July 2013 – Page 62 – North Platte Post Archive

North Platte Weather July 9

Posted on July 9, 2013

Today: Isolated thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 95. Light and variable wind becoming north northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 64. North wind 7 to 13 mph.
Wednesday: A slight chance of thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. East wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Wednesday Night: A slight chance of thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 62. South southeast wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Rockies Hand Padres 10th Straight Loss, Place Oswalt on DL

Posted on July 9, 2013

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Tyler Chatwood took a shutout into the seventh inning and the Colorado Rockies beat skidding San Diego 4-2 on Monday night, handing the Padres their 10th consecutive defeat.

Wilin Rosario hit a two-run double and Jonathan Herrera drove in a run with a bunt to help the Rockies end a three-game slide with their second victory in eight games. They have won nine of 11 against San Diego this season.

Chatwood (5-2) allowed two runs and five hits in a season-high 6 2-3 innings. He walked four and struck out three. The right-hander is 3-1 in five road starts this season with a 1.35 ERA.

Matt Belisle pitched a hitless eighth and Rafael Betancourt worked the ninth for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.

ROCKIES MOVES

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Colorado Rockies have placed pitcher Roy Oswalt on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring.

To fill Oswalt’s roster spot Monday, the team recalled outfielder Charlie Blackmon from Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Blackmon is in his second stint with the Rockies this year. He batted .240 (6 for 25) in 12 games earlier this season.

Oswalt is 0-4 with a 7.64 ERA in four starts with the Rockies since signing a $2.3 million, one-year contract on May 2.

The 35-year-old right-hander, a three-time All-Star with Houston and the 2005 NL championship series MVP, went 4-3 with a 5.80 ERA in 17 games for Texas last season, including nine starts.

He won 20 games for the Astros in 2004 and again in 2005.

Randy Travis in Critical Condition at Texas Hospital

Posted on July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

(AP) — Country music singer Randy Travis is in critical condition at a Texas hospital after being hospitalized for heart problems.

A news release from the singer’s publicist says the 54-year-old Travis was admitted to the hospital Sunday in Dallas and was in critical condition Monday evening.

Publicist Kirt Webster said Travis is suffering from viral cardiomyopathy, a heart condition caused by a virus. The Mayo Clinic website says the disease weakens and enlarges the heart muscle, making it harder for the heart to pump blood and carry it to the rest of the body. It can lead to heart failure.

Long a popular figure in country music, the North Carolina-born singer had been putting his life back together after a series of embarrassing public incidents involving alcohol.

NASA Mars Rover ‘Curiosity” Begins Delayed Road Trip

Posted on July 8, 2013

(AP) — It took longer than expected, but NASA’s Curiosity rover is finally heading toward a Martian mountain.

The nuclear-powered, six-wheel rover drove a total of 190 feet since July Fourth, leaving the spot where it spent the past seven months examining rocks and dirt.

Curiosity landed last August in Gale Crater near Mars’ equator and has already found an environment that scientists say contains all the right ingredients for microbes to survive.

The delay in heading to Mount Sharp was mostly due to unexpected discoveries. As pleased as scientists are with the progress so far, they’re itching to study the layers of rock at the base of the mountain.

The trek is expected to last nine months to a year with several stops along the way.

Sioux Chief Walks Out of Meeting with Governor Heineman

Posted on July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

(AP) — The president of South Dakota’s Oglala Sioux Tribe met briefly with Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman to discuss alcohol sales in Whiteclay, but walked out after less than three minutes.

Tribal president Bryan Brewer said Monday that he left the meeting because he felt the governor has no intention of trying to address alcohol-related problems that spread from Whiteclay, a Nebraska town that sells millions of cans of beer annually on the border of South Dakota’s officially dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Brewer also says he felt disrespected by the governor. A Heineman spokeswoman denies the allegation.

Heineman says Nebraska has no legal authority to shut down the alcohol stores unless they violate the law. He says the tribe should focus on providing education and treatment to curb alcohol abuse.

15 Indicted on Drug Charges in Kansas

Posted on July 8, 2013

Federal prosecutors have indicted 15 people on drug charges stemming from an investigation in Topeka.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Monday in a news release that prosecutors have unsealed indictments alleging the defendants were part of a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in the Topeka area. Investigators served search warrants and made arrests in the case July 2.

The defendants range in age from 29 to 56 and are from Topeka, Dodge City, Manhattan and Grand Island, Neb.

Grissom says the charges include conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and using a phone in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Protruding Metal Damages Cars on I-80

Posted on July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

(AP) — Nebraska transportation officials have restricted lanes on a part of Interstate 80 in Omaha because a chunk of protruding metal was damaging moving vehicles.

The Nebraska Department of Roads says the piece of metal was covering a seam between a bridge and road on the westbound lanes of Interstate 80 near 42nd Street on Monday. Officials say moving vehicles forced the metal to pop up and out of the seam.

The metal damaged about a dozen cars, including flattened tires. No major injuries have been reported.

Transportation crews are using a temporary patch with asphalt to cover the hole.

Nebraska Crops Looking Good But Moisture Still a Worry

Posted on July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

(AP) — Clear skies and sunshine have boosted corn and soybean development in Nebraska and allow wheat harvest to progress in southern counties.

The USDA in Monday’s crop progress report says the state saw little or no rainfall for the week ending Sunday with topsoil moisture supplies declining as seasonally hot temperatures return.

Spring-planted, dry-land crops in much of the western two-thirds of the state are showing signs of stress.

Irrigated corn is 83 percent good or excellent better than 77 percent average.

Dry-land corn is 66 percent good or excellent. Average is 71 percent.

Corn silking is 1 percent complete, behind 16 percent average.

Soybeans are 5 percent very poor or poor, 19 fair, and 76 percent excellent.

Twenty percent of the crop is blooming near the 21 percent average.

Buffett Now Owns 34 Percent of Berkshire Stock

Posted on July 8, 2013July 9, 2013

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s recent donations of Berkshire Hathaway stock reduced his voting power in the company to about 34 percent.

Buffett said Monday that he had given nearly 23 million Class B shares of Berkshire stock to five charities as part of his plan to gradually give away his fortune.

After making those gifts, Buffett held 336,000 Class A shares of Berkshire stock and 1,567,907 Class B shares.

That translates into about 34 percent of the voting power, so Buffett remains the biggest Berkshire shareholder. Before the latest donations, he controlled nearly 35 percent of the voting power.

Buffett’s stock was worth $58.1 billion at Monday’s prices, so his fortune has grown even though he began making annual stock donations in 2006. Buffett is Berkshire’s chairman and CEO.

Fire Marshal Says NE Grain Elevator Explosion Accidental

Posted on July 8, 2013

(AP) — Authorities say a grain elevator explosion in Nuckolls County over the weekend was an accident.

The state Fire Marshal’s office on Monday declined to provide more details about what caused the Friday explosion in the unincorporated community of Sedan, about five miles southeast of Edgar.

An employee for Aurora Co-Op, which owns the elevator, and a farmer were injured in the explosion. Additional information about their conditions was not available.