LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Lincoln officials are blaming drought stress for the deaths of more than 550 trees in Pioneers Park.

Most of them were mature white pines, planted 20 to 40 years ago.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/Pu0WWf) that there were fears the trees had fallen victim to the pine wilt that’s been killing Scotch pines and some other pine species. White pines are generally thought to be resistant to pine wilt.

But officials have determined the trees died from drought stress.

The trees are being removed. Many likely will be replaced in spring during a volunteer planting event.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska’s federal court will take up a lawsuit accusing the University of Nebraska-Lincoln of illegally closing down handicapped parking stalls on campus during Nebraska home football games.

Richard Norton Jr. filed the lawsuit in September in Lancaster County District Court. The university requested earlier this month that the lawsuit be moved to Nebraska’s federal court.

Norton’s lawsuit says he was not allowed to park in a handicapped stall outside of the University of Nebraska State Museum during a home football game in 2010. Norton says he was told the handicapped spots were being held for university donors.

Norton, who suffers from a physical disability, says he was forced to park several blocks away, and the walk hurt him to the point of having to seek medical treatment.

 

American Indian Movement activist turned actor Russell Means died early today of cancer at his ranch on the Pine Ridge Reservation near Porcupine. He was 62.

Means,  a Wanblee native who grew up in the San Francisco area, announced last August that he had inoperable throat cancer and was abandoning mainstream medical treatments in favor of traditional American Indian remedies and alternative treatments.

Means helped lead AIM’s 1973 armed occupation of Wounded Knee, a 71-day siege that included several gun battles with federal officers and 3 deaths … an FBI agent and 2 protesters.

Means told the AP in 2011 that before AIM, there had been no advocate on a national or international scale for American Indians … who were ashamed of their heritage … but that all of that had changed now.

He also said that AIM faded away as more and more Native Americans became self-aware and self-determined.

In the 1980s, Means got involved in politics. In 1984,  he agreed to be Larry Flynt’s vice president in the Hustler magazine publisher’s quixotic bid to grab the Republic presidential nomination from incumbent Ronald Reagan.

Four years later, he made his own unsuccessful bid for the Libertarian nomination for president.

Means also entered Oglala Sioux tribal politics, winning the tribal presidential primaries in both 2002 and 2004 but losing in the general election both times.

In 2002, he was defeated by John Yellow Bird Steele…who became just the second OST president to win back-to-back terms…and fell in 2004 to Cecilia Fire Thunder…the first female president of the OST.

Means was probably best-known in the final 2 decades of his life as an actor … starting in 1992 with his portrayal of Chingachgook alongside Daniel Day-Lewis’ Hawkeye in “The Last of the Mohicans.”

Among his other work was the 1994 film “Natural Born Killers,” the voice of Chief Powhatan in Disney’s 1995 animated “Pocahontas” and TV shows that included Curb Your Enthusiasm, Walker-Texas Ranger, and Nash Bridges.

Means also became an author with his 1995 autobiography, “Where White Men Fear to Tread.” He said he tried to pull no punches in it, talking about his failures as well as his victories.

Means said that in the book “I tell the truth, and I expose myself as a weak, misguided, misdirected, dysfunctional human being I used to be.”

Openly critical of mainstream media, Means often refused interviews and verbally blasted journalists who showed up to cover his public appearances. In his later years, he communicated mostly through YouTube videos and blog posts on his personal website.

Russell Means was married 5 times and is survived by his wife of 13 years, Pearl Daniels. He had 9 children and, in Lakota tradition, adopted many others. Means had cut off his iconic braids last year in what he called at the time a traditional Lakota gesture of mourning for his people.

He said the Lakota believe the hair holds memories, and mourners often cut it to release those memories, and the people in them, to the spirit world.

Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale says county election offices across the state are seeing an increase in early voting over years’ past.

The state’s three largest counties – Lancaster, Sarpy and Douglas – say this election’s early ballot requests have already exceeded those for the 2008 general election, with more people voting early in-person.

Sarpy County Election Commissioner Wayne Bena says more than 17,000 voters have requested early ballots, while nearly 20,000 have sought early ballots in Lancaster County.

In Douglas County, almost 4,000 people have voted in person so far with almost 55,000 asking for early ballots more than 20,000 of those already already returned.

County election offices in the Panhandle are also seeing plenty of interest in early voting.

Scotts Bluff County Clerk and election commissioner Vera Dulaney says she has had a steady stream of foot traffic that has her thinking this year should at least match the record 4,000 early ballots she handled 4 years ago.

Dawes County Clerk Cheryl Feist says her office has had a lot of contacts about the election, although more about just making sure the caller was properly registered than about early voting.

As for early voting, Feist says the Dawes County numbers are looking to be just about what they’ve been in the last few elections…with 443 ballots cast as of Thursday afternoon and about 600 expected by Election Day.

Registered voters have until the end of the month to request early voting ballots to be mailed to them, with November 5th…the day before the election…the dealine for early voting at county election offices.

Next Friday, October 26th, is the Nebraska deadline to register to vote for the November election, and all county election offices will be open to 6 pm local time that day.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska has awarded $2.7 million in grants to cities for local public works and water treatment projects.

Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy announced that eight cities will receive community development block grants. The federal grant money is administered by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

The money will help pay for projects in Loup City, Sidney, South Sioux City, Taylor, Walthill, Crawford, Haigler and North Loup. Cities will use the money for sidewalk and street upgrades, new wastewater treatment plants and water storage facilities. The city of Walthill will receive a new fire station.

 

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say a juvenile has escaped custody while at a truck stop in Grand Island.

Hastings television station KHAS reports (http://bit.ly/SZUcDR) that Grand Island police say the boy was being taken from Madison in northeast Nebraska to Hall County in south-central Nebraska on Tuesday. While at the truck stop on East U.S. Highway 30, he asked to go to the bathroom. He soon escaped and headed toward a nearby railroad yard.

A Hall County dispatcher said early Wednesday that she had no information on whether the boy had been caught. Grand Island police didn’t answer a call to a nonemergency number.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A Lincoln-based postal contractor who misused a gas card given to him by the U.S. Postal Service has been given three years of probation.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/Pu0WWf ) that 73-year-old Ervin Stepanek was sentenced on Tuesday.

Stepanek told the judge he was sorry and that he accepted full responsibility for his crime. Stepanek had pleaded guilty to theft of public money.

He’s already paid back $90,000. He must pay nearly $37,000 more.

Court records say Stepanek admitted that from May 2005 until early 2008 he stole gas by misusing the card. At the time, Stepanek’s company, Blue Falcon Mail Service, had contracted to carry mail between postal outlets.

FREMONT, Neb. (AP) – A Fremont man has won $1 million from the Nebraska Mega Millions lottery game.

The Nebraska Lottery says a ticket bought by Gerald Ritter at Tom’s Beverage Shop in Fremont matched five of the six numbers from Friday’s drawing: 6, 10, 24, 26 and 42. That won him $250,000, But he’d added the $1 Megaplier option, which multiplied the $250,000 by four.

Ritter says he and his wife, Robin Ritter, plan to pay bills and save the rest of the money for their future.

 

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) – A Sargent mother has been charged with two counts of felony child abuse for an Aug. 22 crash that killed one of her daughters and a friend.

Investigators say 28-year-old Amanda Wilder was south of Miller on U.S. Highway 183 when she lost control of the truck and it rolled, ejecting three of the four people in the truck.

Eleven-year-old Destani Wilder and 24-year-old Rebecca Veeder died at the scene. Amanda Wilder and 8-year-old Montannah Wilder were treated at a hospital.

The Kearney Hub reports (http://bit.ly/RC0hD0 ) that investigators believe Amanda Wilder was speeding, and that none of the truck’s occupants were wearing seat belts, as required by law.

A phone listing could not be found for Amanda Wilder. Online court records indicate she does not yet have an attorney.

BROKEN BOW, Neb. (AP) – Developers expect to harvest enough power from a new central Nebraska wind farm to meet the needs of about 25,000 homes.

Government, utility and company officials gathered Tuesday near Broken Bow to dedicate the Broken Bow Wind project, which was developed and will be run by Edison Mission Energy, of Santa Ana, Calif.

The Grand Island Independent says (http://bit.ly/T0vnYq) a brisk wind blew at the ceremony, prompting Edison Mission Energy President Pedro Pizarro to remark that Nebraska is a “really good wind resource.”

The farm’s 50 turbines stand more than 262 feet high and stretch across about 14,000 acres of central Nebraska fields. Commercial operation is expected to begin within weeks.