A Gering man that Attorney General Jon Bruning says had thousands of images of child pornography on his computer has been sentenced to 7 years in federal prison.

30 year old year old Thomas Schildt had pleaded guilty to federal charges of receiving and distributing child pornography. He will spend 10 years on supervised release after completing his prison term, and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Bruning says the case against Schildt was the largest child pornography case his office has ever investigated, and began when his Rural Cybercrime Unit discovered child pornography being shared online from an IP address assigned to Schildt’s home.

Authorities obtained and executed a search warrant on the home last November and seized a hard drive containing more than 15,000 sexually explicit images of young children, some as young as 3 years, engaged in various sexual acts and bondage.

Schildt was indicted on state charges…3 counts of possessing child pornography and 3 counts of distributing child pornography…but those were dismissed after the federal charges were filed. Schildt later admitted to downloading the files, according to court documents.

The Chadron City Council has decided not to take a formal position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, whose proposed route crosses the eastern half of Nebraska from north to south.

Nebraska Northwest Development Corporation Executive Director Deb Cottier as the council Monday night to approve letters supporting the Keystone XL for its economic development impact, but after a brief discussion the council members declined to introduction a resolution or motion on the pipeline.

Mayor Karin Fischer says she and the other council members didn’t feel they knew about about the details of the Keystone XL project to take a position pro or con, and also didn’t feel Chadron residents had been given any time to make their feelings known on the project.

The request for letters of support to Governor Dave Heineman, the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, and President Obama came from the Heartland Expressway Association and Ports to Plains Association, which made similar requests of all the Panhandle communities. The Gering city council approved the letters last week.

The Keystone XL will run some 1,700-miles from the oil sands of Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast, but requires a federal permit since it would cross an international border.

President Obama rejected the permit application from developer TransCanada back in January, citing in part questions about the route in Nebraska…which would have crossed the environmentally-sensitive Sandhills…but encouraged the company to reapply with a new route.

A special session of the Nebraska legislature just over a year ago resulted in a compromise that saw TransCanada agree to find a new route around the Sandhills and the state agree to do the environmental review on that route as part of the permit process on both the state and federal levels.

The state’s draft study found that the new route avoids the environmentally sensitive areas and that TransCanada’s overall proposal meets the other concerns and requirements laid out by the state.

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality is holding a public hearing tonight in Albion to take input from both supporters and opponents before submitting the final version of the review to Governor Dave Heineman, who has the final say on approving the Nebraska portion of pipeline.

More than 16 years after announcing plans to build a new 260-mile rail line across southwest South Dakota into the Power River Basin coalfields of Wyoming, the Dakota Minnesota & Eastern Railroad says it will “defer indefinitely” the project.

     The Sioux Falls-based DM&E…now owned by Canadian Pacific Railway…had been opposed by ranchers and environmental groups from the initial announcement of the $6-billion dollar coal line, but it was the marketplace that ended the project.

The Canadian Pacific says today that it’s mothballing the plan because of a weak demand for coal. Railroads have been dealing with weaker coal demand because of low natural gas prices and last year’s mild winter, with fears that new regulations to limit greenhouse gases will make coal even less attractive to utilities in the future.

The proposed coal line…which would have been the longest new rail line in the country in more than a century…would have started at Wall in the east and crossed the Southern Black Hills through Fall River County before entering Wyoming.

The DM&E filed condemnation lawsuits in 2007 against some landowners in northeastern Wyoming for the project, but later dropped the lawsuits.

The Scottsbluff man accused of robbing a Scottsbluff bank the day before Thanksgiving has been bound over for trial following a preliminary hearing Friday in Scotts Bluff County Court.

42 year old Michael Scott will be arraigned this coming Friday in district court on charges of robbery and possession of a controlled substance. He remains in custody on $750,000 bail.

Scott also faces trial on a charge of theft by deception a theft and fraud scams involving local bank ATM cards that occurred before the bank robbery.

Scott is accused of walking into the South Beltline and Broadway branch of Valley Bank and Trust, handing a teller a note demanding cash, and jumping over the counter to take cash from a drawer.

Surveillance video indicated that he may have been armed with a knife, but the teller said she never saw a weapon and didn’t feel threatened.

Scott is one of 3 suspects in a string of fraudulent withdrawals from three Scottsbluff-area banks that were already under investigation when the bank robbery occurred.

      The Christmas spirit will be evident in Chadron on Sunday as the Assumption Arena hosts the annual Chadron Children’s Christmas Store from 1-2:30…a chance for youngsters ages 2-to-10 to shop for presents for family members by themselves.

The Christmas Store offers a wide selection of new and good used gifts at the price of 25 cents each and a maximum of four gifts per child. Each child will be helped by an “elf” while shopping and taking their selections to be wrapped.

Entry to the Arena will be through the south door. The children will be given a number and escorted to a waiting room with refreshments and activities until an elf arrives to help them select their gifts.

The adults who accompany children to the Christmas Store aren’t allowed into the gift area so that the gifts will remain a surprise. They will be served coffee and refreshments while they wait.

The Christmas Store is a project of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, and most of the elves will be members of the church’s Youth Ministry group. Up to another 20 volunteers will be busy wrapping gifts. Again, the Christmas Store runs Sunday from 1-to-2:30.

The Museum of the Fur Trade east of Chadron hosts its annual Holiday Open House this Sunday afternoon. Museum director Gail Potter says the admission fee is being waived for the event…which features both regular items in the museum gift shop and items from a number of local artists.

Potter says this year’s featured local artists include Gail Davis, Judy Hawthorne, Alice Denton, Kit Watson, and Chris Meisel.

She’s also proud of the Museum of the Fur Trade gift shop…pointing out that it has a wide variety of books, Lakota quillwork and bead jewelry, handmade holiday cards, pottery ornament and many other items that make great stocking stuffers such as hand puppets and puzzles.

Potter says the Holiday Open House is also a good chance for visitors to get a look at some changes being made to the museum such as old exhibit cases being demolished and new tile being installed.

The Chadron Public Library kicks off a 2-week amnesty period Saturday for fines more than a year old.

Library Director Rosella Tesch asks only that individuals bring in 2 non-perishable, non-expired food items for distribution to local food pantries for every $5 owed in fines.

Tesch says the idea is to clear old fines off the books while helping with the Chadron community’s Christmas celebration.

“We decided to do it to be part of Chadron’s Caring and Sharing Christmas, and said that with many fines not collected this might be a way to make everyone happy…a win and win situation. ”

Tesch is afraid that some patrons of the library have stopped coming because they have outstanding fines, so she hopes the food donation amnesty program gets them coming in again.

The Chadron Public Library fine amnesty program runs through Saturday December 15th.

The annual Christmas in the Hills celebration in Hot Springs begins tonight, highlighted by the lighting of the Community Christmas Tree at the Evans at 6:00 and the Journey of Lights Parade at 6:30. This year’s theme is “White Christmas.”

Starting things off from 4:30 to 6:00 will be the Italian dinner at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, followed at 5:00 by the arrival of Santa and Mrs Clause at the The Evans…where the Sandstone Singers will lead everyone in caroling.

Then at 6:00…it’s the lighting of the Community Christmas Tree at The Evans, helped by music from the Hot Springs High School Les Chanteurs.

The Journey of Lights Parade also starts at 6:00, but at the South Dakota State Veterans Home before making its way downtown. Grand marshal is Pat Coffield, who was selected for her contributions to the area. The parade will be followed by a soup supper fund raiser at the United Churches for a Haiti medical mission.

Tomorrow, Christmas in the Hills offers the Crafters’ Marketplace from 9-4 in the Mueller Civic Center with vendors who make a variety of beautiful high-quality gifts and products by hand. Admission is $1, but gift wrapping is free for all purchases.

Capping off the day will be community caroling in the Mueller Auditorium, with the admission a donation to the local food bank. On sale throughout the day and evening at the Mueller will be tickets to Sunday’s Christmas Tea at the Pine Hills Retirement Community at 1:00, followed by the Tour of Homes.

Six homes are on this year’s tour, including four built in the 1890s and one that is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Tour is included with a ticket for the Tea.