OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 21-year-old Nebraska man faces a felony drunken driving charge in a crash that killed his passenger.
Omaha police say 21-year-old passenger Jacob Blum of Gretna died Wednesday after being injured in the Sunday crash. They have arrested the driver on suspicion of DUI causing serious injury.
Police say the driver lost control of his Chevy Camaro early Sunday while turning. The car struck a wooden power pole before rolling over.
The driver was treated for minor injuries.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska business leaders plan to push for a highway expansion project between Norfolk and Fremont.
The group “4 Lanes 4 Nebraska” was formed to promote state infrastructure projects. Members will focus on expanding part of U.S. Highway 275 from two lanes to four. Highway 275 was constructed as a two-lane highway in northeast Nebraska in 1939.
In 1988, Nebraska enacted a transportation policy intended to connect every major community to an interstate system via a four-lane highway. The 45-mile stretch of two-lane road between Norfolk and Fremont is one of the few unfinished segments in the expressway system.
The coalition includes leaders from manufacturing, banking and agriculture. Josh Moenning, a former district director for U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry and campaign adviser for Gov.-elect Pete Ricketts, will serve as executive director.
HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Officials in Hastings are pushing for a proposed Behavioral Health Treatment Center — intended to transition prison inmates back into society — to be built in their central Nebraska city.
State Sen. Les Seiler, of Hastings, and Hastings Mayor Vern Powers held a news conference Wednesday to lobby for the center’s placement in Hastings.
Architects, engineers and others visited the Hastings Regional Center in October to examine the property and see if some of its existing buildings could be renovated to house the center. A study released Tuesday said the buildings would likely not be suitable for the 200-bed facility that would treat male inmates for behavioral health and substance abuse issues. The study instead recommends building a new facility.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A 56-year-old Omaha man has been charged with sexually assaulting and molesting a 7-year-old girl in Lincoln over the past two years.
Antonio Haskell was charged Wednesday by Lancaster County prosecutors of first-degree and third-degree sexual assault of a child. He also faces a third related charge.
Police say the girl reported to authorities in October that Haskell had assaulted her several times in a Lincoln apartment.
Haskell remained in the Lancaster County jail on Thursday morning and could not be reached for comment.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska has been taken temporarily offline due to a lockout of its main generator.
Omaha Public Power District says the plant automatically took its reactor and turbine offline Wednesday morning. Officials say the plant responded as designed.
Staffers are reviewing the cause of the generator lockout, but additional information has not been released. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been notified.
While the plant is offline, it remains at normal operating pressure and temperature.
Fort Calhoun, which sits about 20 miles north of Omaha, was shut down from April 2011 until December 2013.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The state of Nebraska has settled a lawsuit with one of six people wrongly convicted in a 1985 murder.
Lancaster County District Judge Robert Otte agreed Tuesday to a stipulated settlement that will pay $300,000 to Debra Shelden.
Shelden and five others — known as the Beatrice Six — were sent to prison in connection to the death of Helen Wilson. Shelden and two others spent five to six years in prison, while three others spent nearly 20 years locked up.
DNA testing exonerated the six, and a drifter who died in prison was linked to the death.
The Beatrix Six sued for wrongful conviction, and several have been awarded money. Shelden’s case was on hold pending a ruling from the Nebraska Supreme Court.
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Chief Medical Writer
For the first time in several decades, a new treatment has been shown to limit the damage from a common type of stroke. Researchers in the Netherlands found that mechanically removing a clot in addition to using a clot-busting medicine lowered the risk that a stroke sufferer would end up severely disabled.
Most strokes are caused by a clot in a blood vessel supplying the brain. Clot-dissolving medicine must be given within four and a half hours after symptoms start, and very few stroke patients seek help in time.
In the study, one third of people treated with the medicine plus a clot-removing device were free of major disability versus one-fifth of those given the clot medicine alone.
Results were published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.
YORK, Neb. (AP) — York County prosecutors are appealing the five- to 10-year prison sentence of a York man for the 2013 crash death of an Aurora teacher.
Deputy York County Attorney Benjamin Dennis said 39-year-old Otis Newcomb’s sentence handed down by Judge James Stecker last month is “excessively lenient.”
Newcomb pleaded no contest in July as part of a plea deal that lowered a vehicular homicide charge and dismissed another charge.
Authorities say Newcomb was driving a van on Highway 34 near York in November 2013 when his vehicle collided with a pickup. A passenger in the pickup, 31-year-old Lauren Akerson, was killed. Others in the pickup were injured.
Prosecutors say Newcomb was drinking alcohol prior to the crash.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police are investigating the robbery of a pizza restaurant and the assault of an employee.
Police say the robbery of a Little Caesars pizza restaurant in north Omaha happened around 9 p.m. Tuesday.
Police were alerted when an employee ran from the back door of the store to a nearby restaurant to call 911.
The employee told police that two men with masks came into the store. Three employees were inside at the time, and one was assaulted by the robbers.
That employee was taken to an Omaha hospital for treatment.
Police say the robbers got away with an undisclosed amount of money.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man who stabbed and wounded a police officer has been sentenced to prison.
A Douglas County judge on Tuesday sentenced 30-year-old Gary Jackson to two consecutive sentences of 10 to 25 years. Jackson previously pleaded guilty to felony assault on a police officer and being a felon in possession of a weapon.
Jackson will be eligible for parole in 22 ½ years.
Officer Sophia Jordan was injured in June while responding to a report that a man who had been banned from a convenience store was trying to get fuel.
Jackson attacked Jordan as she got out of her police car. The 14-year police veteran was stabbed in the shoulder and remains on limited duty.
