual criminal in exchange for Johnson’s pleas.

Authorities say Johnson was driving a load of sand on Nebraska Highway 14 in August when his semitrailer struck a sport utility vehicle near U.S. Highway 6. Three people were killed: 53-year-old Gary Isom; his wife, 52-year-old Susan Isom; and their daughter, 26-year-old Tiffany Isom. The couple’s teenage son survived the collision.

 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Trial for a former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school has been rescheduled for later this year.

The trial for Anthony Garcia is now set to begin Sept. 14. His trial had been set for Feb. 17. In December, Garcia waived his right to a speedy trial.

Garcia is charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 deaths of Thomas Hunter, the 11-year-old son of Creighton University pathologist William Hunter, and Shirlee Sherman, the family’s housekeeper, as well as the May 2013 deaths of Creighton pathologist Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary.

Authorities contend that Garcia was motivated by revenge for being fired from Creighton’s pathology department in 2001.

A Tuesday traffic stop for speeding on Interstate 80 in Hamilton County led to the seizure of 58 lbs. of marijuana and one arrest.

Just after 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 13, a trooper stopped an eastbound 2015 Chevy Suburban for speeding about a mile east of the Giltner exit on I-80 in Hamilton County. An NSP canine indicated to the odor of drugs coming from the vehicle. A search of the SUV led to the seizure of 58 lbs. of marijuana. The marijuana was located in three duffle bags in the cargo area of the SUV.

The driver and lone occupant of the vehicle, George B. Kuckly,44, Nevada City, Calif., was lodged in the Hamilton County Jail on a charge of Possession of a Marijuana with Intent to Deliver.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The murder case against the 24-year-old sister of a convicted Omaha killer has gone to a Douglas County jury.

Erica Jenkins is charged with murder and other crimes in the Aug. 19, 2013, slaying of Curtis Bradford. Her second murder trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 26 in slaying of Andrea Kruger on Aug. 21, 2013. Jenkins’ brother, Nikko Jenkins, was convicted last year in the 2013 killings of Kruger, Bradford and two other men within weeks of leaving prison.

Three Jenkins family members testified against Erica Jenkins during the trial.

Erica Jenkins, who’s already serving time for robbery, was not in the courtroom and has waived her right to attend the trial.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Grand Island city attorney says the City Council didn’t violate the state’s public meetings law when the council split up to privately interview candidates for the Ward 1 seat on the council.

Before Tuesday’s open council meeting, the council divided itself into groups of four and five to talk to the three candidates. A public meeting would have been required if a quorum of six members were present.

City attorney Bob Sivick says the closed meetings didn’t violate Nebraska’s Open Meeting Act, which requires public bodies to meet in public except for specific exceptions. The groups met just feet apart in the administration suite on the first floor of City Hall, interviewing the same three people separately for 30 minutes each.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s fire chief says his department ambulances will send trauma patients only to Nebraska Medical Center and not to Creighton University Medical Center, which is not a certified Level 1 trauma center.

Fire Chief Bernie Kanger said Tuesday that the decision doesn’t suggest that the Creighton hospital “has been lacking.”

The department had been sending trauma patients to both hospitals, depending on the day of the week. But state authorities have rejected CHI Health’s application for Level I status for Creighton’s trauma center.

The state’s chief medical officer told Creighton hospital officials in a letter last week that a review team found in October that the trauma center failed to meet four out of more than 160 standards. Creighton officials say they’re working with the state to resolve the situation.