Today: Sunny, with a high near 81. North northwest wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 12 to 17 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 38. North wind 6 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 70. North northeast wind 5 to 7 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon.
It’s homecoming night at North Platte High. The Bulldogs hope to begin district play on a high note and earn their first win as they host Fremont. North Platte has beaten Fremont in each of the past three seasons. The Tigers come to town with a 1-3 record and a pass-heavy offense. This could be a high scoring affair. ESPN Radio 1410 has the action from Bauer Field at Memorial Stadium, with the pregame show at 6:30 and the kickoff at 7.
The St. Patrick’s Irish also play their homecoming game tonight. They put their 4-0 record on the line as Wood River comes to town. The visitors are 1-2 on the season. St. Pat’s has outscored their opponents by the total of 182-25 this season.
Hershey hopes this is the week their offense clicks as they look to get back on the winning track, hosting Bridgeport. Hershey’s defense has limited their opponents to 14 points in each of the last two games, but they’ve mustered just one touchdown in each game and have dropped to 1-2 on the season. Bridgeport is also 1-2, but they’ve allowed 77 points over the last two weeks. This may be the breakout week the Panthers have waited for.
Maxwell is hoping to snap a two-game losing streak as they hit the road to take on Paxton. The third-quarter blues have hurt the Wildcats in losses to Elm Creek and Arapahoe, but the Wildcats will hope their work on the bye week will chase those blues away. But the Tiger team they’re facing is 3-0 and looking dominant.
Sutherland is also traveling, heading up northwest to face Hemingford in their district opener. After being shutout 80-0 by Arapahoe last week, the winless Sailors are hoping they can make some strides this week against another unbeaten opponent.
Brady takes on Medicine Valley in an intriguing district opener. The Eagles opened their account on the winning side of the ledger last week, rolling over S-E-M. Now they take on the team that is the district favorite. The Raiders are 3-0 and are averaging well over 40 points per game.
Wallace hosts Hayes Center tonight. The Wildcats rolled over Loomis last week to move to 3-1. They know a win over the Cardinals would stamp them as a legitimate district threat. The Cardinals are 2-2 after blowing out Southwest last week.
Other games of interest in the area:
Chase County @ Cozad
Gothenburg @ Minden
Cambridge @ Perkins County
South Loup @ Loup City
Morrill @ SMC
Sioux County @ Wauneta-Palisade
Maywood @ Cody-Kilgore
The North Platte Bulldogs blanked Lexington 8-0 in five innings in Lexington last night. Ashten Hernandez twirled a one-hit shutout, striking out nine Minutemaid batters. At the plate, Cheyenne Craghead drove in a pair of runs and Kaite Franzen, Sally Hengen and Sydney Standage each had an RBI. North Platte moves to 14-6 with the victory. They’re at the Lincoln Southeast Invite this Saturday.
Sally Hengen’s RBI single in the fifth inning brought home North Platte’s eighth run and made the mercy run rule possible. It’s the Play of the Game – click here to listen. Hengen RBI single 9-20
Sophomore defensive tackle Chase Rome is back with the Nebraska football program. Rome left the team last week with what were called ‘personal issues’ at the time. Head coach Bo Pelini says Rome has sorted those issues out and has been welcomed back to the squad. Rome has practiced all week with the team. He will be available to play this Saturday as the Huskers host Idaho State. Offensive tackle Tyler Moore will not be returning to the Husker program. Moore, who started four games and played in nine as a true freshman last year, left fall camp and returned home to Florida, where he enrolled in a junior college. He announced yesterday that he’d be continuing his college football career at the University of Florida.
The Colorado Rockies bungled their way to a sixth straight defeat, falling 9-2 to the San Francisco Giants yesterday afternoon. In his first big league start since May 20 of last year, Rockies southpaw Jorge de la Rosa couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning, allowing seven runs. But two of those runs were unearned as the Rockies defense made a pair of errors behind him. Pablo Sandoval hit two home runs for the Giants, both off de la Rosa, and drove in four runs. The Rockies made a mess of their offense as well, recording 13 hits but stranding 10 runners on base. Jonathan Herrera and de la Rosa drove in runs in the losing effort. The Rockies return home for their final homestand of the season, opening a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight. First pitch is set for 7:10.
The Cub Scouts are looking for new new members to join the pack! Families are encouraged to sign up their boys in 1st to 
5th grade.
Families of a new registering Cub Scouts may visit the North Platte Area Children’s Museum for free on Saturday September 22.
For more information on Cub Scouts and registration details call 308-534-4898
The man responsible for the death of inmate Michael Grandon received life in prison Thursday.
Michael Grandon of North Platte began serving his sentence to life-in-prison March of 2008 for the murder deaths of Tiara and Lori Solie in May of 2007. Grandon was charged with one count of first-degree murder as well as one count of aiding and abetting first-degree murder.
While serving his life sentence, Grandon was killed by inmate Mohamed Abdulkadir at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Abdulkadir, who was serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted of a second degree murder in 2009, was sentenced life in prison Thursday at Landcaster County Court.
Abdulkadir was convicted in June of 2011 for the killing of Grandon.
On Monday August 6th, many unsuspecting residents and business of North Platte woke up to either their vehicles window or shop window vandalized.
The 20-year-old accused vandal Justin Belsky was taken into custody August 6th after he was stopped by an officer from the North Platte Police Department.
Belsky was scheduled for his arraignment in Lincoln County Court. Belsky’s attorney P. Stephen Potter filed a request for a preliminary hearing that was approved for October 12th at 9:30AM in Lincoln County Court.
Belsky is charged with three class 4 felony counts of Criminal Mischief (value over $1,500), and Aiding & Abetting Criminal Mischief a class 4 felony. The max penalty for each felony is 5 years prison and a $10,000 fine each.
Belsky is also charged with five misdemeanor counts of Criminal Mischief (value under$1,500 & Over $500)
North Platte, September 19, 2012 – Great Plains Regional Medical Center today was named one of the nation’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in America. Great Plains Regional Medical Center was recognized by The Joint Commission for exemplary performance in using evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, children’s asthma, stroke and venous thromboembolism, as well as inpatient psychiatric services.
Great Plains Regional Medical Center is one of 620 hospitals in the U.S. earning the distinction of Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measure performance. Great Plains Regional Medical Center was recognized for its achievement on the following measure sets: heart attack, pneumonia and surgical care. The ratings are based on an aggregation of accountability measure data reported to The Joint Commission during the 2011 calendar year. The list of Top Performers increased by 50 percent from its debut last year and represents 18 percent of accredited hospitals reporting data.
Each of the hospitals that were named as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures met two 95 percent (95/95) performance thresholds on 2011 accountability measure data. First, each hospital achieved performance of 95 percent or above on a single, composite score that includes all the accountability measures for which it reports data to The Joint Commission, including measures that had fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients. Second, each hospital met or exceeded 95 percent performance on every accountability measure for which it reports data to The Joint Commission, excluding any measures with fewer than 30 eligible cases or patients. A 95 percent score means a hospital provided an evidence-based practice 95 times out of 100 opportunities to provide the practice. Each accountability measure represents an evidence-based practice – for example, giving aspirin at arrival for heart attack patients, giving antibiotics one hour before surgery, and providing a home management plan for children with asthma.
“When we raise the bar and provide the proper guidance and tools, hospitals have responded with excellent results,” says Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president, The Joint Commission. “This capacity for continual improvement points toward a future in which quality and safety defects are dramatically reduced and high reliability is sought and achieved with regularity. Such day-to-day progress will slowly but surely transform today’s health care system into one that achieves unprecedented performance outcomes for the benefit of the patients.”
“We understand that what matters most to patients at Great Plains Regional Medical Center is safe, effective care. That’s why Great Plains Regional Medical Center has made a commitment to accreditation and to positive patient outcomes through evidence-based care processes. Great Plains Regional Medical Center is proud to be named to the list of The Joint Commission’s Top Performers on Key Quality Measures,” says Greg Nielsen.
In addition to being included in today’s release of The Joint Commission’s “Improving America’s Hospitals” annual report, Great Plains Regional Medical Center will be recognized on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website (www.qualitycheck.org). The Top Performer program will be featured in the November issue of The Joint Commission Perspectives and the October issue of The Joint Commission: The Source.
The Wildcat football team is back on the gridiron after their bye week, and ready for yet another tough game. Head coach Ryan Jones talks about what his team did during the bye and about the keys to the matchup against Paxton Friday night. The Lady Wildcat volleyball team is young and inexperienced, but they earned a massive win last week. Hear all about it in this week’s edition of the Maxwell Wildcats Sports Update!
