(AP) — A man and wife who were married for more than seven decades died hours apart this week at a hospice in northern Illinois.
Family members say Robert and Nora Viands were always together during their 71 years of marriage. Their son calls their deaths — 16 hours apart at a Rockford retirement center— a “blessing” because each would have been heartbroken without the other.
92-year-old Robert Viands died around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Nora Viands died at 4:45 p.m. She was hospitalized with pneumonia in December.
The Viands’ children decided to put their parents in the same room at the hospice for their final hours.
(AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett turns 83 on Friday, and he’s not saying whether he’s planning to surprise his Berkshire Hathaway shareholders with a big acquisition to celebrate.
On his last birthday, Buffett announced plans to significantly increase the amount of Berkshire stock he will give to each of his three children’s charitable foundations.
In most years, the investor prefers to celebrate with a day at the office reading business reports and hunting for deals. Buffett has said he enjoys running Berkshire too much to consider retiring.
Buffett has had a relatively quiet summer since Berkshire acquired half of the ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co. in June. Berkshire spent $12.25 billion on the Heinz deal, but still had $35.7 billion on hand at the end of June.
(AP) — Police say a father whose infant son died after being left in a parked car in the Phoenix summertime heat is suspected of smoking marijuana at the time.
Sgt. Tommy Thompson said late Thursday that 31-year-old Daniel Bryant Gray was being booked into jail, charged with manslaughter and child abuse.
Police said earlier that 3-month-old Jamison Gray died after his father had gone to a sports bar where he works as a kitchen manager at about noon on Wednesday to check on business.
Outside temperatures were about 100 degrees, but interior car temperatures are frequently much higher.
At first police said the father was distracted and forgot about the boy, but Thompson says they later came to suspect he was smoking pot with a coworker during the time his son was in the vehicle.
(AP) — A 26-year-old York man wounded in an exchange of gunfire with a sheriff’s deputy has been charged with six felonies.
The charges against Max McCall include attempted assault on an officer and three weapons counts.
Sheriff Dale Radcliff has said the deputy was responding to a call about McCall on Aug. 11 when the deputy spotted McCall’s vehicle and gave chase. The chase ended when McCall’s vehicle went into a ditch.
The sheriff says McCall was armed with a rifle and fired twice at the deputy. The deputy shot back, hitting McCall twice.
The deputy wasn’t wounded.
A York County jailer said McCall was in custody on Friday. McCall’s attorney didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
(AP) — An 18-year-old Saronville man has been charged with felony criminal mischief, accused of vandalizing an old cemetery in south-central Nebraska.
Robert Kelly Jr. surrendered on Wednesday after an arrest warrant was issued. He has since bonded out of Hamilton County Jail. A public phone listing for him couldn’t be found. Online court records don’t list the name of his attorney.
Kelly is due back in court for arraignment on Tuesday.
A man who lives near Farmers’ Valley Cemetery discovered the damage on Aug. 20. Nearly 50 gravestones had been pushed over and some had been damaged beyond repair.
The cemetery was established in 1876 along the banks of the Big Blue River south-southwest of Henderson.
Today: Sunny and hot, with a high near 98. East wind 7 to 9 mph.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 4am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 64. East wind 6 to 9 mph becoming south southeast after midnight.
Saturday: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 96. South wind 5 to 8 mph.
Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 57. Light and variable wind becoming north 6 to 11 mph after midnight.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 86. North wind 9 to 13 mph.
Bulldogs Pitcher Katie Franzen Delivers a Pitch Against Omaha Gross
Hastings- The North Platte Bulldogs softball team started the 2013 season with a split against Omaha Gross and Omaha Skutt at the double header played in Hastings on Thursday. North Platte beat Omaha Gross 12-3 before losing to Omaha Skutt 6-1.
The Bulldogs and the Bison from McCook met Omaha Gross and Omaha Skutt in Hastings for a double header against the two Omaha schools.
North Platte played Omaha Gross in its first game of the day. The Bulldogs took the lead early before the Cougars of Omaha Gross scored three runs to take a 3-1 lead in the top of the third inning. The Bulldogs quickly responded by scoring four runs in the bottom of the third to go on top 5-3. The inning was headlined by Mikenzi Wiseman’s inside the park three-run home run. Once the Dawgs jumped on top they didn’t look back en route to a 12-3 run-rule win over Omaha Gross Catholic in six innings.
Katie Franzen started inside the circle for the Bulldogs against Omaha Gross and threw six innings, giving up just three runs with two of them earned. Franzen set the Cougars down in order the final three innings and finished with two strikeouts.
The Bulldogs scored four runs in the sixth inning to go along with the four scored in the third. Marisa Ramos had an RBI triple for the Dawgs and freshman Willow Chitty reached base four times with three singles and scored three runs to go along with two stolen bases. Bulldogs coach BJ Songster liked what she saw out of her freshman second baseman, Chitty.
“I’m very proud of her and excited to see her growth and what else she can bring to our team,” Songster said. “And I hope that it challenges the rest of our team to see what their capable of doing and create that inter squad competition.”
Omaha Skutt Catholic pitched future Nebraska Cornhusker Kaylan Jablonski against the Bulldogs in the night cap on Thursday. Jablonski was dominant for five innings, taking a no hitter in to the sixth before giving up back-to-back singles to Hannah Hays and Chitty with one out in the inning. North Platte broke up the no-hitter and the shutout in the same inning as Hays came around to score on a first and third situation when Chitty stole second base. That run was the lone run for the Bulldogs in the game and they only had three hits. Jenny Keck had the third hit with a single in the seventh inning.
The Skyhawks from Omaha Skutt Catholic did most of their damage in the second inning. They scored five runs on five hits and received some help from North Platte as the Bulldogs committed four errors in the inning. Jablonski helped her own cause with a two-RBI single in the inning then added an inside the park solo home run later in the game.
Marisa Ramos pitched the first four innings for North Platte and gave up five runs with four of them earned. All of the runs came in the second inning and Ramos showed great mental toughness by coming back out and shutting down the Skyhawks the next two innings. Keck pitched the final three innings and gave up just the solo home run to Jablonski and had one strikeout. Coach Songster was pleased with the fight the Bulldogs showed after falling down 5-0.
“I think it says a lot about our team,” Songster said. “That’s the biggest thing, to persevere; of course we want to play errorless ball, but it’s how you can bounce back and keep persevering through things.”
Jablonski finished the game with 14 strikeouts for Omaha Skutt Catholic.
The Bulldogs are now 1-1 and will next play in the LPS Invite in Lincoln on Saturday. North Platte is scheduled to play Omaha Skutt once again along with Milford and Lincoln East.
Songster said they will likely face Jablonski again for the Skyhawks and she looks forward to seeing how her players adjust.
“We know what we need to prepare for [Friday] at practice,” Songster said. “The biggest thing is making adjustments early on and I think we started doing that towards the end of [today’s] game. Hopefully they know what to expect now and we can work on those things we need to work on and we can take it to them on Saturday.”
DENVER (AP) — Ryan Lindley threw for two touchdowns for Arizona in a 32-24 victory over Denver on Thursday night that capped a wild offseason for the Broncos.
Now, this summer’s trendy Super Bowl pick heads into next week’s NFL Kickoff against defending champion Baltimore after losing both of its “Doom & Gloom” pass-rush partners. Elvis Dumervil went to the Ravens in free agency after a fax foul-up, and Von Miller will begin serving a six-game suspension.
Together, they accounted for 29½ of Denver’s league-leading 52 sacks last season.
How the Broncos make up for their absences will go a long way in determining if Miller’s Super Bowl guarantee he made back in February was bold or blather.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis sports and civic leaders are expected to announce they will seek to host the Super Bowl in 2018.
Gov. Mike Pence, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Colts owner Jim Irsay plan to join other civic leaders in announcing their bid decision Friday morning at Lucas Oil Stadium, site of the 2012 Super Bowl.
Indianapolis was praised for its hosting of the Super Bowl last year and drew hundreds of thousands of football fans to the city. But the amount of business generated did not meet expectations in some areas of the city.
Indianapolis also will face new competition from other cities. Denver and Minneapolis leaders have both announced bids to host the 2018 game.
(AP) — A man and wife who were married for more than seven decades died hours apart this week at a hospice in northern Illinois.
