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Several fights broke out inside of the Rule G Night Club, located at 530 Canopy Street, after a Chris Brown concert at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Monday night. There were an estimated five different fights between the hours of 12:15 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., according to witnesses. Authorities said that when they arrived on scene, they saw patrons “hitting each other with liquor containers, chairs, and sections of metal portable fence panels.” Lincoln Police also saw Batrell Wells, 25, of Omaha, approach of group of people and hit another man in the head with a metal chair. Wells was arrested...

More than 200 people rallied for Lincoln's gay and lesbian community on the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday night, one day after police said a lesbian woman staged a hate crime one month ago. The scene echoed the candlelight vigil the night after Charlie Rogers, 33, told police three men broke into her house, tied her up, carved anti-gay slurs into her skin and tried to light her house on fire. "We were all brought together by a woman who needs prayers and support," said Beth Loofe, a Lincoln woman who works as a chaplain at Inclusive Life Church...

The 33-year-old lesbian who told police she was brutally attacked spoke to an Omaha television station Thursday. Charlie Rogers spoke with KETV, Omaha’s ABC affiliate, saying the attack changed her life. “I’m not hiding from this anymore,” she said. “My world has been changed forever.” Rogers told police three masked men broke into her house early Sunday morning, bound her with zip ties and carved anti-gay slurs into her skin before trying to light her house on fire. Through her attorney, Rogers has declined interview requests from the Journal Star. Police are investigating the reported attack as a hate crime,...

A pair of Nebraska investors has filed a class-action lawsuit against LPL Financial, saying that one of the company's brokers misled them about the costs and benefits of annuities. J.L. Spray, one of the investors' attorneys, said in court documents that broker Bob Bennie of Lincoln made multiple misrepresentations about the $366,500 in annuities he sold to Richard and Carol Ripley. Bennie, who used to lead the Lancaster County Republican Party, has helped organize tea party events in the state this year. Michael Rhodes, with the law firm defending LPL, which is based in Boston, says the company believes the...

Lincoln Public Schools needs to re-emphasize its commitment to multicultural education in the wake of the "green card" incident on an Omaha soccer field last week, several people told the Lincoln Board of Education on Tuesday. "We need to rethink and readdress our multicultural perspective," said Marty Ramirez, a longtime Lincoln resident and community activist. "We need to go beyond token gestures." In the 1970s, there was a lot of energy focused on multicultural education, but that energy seems to have diminished, he said. Last week, in the moments after Lincoln East High School's boys soccer team beat Omaha South...

Lincoln's largest scheduled tea party event is expected to attract several thousand participants Tuesday. "I wouldn't be surprised if we have 3,000 or 4,000 people," organizer Bob Bennie said Wednesday. "With all the increased interest, particularly the recent passage of the health care bill, I think we might overflow the Lancaster Event Center." The event will be held two days before the federal income tax filing deadline date. It's scheduled to feature music, videos and speakers from 5 to 7 p.m. Smaller conservative tax day gatherings, sponsored by other organizers, are scheduled for Thursday afternoon and evening north of the...

A judge sentenced a 37-year-old Lincoln man Monday to four to five years in prison for inappropriately touching a young girl. Manolo Segura Sevilla was arrested and jailed Feb. 26 after the allegations of abuse surfaced. He was known to the girl, who police said was 4 when the abuse began. His attorney, Kristi Egger-Brown of the public defender's office, said he was going to go to trial, but he didn't want the girl to have to testify. She said it was a major consideration that led to his no contest plea in November to a charge of third-degree sexual...

When the Lincoln store owner bought $700 worth of cell phones for $110 from an undercover officer, he didn't understand they were stolen, his attorney says. So Benicio Lobo, owner of City Mex Market Convenience Store, 338 N. 27th St., ordered two 27-inch flat screen TVs, two microwaves and two toasters. But he soon learned it was all part of an undercover investigation, spurred by confidential tips, that ended in his arrest and the arrests of four others in March. At Lobo's sentencing Monday, attorney Harry Moore argued his client had a less formal way of doing business and didn't...

A former football coach was sentenced Tuesday morning to a year in jail for making racially charged threats to employees at Ameritas, where he worked. "Very clearly what stands out in this case is Jose Jefferson made a big mistake," said his attorney, David Watermeier, who sought probation for his client. Jefferson, 38, has taken responsibility and has no history of criminal behavior. Watermeier said an anonymous letter showed up on Jefferson's desk at Ameritas, where he was working as a licensed insurance broker. When he tried to find out who sent it, the attorney said, he was rebuked. Watermeier...

Lincoln police nabbed a man at a public library where they say he'd been approaching teenage girls. On Friday, police were listening at the 14-year-old girl's end of a phone conversation in which Mohammed Nadeem allegedly arranged to meet her at the library for sex. And, they waited there to arrest him when he arrived. They booked Nadeem, 4800 N. 15th St., Apt. 111, on suspicion of attempted sexual assault in the first-degree. Prosecutors have not yet charged him. In the affidavit for his arrest, police said Nadeem, 22, sat next to the 14-year-old at Eiseley Library Thursday and asked...

I want to show up before Krugman's speech with some good talking points and sign suggestions. He is speaking at a high school this Friday so I need to keep it clean!

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman will give a free presentation, “Return of Depression Economics,” at Lincoln North Star High School at 7 p.m. May 8. “The Lincoln Public Schools District is indeed fortunate – especially in this era of economic downturn – to host the current, reigning Nobel Prize winner in economics,” said Randy Ernst, social studies curriculum specialist at LPS. Krugman is an economist, columnist, author and professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University. [+]Enlarge Story Photo Paul Krugman, Nobel Prizewinning economist (AP Photo/Mel Evans) Story Photo Paul Krugman, Nobel Prizewinning economist (AP Photo/Mel Evans) He was...

Pinnacle Bank is closing this week what was known as its Latino branch at 13th and E, because it failed to attract the numbers the bank was hoping for. “It was an experiment,” said Pinnacle President Mark Hesser. “It was a new concept at the time it was opened. (June 2006) As far as I know it was the first branch to have 100 percent bilingual employees in Nebraska.” All employees will be retained and will work at other Pinnacle locations, he said. “We found out with the downtown location and others, we could serve that community easily,” Hesser said....

Talk about thorough research. Taylor Headley, a fifth-grader at Lakeview Elementary, didn’t just read a biography about the nation’s second black U.S. Supreme Court justice. She didn’t just Google him. She interviewed him. The assignment from teacher Denise Golden: Read a biography of a famous black person as part of Black History Month. Then write a speech, dress up as your subject and give the speech as if you were him or her. Originally, Taylor wanted to be Ella Fitzgerald, mostly because she had a beautiful new dress for church she thought would make a very fine Ella costume. But...

<p>LINCOLN, Nebraska (AP) -- There was no chance of students getting drunk by bellying up to a bar on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.</p> <p>The bar was serving bottled oxygen, not booze.</p> <p>"I'm not wasted," UNL student Tim Randall, 23, said after inhaling 97-percent pure oxygen for about five minutes. "I'm more relaxed."</p>