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FUGITIVE PRISON GUARD
LINCOLN—A simple Google search of Michal Preclik’s name turns up an Interpol wanted poster from his native Czech Republic. So where was he arrested? In Nebraska’s maximum-security prison, where he was not an inmate, but a guard. Preclik had worked at the prison for a year and his arrest came just two months after officials at Tecumseh State Correctional Institution promoted the 32-year-old to corporal. Prison officials learned last month that he was wanted on suspicion of drug and fraud crimes. By Nate Jenkins.
AP Photos NY115, NY116.
CHILD WELFARE
OMAHA—A national report released Wednesday found that Nebraska has one of the highest rates of child abuse deaths in the country. Sixteen children died from abuse or neglect in Nebraska, or nearly 3.6 deaths for every 100,000 children in the state, in 2007, the most recent year for which data was available. That ranked Nebraska at No. 4, according to a study by Every Child Matters Education Fund, a Washington-based advocacy group for children and families. By Timberly Ross.
BUSINESS:
— MEATPACKER FURLOUGHS—The furloughs that began in June for about 400 Premium Protein Products workers will be extended for at least two more weeks.
— TELEMARKETER FINED—A New Jersey-based telemarketing firm has paid nearly $120,000 to hundreds of employees after a federal investigation exposed overtime violations.
— INFOGROUP INVESTIGATION—Database provider InfoGroup Inc. says it has reached a tentative agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle an investigation of the company’s spending and records that began nearly two years ago.
SPORTS:
NEBRASKA-PELINI PROJECT
LINCOLN—No one told Bo Pelini that rebuilding Nebraska would be easy. In the middle of his second season leading the Cornhuskers, Pelini finds himself dealing with a quarterback controversy, his own volatile temper and an image problem. By Sports Writer Eric Olson.
AP Photos NENH102, NENH115.
ALSO GETTING ATTENTION:
— LEARNING COMMUNITY-LAWSUIT—A lawsuit is challenging the constitutionality of property tax levies imposed by a board that oversees Omaha metro area schools.
— NEB INFANT DIES—A 30-year-old Omaha man will face arraignment in Gage County District Court on a charge of intentional child abuse in the death of his girlfriend’s 14-week-old daughter.
— EX-JAILER PLEADS—A former Gage County jail guard who had pleaded guilty after a deal with prosecutors has been given three-to-five years in prison for sexually assaulting an inmate.
The AP, Omaha.
