Do you know about the QPR Institute?

Question, Persuade, Refer.

Learn how to respond when someone you know shows signs of struggling. Join Panhandle Public Health District for a QPR session to learn how to have the important but difficult conversation. Upcoming dates for the QPR Institute are April 8, May 13, June 10, and August 12. Find that information on Panhandle Scanner. Just look for the Panhandle Public Health District post.

In case you missed it or you're hearing the buzz about something called Artemis, NASA launched four astronauts into space yesterday for a trip around the moon. It's a data gathering session. You'll notice in our news we always say 'possible', 'potential', and 'there might be'. We also say all subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. In Scotts Bluff County Court, Justin Ruiz has been found not guilty. Back in June, we reported on a possible sexual assault where a man reportedly threatened a woman at knife point. Well, Justin Ruiz of Scottsbluff was found not guilty on three felony charges. He was, however, convicted on a lesser charge of third degree domestic assault. He'll learn his fate on that lesser charge May 15 in Scotts Bluff County Court.

To listen to the area police and fire scanner, you do not have to own a scanner, simply visit PanhandleScanner.com and click on listen. Made possible by Hale Multimedia, feed provided by Broadcastify.

Be sure to check out our public record every Monday through Friday on Panhandle Scanner, court rosters and court activity sent directly to us from Scotts Bluff County Court.

(ALLIANCE, Neb.) --The Alliance Police Department is issuing a public safety alert to inform parents, guardians, and young people about the increasing threat of sextorsion. Sextorsion occurs when an individual, often posing as a peer on social media, manipulates a juvenile into sharing explicit photos or videos. Once those images are obtained, the offender threatens to distribute them unless the victim provides money, gift cards, or additional content. Law enforcement has recently observed a rise in cases where artificial intelligence is being used to generate or manipulate images that falsely depict victims in explicit situations, meaning a juvenile does not need to have to have shared any real images to become a target.

We have several tips posted from the Alliance Police Department, on our Facebook page and our news page, on what parents and guardians should know.

Speaking of Alliance, there's a soda shop in Alliance that's very popular, and they are expanding into Scottsbluff in the near future. Dirty Pop Soda Shop made an announcement recently that they will be expanding into Scottsbluff. Stay tuned for that announcement coming soon.

(HARRISON, Neb.) -- Some friends and website customers of ours up in Harrison, Nebraska, Gray's Angus Ranch, offered a free heifer for auction at their recent bull sale. With the proceeds going to the Nebraska Sandhills Fire Relief Fund, incredibly, Gray's Angus Ranch raised $14,000 on the one heifer to go towards the fund. Congratulations and thank you to the folks up there. They had their annual sale on Monday.

For more on what we're doing here at Hale Broadcasting, visit our website at halebroadcasting.com for all of our daily and weekly radio programs.

Kimball I-80 exit is still under construction and will be for quite some time, and the road outside of Minatare, that's County Road P that links to 79E link, will be closed for several weeks. That's the road that leaves Minatare to the south, that will be closed for the next few weeks.

Yesterday, the Sidney School District partnered with local law enforcement and emergency responders for a full day of safety training following the swatting call incident you may remember on March 2nd. Sydney Schools writes that they have a strong sense of urgency to work closely with local first responders to expand their knowledge and deepen their understanding of area safety protocols as they apply to school emergencies. Local first responders worked alongside teachers, staff and administrators walking through a variety of scenarios that schools across the country may face, and discussed how to respond effectively in each situation.

For those not familiar with what swatting is, it's the action or practice of making a prank call to emergency services and an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address. For more information on the Sidney response and swatting in general, see our news page at Panhandle Scanner.

There was a motorcycle accident on Sunday at the monument in Gering that happened on Summit Road right before tunnel number one. We heard from the victim and received a photo of the large pothole in the road that the gentleman hit before crashing. He informed us that authorities were told about the pothole and were aware of it, and he reported to us that other motorcycles have crashed there as well. We're hoping that pothole on Summit Road gets fixed soon. If you're a motorcycle rider, please use caution while driving the monument road.