Today's weather & top news

Today, windy, cold. Cloudy with isolated snow showers in

the morning then partly sunny in the afternoon. Areas of blowing snow through the day. Highs 5 to 10 early then falling temperatures during the day. North winds 25 to 30 mph decreasing to 15 to 30 mph in the afternoon. Chance of snow 20 percent. Wind chill values 12 below to 22 below zero. Tonight, very cold. Mostly clear. Lows around 9 below. North winds 5 to 15 mph. Wind chill values 17 below to 27 below zero. Thursday, sunny. Highs around 7. North winds up to 10 mph shifting to the west in the afternoon. ... LINCOLN (AP) �” Many school districts across the state are flunking when it comes to wise spending of taxpayer dollars, a state lawmaker says. And if he has his way, they could be forced into getting a passing grade. About 52 percent of Omaha Public Schools’ total spending during the 2006-2007 school year was on student instruction, according to the state Department of Education. In McCook, less than 56 percent of the tax dollars spent by the local school district went into the classroom. And in the northeastern Nebraska town of Wayne, school officials spent 58 percent of the district’s dollars on student instruction. Those are just a few of the school districts across the state that would have to change their spending habits if a bill (LB240) introduced in the Legislature on Tuesday by a former elementary principal is approved. “I just find it interesting how much more money some districts can get into the classroom than others,” said Sen. Rich Pahls of Omaha, who introduced the bill. “We’re constantly going to the taxpayer saying, ‘We need more money,”’ he said. “We need more clarification on how money is being spent.”

Under Pahls’ bill, districts would have to spend at least 65 percent of their dollars on direct classroom instruction. The lawmaker says the figure is considered a good goal by education officials. He says he introduced the measure after being struck by how many school districts don’t meet the standard, and the wide variance in spending habits by school districts. The percentage each school district spends on student instruction can be easily found by anyone with access to a computer, as they are posted on the state Department of Education’s Web site. A glance at some of the percentages illustrates the variance that has Pahls asking questions. While McCook fell well below the 65 percent mark during the 2006-07 school year, the most recent year for which data are available, 65.3 percent of the dollars in the Hastings Public Schools district were spent on teaching. School officials in Valentine managed to spend nearly 69 percent of their district’s dollars on student instruction. In Chadron, meanwhile, officials spent 58 percent. And while Omaha spent a little more than half its dollars on instruction, Lincoln Public Schools was able to funnel 63 percent of its dollars to the classroom. Statewide, spending on student instruction among all districts was 59.6 percent of total district spending in 2006-07. ... QUINCY, Fla. (AP) �” A missing pilot’s three-day run from authorities �” and personal and financial ruin �” ended when authorities found him inside an isolated campground tent, bleeding from his wrist after an apparent suicide attempt. U.S. Marshals apprehended Marcus Schrenker, 38, late Tuesday night at a North Florida campground days after the businessman and amateur daredevil pilot apparently tried to fake his own death in a plane crash. Authorities believe he parachuted to the ground and later sped off on a motorcycle he had stashed in a central Alabama storage shed. Frank Chiumento, an assistant chief with the U.S. Marshals in Florida, said officers had to tend to Schrenker’s self-inflicted gash to the wrist before he was airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Schrenker was listed in fair condition early Wednesday morning. The self-inflicted gash was “very serious at the time,” Chiumento said. “He was bleeding profusely from the wounds to the left arm.” Schrenker could face charges in Florida, though Chiumento didn’t know what those might be. Chiumento said Schrenker was found based on information from U.S. Marshals officers in Indiana and in Alabama. He did not provide details of how Schrenker was tracked to Florida. Evidence, including the motorcycle authorities believe Schrenker used to get away, was being analyzed this morning, Chiumento said. He wouldn’t describe what else was found at the Chattahoochee campground, but did say the investigation revealed Schrenker was prepared to be on the run for some time. Schrenker fled not only the law but divorce, a state investigation of his businesses and angry investors who accuse him of stealing potentially millions in savings they entrusted to him. “We’ve learned over time that he’s a pathological liar �” you don’t believe a single word that comes out of his mouth,” said Charles Kinney, a 49-year-old airline pilot from Atlanta who alleges Schrenker pocketed at least $135,000 of his parents’ retirement fund. On Sunday �” two days after burying his stepfather and suffering a half-million-dollar loss in federal court the same day �” Schrenker was flying his single-engine Piper Malibu to Florida from his Indiana home when he reported the windshield had imploded.

Then his radio went silent. Military jets tried to intercept the plane and found the door open, the cockpit dark. The aircraft crashed soon after in a Florida Panhandle bayou surrounded by homes. Police believe Schrenker made his way 220 miles north to Childersburg, Ala., where he’d stashed a motorcycle with full saddlebags in a storage unit rented just the day before his flight. It appeared, by all accounts, that Schrenker was doing quite well. At 38, he controlled an impressive slate of businesses. Through his Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management, he was responsible for providing financial advice and managing portfolios worth millions.

He collected luxury automobiles, owned two airplanes and lived in a 10,000-square-foot house in an upscale neighborhood known as “Cocktail Cove,” where affluent boaters often socialize with cocktails in hand. But officials now say Schrenker’s enterprise was ready to topple. Authorities in Indiana have been investigating Schrenker’s businesses on allegations that he sold clients annuities and charged them exorbitant fees they weren’t aware they would face. State Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt said Schrenker would close the investors out of one annuity and move them to another while charging them especially high “surrender charges” �” in one case costing a retired couple $135,000 or their original $900,000 investment. In recent weeks, Schrenker’s life began to spin out of control. According to documents in a lawsuit filed in Indianapolis, Schrenker sent a frantic e-mail to plaintiffs on Dec. 16.

“I walked out on my job about 30 minutes ago,” it read. “My career is over ... over one letter in a trade error. One letter!! ... I’ve had so many people yelling at me today that I couldn’t figure out what was up or down. I still can’t figure it out.” It’s unclear to what “error” he is referring. In another e-mail to a neighbor following his disappearance, Schrenker referred to having “just made a 2 million dollar mistake.” But it appeared he was hoping to work things out. But things were now out of his hands. On Dec. 31, officers searched Schrenker’s home, seizing his family’s passports, $6,036 in cash, the title to a Lexus and deposit slips for bank accounts in Michelle Schrenker’s name. They also took six computers and nine large plastic tubs filled with various financial and corporate documents. In the supporting affidavit, investigators suggested Schrenker might have access to at least $665,000 in the offshore accounts of a client.

But it wasn’t just his finances that were in turmoil. Just a day before, Michelle Schrenker had filed for divorce. She told the people searching the house that her husband had been having an affair. Hours after Schrenker vanished, neighbor Tom Britt received what he believes is an e-mail from Schrenker. The tone was ominous. “I embarrassed my family for the last time,” Britt quoted Schrenker as saying. “By the time you read this I’ll be gone.”