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UNL Media Arts Center Gets $7.7 Million Donation

UNL(AP) — The estate of Mary Riepma (REEP’-muh) Ross has provided $7.7 million to establish a permanent endowment supporting the media arts center that bears her name.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln announced the donation on Tuesday. Ross was an attorney in New York City who died earlier this year. She lived in Lincoln during the late 1920s and early 1930s and began her college studies at the university.

Ross also has donated much of her art collection to the Sheldon Museum of Art, an intention she first announced in 1990.

In 1990 Ross established a $3.5 million trust at the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the university’s film theater program. The money helped pay for construction of the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, which opened in 2003.

Case of Bovine TB Linked to Northeast Neb. Herd

nebraska-department-of-agriculture(AP) — Authorities say a cow from northeast Nebraska has been diagnosed with a case of bovine tuberculosis.

The Nebraska Agriculture Department said Tuesday that the cow was part of a small herd in Knox County. The department and federal experts are investigating to see how the cow became infected. The rest of the herd has been quarantined and has tested negative for the disease.

Bovine tuberculosis causes severe coughing, fatigue, emaciation and debilitation in cattle and results in reduced milk and meat production. It is spread by nose-to-nose contact and the inhalation of bacteria.

Although the incidence is rare, humans can catch the disease from infected cattle. Experts agree that as long as meat is properly cooked and milk is pasteurized, there is little danger of bovine tuberculosis spreading through food.

Assessing Child Abuse Reports a Complex Challenge

child-abuseNEW YORK (AP) — The calls come in at a rate of nearly 10,000 a day, to hotlines and law-enforcement offices nationwide, reporting suspicions of child abuse and neglect.

They add up to 3.4 million reports annually — a challenge for state child protection agencies, which must sort out the flimsy reports from the credible, the trivial allegations from the dire. Many states, after an initial review, deem more than half incoming reports to be unworthy of full investigation.

The issue entered the spotlight last week with news that Arizona’s Child Protective Services failed to look into 6,000 reports of suspected child maltreatment that had been phoned in to its hotline in recent years.

Other states also have had problems. But in general, experts credit child-protection agencies with diligence and care in sorting reports.

Norfolk Man Sentenced for Producing Child Pornography

ne-state-penOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 40-year-old Norfolk man has been sentenced for producing child pornography.

Federal prosecutors said Monday that Darrin Mucker was given 18 years in prison and must serve 20 years of supervised release after he leaves custody.

Prosecutors say Mucker posed as a teenager on a social networking service and sent obscene messages, including a sexually explicit image of a child. Mucker communicated with at least 15 girls ranging in age from 12 to 15 years. Mucker asked for and received images and videos from many of the girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Prosecutors say that on at least one occasion he threatened to post on the Internet nude images he received of a 14-year-old girl unless she sent him more.

Suspect Sought in Deaths of Kan. Mother, Children

kansas-bureau-of-investigationPARSONS, Kan. (AP) — Police in southeast Kansas are investigating the deaths of a mother and her three young children.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office said in a release Tuesday the victims are 29-year-old Cami Umbarger, of Parsons, and her three minor children. The attorney general’s office did not say how the four were killed or provide other details about their deaths.

The attorney general’s office said authorities are seeking a male suspect, but no charges have been filed.

Police received a call Monday from concerned co-workers and family members that Umbarger didn’t show up for work.

Parsons police, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies are investigating. Parsons has about 10,500 residents and is about 125 miles southeast of Wichita in Labette County.

Former Wife Gets WWII Soldier’s Medals in Lincoln

medal-of-honor(AP) — A Purple Heart and other medals have been presented to the former wife of a soldier slain during combat in World War II.

In a ceremony Monday at the Capitol in Lincoln, 89-year-old Helen Minarik was given the medals awarded to U.S. Army Pvt. Joe Alberico. The two married on June 10, 1944, and spent two weeks together before he left. He served with the 101st Airborne and dropped into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden. He was killed on Oct. 4, 1944.

His widow married a World War II veteran, Bernard Minarik, in 1946. They lived in Omaha and raised four children. The children worked with the office of U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns to secure the medals so they could be presented to their mother.

Suspect in 4 Omaha Killings Will Be Evaluated

Nikko Jenkins
Nikko Jenkins

(AP) — A former prison inmate charged with killing four people in Omaha earlier this year will be evaluated to determine if he is competent to stand trial.

A Douglas County District judge approved the defense request for 27-year-old Nikko Jenkins to be evaluated by state psychiatric experts Monday.

Jenkins has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and 10 weapons counts in the killings that happened within a month of his release from prison on July 30.

But Jenkins has said in recent letters to prosecutors and local media that he now wants to plead guilty to killing 29-year-old Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz and 26-year-old Juan Uribe-Pena on Aug. 11, 22-year-old Curtis Bradford on Aug. 19 and 33-year-old Andrea Kruger on Aug. 21.

1 Arrested in Colorado Marijuana Crackdown

Colorado-Marijuana(AP) — Authorities say a Colombian man was arrested in last week’s federal raids of more than a dozen sites connected to Colorado’s marijuana industry.

Forty-nine-year-old Hector Diaz was charged in federal court Friday after authorities say they seized five assault-style rifles, five handguns, a shotgun and ammunition during a search of a home in Cherry Hills Village.

Diaz made his first court appearance Monday after court documents in his case were unsealed.

Diaz is in the United States legally but authorities say he is not allowed to possess firearms under his visa.

The court documents include a photograph that investigators say shows Diaz wearing a Drug Enforcement Administration hat and holding two semi-automatic rifles. Two handguns are also apparently stuck inside his pants.

His lawyer didn’t return a call seeking comment.

Teen Gets Prison in Connection with Lincoln Robbery

prison(AP) — A 17-year-old man has been sentenced to prison in connection with a robbery in Nebraska.

Davonte Jackson was sentenced Monday to two to four years in prison. He was given credit for 242 days served.

Jackson earlier pleaded guilty to attempted robbery in connection to the January incident. Lincoln police say he drove a getaway car for two teenagers accused of breaking into an apartment and demanding money from the people inside.

A man was shot in the chest during the robbery. He was treated at a hospital and later released.

The two teenagers were later arrested. They have entered pleas in their cases and are scheduled to be sentenced in January.

Beatrice 6 Want to Limit Suggestions of Guilt at Trial

gavel-more(AP) — Attorneys for six people cleared by DNA evidence in the 1985 killing of a Beatrice woman want a federal judge to limit insinuations of guilt during a civil jury trial.

Attorneys for the so-called Beatrice Six filed a motion Monday asking Judge Richard G. Kopf to limit arguments or suggestions that the plaintiffs were guilty in the rape and death of Helen Wilson. The motion states it would be irrelevant and distracting.

The six — James Dean, Kathleen Gonzalez, Debra Shelden, Ada JoAnn Taylor, Joseph White and Thomas Winslow — were convicted and spent years in prison before being exonerated in 2008. DNA testing implicated another man.

Lawsuits against several Gage County officials have been grouped together. A trial is scheduled for Jan. 6.

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