A 45-year-old Norfolk woman was killed yesterday in a one-vehicle accident east of Madison. Madison County Sheriff Vern Hjorth says Brenda J. Ross was westbound on a county road when she lost control of her vehicle and rolled. Ross was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident was investigated by the Madison County Sheriff's Office with assistance from the Madison Police Department and Madison Fire and Rescue.
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After more than nine months in Iraq, about 180 men and women of the National Guard are heading home to Nebraska. The Guard says the Omaha-based 600th Transportation Company is scheduled to arrive this afternoon at the Guard air base in Lincoln.
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Secretary of State John Gale predicts a low turnout for Tuesday's primary election. Gale says he expects just 27 percent of registered voters will go to the polls. The fact that the Nebraska presidential primaries won't affect delegate selection to the Republican and Democratic national conventions is one reason for his prediction.
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One of the issues in the Norfolk mayoral race has been the candidacy of Larry Sweigard -- who encouraged to him run and what was the motivation? Sweigard has said that he was recruited and invited to a meeting. When he arrived at the meeting, Sweigard says filing papers were filled out, and someone else paid his filing fee and drove him to the courthouse. He has identified Lou Pofahl, First District Congressman Jeff Fortenberry's Norfolk representative, as one of the men. On Thursday's "Spotlight" program on WJAG, a listener asked candidate Tom Schommer if he was involved in recruiting Sweigard -- and just what purpose Sweigard's candidacy served in Schommer's campaign. Schommer admitted he was the "mystery man" and "has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of." Schommer said he would answer that question "openly and honestly with anybody that wants to ask it." WJAG asked Sweigard the same question -- and his response was similar. He says he initially contacted Schommer, offering to help with putting up signs and other aspects of his campaign. As for how he became a candidate -- Sweigard says "it was kind of one of those spur of the moment things."
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An Omaha man struggling to breath used a steak knife to perform a tracheotomy on himself. Steve Wilder says he didn't call 911 because he didn't think help would arrive in time. So, he got a steak knife from the kitchen and made a small hole in his throat, allowing air to gush in.
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A ceremony honoring Chief Standing Bear will be held at the State Capitol today. A federal judge in 1879 recognized Standing Bear as a human under the law and freed him from U.S. custody -- a landmark decision that secured constitutional rights for all American Indians.
