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Crash on slick highway kills child, injures 7, all from Grand Island

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A child was killed when a vehicle carrying eight people from Nebraska crashed along an icy interstate in southwestern Iowa last night. All of the victims were from Grand Island.

The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2004 GMC driven by 40-year-old Jesus Cantero-Perez was traveling west on I-80 at around 10:30 p.m. near the Marne exit, when the vehicle went out of control due to freezing rain/icy conditions.

The vehicle entered the ditch and rolled onto its passenger side.

A passenger in the vehicle, nine-year-old Joshua Tavares, who was not wearing a seat belt, died at the scene.

Canter-Perez, and his passengers, 35-year-old Wendy Tavares, 11-year-old Ashley Tavares, 12-year-old Kimberly Tavares, 11-year-old Yamilet Cantero, 15-year-old Jonathan Tavares, and 10-year-old Emanuel Cantero, were all injured in the crash.

Four of the injured children were not wearing seat belts. Both adults were buckled-up.

The injured were transported by Marne and Walnut Rescue to the Cass County Memorial Hospital, in Atlantic.

By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

School leader in northeast Nebraska is skeptical of governor’s funding plan

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Superintendent A.J. Johnson

Governor Pete Ricketts proposes fully funding the state’s education funding formula and capping property tax increases.

A.J. Johnson, superintendent of the Hartington-Newcastle School District, says many rural schools across the state, including his, would see no gains from the formula.

“If it’s going to be the same formula, it really won’t affect our school at all because we are so far from meeting the requirements,” Johnson says. “I do know he’s also proposed some additional property tax relief or tax credits, that would help.”

The governor proposes a three-percent ceiling on property tax valuation increases, but Johnson says that doesn’t fix the true, underlying problem.

Johnson says, “My frustration with the governor is that he continues to put all the blame for property taxes onto school spending rather than take any blame for the fact that Nebraska is 49th in the nation for state aid to public schools.”

Johnson says a cap on property tax valuations could really impact their budget, especially if enrollment continues to grow.

“We had an influx of kids the last couple of years and we’ve had to split some classes,” Johnson says. “Because of that, our needs have gone up and to be put under a 3% lid in terms of what we can levy the next year, that would not be able to meet our needs.”

Johnson says the legislature needs to look at equalizing funding for all school districts statewide.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

Body of missing northeast Nebraska man taken from lake

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Search parties at Maskenthine Lake/Photo by WJAG

The body of a missing Stanton man was recovered from Maskenthine Lake today.

According to Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger, the body of 55-year-old Eddie Myrick was recovered by dive rescue teams from Hadar and Yankton around 11:30 this morning. Myrick was last seen on Sunday afternoon riding his motorcycle on the ice of the lake and was reported missing around 5:30 that afternoon.

Unger said on Wednesday afternoon an aerial search with a drone indicated physical evidence on the lake and an ice rescue team from Hadar Fire and Pilger Rescue located the helmet of the missing person encased in ice, but due to darkness all efforts were suspended until the morning.

Myrick’s body was removed from the scene and an investigation is currently being completed by the Sheriff’s Office into his death which will be treated as a traffic fatality due to the motorcycle operation on the lake, unless other circumstances are discovered.

Alcohol may have been a contributing factor.

Stanton Fire, Stanton County Emergency Management, and the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District also assisted.

By Nick Stevenson, WJAG

Counties ask Unicameral for help — and helicopters — to kill invasive weeds

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Water is one of Nebraska’s most valuable resources and a coalition of county leaders is asking the state for help in preserving it.

Larry Dix, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials, says the organization is asking the Unicameral for financial aid to help wipe out noxious weeds that invade our state’s ponds, lakes and waterways.

“Once those invasive species get in our waterways, they just suck up a bunch of the moisture just for their own life,” Dix says. “We’re trying to work to put together projects where we can go in and spray waterways and things like that just to get rid of these invasive species.”

Dix says counties can’t do the job by themselves.

“The reason they need help is, the main river that runs through the state, the Platte River, it’s not very deep but it’s really wide,” Dix says. “To get out and spray those weeds, you need to get in there with a helicopter and that’s an expensive proposition.”

Dix says there have been some successful treatments already using helicopters.

“We’ve seen the benefit of it in a number of areas where they’ve gone along the Platte and the Republican rivers and sprayed these plants and cleaned up the bed stream,” Dix says. “Counties just don’t have the equipment to do it themselves and it becomes very expensive when you’ve got to hire somebody to fly in there and spray these things.”

Dix says there needs to be a statewide effort to deal with invasive weeds and clean up our waterways.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

Red Cross puts out urgent appeal for blood donors

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The American Red Cross is issuing an emergency call for blood donors.

Samantha Pollard, spokeswoman for the agency’s Midwest Blood Services Region, says they have less than a three-day supply of most blood types.

A five-day supply is ideal for stocking hospitals for emergencies and daily needs. “We’ve seen a lot of winter storms and a lot of flu has been spreading around, taking people out of eligibility to donate blood,” Pollard says. “That, paired with people traveling over the holidays, really put us in a bad spot.”

Pollard encourages people who are scheduled to give blood to stay home if they don’t feel well. “We have a lot of people call in the day of their donation to say they’re not going to make it because they’re sick and they have the flu,” Pollard says. “That’s good. We don’t want people to come in if they’re sick, please don’t. We also want remind people, if they’ve gotten a flu shot, that does not make you ineligible to donate. As long as you’re symptom-free, please come in and donate.”

Pollard says blood products are being distributed to hospitals faster than donations are coming in. She encourages people to participate in blood drives to help re-stock the supply.

Pollard says the easiest way to find a blood drive is through the website: redcrossblood.org. “On the home page, just put in your hZIP code and it’ll pull up all the drives near you,” Pollard says. “Another way is calling us at 800-Red-Cross and someone will help you find a drive. We also have an app. Download our blood donor app by searching for Red Cross Blood Donor and the app is really cool. You can make your appointment in there and it reminds you of when your appointment is.”

Pollard says with two months of winter still ahead, severe winter weather may cancel more blood drives, resulting in a threat to an already-low blood supply.

By Dave Niedfeldt, KWBE, Beatrice

Search for missing man at northeast Nebraska lake suspended due to thin ice

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A search of a northeastern Nebraska lake for a missing Stanton man has been suspended due to thin ice.

Stanton County Sheriff Mike Unger called off the search after cold-water rescue/recovery experts from Yankton County and Lincoln Fire deemed the ice conditions too dangerous to continue.

An extensive search on the ground in and around Maskenthine Lake Sunday night into Monday morning showed no signs of 55-year-old Eddie Myrick or his motorcycle.

The family has been made aware of the situation.

Maskenthine Lake is currently closed. It will remain closed for an indefinite period, except for authorized officials.

By Nick Stevenson, WJAG, and Brent Martin

 

 

Siouxland leaders mull $14M riverfront development to attract tourists

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Leaders in the Siouxland area are looking over plans to transform a vacant lot along the riverfront into a tourist destination to benefit the entire metro area.

Architect Tom Rogers created a plan that includes a 30-foot-tall interactive fountain that would light up at night and change colors.

“Making some authentic to Sioux City was something we were really searching for,” Rogers says. “That’s why we came up with the idea of the River Lights and added the detail of doing elements that were about the city itself, so it could be a one-of-a-kind thing that you couldn’t find anywhere else.”

The plan includes green spaces, pavilions, overlooks, a basketball court, a dog park, a playground and a fishing pier platform over Perry Creek.

Sioux City’s parks and rec director Matt Salvatore says one of the city’s goals has been to catch the attention of tourists and draw them into the city.

“One way to do that was with something that could be multicolored, LED, lit up at night, just high in stature,” Salvatore says. “Now that’s gonna be accomplished in a different way with a project called River Lights. Multicolored, LED, some high-towered type fixtures, but also an interactive fountain with fog and everything else.”

Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott says he’s concerned about a lack of parking and how people will get to the riverfront:

“You’re going to try to attract hundreds of people and you’ve got 67 stalls,” Mayor Scott says. “Where are people going to park? Are we still going to park at the auditorium parking lot and walk across there? Because if you are, that’s a long ways to the activity area.”

The project is still being developed, but the city plans to kick off fundraising for its $14-million plan in the near future. Sioux City still needs to approve $6.5-million in city funds for the riverfront. The council has tentatively earmarked $6-million for the project with organizers raising the rest of the money privately.

If approved, work on the project could begin in 2020 and be finished in 2023.

Thanks to Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City and Katie Peikes at Iowa Public Radio

 

Nation’s high court hints it might consider Beatrice Six case judgment

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There could it be a glimmer of hope in the wake of a series of legal setbacks for Gage County in the very expensive Beatrice Six case.

Gage County Attorney Roger Harris says the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the plaintiffs’ attorneys to file a response in the county’s appeal of the verdict and the multi-million-dollar civil rights judgment.

“The Supreme Court has requested that they file a response, so, obviously they’re looking at it, which is a good thing, because a lot of times, these things are summarily written off,” Harris says. “At least from our attorney’s standpoint, the Supreme Court is taking a look.”

The nation’s highest court has not specifically stated whether it will hear the county’s appeal but did set a deadline for the plaintiff response in the case — February 8th. Harris says there is no information regarding the court’s timetable, beyond that.

Six people exonerated through DNA evidence by the state in the 1985 murder and rape of a Beatrice woman won a judgment of more than 28-million dollars, alleging a reckless investigation in Gage County resulted in the six serving decades in prison.

This year, Gage County began budgeting to pay off the judgment over the next several years, raising the county’s total tax rate to its ceiling.

By Doug Kennedy, KWBE, Beatrice

 

Herbivore senator offers bill to protect Nebraska’s livestock industry

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Sen. Carol Blood

A meat-labeling measure is being introduced in the Unicameral by a vegetarian legislator.

State Senator Carol Blood, of Bellevue, says LB-14 would require truth in advertising when it comes to the sale of meat in Nebraska.

“If you have a product and you want to market that product and it happens to be plant-based, or made in a lab, or insect-based, you cannot use the word meat,” Blood says. “I believe ‘meat’ means any edible portion of any livestock or poultry carcass or any part thereof.”

Besides making sure labels are truthfully represented, Blood says the legislation is intended to protect the state’s livestock industry.

“All the states talk about how to protect their coffers, how to lower property tax, but they never talk about protecting an industry that’s currently in the state,” Blood says. “We need to protect not just the cattle industry but all of our livestock industries because that is where the true success comes from here in Nebraska.”

Blood says even though she doesn’t eat meat herself, she believes this measure is important.

“I’m going to protect our industries in Nebraska because it’s the right thing to do,” Blood says. “As plant-based products continue to grow and try and tap into the meat market, they’re going to continue to use this creative advertising that will be misleading.”

Blood expects her bill to come up either in the Agriculture or Judiciary committees. If it becomes law, anyone violating the policy would be guilty of a Class One misdemeanor.

By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton

 

Daring search & rescue to find, save occupants of car that plunged into icy creek

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Two people were rescued from a crashed car as it filled with water after sliding off a snowy Gage County road on Saturday morning.

Gage County Sheriff’s investigators say the car, driven by 41-year-old Bobbie Rodriguez, of Beatrice, was traveling north on U.S. Highway 77, when her car slid off the east side of the highway and into a ditch.

The vehicle landed nose-down in a small creek. Rodriguez called authorities at 7:54 a.m., Saturday, saying her Toyota Scion had slid off the highway and that the interior of the car was filling with water. The driver could only say she was between Cortland and Filley.

Dispatchers from Southeast Communications in Beatrice were able to triangulate the 911 call made from a cell phone and relay the information to a sheriff’s investigator who was in the area.

The investigator found the vehicle stuck in a creek at a 45-degree angle. It was not visible from the road.

Cortland Fire officials were summoned and used extrication equipment to remove the driver and a passenger from the flooding vehicle. Both were taken to a Lincoln hospital for treatment of exposure.

Several inches of snow had fallen overnight. Both occupants of the car had been wearing seatbelts, slick highway conditions a factor in the accident.

By Doug Kennedy, KWBE, Beatrice