June 2014 – North Platte Post Archive

Attention, Shoppers! Free Agency Opens in the NBA

Posted on June 30, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — Free agency has opened in the NBA with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony leading the available players.

Players and teams could begin negotiating just past midnight EDT on Tuesday morning, though contracts can’t be signed until July 10.

James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who joined together in Miami in 2010 and have led the Heat to two championships and four straight NBA Finals, all became free agents.

Though many expect that trio to stay with the Heat, Anthony could be persuaded to leave the New York Knicks for a team that he believes gives him a better chance to compete for a championship.

Longtime stars Paul Pierce and Dirk Nowitzki also are free agents, along with players such as Toronto’s Kyle Lowry and Indiana’s Lance Stephenson.

Royals Beat Twins 6-1 in Series Opener

Posted on June 30, 2014

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alcides Escobar tied a career high with four RBIs on two doubles and Salvador Perez homered to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.

Danny Duffy (5-7) gave up one run and four hits in 5 2-3 innings and Mike Moustakas had two hits for the Royals. Kansas City (43-39) has won three of four and is off to its best start since 2003.

Yohan Pino (0-2) gave up four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings for the Twins. Eduardo Nunez had two hits and an RBI in his return from the disabled list for Minnesota, which has lost six of its last seven games to drop into last place in the AL Central.

The Royals entered the night 3 1/2 games behind Detroit in the division and 1 1/2 games out of the AL wild card.

Nats Rally, Harper Returns in 7-3 Win over Rockies

Posted on June 30, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — Adam LaRoche homered, Ryan Zimmerman had three hits and Ian Desmond added two doubles and three RBIs as the Washington Nationals welcomed back Bryce Harper with a 7-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.

Harper, who missed 57 games because of a torn ligament in his left thumb, went 1 for 3 with an RBI single — on Bryce Harper bobblehead night.

Jordan Zimmermann (6-4) allowed two runs in six innings as Washington won its third straight.

Justin Morneau had three hits for the Rockies, who have lost 12 of 14.

Yohan Flande (0-1), making his second start, was charged with three runs on six hits.

The Nationals trailed 2-1 before a five-run sixth, highlighted by Desmond’s three-run, bases-clearing double into the left-field corner.

Nuggets Banking on Big Year from Arron Afflalo

Posted on June 30, 2014

DENVER (AP) — Arron Afflalo is looking forward to his return to the Denver Nuggets after being acquired from Orlando in a draft-day deal last week.

The 28-year-old shooting guard is coming off a season with the Magic during which he averaged a career-high 18.2 points.

In some ways, Afflalo feels like he never really left the Nuggets as he always kept close tabs on his former team.

And yet plenty has changed in his two-year absence. Namely, George Karl being replaced as coach by Brian Shaw. Afflalo is ready to take on whatever role Shaw has for him, whether it’s as a scorer or being Afflalo the leader.

Afflalo said his responsibility is to “make sure I’m capable of getting that job done. I have no problem doing whatever coach asks of me.”

Rockies Place RHP Jhoulys Chacin on DL

Posted on June 30, 2014

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies’ beleaguered starting rotation took another blow as right-hander Jhoulys Chacin was placed on the 15-day disabled list Monday with an inflamed shoulder.

Chacin becomes the sixth starter out of commission for the Rockies. The team has already used 12 different starters this season.

The move is retroactive to Sunday.

To take Chacin’s place on the roster, the Rockies recalled right-handed reliever Chad Bettis from Triple-A Colorado Springs. He will be available Monday night in Washington against the Nationals.

Chacin missed the first month of the season with a strained right shoulder. He’s 1-7 with a 5.40 ERA this season.

Bettis is 0-1 with a 10.05 ERA in 13 games with the Rockies this season.

Avs get Briere from Montreal for Parenteau, Pick

Posted on June 30, 2014

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche have acquired veteran forward Daniel Briere from the Montreal Canadiens for right wing P.A. Parenteau and a fifth-round pick in next year’s draft.

Briere had 13 goals and 12 assists in 69 games last season. He also had three goals as Montreal advanced to the Eastern Conference final.

Avalanche executive Joe Sakic says the 36-year-old Briere brings “experience to our hockey club.” Briere was a first-round pick of Phoenix in 1996 and has played in 916 regular-season games with Philadelphia, Buffalo, Phoenix and Montreal.

Parenteau missed 25 games last season after hurting both knees during the year. He finished with 14 goals and 19 assists.

Nebraska Inmates Nurturing Orchard, Garden

Posted on June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — It will be a few more years before apple and pear trees planted at a Lincoln prison campus will yield a bounty, but inmates already are taking away more than fruit.

Prisoners working in the orchard are learning life skills as they learn how to prune and spray, ward off hungry critters and nurture beneficial bees.

The first cherries were harvested earlier this month from trees planted more than two years ago. Young apple trees are beginning to bear fruit, and farm shop manager John Filbert says each tree should produce 400 pounds of apples in three or four years.

A vegetable garden also sits on the campus, which holds the Community Corrections Center and the Lincoln Correctional Center.

Kimball Woman, 74, Sentenced for Defrauding Social Security Administration

Posted on June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

A 74-year-old Kimball woman has been given probation for defrauding the Social Security Administration.

According to a news release form the office of United States Attorney for Nebraska, Deborah Gilg, Lois Powell pleaded guilty to theft of government property.

Prosecutors say, since 1998, Powell defrauded the Social Security Administration by receiving benefits belonging to a deceased friend.

They say Powell had been added as a signor on the friend’s account, and when the friend passed away, Powell continued to receive checks totaling $177,675. Powell used the money for her own personal use.

On Monday, the Honroable Joseph F. Bataillon sentenced Powell to five years of probation, and ordered her to pay restitution in the amount of $177,675.

The case was investigated by the Office of the Inspector General, Social Security.

2 KPMG Auditors of Failed TierOne Bank Punished

Posted on June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Two KPMG LLP auditors have been punished by a Security and Exchange Commission judge who cited their work on the TierOne Bank before it failed.

The SEC filed administrative charges last year against KPMG partner John Aesoph, of Omaha, and senior manager Darren Bennett, of Elkhorn. In her order Friday, administrative law judge Carol Fox Foelak said Aesoph and Bennett knew TierOne’s loan-loss reserves deserved heightened scrutiny and should not have issued a clean audit opinion because of “red flags (that) indicated that management was inept and had an incentive to understate losses.”

Regulators closed TierOne in 2010 and sold its assets.

Aesoph was suspended from working on publicly traded companies for a year and Bennett for six months. Their attorneys say the men are considering appeals.

Man Arrested for Punching Omaha Officer

Posted on June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha man suspected of being naked while assaulting apartment residents has been arrested, accused of punching a police officer.

Police say officers responding to a call saw the man run into an apartment around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Officers say the man answered their knock and punched one of the officers in the face. A stun gun was used on the man to subdue him and then take him into custody.

He was booked into Douglas County Jail on several allegations, including felony assault of an officer and two counts of misdemeanor assault.