July 2014 – North Platte Post Archive

$20M Senior Housing Project Planned in Lincoln

Posted on July 31, 2014July 31, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln developers plan to build a $20 million, eight-story senior housing project in the city’s West Haymarket district.

Mayor Chris Beutler announced Thursday that the project will include 100 senior housing units, 10,000 square feet of retail space and 8,000 feet of office space.

Beutler says the project will help meet the increasing demand for housing in the downtown area. Developers for the project include The Argent Group of Chicago and Speedway Properties of Lincoln.

City officials say construction is expected to being in spring 2015, and will take 12 to 14 months to complete.

City planners have said they would like to see parts of the Haymarket turned into a housing area for retiring baby boomers and young professionals.

Royals’ Hosmer (finger) to Miss 3 to 6 Weeks

Posted on July 31, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer will be out three to six weeks with a stress fracture of the third finger of his right hand.

He aggravated a previous injury on a check swing in the fourth inning of a 6-3 victory Thursday night over the Minnesota Twins. Billy Butler hit for Hosmer in the sixth and X-ray’s revealed the fracture.

Hosmer was hit by a pitch by Jon Lester on July 20 at Boston and did not start six of the next seven games.

“Very frustrating, bad timing,” Hosmer said.

Hosmer, who will go on the disabled list, had a 16-game hitting streak before Lester’s pitch hit him.

Escobar, Ventura Lead Royals Past Twins, 6-3

Posted on July 31, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alcides Escobar hit a two-run triple and Yordano Ventura pitched seven effective innings as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-3 Thursday.

Escobar’s triple highlighted a four-run seventh. The inning also included Jarrod Dyson’s run-scoring single. Dyson stole second and third and scored on catcher Eric Fryer’s throwing error.

Ventura (8-8) limited the Twins to two runs, one earned, on five hits, while striking out seven.

Danny Santana led off the game with a home run. Mike Moustakas committed two throwing errors in the third to gift the Twins with an unearned run.

Caleb Thielbar (2-1) retired only one of three batters he faced for Minnesota.

Phelps to Compete in 4 Events at US Nationals

Posted on July 31, 2014

Michael Phelps has entered four events at next week’s U.S. national championships.

Less than four months after coming out of retirement, Phelps will compete in the 100-meter freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle and 200 individual medley at the meet in Irvine, California.

The national championships, along with the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia a couple of weeks later, will determine the American team for next year’s world championships.

The 29-year-old Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete with 18 gold medals and 22 medals overall. He retired after the London Games, having accomplished all his goals and saying he had no desire to swim into his 30s.

But he began plotting a comeback less than a year later. Since returning, he has competed in four meets.

New System in NFL Stadiums to Measure Player Stats

Posted on July 31, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — NFL players will wear transmitters inside their shoulder pads this season to help measure stats such as how far they ran during a game.

The league said Thursday that it will install real-time location systems in 17 stadiums. The receivers located throughout the venue will collect data including position, speed and distance that will be compiled into a database. Coaches, broadcasters and fans will have access to these “next-generation” stats during the game.

The Zebra Technologies systems will be installed in Atlanta, Baltimore, Carolina, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Green Bay, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, New England, New Orleans, Oakland, San Francisco, St. Louis and Washington. All but two of those stadiums are hosting Thursday night games.

Arrieta Pitches Cubs Past Rockies 3-1

Posted on July 31, 2014

CHICAGO (AP) — Jake Arrieta struck out seven in seven innings, leading the Chicago Cubs to a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday.

Arrieta (6-2) allowed one run and three hits in his first victory since June 30 at Boston. The 6-foot-4 right-hander has a 1.73 ERA in his last 11 starts, holding opponents to a .162 batting average.

The Cubs won three of four in a matchup of last-place teams. The Rockies have lost four of five and 11 of 15 overall.

Pedro Hernandez (0-1) allowed three runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings in his first start for Colorado.

Stuck in Limbo, Royals Stand Pat at Trade Deadline

Posted on July 31, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Stuck in limbo between contending and conceding, the Kansas City Royals opted to stand pat as baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline passed Thursday, even as several other teams pulled off splashy moves.

The Tigers, who led the Royals by 4 1/2 games in the AL Central at the start of the day, landed arguably the biggest coup in left-hander David Price. The Mariners and Yankees, neck-and-neck with Kansas City in the wild-card hunt, also were involved in a series of trades.

Meanwhile, Royals general manager Dayton Moore said his perennially building club checked on potential trade targets but “at the end of the day, there weren’t any players we could get our hands on that would be upgrades over what we have.”

The Royals haven’t made the playoffs since 1985.

Nuggets Sign 1st-Round Picks Nurkic, Harris

Posted on July 31, 2014

DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets reached deals with first-round picks Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris on Thursday.

The team picked up the rights to both players in a draft-night trade with Chicago that sent high-scoring Creighton forward Doug McDermott to the Bulls along with forward Anthony Randolph, who was later dealt to Orlando.

The 7-foot Nurkic was the 16th overall pick in the draft. He averaged nearly 12 points and six rebounds for Cedevita Zagreb last season in the Adriatic League.

Harris was taken at No. 19. He averaged 16.7 points and 2.7 assists last season for Michigan State.

The 19-year-old shooting guard had a solid summer league for the Nuggets, leading the team with an 18.6 scoring average.

NBA to Put Twitter Handle on Ball in 2014-15

Posted on July 31, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA is adding its Twitter handle to its official game ball for next season.

The league announced the change on Thursday. The handle @NBA will be added to the left of the league’s logo, making it the first game ball to have it in any of the four major pro sports in North America.

The NBA’s Twitter account has 10.7 million followers, by far the most when compared to the NFL, MLB and NHL.

Unlike a few years back when the league tried to introduce a new synthetic leather game ball, the Spalding ball’s composition will not change. The league quickly abandoned the synthetic ball.

Wahoo Residents Worried Bypass Will Hurt Business

Posted on July 31, 2014July 31, 2014

WAHOO, Neb. (AP) — Residents of a southeastern Nebraska town say they are concerned that a new highway bypass could negatively impact businesses.

Gas stations and other mom-and-pop businesses benefit from about 9,000 vehicles that pass through Wahoo on U.S. Route 77 each day. Several residents say they are worried that those local businesses will lose customers. Although the bypass will likely increase the amount of traffic, they say it could prevent motorists from stopping on their way through the small town.

The Nebraska Department of Roads estimates daily traffic counts could reach 11,000 within 20 years.

Crews began pouring concrete Tuesday for the nearly 4-mile long bypass. The Department of Roads says it could be open by November.