WAHOO, Neb. (AP) – A 22-year-old Omaha man has been charged with manslaughter for the death of a woman in a boating accident near Fremont

Saunders County Attorney Scott Tingelhoff says Sean Salisbury is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 13.

Tingelhoff says Salisbury was driving a boat at Woodcliff Lakes south of Fremont when the accident occurred on July 9. The Saunders County Sheriff’s Office says Salisbury got too close to the docks, so he turned sharply. The tube he was towing swung into a boat that was on a lift at the docks.

Authorities say 21-year-old Kayla Linn, of Omaha, was on the tube. She was pronounced dead at a Fremont hospital.

A phone listing for Salisbury couldn’t be found. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A Nebraska group has filed a state voting-rights complaint on behalf of a blind woman who says she wasn’t given access to ballot-marking technology that helps disabled residents vote.

Nebraskans for Civic Reform filed the complaint Tuesday with the Secretary of State’s office.

It was filed on behalf of Fatos Floyd, a blind woman who requested access to an Automark machine at the Lancaster County Election Commissioner’s office. Federal law requires the machines at all polling places, but Floyd says she was told one wouldn’t be available during early voting.

Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale says this is the first complaint of its kind filed in the state. Gale says his staff is reviewing the complaint and will determine what needs to be done to resolve the issue.

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A $46,100 grant from the Nebraska Arts Council will be used to help the state develop public school standards for visual and performing arts.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/Pu0WWf) that the Nebraska Department of Education will use the money to draft the standards, but the plan will not include assessment tests like the state uses for the core subjects of math, science, reading and writing.

The arts standards, set to be finalized by August 2014, will include dance, media arts, music, theater and visual arts.

The state currently has had guidelines for arts education, but no standards. Donlynn Rice, the department’s administrator of curriculum, instruction and innovation, says the department eventually would also like to develop standards for world language and coordinated school health education.

NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) – A 58-year-old worker has been killed and another one injured in an accident at a Norfolk steel plant.

The accident at Nucor Steel occurred around 4:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger identified the dead man as Perry Hoemann, of Hoskins, and the other man as 49-year-old Harold “Junior” Claussen, of Norfolk.

Jeff Haase is a manager for Tube City IMS, a company that services steel mills. Haase, says Hoemann working with two Tube City employees, including Claussen, when the accident occurred. They were dismantling a piece of equipment when a counterweight broke loose and struck the payloader machine they were standing in.

Hoemann was pronounced dead at the scene. Claussen told the Norfolk Daily News that he expected to leave a Norfolk hospital on Thursday.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – The University of Nebraska-Lincoln hopes to encourage high school students to study science in college with its daylong celebration of chemistry.

More than 100 high school juniors and seniors are expected to attend the event on Oct. 13 with their parents and teachers.

The students will have a chance to tour research labs, learn about opportunities for chemistry careers and try several hands-on activities.

The events will include using chromatography to make tie-dye t-shirts, a scavenger hunt and a chemistry quiz bowl.

Students can also register to win one of five scholarships. More details are available online at http://chemistry.unl.edu .

 

 

YORK, Neb. (AP) – Authorities say a 19-year-old York woman died after her car rammed into a utility pole.

The York County Sheriff’s Department says Natasha Carranza was driving south on U.S. Highway 81 when the accident occurred about 8:25 p.m. Saturday. The department says Carranza’s car was about three miles north of the county line when it crossed over the highway median and struck the pole.

The Lincoln Journal Star reports (http://bit.ly/Pu0WWf ) that Carranza was pronounced dead at the scene.
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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A fire has blackened cornfields northeast of Lincoln.

Authorities say no structures were damaged and no injuries have been reported from the fire, which began Sunday afternoon and took about two hours to contain.

About 40 firefighters and several firetrucks were dispatched to help put down the flames.

The fire charred an estimated 180 acres. The fire cause is being investigated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Most of Nebraska’s state and federal judges earned positive reviews from the lawyers who appear before them.

The Nebraska State Bar Association says its poll of lawyers recommended that 141 of the 143 judges evaluated be retained on the bench.

The anonymous evaluations that are detailed online at www.nebar.com are designed to help voters decide which judges to support.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – GOP U.S. Senate candidate Deb Fischer is promising to work with Democrats if elected, but she made her pledge at a news conference surrounded by an all-Republican group of lawmakers.

Fischer, a state senator from Valentine running against Democrat Bob Kerrey, announced the endorsements Monday of 75 current and former Republican state lawmakers from across the state.

Both Fischer and Kerrey have pitched themselves as the best candidate to cross party lines.

Fischer says she worked with Democrats during her eight years in the Legislature. Asked why no Democrats joined with Republicans to attest to her bipartisan approach, she responded, “I have a great group of senators here behind me.”

Kerrey spokesman Chris Triebsch says the endorsements show Fischer would take a partisan approach if voters sent her to Washington.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Omaha police say a car was traveling more than 90 mph on Interstate 480 when it hit a guardrail, killing the driver.

The crash happened at 7:24 p.m. Sunday when the car made a sudden lane change at the I-480 intersection with Interstate 80 and the John F. Kennedy Freeway. Investigators say the car was traveling more than 91 mph when it hit a guardrail beneath the Vinton Street bridge.

Police didn’t identify the driver pending notification of relatives. The driver was the car’s only occupant.