lincoln police

Police say someone threw a rock through a window of the downtown Lincoln headquarters of the Nebraska Republican Party _ the fourth act of vandalism at the office in two years. The state party’s executive director, Ryan Hamilton, said three people were inside Wednesday when the brick went through a window in his office. Hamilton was not in the office. Lincoln police spokeswoman Officer Erin Spilker said evidence did not indicate the vandalism was related to a political statement.

Nebraska prison officials say the hunt is on for an inmate who walked away from a low-level corrections center where he was serving up to 10 years for weapons and assault counts — including assault on a police officer. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services says in a news release that 35-year-old Richard Reynolds walked away from the Community Corrections Center in Lincoln on Wednesday after removing an electronic monitoring device from his ankle. Officials say Reynolds was a little more than two years into his six- to 10-year sentence when he escaped.

The Lincoln Police Department says stolen car reports this year are the highest in almost two decades. Officials say there have been 431 cars reported stolen this year, the most since 469 thefts were reported in 2013. The department says most of the cases are located in north and central Lincoln. Authorities say of the 431 cars that have been stolen in 2019, only 17 haven't been recovered.

Dozens of bronze headstone flower vases have been stolen from a cemetery in Lincoln. Police say each vase was valued at $50, so the loss is estimated at $2,000. The thefts were reported Saturday at Lincoln Memorial Park. In October, about a dozen vases were also stolen from the cemetery. Police say the thief might try to sell the vases at pawn shops or scrap yards. They ask that anyone with information call police.

Police in Lincoln are warning the public of holiday scammers after they say a man lost forty-eight-hundred dollars. The 76-year-old victim told police he received a call from someone who claimed to be a Microsoft employee who told him his account was overcharged. Authorities say the scammer convinced the victim to buy thousands of dollars' worth of gift cards and give the codes to them over the phone. Officials want the public to know that businesses will never call and ask for payment in gift cards.

Lincoln police are on the lookout for a woman who stole a purse with about six-thousand dollars in cash in it.  Police say the suspect took the purse after it was left at the self check out at a Walmart on Wednesday.  Police have reviewed the surveillance video of the theft.  They say the suspect left in a white truck.

(Council Bluffs, IA)  --  A suspect is under arrest following a bank robbery in Council Bluffs.  Police say Brandon Bird allegedly robbed the US Bank near 34th and South Expressway yesterday morning.  Authorities spotted Bird a short time later attempting to break into a garage to steal a car, and they arrested him after he drove into a water-filled ditch.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in Iowa and Nebraska have responded to numerous vehicle crashes as the season's first widespread snow turned roads icy.

Police in Lincoln say they responded to more than a dozen crashes in the span of two hours because of the overnight snow.

The Iowa State Patrol says ice completely covered roads near the Interstate 80 and Interstate 880 interchange, and two semi-tractor trailers rolled over.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln residents will now be required to keep any firearms in their vehicles out of sight with the doors locked under a new city ordinance.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Police are searching for a man who walked into a bank in Nebraska this week and tried to open a checking account with a fake $1 million bill.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln police say the death of a 22-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student appears to be accidental. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that police found the body of Dane LeClair in downtown Lincoln around 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Officer Angela Sands says LeClair, of Pittsford, New York, died after falling from the fourth floor of a parking garage. She says that based on video surveillance footage, LeClair fell at around 3:40 a.m. and his death appeared to be accidental.

LINCOLN, Neb.

Police in Lincoln, Nebraska, are investigating an assault on a Muslim woman as a possible hate crime.

Police tell the Lincoln Journal Star that the 18-year-old victim was walking Wednesday night in west Lincoln when two white men approached her, made derogatory comments and threats and then knocked her to the ground and kicked her. No arrests had been reported by Thursday afternoon.

Police Chief Bliemeister said his agency "will not tolerate hate crimes."

(Lincoln, NE)  --  Lincoln police are cracking down on some designated drivers.  Police say they are focusing on areas including O Street, which on weekends is full of vehicles dropping off or picking up passengers.  Officers are ticketing drivers who break the law when they stop in the middle of the road.  Police say the crackdown is being done to ensure other drivers and pedestrians are safe.