(AP) — Hastings police are investigating the shooting death of a 4-year-old boy.
Police Chief Pete Kortum (KOR’-tuhm) says the shooting was reported a little after 8:15 a.m. Friday at a home on North Saunders Avenue. Kortum says the boy was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Investigators say the shooting looks like an accident. Authorities aren’t releasing the boy’s name and other details yet.
(AP) — The federal government is starting a new program to help monitor and possibly control the spread of a virus that has killed millions of pigs since showing up in the U.S. last year.
The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, believed to be from China, causes severe diarrhea in newborn piglets, who die from dehydration.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday it is stepping up efforts by requiring farmers to report infections and labs where farmers send tissue and fecal samples to report positive tests.
Farms that suffer an outbreak also will have to participate in a program to help control the spread of the disease
Previously, the USDA and the nation’s pork industry tracked the disease with voluntary reports from the labs.
(AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a death row inmate seeking to be released from prison.
Michael Ryan was sentenced to death for the 1985 cult-related killing of James Thimm in the southeast Nebraska town of Rulo.
Ryan filed a request with Richardson County District Court for post-conviction relief in 2012, challenging how Nebraska obtained one of three drugs that would be used to execute him. Inmates typically file post-conviction relief motions after they have exhausted all other appeals.
The lower court denied Ryan’s request without holding a hearing, and Ryan appealed.
On Friday, the state’s high court upheld the rejection of Ryan’s request, saying courts can only enter relief when a prisoner shows that a denial or infringement of his constitutional rights would nullify his conviction.
(AP) — A central Nebraska ranching family has won a statewide award for its land stewardship efforts.
The 2014 Nebraska Leopold Conservation Award was given to the Pelster family, owners of the Pelster Angus Ranch in Ericson. Gov. Dave Heineman announced the winners on Friday.
Duane and Nancy Pelster are third-generation owners of the ranch. Their practices include rest-rotational grazing, which has been shown to enhance wildlife. The family also has planted nearly 80,000 coniferous trees to provide shelterbelts and windbreaks, and decommissioned 27 wells to improve water quality.
The award is named in honor of world-renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, and includes $10,000 and a crystal. The award is presented annually by the Sand County Foundation, the Nebraska Cattlemen and Cargill.
KEARNEY, Neb. – The Tri-City Storm finished the 2013-14 regular season in seventh place in the USHL’s Western Conference with an overall record of 21-35-4, failing to qualify for the 2014 Clark Cup Playoffs.
The conclusion of the 60-game regular season schedule now allows Storm head coach and general manager Jim Hulton to continue to mold the roster and create the identity he believes will lead to success. Hours before the final weekend of the regular season, Hulton signed a contract extension that will keep him at the helm through next season.
Hulton, who was hired 15 games into the season, reflected on the struggles his team faced.
“Jumping in mid-stride was a real eye-opener and it took a while to get my feet on the ground and get a proper read on the group,” Hulton said. “Once there was some familiarity, the players understood what our staff was trying to implement and the identity we were trying to create. But unfortunately when we came back from Christmas break we had a pretty strong task at hand and we didn’t reach the number we had to have to realistically make a run for a playoff spot.”
Hulton decided to make trades before the early February deadline which would position the team for success in the future.
“With the trades we made, a lot of experience and talent went out the door,” Hulton said. “As a coach, you try to put kids in a position to succeed, and unfortunately due to our numbers situation I think the opposite was happening. There were nights we were putting kids into spots when we knew they were going to fail. That’s a tough pill to swallow as a coach but hopefully the kids can learn from the adversity and be better players down the road.”
Chris Wilkie, the Storm’s first pick and the No. 2 overall selection in the 2013 Phase II Draft last May, finished the season as the team’s leading scorer with 17 goals and 19 assists for 36 points. The Omaha native was the first player from the state of Nebraska to wear a Storm sweater in the 14 years of the franchise and appeared in 57 of 60 games.The team’s leading goal scorer was Austin Poganski, who finished with 19 tallies in 55 games. Poganski also led the team in power play and shorthanded goals with 11 and three respectively. The St. Cloud, Minn. native finished his first USHL season with 31 points, which was tied for fourth on the team.
Veteran forward Garrett Gamez led Tri-City in helpers during 2013-14, racking up 28 assists. After a slow start to the season, Gamez turned it on in the second half of the year and finished with 34 points in 57 games.
Four members of the roster are scheduled to play in college next season including forward Dan Labosky at Colorado College, defenseman Cutler Martin at the University of Michigan, forward Drew Mayer at Ferris State and forward Ryan McMurphy at Bentley.
Goaltender Jacob Johansson, who played in 42 total games and finished with a record of 14-22-3, had a goals against average of 3.07 and a save percentage of .910 with three shutouts. Johansson has decided to pursue a professional career, signing a two-year deal with Linköping HC of the Swedish Hockey League.
The Storm started the season by playing six of their first seven contests in Kearney, going 2-3-2. Tri-City only won two of their next eight games and the team ushered in change as Hulton took the reins on Nov. 19.
In the team’s first seven games with their new coach, they managed just one win. A win in Cedar Rapids on Dec. 7 served as a turning point; the team went on to win seven of their next nine games and turned a positive page as they entered 2014. But four consecutive losses forced Hulton to make trades and look towards 2014-15.
Tri-City played their best stretch of hockey from Jan. 21-Feb. 1, winning a season-high five consecutive contests. But in the final two months of the season, the Storm managed just four wins.
Johansson set a Storm record for saves in a single game, making 53 stops on Oct. 12 against Waterloo. Forward Joel L’Esperance also established a new team record for goals in a game, scoring four times on Dec. 7 in Cedar Rapids.
19 players from the roster will be eligible to try out for next season’s team.
Tri-City is preparing for the two annual USHL Entry Drafts, which will take place May 5-6. The Storm will have the No. 3 overall pick in both drafts.
The Phase I Draft will include eligible players with a 1998 birth year and the Phase II Draft will include multiple birth years from 1994-1997.
NEW YORK (AP) — Army graduate Mike Krzyzewski will lead a U.S. national team practice at his alma mater, and the U.S. women will train at the Naval Academy as part of an increased partnership among the NBA, USA Basketball and the Department of Defense.
The NBA and its teams will also organize job fairs and other events to support military personnel in their transition back to civilian life.
The plans were announced Friday following the completion of the NBA’s board of governors meeting. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed owners at the meeting.
The U.S. men will hold an open practice at West Point on Aug. 18. The women will practice at Navy from Sept. 7-10 as both teams prepare to defend their world titles.
North Platte – The North Platte Community College Lady Knights basketball team announced the signing of two athletes to National Letters of Intent, Maddie Seamann of Hershey High School and T’Keyah Stapleton of Omaha Central High School. The two signees are the first of the 2014 class for the Lady Knights.
Seamann, a post player, joins the Lady Knights basketball program after helping lead the Hershey Lady Panthers to a 23-4 record during her senior year, including a SPVA Championship. Seamann averaged 8.5 points and 6.4 rebounds as a senior. During her junior year, the Lady Panthers finished third in Class C2 at the 2013 State Tournament and won the SPVA Tournament. The Lady Panthers also qualified for the 2012 State Tournament during Seamann’s sophomore year.
“Maddie will add depth to the post position on our team,” said head coach Richard Thurin. “I like her competitive spirit.”
Stapleton, a guard, joins the Lady Knights program after helping the Omaha Central Lady Eagles to a 29-1 record and the 2012 State Championship. She was awarded the 2012 Gilson Sixth Man Award for Class A as a senior.
“T’Keyah will add depth to the point guard position,” said Thurin. “I like her quickness and speed and ability to drive the basket and see the floor.”
Family members of the President of First National Bank North Platte were injured in an accident on Interstate 80 Thursday night.
According to the Nebraska State Patrol, a 2011 GMC Yukon, driven by 16-year-old Hope Wilke, was headed east, at around 8:13 p.m., when it went across the median, slid sideways and collided with the trailer of a westbound semi driven by 24-year-old Benjamin Wheeler, of Filer, Idaho, about two miles west of Paxton.
Hope Wilke, her mother, 51-year-old Sarah Wilke, and a five year old child were transported to Great Plains Regional Medical Center with unknown injuries.
Authorities say Wheeler was uninjured.
A minivan, driven by 54-year-old Xue Xheng Duan of New York, New York, was struck by debris. A passenger in Duan’s vehicle complained of neck pain and was treated and released from an Ogallala hospital.
The Yukon passengers’ husband and father, Greg Wilke, is the President of First National Bank in North Platte.
The accident remains under investigation.
MIAMI (AP) — Before the season started, a poll suggested that the Miami Heat were the overwhelming favorite to win the NBA title, collecting a whopping 76 percent of ballots cast.
The voters weren’t some know-nothings, either.
No, this was a polling of NBA general managers.
Things seem quite a bit different now. The Heat don’t seem like locks for a third straight title anymore. San Antonio and Indiana are top seeds. Brooklyn, Chicago, the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City, Golden State, Houston, Portland and the Heat all figure to have a legitimate chance at being the club to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in a couple of months.
Usually, the NBA playoffs aren’t so wide open. Things might change over the next couple of months.
“There are 16 teams that have a chance to win it,” said Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks, whose team is seeded No. 2 in the West. “If you’re in the playoffs, you have a chance. There are some good teams. Any team can beat each other. The West is deep. There are two teams that are really good that didn’t make it and had great years. It’s definitely open. There’s a lot of good basketball teams that are fighting for the championship.”
For as good as San Antonio and Indiana were all year — well, for most of the year in Indiana’s case, before the Pacers faltered down the stretch — it’s never a certainty that the No. 1 seeds reach the NBA Finals. It’s happened that way only 11 times in the last 35 years.
Then again, the last time that there wasn’t either a No. 1 or a No. 2 in the title series was 1978. So while upsets can happen, it’s not all that common to see bracket craziness — akin to a No. 7 and No. 8 seeds Connecticut and Kentucky playing for the NCAA title earlier this month — happening in the same NBA playoff season.
“It is going to be tremendous from a fans’ standpoint, watching,” Golden State coach Mark Jackson said. “It going to be a lot of fun.”
Brooklyn’s Jason Kidd has plenty of postseason experience as a player. He believes the NBA championship is up for grabs, but also probably knows history doesn’t favor his sixth-seeded club.
Since 1979, only five teams seeded No. 4 or lower in their conference have reached the finals. But Kidd sees reason for hope.
“It’s always wide open,” said Kidd, the first-year coach of the Nets — a veteran-laden team put together to win a title this season. “You guys sometimes limit it to just two teams but guys that are playing on a daily basis in the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference feel like they’ve got a chance.”
This year, that doesn’t just seem like coach speak.
Take the East. On paper, the biggest mismatch is No. 1 Indiana against No. 8 Atlanta, especially because the Hawks are the only sub-.500 team in the playoffs. And just a couple weeks ago, the Hawks went to Indianapolis and absolutely embarrassed the Pacers, running out to a 32-point halftime lead in one of the more stunning games of the entire NBA season.
“There’s some good teams out there,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “Every team in the playoffs have given us some problems. We’ve been able to win against them as well. But it’s certainly shaped out to be a good conference.”
No. 5 Washington won the season series over No. 4 Chicago. Out West, the third-seeded Clippers and sixth-seeded Golden State split four meetings. Memphis ousted Oklahoma City a year ago and those clubs meet in the first round. And San Antonio’s quest to avenge last year’s loss in the NBA Finals starts against Dallas — the last team to beat Miami in a seven-game series, winning the title in 2011.
So there are some good stories, and there’s intrigue with every first-round series.
That doesn’t mean everyone in the league thinks it’ll be a year laden with surprises. Philadelphia coach Brett Brown put it simply — to him, the game changes in the playoffs, period.
“The regular season and the playoffs are like two different sports,” Brown said. “If you put me in a bubble and you drag me out in May, I can say this is different than the game I’m seeing in November. It’s just entirely different.”
That’s why Brown, a former Spurs assistant, thinks there’s a very small number of teams capable of winning it all.
“To be the last man standing is so ridiculously hard,” Brown said. “People have no idea what it’s like to play in June.”
