GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol reports that troopers seized nearly 170 pounds of marijuana in two separate Hamilton County traffic stops.
The patrol says the first stop happened Wednesday night just north of Interstate 80 near Giltner, where a sport utility vehicle was pulled over. A drug-sniffing dog indicated the odor of drugs from the SUV, and troopers say they found 141 pounds of marijuana hidden in boxes in the back of the vehicle. The 26-year-old driver from California was arrested.
The second stop happened later Wednesday night near the same spot when another SUV was pulled over. Troopers say 27 pounds of marijuana was found hidden in luggage in that vehicle. The 37-year-old driver from Tennessee was arrested.
The combined estimated street value of the marijuana is more than $500,000.
WATERLOO, Neb. (AP) — Officials in eastern Nebraska are investigating after an infant was found unresponsive at a state park and later died.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called to Two Rivers State Park at Waterloo around 8:20 a.m. Friday and found a 3-month old baby boy unresponsive. Deputies say several of the baby’s family members were with the infant at a campground area, and some had begun CPR on the infant.
The baby was taken by medics to an Omaha hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
SPRINGVIEW, Neb. (AP) — Repairs and repaving are expected to begin Monday on U.S. Highway 183 in north-central Nebraska.The Nebraska Transportation Department says the project runs from Springview north to the South Dakota state line. The work will include paving, grading and bridge and guardrail repairs.
Traffic will be maintained with lane closures and one-lane work zones. The project is expected to be finished in early November.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln could welcome an autonomous shuttle service using driverless buses as early as next spring.
The city is testing a “self-driving micro-transit system” with a $100,000 grant awarded by Bloomberg Philanthropies for participating in its 2018 Mayors Challenge.
Lincoln officials are looking into using electric streetcars to reduce traffic congestion in several districts. Lincoln could win up to $1 million in the process to put its concept into action.
Officials would implement an autonomous shuttle pilot program if the city makes it to the next round of the challenge, said Lonnie Burklund, the city’s assistant director for Public Works and Utilities.
“In terms of the street network, there’s honestly not a lot of infrastructure that has to be built or altered,” he said.
Developers, including French manufacturer Navya, have designed autonomous shuttles to integrate into the city’s traffic, Burklund said. The shuttle relies on GPS rather than cameras, keeping the vehicle within up to 3 centimeters of its desired path, said Aaron Foster, the commercial manager for Navya’s North American division.
The autonomous shuttle will automatically begin to slow if an obstacle enters its path, he said.
“In the worst cases, if it’s an immovable obstacle, like a downed tree, the safety attendant on board can use a controller to drive around it,” Foster said.
A safety attendant would be present on each shuttle, but the vehicle would also be monitored remotely.
City officials envision riders accessing the driverless shuttle service by using a cellphone app, which would prioritize riders by the timing of their request.
The city is compiling feedback and research on its self-driving system testing to submit to Bloomberg next month. Lincoln will likely find out later this fall if it’ll advance to the next phase.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A current and a former member of the Winnebago Tribe’s governing council have pleaded guilty to misusing federal money to pay themselves bonuses.
The Sioux City Journal reports that former councilman Amen Sheridan entered his plea Friday in Omaha’s federal court. Current member Jeff Miller pleaded guilty to the same charge on Thursday.
As part of agreements that both signed with prosecutors, Sheridan and Miller are both expected to be sentenced to five years of probation on Oct. 19. Miller must repay $40,213, and Sheridan must repay $13,404.
The two are part of a group of nine former council members charged with giving themselves bonuses out of $388,972 in federal money intended to provide health care to tribal members.
The Winnebago Reservation is located in northeastern Nebraska and northwestern Iowa.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska farmer has sued herbicide manufacturers, saying his neighbors’ use of the company products damaged his soybean crop last summer.
Shane Greckel filed the federal lawsuit last week against Monsanto and other companies whose products contain the herbicide dicamba.
Experts say problems have arisen with dicamba as farmers began to use it to kill weeds in soybean and cotton fields where specially engineered seeds had been planted to resist the herbicide. Because it can easily evaporate after being applied, the chemical sometimes settles on neighboring fields planted with seeds that are not resistant to dicamba.
Greckel says that’s what happened on his fields near Bloomfield.
Monsanto spokesman Jeff Neu told the Journal Star that the company hadn’t yet been served with the lawsuit but would review it.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — TreeHouse Foods says about 200 workers will be affected by the closing of its Omaha office.The company announced this week that it expects to finish the closure by the end of January and move the work to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and company headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. The closure is part of a business restructuring. The company also said it will provide separation pay and outplacement assistance.
Many of the 200 likely are former ConAgra Foods workers who worked for a ConAgra unit that TreeHouse bought in a deal announced in 2015. ConAgra had bought that unit — private-label food manufacturer Ralcorp — in 2013.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has sentenced a 24-year-old man to prison for robbing a Lincoln bank branch.
Lancaster County District Court records say Roosevelt Q. Erving was sentenced Thursday to eight to 15 years. He’d pleaded guilty to the Sept. 25 robbery of a Union Bank branch. The judge credited him with 282 days already served.
His girlfriend, 27-year-old Danielle Lawson, faces aiding and abetting and other charges. She’s pleaded not guilty but is expected to change her pleas at a Sept. 6 hearing.
BRANSON, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on a deadly tourist boat accident in Missouri (all times local):
12:30 a.m.
A Missouri sheriff says at least 11 people have now been confirmed dead after a boat carrying tourists on a lake in a popular vacation city capsized and sank.
Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader says seven people have been hospitalized and five others remain missing. He says divers have ended their search of Table Rock Lake in Branson for the night.
The National Transportation Safety Board said on Twitter that investigators will arrive on the scene Friday morning.
Rader says stormy weather is believed to be what caused the Ride the Ducks boat to capsize Thursday night.
National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Lindenberg says the agency issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the Branson area Thursday evening. He says winds reached speeds of more than 60 mph.
Branson is about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City and is a popular vacation spot for families and other tourists looking for entertainment ranging from theme parks to live music.
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9:50 p.m.
A sheriff in Missouri says a tourist boat has apparently capsized on a lake, leaving eight people dead and several others hospitalized.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader says the accident occurred Thursday night after a Ride the Ducks tourist boat reportedly sank on Table Rock Lake.
Rader says an off-duty sheriff’s deputy working security helped rescue people. He says recovery efforts are ongoing, with some passengers still unaccounted for.
A dive team is assisting.
Rader says weather is believed to have caused the boat to capsize
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol reports that troopers seized nearly 170 pounds of marijuana in two separate Hamilton County traffic stops.
