We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Man Wanted in California Imprisoned in Nebraska

jail(AP) — A 42-year-old Florida man wanted on a California warrant has been given prison time in a Nebraska drug case.

Online court records say Shane Barrett, of Naples, Fla., last week was sentenced to one to two years. He’d pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance. Prosecutors dropped a related charge in exchange for Barrett’s plea.

A Nebraska state trooper had stopped Barrett on Feb. 15 for following another vehicle too closely on Interstate 80 near the Lincoln airport. He was arrested after the trooper learned that Barrett was wanted on a drug possession warrant out of Sonoma County, Calif. The Nebraska State Patrol says a bottle of prescription painkillers and nearly 90 pounds of marijuana were found in the pickup Barrett was driving.

Nebraska Sex Offender Pleads Not Guilty in New Case

sex-offenders(AP) — A convicted sex offender released from a Nebraska prison in March has been charged with sexually assaulting a 7-year-old child last month in York County.

48-year-old Ross Shepherd, of rural Hampton, has pleaded not guilty to four counts.

Records say Shepherd was convicted in August 1997 and in October 2010 of sexually assaulting children. For the 2010 conviction, he was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released from custody this past March.

His trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 13.

Omaha Man Gets 40 to 60 Years for Raping Girls Ages 12 and 14

Clintus Alfus
Clintus Alfus

(AP) — A 37-year-old Omaha man has been sentenced to prison for raping two girls who say his cologne gave him away.

Clintus Alford on Monday was given 40 to 60 years in prison. He’d been convicted in July on two counts of sexual assault of a child.

Authorities say Alford had blindfolded the girls in the separate incidents last summer. He’d taken them to Omaha hotel rooms and told them they had to have sex with other men for money. But the girls told investigators that they were acquainted with Alford and recognized his cologne when he raped them.

Ex-Nebraska Lawmaker Agrees to Have License Suspended

Brenda-Council(AP) — Former state Sen. Brenda Council has agreed to a temporary suspension of her law license as she awaits a disciplinary hearing.

An ethics complaint against Council was filed with the Nebraska Supreme Court’s Counsel for Discipline after she pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of abusing public records. She admitted to using campaign funds to gamble at casinos but didn’t report the expenditures or deposits on her campaign finance reports.

Earlier this month she pleaded guilty to a federal wire fraud charge stemming from her use of campaign cash to gamble at casinos in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend probation for the Omaha attorney when she’s sentenced on Dec. 5.

The state Supreme Court could disbar Council.

Trial Set for Fremont Man Accused of Choking Toddler

gavel-and-scale(AP) — Sentencing has been scheduled in November for a Fremont man accused of choking his girlfriend’s toddler son.

The Fremont Tribune reports (https://bit.ly/1gWw1Ph) that 24-year-old David Hill Jr. pleaded no contest on Monday to one felony count of negligent child abuse. Prosecutors had lowered the charge and dropped another that alleged strangulation, in exchange for Hill’s plea.

The incident occurred on April 28. Prosecutors say Hill told his girlfriend that he’d been using a bathroom when he heard a thump. Hill told her he soon found the boy on the floor, out of his crib, with blood around his mouth.

When she took the 19-month-old boy to a hospital the next day, doctors concluded the boy had been choked.

Hill is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18.

99-Year-Old Iowa Woman Gets High School Diploma

high-school-diploma(AP) — A 99-year-old Iowa woman who dropped out of a high school in 1932 has finally received her diploma.

Audrey Crabtree was surrounded by family and friends on Monday as Waterloo Community Schools presented her with an honorary diploma during an education board meeting.

Crabtree dropped out of high school as a senior in 1932 due to an injury and to care for her grandmother. She went on to run her own business for nearly three decades.

At the meeting, Crabtree received a diploma, a copy of her last report card and high school memorabilia from her time at Waterloo East High School. She also received more than 100 handmade congratulatory cards from middle school students.

Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Plant Closer to Restarting

ft-calhoun-nuclear-plant(AP) — Regulators say the idle Fort Calhoun nuclear plant is making good progress toward restarting for the first time in more than two years, but some significant issues remain unresolved.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to provide an update on Fort Calhoun at a public meeting Tuesday night. The nuclear plant sits across from Iowa on the Missouri River about 20 miles north of Omaha.

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.

The NRC says Fort Calhoun has resolved about 70 percent of the items that must be dealt with before the plant will be allowed to restart. And about 25 percent of the items are being reviewed.

Hastings Plant Cited for Several Safety Violations

OSHA(AP) — A federal agency is proposing nearly $133,000 in fines for a Hastings cold storage plant, alleging more than a dozen safety violations.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration says in a news release that workers were exposed to anhydrous ammonia at the Nebraska Cold Storage Inc. plant.

OSHA inspected the plant in March. The agency says some of the violations involve the failure to correct deficiencies in equipment and to document responses to violations found in a 2010 safety audit. The agency says 12 of 22 violations found three years ago remain uncorrected.

The plant manager didn’t immediately return a call Tuesday from The Associated Press.

The company can contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Ponca Man Gets Prison for Child Pornography

sex-offenders(AP) — A northeast Nebraska man has been sentenced to several years in prison for using a hidden camera to exploit young girls online.

Attorney General Jon Bruning said in a news release Monday that 36-year-old Eric Baker, of Ponca, was recently sentenced to five to seven years in prison for two counts of possession of child pornography. He also received four to six years for unlawful intrusion and one year for possession, distribution of obscene material.

Baker pleaded guilty to the charges in July in Dixon County District Court.

Prosecutors say Baker used a hidden camera smartphone application to take photos of minors who were undressing. He posted several photos to a pornographic website.

Baker is also accused of possessing child pornography on his computer’s hard drive.

UNMC to Offer Dual Pharmacy, Public Health Degree

UNMC(AP) — The University of Nebraska Medical Center has announced it will offer a dual master’s degree in pharmacy and public health beginning in the fall of 2014.

The university says the new dual degree offers the academic framework for pharmacy students to acquire public health knowledge and skills.

Gary Yee, professor and associate dean in the UNMC College of Pharmacy, says the optional dual track will increase the number of graduates trained to meet the unique pharmacy and public health care needs of rural and underserved people.

The dual program allows a student to complete both degrees with fewer credit hours than needed to complete the two degrees separately.

UNMC joins five other Big Ten offering the dual degree. They are Iowa, Maryland, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Rutgers.

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File