Quantal Blake

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a repeat offender has been sent to prison for life because he robbed two banks and tried to rob a third in Omaha.

Twenty-nine-year-old Quantal Blake was sentenced Monday in Omaha. He was convicted in May of bank robberies in February and March 2014 and of an attempted robbery in March 2014.

Authorities linked Blake to the robberies through the electronic monitoring device that he was required to wear because of two prior robbery convictions.

Blake had two previous violent felony convictions for robbery and associated weapons charges. Because a firearm was used during the March 2014 robbery, Blake was subject to the life sentence under the federal three-strikes law.

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District will provide opportunities to watch bald eagles again this winter.

The season will begin Saturday at the J-2 Hydroplant facility six miles south of Lexington. The viewing sessions will run from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through the last weekend in February.

A limited number of binoculars are available at the facility.

The district has been helping people watch eagles at J-2 since 1988 and at Kingsley Dam. The birds feed on fish in the open water below the plants, particularly when rivers and lakes in the area are covered with ice.

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A 34-year-old Florida man who led officers on a chase through three southern Nebraska counties has been sentenced to prison.

On Thursday Adams County District Judge Terri Harder gave Christopher White 14 to 15 years in prison. White had pleaded no contest and was convicted of methamphetamine distribution, attempted possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and operating a vehicle to avoid arrest. His companion on March 10 was 31-year-old Keri Ansley, who was sentenced last month to time served. Both are from Milton, Florida.

Prosecutors say the two tried to evade officers while racing through Adams, Kearney and Webster counties. The chase ended when the couple’s vehicle ran out of gas. Officers say the two had a firearm and methamphetamine with them.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has denied an Omaha man’s quest for freedom, saying he failed to show his lawyer put on such a poor defense that it kept him from getting a fair trial.

Ryan Poe is serving a life sentence for the Nov. 11, 2004 killing of Trever Lee in a botched robbery at Lee’s Omaha home.

Poe had filed a motion for post-conviction relief, typically sought after all other appeals have been exhausted.

On Friday, the high court upheld a lower court’s finding that Poe’s attorney wasn’t negligent for not impeaching the testimony of a witness against Poe. The lower court found that Poe’s girlfriend never told the defense attorney — as Poe insists — that the witness denied to her that Poe had committed the crime.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) — Two men were convicted of charges related to the death of a 2-month-old girl who had been living in filthy conditions at a house in Bellevue.

28-year-old Aaron Thompson and 36-year-old Michael Degarmo each pleaded no contest Wednesday to one count of negligent child abuse and were found guilty by Sarpy County Court Judge Robert Wester.

The Sarpy County Attorney’s Office dropped three counts of misdemeanor child abuse against each of the men.

They were arrested after Bellevue police responded to a call of a baby not breathing and found Jasmine Thompson.

Three other children were removed.

The men will be sentenced later.

Earlier, 30-year-old Kristin E. Lary pleaded guilty to one count of felony possession of a controlled substance and four misdemeanor child abuse counts.