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Nearly $2M in Claims Cut in Nebraska Grain Elevator Failure

CASH_MONEYLINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The state’s Public Service Commission says people who stored grain at a failed grain elevator will get paid in full.

But people who contracted to sell grain to the closed elevator or paid to purchase undelivered grain will get less than a dime on the dollar, or nothing at all.

Almost $2 million in claims were denied in the commission’s final order. The commission closed Pierce Elevator Inc. in March, after a bank discontinued financing the operation.

More than 200 farmers filed claims worth nearly $10 million against the company.

One of the last sizable grain elevator bankruptcies in Nebraska happened in 2008 when Alvo Grain and Feed filed for bankruptcy protection.

US Jury in Nebraska Convicts Georgian for Liens

dept.-of-justiceOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal jury in Omaha has found a Georgia man guilty of seven counts of conspiracy to file and filing false liens against federal judges and officials.

Randall Due, of Pelham, Georgia, was convicted Thursday. Prosecutors say Due and co-conspirator Donna Kozak, of Omaha, retaliated against federal officials involved in the criminal investigation and prosecution of David and Bernita Kleensang, who were convicted of federal tax crimes in 2012. Kozak already has been convicted and awaits sentencing.

Prosecutors say Due and Kozak filed a false lien for $19 million against the judge who presided over the Kleensang trial. After Kozak was indicted, Due and Kozak filed five $18 million false liens against the officials involved in the investigation and indictment of Kozak and those involved in the Kleensang case.

Officials: 2 Hurt in Kellogg’s Plant in Omaha

ambulance-lightsOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Officials say two people have been injured at a Kellogg’s plant in south-central Omaha.

The company said two contract employees were hurt while working on a waste compactor at about 2 p.m. Thursday.

The Omaha Fire Department said a piece of equipment fell on the workers. A battalion chief at the scene described the injuries as critical and serious.

The workers, whose names have not been released, were taken to a local hospital. Kellogg Co. representative Kris Charles said in a statement that the company had no further information on their conditions.

Appeals Court Will Not Rehear Lawsuit of Nebraskan Falsely Accused of Rape

ne-court-of-appealsOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A federal appeals court has refused a Beatrice man’s request to reconsider the court’s dismissal of his lawsuit against Gage County and several of its deputies.

Elliot Hawkins sued the county and law enforcement officials over his 2011 arrest, accusing officials of negligence and other wrongs after he was falsely accused of rape.

Last year, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Zwart granted the county’s motion for summary judgment, saying the defendants have immunity from liability.

Hawkins appealed, and earlier this summer, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s dismissal of the case. On Tuesday, the appeals court denied Hawkins’ petition for a rehearing.

Nebraska Sex Offender Gets 20 Years for Assault of Girl, 6

harold-johnsonBEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A convicted sex offender has been given 20 more years in prison for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl in southeast Nebraska.

49-year-old Harold Johnson on Thursday pleaded no contest and was convicted after prosecutors dropped two related charges in Gage County District Court. Court records say the assaults took place in Odell after his release from prison in June 2012.

The girl told her mother and then authorities that Johnson had touched her inappropriately on more than one occasion.

The Nebraska Sex Offender Registry says Johnson was convicted in May 1995 of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old child in Colfax County. Johnson was sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison.

Nebraskan Gets Jail for Drive Through Backyard

jailNELIGH, Neb. (AP) — A man whose vehicle injured four children when it ran through their backyard campsite in northeast Nebraska has been given probation and some jail time.

43-year-old Stephen Barrington, of Oakdale, on Wednesday was sentenced to 150 days in jail, fined $500 and ordered to serve six months of probation. He’d pleaded guilty to four counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of driving under the influence. Prosecutors dropped two other charges in return for Barrington’s pleas.

Antelope County Sheriff Bob Moore has said Barrington drove his sport utility vehicle through his home’s backyard, hitting a tent with five children near it. Four of the children were treated at a hospital. Moore said Barrington was arguing with his wife before the accident.

Nebraskan Gets Probation for Blast That Injured Teens

judgeshipOSCEOLA, Neb. (AP) — A 64-year-old David City man has been given two years of probation on charges stemming from a homemade fireworks explosion that seriously injured a relative and another teenager on Independence Day last year.

Russell Hilger was sentenced on Wednesday. He’d pleaded no contest to attempted felony assault and six other counts after making a deal with prosecutors, who reduced the felony assault charge.

Hilger set off the device during a July Fourth family gathering last year at Ernst Lake, which sits a few miles south-southwest of Columbus.

The blast shrapnel hit Lauren Campbell, 14 at the time, in the abdomen. She lost her spleen and part of her pancreas but otherwise has recovered. Hilger is her great-uncle. Seventeen-year-old Zachary Krenk, of David City, also was injured.

Comedian Joan Rivers Dead at 81

joan-riversNEW YORK (AP) — Joan Rivers, the raucous, acid-tongued comedian who crashed the male-dominated realm of late-night talk shows and turned Hollywood red carpets into danger zones for badly dressed celebrities, died Thursday. She was 81.

Rivers was hospitalized last week after she went into cardiac arrest at a Manhattan doctor’s office following a routine procedure. Daughter Melissa Rivers said she died surrounded by family and close friends.

Rivers — who opened her routine with the trademark “Can we talk?” — never mellowed during a decades-long career. She moved from longtime targets such as Elizabeth Taylor, whom she famously ridiculed as fat, to new faces, and continued to appear in clubs and on TV into her 80s.

2nd Man Freed in South Sioux City Slaying Case

gavel-and-scaleDAKOTA CITY, Neb. (AP) — Another man initially connected to a fatal shooting in northeast Nebraska has been freed.

26-year-old David Rodriguez, of Walthill, no longer faces a weapons possession charge. It was dropped Tuesday at the request of Dakota County Attorney Kim Watson, who gave no reason for the motion.

In July accessory charges against Rodriguez and 27-year-old Anthony Housman, of Pender, were dismissed and Housman was freed.

The charges stemmed from the Dec. 15 slaying of 28-year-old Bonnie Baker in South Sioux City. Twenty-two-year-old Raymond Gonzalez Jr. has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge and is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 2. Court records also refer to him as Raymond Gonzales, listing the same Sioux City, Iowa, address.

Nebraska Authorities Say 2 Men Stole Copper

Copper_theftOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in eastern Nebraska say two men stole copper found in a vehicle.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says 23-year-old Matthew Polsley and 51-year-old Tracy Corey have been charged with felony theft.

A surveillance team stopped the men Tuesday night while they were in a pickup. Authorities say the pickup had copper loaded in the back. It was later valued at more than $500.

Authorities say the department has investigated several reports of copper theft over several months. It’s unclear if there is a connection to the men.

Court records do not list attorneys for them.

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