(AP) — A man and child have escaped unharmed from a fire that erupted while they were asleep at their Dakota City home in northeast Nebraska.
The fire was reported just before 2 p.m. Thursday.
Dakota City Fire Chief Clint Rasmussen says the man and child were awakened by a popping noise. They got out through a bedroom window. Two dogs and a pet rabbit were killed.
The fire cause is being investigated.
(AP) — A middle-school football coach accused of kidnapping and killing a 10-year-old girl in southwest Missouri is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday.
Forty-five-year-old Craig Michael Wood is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed criminal action in the Springfield shooting death of fourth-grader Hailey Owens.
Police say Hailey was snatched off a neighborhood street Tuesday afternoon less than two blocks from her home as she walked back from her best friend’s house. Her body was found in Wood’s basement.
Memories of the child are mixed with anger and shock in Springfield as the community tries to make sense of the brutal crime that took her life. Thousands are expected to attend a downtown candlelight vigil in her honor scheduled for Saturday night.
(AP) — Omaha police say an officer has been injured after an SUV rear-ended his patrol car.
The Omaha Police Department says Officer Lou Tomsu suffered broken ribs following the Thursday afternoon wreck on southwest side of the city. He also received head and back injuries.
Public Information Officer James Shade says Tomsu was investigating an accident when the crash occurred. He is in the intensive care unit of a local hospital, but he is in stable condition.
Shade says the city attorney will decide whether to file any charges against the driver of the SUV, whose name has not been released.
(AP) — A Nebraska lawmaker is trying to make it a criminal offense for a peeping Tom to take pictures up a woman’s skirt.
Sen. Amanda McGill of Lincoln introduced the bill, which was heard by the Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
The bill would make it a misdemeanor for someone to photograph or film an area of a person that would not generally be visible to the public without his or her knowledge and consent.
McGill says the problem of “upskirting” has become more of an issue with advances in technology.
The Nebraska County Attorneys Association testified in support of the bill, but the ACLU of Nebraska had concerns with the way the bill is written.
(AP) — A Nebraska man has been charged in connection with alleges sales of drugs, gun and counterfeit currency on the Silk Road website.
Federal prosecutors in Baltimore say 26-year-old Sheldon Kennedy of Lincoln was arrested Wednesday in Miami. He is charged in a complaint with conspiracy to traffic controlled substances and other offenses. The complaint was filed Jan. 31 and unsealed Thursday.
Authorities say Silk Road, which had nearly 1 million registered users by July, generated more than $1 billion in illicit business from January 2011 through September. The website used Bitcoin, the tough-to-track digital currency, before it was shut down.
According to court documents, undercover agents in Baltimore bought cocaine and a pistol from Kennedy on Silk Road, and he sold counterfeit currency to another person in Maryland.
(AP) — A mother and her son charged with killing a 68-year-old southern Nebraska woman will be tried in Adams County.
A Webster County judge on Tuesday ordered the change of venue for 41-year-old Shelley Casterline and 23-year-old Andrew Casterline. They’ve pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges in the slaying of Virginia Barone. Authorities say the Casterlines stabbed Barone to death in her Guide Rock home on Oct. 4.
Court filings say Shelley Casterline wanted her trial moved because the Webster County Courthouse doesn’t have adequate facilities to accommodate jurors, witnesses and lawyers for a trial on first-degree murder.
(AP) — A 48-year-old man has been sentenced to prison for thefts from several rural properties in Saunders County.
A news release from the office of Saunders County Attorney Scott Tingelhoff says Jeffrey Ruckman was given 20 months to 60 months in prison, to be served at the same time. Online court records say Ruckman was sentenced on Tuesday.
The records say Ruckman pleaded guilty to three theft counts after prosecutors lowered them and dropped two others.
Prosecutors say that between July and December 2012, deputies received several reports of thefts of farm equipment, tire rims, batteries and miscellaneous metal.
(AP) — Just as pressure was building on President Barack Obama to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, the project ran into another obstacle.
Once again, it came from Nebraska.
A judge on Wednesday overturned the Nebraska law that had allowed the pipeline to proceed through the state.
The ruling guaranteed the legal fight will continue for at least several more months. It also could leave Nebraska’s decision in the hands of an obscure state commission that regulates natural gas lines, grain warehouses and RVs.
The pipeline would carry oil from Canada to Texas refineries.
The ruling was a victory for opponents, including Nebraska landowners who filed a lawsuit challenging the law.
The state plans to appeal the ruling.
(AP) — The city of Omaha has officially put a landmark facility on the market.
The city posted a request Wednesday for development proposals on the Omaha Civic Auditorium. The nine-acre site is valued at about $10 million after demolition of the 60-year-old facility.
City officials say the facility hasn’t kept pace with booking events at nearby venues. It’s scheduled to close this summer.
The city says in its request that the site could be part of the downtown area’s redevelopment.
Project proposals are due in June. The city plans to announce a developer in late August.
(AP) — Regulators will hold the first public meeting on the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant since it restarted late last year.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to hold the meeting in Blair on Feb. 27.
Fort Calhoun, which sits across from Iowa on the Missouri River about 20 miles north of Omaha, has been offline from April 2011 until last December.
Fort Calhoun initially shut down for routine maintenance, but significant flooding in 2011, a small fire and a series of safety violations forced it to remain closed for more than two years.
The meeting will be held from 6-9 p.m. next Thursday at the Midland University campus in Blair.
