A Pine Ridge Reservation woman who pleaded guilty last fall to charges in the death of her 5-month-old baby has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
31-year-old Kehuanna Poitra of Wanblee, SD, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of child abuse and neglect, with federal prosecutors dismissing a murder charge.
U.S. Attorney for South Dakota Brendan Johnson says when Poitra’s infant son was sent home from the hospital in 2011, she was was given strict instructions for his care including monitoring, medication, formula, and a specialized machine.
Johnson says Poitra failed to provide that care, which resulted in extreme malnourishment and dehydration, then failed to seek necessary medical attention when he eventually developed a fatal case of pneumonia in the summer of 2011.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Prosecutors in Rapid City have charged a 30-year-old man with manslaughter in a recent shooting death in a motel parking lot.
Authorities on Monday night surrounded a mobile home and apprehended Charles Birdshead without incident on outstanding warrants. He was initially arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder but prosecutors on Tuesday reduced the charge to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 33-year-old Eustacio Marrufo.
Marrufo was shot to death Jan. 7 in the parking lot of the South Dakota Rose Inn. Police say he died of a gunshot wound to the chest. Authorities had been seeking Birdshead for about a week for questioning.
Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman used his annual State of the State address to the legislature today to call for a massive overhaul of the state tax system by getting rid of individual and corporate income taxes and replacing the lost revenue by ending all sales tax exemptions for businesses.
Nebraska exempts more in sales taxes than it collects…bringing in $1.5-billion dollars annually while exempting $5-billion. Heineman said that’s more than enough to cover what would be lost by eliminating income taxes and an approach that’s drawn interest from business leaders during quiet discussions in recent months.
He said they want “simplicity and fairness…a modern tax code that rewards productivity, profits and job creation rather than having their lawyers and accountants spending time mining the tax code for exemptions.” Heineman sees his proposal as benefitting working and retired Nebraskans while growing the State’s economy by helping small businesses prosper.
The governor offered statistics to back his proposal…pointing out that Nebraska’s Tax Foundation Business Tax Climate Ranking is 31st out of the 50 states, which he called “mediocre, at best” while its top personal income tax rate is 35th of 50 states; and is higher than all neighboring states…with Wyoming and South Dakota having no individual income tax.
Heineman said he will introduce several options for lawmakers in the next few days, but did not specify which tax breaks he wants to eliminate. He did emphasize that he would not support taxing food, not even with some type of low-income exemption or rebate program.
Governor Heineman and Lt Governor Rick Sheehy headed out after the speech on separate trips to 13 cities across the state to highlight some of the governor’s proposals.
Heineman is flying to North Platte, Grand Island, and Norfolk today while Sheehy is going McCook, Sidney, Scottsbluff, and Alliance. Sheehy will visit Chadron, South Sioux City, Falls City, and Beatrice tomorrow.
Sheehy’s Panhandle schedule has him at the Western Nebraska Community College Aviation Campus in Sidney at 2:10, at the terminal in Scottsbluff at 3:30, and at the Alliance Airport Terminal at 4:45, and at the Best Western West Hills Inn conference room in Chadron tomorrow morning at 8:00.
A 24-year-old Spearfish man was found dead Saturday a short distance from his abandoned vehicle off a private road northwest of Spearfish.
The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office says Gerald Krejci’s van had become stuck after sliding off the road. His body was found by a snowplow operator.
The National Weather Service says overnight temperatures in the Spearfish area dropped to 4 degrees above zero farenhite, but sheriff officials say the time of death and cause of death have yet to be determine. An autopsy is being conducted and Krejici’s death remains under investigation.
Sen. Fischer meets with Nebraska service-members stationed at the Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar Province, Afghanistan
Deb Fischer of Nebraska and John Barrasso of Wyoming visited Afghanistan and Israel over the weekend a part of a delegation of Republican senators led by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
McConnell…also accompanied by Jeff Flake of Arizona and Ted Cruz of Texas…says he left the country with a genuine sense of optimism about Afghanistan, and favors leaving a residual force of about 10,000 U-S forces after combat troops leave next year.
The group met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to discuss political and security challenges facing the Middle East, and in Afghanistan with political leaders and top military commanders including General John Allen, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force.
The lawmakers also met with deployed service-members from their home states. Senator Fischer says she was honored to have the chance to meet them, shake their hands, look them in the eyes, and thank them – on behalf of all Nebraskans – for their hard work and sacrifice.”
Fischer also told the Omaha World-Herald in a Monday interview from an air base in Italy that the trip has left her much more optimistic about whether President Obama’s planned withdrawal of U-S ground forces next year can be met.
She said the message from Afghan, U-S, and coalition force leaders was positive…that Afghan troops are going to be ready to take over and monitor the situation there in their country when the United States and the international forces leave.
Fischer isn’t so sure about the president’s plan to speed up more of the withdrawal into this year, saying that might be a little fast. She also questioned talk of not leaving any residual U-S forces behind, and stressed the need to give military commanders flexibility.
Fischer’s a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and said U.S. military plans for Afghanistan will be a key topic during former Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel confirmation hearing as Secretary of Defense.
Sen. Fischer meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem
Hagel campaigned against her and for Democrat Bob Kerrey in November, but Fischer has promised to give him open and fair consideration during the confirmation process.
Fischer’s trip to Afghanistan and Israel capped an exciting second weekend as a U-S Senator. She also recorded the GOP’s response to the president’s weekly radio speech…saying that “the debate over taxes and revenues is done” and that it’s “time for serious action” on cutting federal spending.
Fischer predicted that Congress will reject the president upcoming request to increase the nation’s debt limit again unless it comes with major spending cuts…saying that reducing spending is why Nebraskans sent her to Washington and calling it “what the American people demand…and what our children and grandchildren deserve.”
Nebraska Game and Parks officials say a mountain lion was unintentionally killed in a cable restraint trap in Scotts Bluff County last Wednesday. The lion was a female weighing about 81 pounds and appeared to be in good health.
Game and Parks carnivore program manager Sam Wilson says the trapper called the agency immediately after discovering the lion…as required by Game and Parks regulations since mountain lions are a protected species.
Wilson says high pelt prices for bobcats have led to an increased trapping efforts and may have contributed to the incidental capture of the mountain lion.
There were two similar accidental trappings of mountain lions in bobcat traps last year in Dawes County. In one case, the cougar was safely released, but in the other the big cat was euthanized because of its injuries.
Wilson says Game and Parks is asking fur harvesters to immediately contact the agency if a mountain lion is incidentally trapped, adding that anyone with trail camera photographs or other evidence of mountain lions should also contact the agency.
MARTIN,S.D. (AP) — A lawyer for a South Dakota hospital suing Indian Health Service for services provided to an American Indian tribe says the hospital has agreed to dismiss the case in federal district court. The lawsuit is being re-filed in U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Bennett County Hospital and Nursing Home in Martin sued the federal government in September, saying it is owed $1.65 million for services provided to members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Donald Bruce is the lawyer for the hospital. He tells The Associated Press he will be re-filing the lawsuit in U.S. Court of Federal Claims within the month. He says the hospital has “a better opportunity” there.
The federal government had contented the lawsuit belonged in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning Thursday unveiled a 4-measure legislative package he wants lawmakers to pass this year. Bruning says each will provide more protection for Nebraskans, but in different ways.
He says one bill helps protect against terrorism by restricting the direct investment of public funds in Iran, strengthening economic sanctions in response to Iran’s continued development of nuclear weapons. The federal government and 23 other states have similar restrictions.
One Bruning bills would help protect citizens against identity fraud by requiring companies whose computers are hacked to report those breaches to the Attorney General’s office.
He says that although companies have to notify consumers, they don’t have to notify his office…which can make it more difficult to pursue the hackers. 17 other states have similar laws.
Another of Bruning’s priorities is to make taking a police officer’s weapon from them a felony. Currently, the most that can be charged is misdemeanor resisting arrest or obstructing an officer unless the officer is injured. He says that “taking an officer’s weapon is a serious matter and should have serious consequences.”
Bruning also wants more serious consequences for intentionally taking a life than for accidentally taking one, doing that with a bill making voluntary and involuntary manslaughter be made separate crimes with a longer prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter. It’s a change suggested by the state Supreme Court in a ruling last year.
Bruning says that currently, accidentally crossing the center line in car and killing someone in an auto accident and carries the same range of sentence as intentionally killing…with both lumped under the single heading of manslaughter.
Bruning couldn’t escape his news conference without reporters posing at least one question about his political future.
Asked if he might run for governor next year, Bruning said he’s “as happy as I can be” being attorney general, hinting that he will seek a fourth term next year.
Bruning was the presumptive favorite to win the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate last year, but was upset in the GOP by eventual winner Deb Fischer of Valentine.
Lt Governor Rick Sheehy is the only announced candidate for governor with the withdrawal of former State Sen. Mike Flood because of his wife’s battle with breast cancer.
Nebraska had $363-million dollars in net tax revenue last month…nearly $42 million or 13% more than expected…but State Tax Commissioner Doug Ewald says the big jump was likely an anomaly caused by net individual and corporate income taxes.
Net sales and use taxes and miscellaneous tax revenues were actually slightly below the projections set by the state revenue forecasting board. Sales taxes were $124-million or about a half-percent under expectations while miscellaneous taxes were down $1.1-million or 9.6%.
Individual income taxes, on the other hand, were 17% or $26-million over estimates at $194-million and corporate income taxes were up 51% or $17-million at $50.1-million.
Ewald says corporate farm income could have been responsible for most of the jump in corporate tax receipts while the individual income tax increase may have been the result of year-end sale of stocks, land, or businesses before a rise in the federal capital gains tax.
Net receipts through the first 6 months of the fiscal year total nearly $1.9-billion dollars…4.5% or almost $80-million more than the forecasting board’s revisse projections from October.
A Pine Ridge Reservation woman who pleaded guilty last fall to charges in the death of her 5-month-old baby has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
