(AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail for writing more than $1,200 in bad checks to buy a lot of pizza.
Damaun P. Goods was sentenced Tuesday. He has served at least 180 days in jail, and he may finish his sentence soon with good time.
Goods pleaded guilty to theft after he was accused of writing nearly 30 bad checks to several businesses that serve pizza. Police say he wrote the checks from his closed account, as well as one that belonged to a relative.
Goods says he used the checks because he needed to eat and his oven didn’t work.
(AP) — The Jefferson County Commission has approved a special use permit for construction of a wind farm.
The commission approval was unanimous on Tuesday for the Volkswind project. The permit will allow installation of 43 towers that will run along the north side of U.S. Highway 136 between Jansen and Harbine.
Volkswind is a German company with a U.S. office in Portland, Ore. It has been planning the wind farm in Jefferson County and across into Gage County since at least 2009.
Officials say the project calls for production of around 100 megawatts of electricity.
(AP) — Authorities say a private ambulance with an 88-year-old patient inside has been involved in a crash in Lincoln, though injuries are not life-threatening.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says a Midwest Medical Transport Co. ambulance was taking the patient from a hospital to her home Thursday when the crash occurred on a part of Nebraska Highway 2. The ambulance driver encountered slick roads and lost control of the vehicle.
The ambulance ended up on its side, and traffic was detoured for about an hour. The three people in the ambulance were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, and they have been released.
(AP) — A 28-year-old man who used a wrench to assault another Beatrice man has been given 20 to 30 years in prison.
Timothy Denton also was sentenced on Wednesday to six to eight years in prison for a burglary in a separate case. The sentences will be served at the same time.
Authorities say Denton got into an argument with Cody Williams in April 2012. Police say Denton ran after Williams and threw a 10-inch wrench at him. It struck Williams’ head, fracturing his skull.
Williams has since recovered but suffers migraines and emotion stress from the assault.
(AP) — A 39-year-old man who’s been given 35 to 45 years in a Nebraska prison admitted he had sex with a teenage girl and said he didn’t do anything wrong
Court records say 39-year-old Todd Tackwell admitted on Tuesday that he broke the law and had what he described as a consensual relationship with the girl, starting in 2004 when she was 14. Under Nebraska law, people 19 and over cannot have sexual contact with people under 16.
In September Tackwell pleaded no contest to sexual assault of a minor. Authorities say Tackwell had rented the basement of the Lincoln house where she lived.
He was convicted of a similar crime in Pleasanton, Calif., in April 2012. She testified against him.
According to John Westman, Merrick County Chief Deputy, the Merrick County Attorney filed criminal charges on Wednesday.
Christopher Hajek has been charged with motor vehicle homicide, a class II felony, “for causing the death of another while engaged in the operation of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.”
Westman said an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant has been filed and, if granted, will be served upon Hajek’s release from the hospital.
He said the crash is still being investigated by the Nebraska State Patrol, Merrick County Sheriff’s Office, and Merrick County Attorney’s Office.
No further details about the crash have been released.
A 22-year-old Columbus woman has been identified as the victim of a collision near Clarks.
The Merrick County Sheriff’s Office said the victim was Amanda Asche. She was pronounced dead at the scene of Monday night’s accident along U.S. Highway 30.
Authorities say Asche was headed east on the highway when her vehicle was hit by a pickup driven by 30-year-old Christopher Hajek, of Marquette. He was taken to a hospital.
Investigators believe alcohol played a factor in the crash.
Asche was a student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and planned on graduating next May. Asche and her husband, Bryan, had just gotten married in June.
*NOTE: The Associated Press reported Thursday morning that Hajek had been charged with motor vehicular homicide. The Post has not received confirmation of this from the Merrick County Sheriff’s Office.
(AP) — A Lincoln man has been arrested on suspicion of severally beating his 5-month-old son.
The Lincoln Police Department says 43-year-old Raad Al-Masaudi was taken into custody Wednesday. He faces felony counts of child abuse and serious bodily harm.
Al-Masaudi told the boy’s mother while she was out grocery shopping on Nov. 12 that the boy’s toddler sister head-butted the infant. Al-Masaudi says he tried CPR on the boy, who had gone limp and was not breathing.
The parents took the infant to the hospital. Police say Al-Masaudi’s account was not consistent with the boy’s multiple brain bleeds.
Al-Masaudi is at the Lancaster County jail. Court records do not list an attorney.
The boy remains hospitalized in critical condition.
A single vehicle crash on Bennington Road in Douglas County has claimed two lives.
Just before 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 21, the Nebraska State Patrol responded to reports of a single vehicle crash a quarter of a mile east of Highway 133 on Bennington Road.
Troopers working the crash say a vehicle was traveling on Bennington Road when it left the roadway and rolled, striking a tree on the south side of the Highway.
The two occupants in the vehicle were killed. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending notification of family. Seat belts were in use.
(AP) — Authorities say a man found in a wooded area in western Iowa is from Nebraska.
The state Division of Criminal Investigation says fingerprints submitted to a FBI database helped confirm the identity of 52-year-old Michael E. Gnirk, of Hoskins, Neb. A hunter found him on Saturday in a rural, wooded area a few miles southwest of Mondamin in Harrison County.
Authorities said in a news release Wednesday they’re continuing to investigate the case, and they’re trying to retrace Gnirk’s last few weeks and days. They’re looking for anyone who may have been in contact with him over the last three to six months.
(AP) — The City of Omaha says it will not offer health care and dental benefits to same-sex spouses of city employees covered by the police union contract.
Mayor Jean Stothert said in a statement Wednesday that officials determined the city’s health insurance policy does not include same-sex spouses in its definition of spouse. However, they are entitled to pension and flexible spending benefits in compliance with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this year that extends a variety of federal benefits to same-sex spouses.
Stothert says the health care and dental benefits can be negotiated with the city’s unions.
John Wells, president of the Omaha Police Officers Association, says city officials are playing politics. He says his group will push for the benefits in future contract negotiations.
(AP) — A Lincoln man has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail for writing more than $1,200 in bad checks to buy a lot of pizza.
