Late-breaking news from the Appalachian Trail

LINCOLN — Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy resigned his post abruptly Saturday after questions were raised by The World-Herald about improper cell phone calls to four women, other than his wife, during the past four years.

An investigation by The World-Herald discovered that Sheehy made about 2,000 late-night telephone calls to the women on his state-issued cell phone, many of them long conversations held in the wee hours of the night.

Gov. Dave Heineman announced the resignation at a 10 a.m. press conference.

"I've got a knot in my stomach. I'm deeply disappointed. He's done a lot of good things for the state, but that trust was broken, and he's resigned," Heineman said.

He said he would begin the process of filling the post Monday.

Timeline of Rick Sheehy's career

November 1994: Sheehy is first elected to the City Council in Hastings, Neb., the state's seventh largest city.
November 2000: Sheehy, after six years on the City Council, is elected as Hastings' mayor.
January 2005: Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman taps Sheehy to be his lieutenant governor.
December 2011: Sheehy files the necessary paperwork and enters the 2014 Nebraska gubernatorial race.
July 2012: Sheehy's wife of 28 years, Colleen Sheehy, files for divorce.
February 2013: Sheehy resigns his post following a World-Herald investigation of state cell phone records.

The governor tapped Sheehy, a former mayor of Hastings, in 2005 to serve as his right-hand man in the State Capitol, in the hopes that eventually he'd mount his own bid for governor.