Two more people now face federal indictments in connection to a public corruption investigation that came to light in September with the arrests of the former director of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission and a man with ties to two Lincoln strip clubs.

In a packed federal courtroom, 35-year-old Jesse Hill said he's had a lot of time to process what happened since the FBI raided his family's home three years ago in an investigation into bank fraud that extended to 22 banks.

Less than a week from his scheduled trial in the case, a Lincoln man has entered a no-contest plea to motor vehicle homicide for a crash last year that took the life of Ceresco Officer Ross Bartlett.

A district judge Monday denied an injunction that would have kept the so-called "Cornhusker Clink" from opening. But he also refused to dismiss the case as the state had asked.

"At the end of the day, your honor, the department has the authority to do exactly what it's doing," Assistant Nebraska Solicitor General Lincoln Korell argued.

ICYMI: Property owners near the site of a proposed eight-barn poultry operation are seeking judicial review of a Seward County Board's approval of a conditional-use permit.

An attorney for a Lincoln man awaiting trial in a double killing outside a Lincoln strip club last year argued this week that Lincoln police cameras watching his house for more than a month before the killings without a warrant went "beyond the pale."

Lincoln police identified the couple who died in an apparent murder-suicide last week. Sterling Jordan and Jennifer McCarther, both 51, were found dead from gunshot wounds at a home near South 14th and Sumner streets on Friday morning, police said.

ICYMI: A Lancaster County judge ordered the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to come to his courtroom to answer why they turned away sheriff's deputies who brought a man there to serve his sentence.

The prosecutor said she hoped Rachel Pageler, who was given a plea deal cutting her maximum sentence from 20 years to five, feels immense gratitude that she was able to recover from Josef Barraza. "Because Carly Schaaf was never given that opportunity," she said. journalstar.com/news/local/c...

A Wisconsin man soon will be headed back to the state where he's accused of killing a woman and driving away with her body in a stolen car, despite concerns that the 23-year-old isn't competent.

Of the five officers recommended for revocation, two were accused of meeting women in their city-owned vehicles to engage in affairs, and a third was criminally charged for alleged sexual misconduct. Two others got caught lying.

The state board that oversees law enforcement certification has reversed course, allowing a young woman to join the Lincoln Police Department's next recruit class despite taking a single prescription pill that wasn't prescribed to her in 2023.

Tyler Stanford is set for sentencing in November where he will face a sentence of up to 40 years in prison for manslaughter and attempted use of a deadly weapon (a ligature) to kill Phillip Garcia.

Anthony Miller, 37 of Omaha, had been running with his wife on South 27th Street near Rokeby Road when he was struck about 5:45 a.m. Sunday.

"There's virtually no caselaw interpreting Nebraska's priest-penitent privilege statute," Deputy Sarpy County Public Defender Cole Burmeister told the justices at oral arguments last week.

Chris Triebsch, chief communications officer for the city, said public safety is the city’s top priority "and the reason we work to protect City of Lincoln employees and community members when they are within the public spaces and properties we manage."

"It's been nice having someone in my corner that I know I can ask for help if I need it, and she is more than willing to offer that to me in any way that she can," said Amber Summers, who meets with her mentor Victoria Lee weekly. Story by Paloma Sanchez-McGee

Red Willow County Commissioner Charles Fritsche has received multiple phone calls from concerned constituents, worried it will bring “hardened criminals” close to the community. “Town’s not for it,” he told the Journal Star. From @ebbersjenna.bsky.social: journalstar.com/news/state-r...

The cost of defending indigent clients in Lancaster County when the public defender’s office cannot has more than doubled and in some cases more than tripled over the past five years. LJS Reporter Margaret Reist looks at why.

A Lincoln man accused of fatally shooting a man, stabbing another and running a third man down in a stolen car in a spree last February may have been having a mental health or substance use issue at the time.

"We will continue to advocate for positive immigration laws that fix our long-outdated immigration system and support local communities – not cruel and harmful detainment camps that repeat a deeply ugly pattern of history and are completely contrary to Nebraska values."

"It's been a long four years of heartbreak, trauma, waiting, fighting for justice. Four years of empty birthdays, unanswered questions and pain that just doesn't seem to go away," Carly Schaaf's aunt said.

A Lincoln woman will be allowed to reapply to a state board that oversees law enforcement certification for permission to attend the Lincoln Police Department's recruit academy following a legal fight over the board's denial of her application last year.

As part of the plea agreement, she's now looking at a maximum of five years in prison and two and a half years of post-release supervision at her sentencing in October for her participation in the disposal of the 23-year-old Lincoln woman's body.

"Some of what may have happened may be against their policy," Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner said. "But it wasn't necessarily against the law. Or certainly didn't rise to the level of being able to charge him with anything."

An Omaha woman swept up in an ICE raid on a food processing facility in June paid her bond and an immigration judge granted her release. But Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer refuses to let Floribertha Mayo Anicasio go. From @ljspilger.bsky.social: journalstar.com/news/state-r...

"Mr. Podwinski and The P.O.D. Group LLC are happy to comply with law enforcement as the investigation continues and look forward to being cleared of wrongdoing by law enforcement, and for their day in court in the civil matter," his attorney said.

The one-time head of the Special Victims Unit resigned from the Lincoln Police Department on Thursday, city officials confirmed.

After a bench trial last week, District Judge Susan Strong said the state had proven that Johnson committed the acts, and the defense had proven by a preponderance of the evidence that he was not responsible by reason of insanity.

When the presiding judge told him he had seven days to appeal, Molina stood up and shouted, according to The Main-Post News, a German newspaper covering the trial, which started at the end of January. "I am not f***ing guilty," he yelled. "You believe f***ing liars."

Last week, Molina denied he killed Hümpfer. "I did not commit the crime," he said, according to a local news account, then repeated himself and turned to face the victim's brother and said that he hoped her family finds the person who did.

"The court is probably wondering why. Why would she participate in these horrible acts with Maurice Thomas?" her attorney, Matt Kosmicki, told Lancaster County District Judge Matthew Mellor.

Lancaster County District Judge Kevin McManaman said while Arrlon Walker expressed some remorse at sentencing, he had significant treatment needs. "And the safety of the community is paramount in this case," he said.

Lyle Nettles knew the police dog didn't hit. But the Illinois man, himself a law enforcement officer, watched as the Saline County Sheriff's deputy searched his rental car along Interstate 80 anyway.

Ladies were selling slices of pie in the basement before noon. The cloggers a block away drew a standing-room-only crowd back at the bandshell. A block to the east, kids played in the spray from the water fight between Goehner and Seward volunteer firefighters.

Given a chance to say something at sentencing, Charles Alexander told the judge he could say a lot about himself. Instead, he expressed his frustration that no one was in the courtroom for his victim, 36-year-old Jasimin Champion.

In a newly filed federal lawsuit, a Lincoln woman has accused a Lincoln police sergeant of using excessive force during a 2023 arrest by putting his hands on her neck.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents has agreed to pay $55,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a former student alleging she faced retaliation after reporting sexual misconduct by a lecturer.

"Sheriffs and their deputies have a fundamental nondiscretionary duty to serve warrants. Not only did the petitioner ignore this duty, but he (also) failed to take accountability for his failure," the judge wrote.

For anyone who works or goes to the Hall of Justice regularly, get ready for a terrible time finding parking.

A county court judge has authorized the involuntary medication of a 46-year-old man who is accused of killing a 76-year-old Lincoln man, who was found dead in his home a year and a half ago.

As lawmakers debated a bill to regulate medical marijuana at the Nebraska State Capitol, a Lincoln judge Tuesday took up a motion seeking the dismissal of the latest legal challenge to Initiatives 437 and 438, which were overwhelmingly approved by voters in November.

In 1990, at the age of 18, Bradley Geiger went to prison for the attempted murder and rape at knifepoint of a 20-year-old Grand Island woman. Then, last year, he forced sexual contact on a 4-year-old Lincoln boy by taking advantage of a position of trust.

Lincoln attorney Bob Creager described the shooting last summer as a case of self-defense but said Michael Cornejo had to consider the litigation risks, given the Nebraska Supreme Court's current jury instructions for self-defense.