Nebraska meatpacking worker dies after being hurt on the job

LINCOLN — Nebraskans are lagging the nation in using seat belts while driving, which officials said Thursday has contributed to a 30% increase in highway fatalities. Only 81% of Nebraskans buckle up, making the state 47th in the country in the use of safety belts. The national average is 90%.

LINCOLN, Neb.-Lincoln police said they have made multiple arrests while investigating the city's first homicide of 2022. On Thursday at around 6:30 a.m. officers responded to the report of two men fighting in the 2800 block of F. St. Officers arrived and found a 57-year-old man who was unresponsive. He...

BUTLER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects in connection a Kansas Amber Alert for a missing 5-year-old boy on Thursday in Butler County. At 2:40p.m. Thursday, a woman later identified as 31-year-old Danielle Banzet entered a school day care in Rose Hill, Kansas posing as a Social Worker, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The woman gained access to 5-year-old Brixton Sisk, exited the school, entered a black Suburban with a paper-30 day tag and departed the location.

LINCOLN — State corrections officials showed off the newest addition to the state prison system Wednesday, touting it as safer for both inmates and staff and better able to rehabilitate prisoners and retain security staff. The $125 million addition to the Lincoln Correctional Center and Diagnostic and Evaluation Center...

United States Attorney Jan W. Sharp announced the federal Grand Jury for the District of Nebraska has returned 17 unsealed Indictments charging 19 defendants. Indictments are charging documents that contain one or more individual counts that are merely accusations, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Doug Janssen, 50, appeared before Judge Mark Johnson in Madison County District Court on May 17 for sentencing relating to financially exploiting his father. Janssen, of Jackson, NE, was ordered to pay more than $20,000 in restitution, serve 90 days in jail, and was placed on probation for two years. He had earlier pled guilty to one count of Unauthorized Use of a Financial Transaction Device, a Class IV felony. Janssen faced a maximum of two years in the penitentiary. Janssen’s jail time could be waived if he successfully completes the terms of his probation.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb.-Police in Grand Island are investigating after a teen was injured in a shooting at a Walmart. Police said at around 2:17 a.m. on Saturday, officers responded to the report of shots fired at Walmart, 3501 Locust St. South. Officers found a male, 17, suffering from a gunshot...

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Nebraska’s preliminary employment for April 2022 reached an all-time high of 1,040,325. This means nearly 22,000 more Nebraskans are working now than prior to the pandemic (February 2020). Additionally, Nebraska’s unemployment rate is at 1.9%. That’s tied for the lowest rate ever achieved by any state.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska has agreed to pay $479,000 to the family of a “talkative” Scottsbluff man who was strangled to death in 2017 by a fellow inmate who didn’t want a cellmate. The lawsuit filed by Terry Berry Jr.’s family against prison officials they...

LINCOLN — For months on end, I have been among the lucky ones. I followed the advice of the health experts and the governor and kept my distance, sang “Happy Birthday” twice while washing my hands, limited my travel and wore a mask when out to shop or reporting at the Capitol.

OVID, Colo. (AP) — The megadrought fueled by climate change that has long gripped the western U.S. is moving eastward. And that's behind a simmering dispute over how much water Colorado and Nebraska are entitled to take from the South Platte River, which supplies both metro Denver's booming population and expansive agriculture on both sides of the border.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The mining company that wants to extract a rare heat-resistant element from the ground under southeast Nebraska says a new report shows the deposit it plans to mine holds a significant amount of other rare elements. NioCorp Developments said Thursday that the latest analysis shows...

GOODLAND, Kan. (AP) — The National Weather Service has confirmed a series of weak tornadoes across rural parts of northwestern Kansas and a county in southwestern Nebraska along the Kansas line. The tornadoes hit Tuesday afternoon as a line of storms moved across the Plains. National Weather Service meteorologist...

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — BNSF railroad is tweaking its strict new attendance policy that upset workers, but the unions that challenged the rules since they took effect in February say the changes don’t go far enough. The railroad has told employees that starting next month it will make...

GORDON – Ragged Sky Productions is proud to announce the premiere of “Fortress of Sin”, a thriller featuring several native born Nebraskans in the cast and crew. The film is the brain child of Paul Chomicki, the genre cult film actor from such comedy horrors as Deadly Xmas and Paranormal Halloween. While in Los Angeles, Paul befriended Nebraska filmmaker, Christian Voss. Voss told Chomicki his plans to return home to Nebraska, where films could be make easier while utilizing the vast wealth of local talents.

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A man facing a possible life sentence on federal drug and money laundering charges has won the lottery in South Dakota. KELO-TV reports 45-year-old Canbie Thompson was featured on the state lottery’s website for winning $40,000 on a scratch-off ticket. Thompson earlier pleaded guilty...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A group that wants to legalize medical marijuana in Nebraska sued the state on Monday to try to overturn a requirement that makes it harder to qualify for the ballot by forcing petitioners to get signatures from a large number rural counties. The federal lawsuit...

LINCOLN — A protest camp is being dismantled Tuesday that had occupied the site of a planned housing development near Lincoln’s Wilderness Park, across the road from a private enclave that hosted sweat lodge ceremonies. In a statement Monday, representatives of the Niskíthe Prayer Camp said the protest...

CURTIS, Neb. – Academic honors for students at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture were announced for the Spring Semester. “The Aggies ended their academic year quite successfully with six students on the Dean’s List and 62 on the Deans Honors Roll,” said NCTA Dean Larry Gossen. “Grades for freshmen, in particular, improved in their second semester.”

Memorial Day weekend is expected to be the busiest in three years, building on a travel resurgence that began earlier this spring. This year’s forecast marks the second highest single-year increase in travelers since 2010 (2021 was the highest), bringing volumes almost in line with pre-pandemic levels. “By the...