February 2015 – Page 17 – North Platte Post Archive

Kentucky Unanimous No. 1 in AP Poll for 4th Straight Week

Posted on February 23, 2015

Kentucky is the unanimous No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 for the fourth straight week.

The Wildcats (27-0) received all 65 first-place votes from a 65-member media panel Monday after routing Tennessee and Auburn last week.

Virginia remained No. 2, followed by Gonzaga, Duke, Wisconsin, Villanova and Arizona. It’s the first time the top seven have remained the same for six straight weeks since 1992-93.

Northern Iowa moved into the top 10 for the first time in school history, sliding in behind No. 8 Kansas and No. 9 Notre Dame.

San Diego State returned to the poll at No. 24, and No. 25 Providence was ranked for the first time since the final poll of 2003-04.

Ohio State and Oklahoma State dropped out.

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Feb. 22, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:

	Record	Pts	Prv
1. Kentucky (65)	27-0	1,625	1
2. Virginia	25-1	1,526	2
3. Gonzaga	28-1	1,471	3
4. Duke	24-3	1,448	4
5. Wisconsin	25-2	1,390	5
6. Villanova	25-2	1,306	6
7. Arizona	24-3	1,228	7
8. Kansas	22-5	1,111	8
9. Notre Dame	24-4	1,109	10
10. N. Iowa	26-2	1,032	11
11. Wichita St.	25-3	930	13
12. Iowa St.	20-6	887	14
13. Utah	21-5	876	9
14. Maryland	22-5	695	16
15. North Carolina	19-8	655	15
16. Oklahoma	19-8	622	17
17. Louisville	21-6	613	12
18. Arkansas	22-5	564	18
19. Baylor	20-7	473	20
20. West Virginia	21-6	453	23
21. SMU	22-5	357	21
22. VCU	21-6	182	25
23. Butler	19-8	165	19
24. San Diego St.	22-6	117	—
25. Providence	19-8	72	—

Others receiving votes: Georgetown 58, Michigan St. 56, Murray St. 42, Oklahoma St. 25, Ohio St. 12, Valparaiso 10, Texas A&M 8, Rhode Island 3, Stephen F. Austin 2, Oregon 1, Texas 1.

NP Mom Arrested, Father Sought After 2-Year-Old Ingests Meth

Posted on February 23, 2015February 23, 2015

A North Platte woman is in jail on felony child abuse charges, and her husband is being sought by law enforcement, after their 2-year-old child allegedly ingested methamphetamine.

At around 10:30 p.m., on February 21, officers with the North Platte Police Department responded to the emergency room at Great Plains Health on the report of a child who had possibly ingested illicit drugs.

Hospital staff advised police that the child had been brought in by his grandparents after he began exhibiting strange behavior.

Officers became suspicious that the child was under the influence of methamphetamine, a suspicion that was later confirmed with testing.

According to Officer Rodney Brown, officers attempted to locate the child’s parents, Jesse and Sheena Mendoza, both 31, at their residence in the 2000 block of West 15th Street, but were unable to locate them. However, officers obtained a search warrant on the residence and found evidence of drug use.

Brown said Sheena eventually arrived at the hospital, and was taken into custody. She has been charged with felony exposure of a child to methamphetamine and felony child abuse.

Police are still attempting to locate Jesse Mendoza.

The 2-year-old child along with three other children, including a 12-year-old female, a four-year-old female and a seven-year-old female, were placed with family by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

2 Omaha Hospitals to Resume Schedule for Trauma Patients

Posted on February 23, 2015

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Omaha Fire Department has resumed its odd-even schedule for transporting critically ill or injured people to Omaha’s two Level 1 hospital trauma centers.

The department said in a news release that the schedule resumed at noon Monday for Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University Medical Center. Creighton had been out of the rotation since January, when the state didn’t certify the hospital’s emergency room for patients requiring Level 1 care. Trauma centers treat people who require immediate and intensive attention, and Level 1 patients may need resuscitation or establishment of an airway.

Creighton learned Friday that it had been given the certification.

Jury Selection Begins for Man in Nebraska Child’s 2008 Death

Posted on February 23, 2015

GERING, Neb. (AP) — Jury selection has begun for the Gering trial of a man accused in the death of a 2-year-old girl more than six years ago.

Twenty-eight-year-old Dustin Chauncey is charged with child abuse resulting in the July 2008 death of Juliette Geurts. Chauncey had been the boyfriend of the girl’s mother, Charyse Geurts, who’s expected to testify. She’d been detained Texas, returned to Nebraska and held in Scotts Bluff County Jail as a material witness. But she’s bonded out into house arrest on conditions set by the judge.

The Scottsbluff Elks Lodge was being used for jury selection Monday because of the large jury pool and the ability for all the jurors to be questioned at one time by the attorneys and the judge rather than in shifts at a courtroom.

Nebraska Judge Says Property Valuation Information Needed

Posted on February 23, 2015

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska judge has ruled that property owners are entitled to more information about the process that the Douglas County assessor uses to determine property valuations.

District Court Judge Peter Bataillon ruled earlier this month that the new County Assessor Diane Battiato must provide the documents that explain show valuations were determined.

Several people went to court alleging that the Assessor’s Office is ignoring the Nebraska Open Records Act and State Department of Revenue administrative rules on assessment hearings.

Battiato has been holding hearings this month with people who are disputing their property valuations, which determine a property tax bill. Despite the meetings, some taxpayers don’t believe they are getting enough information.

Battiatio says that her office is working on being as transparent as possible.

This Week in Nebraska Athletics

Posted on February 23, 2015

Monday, Feb. 23 Men’s Golf at Puerto Rico Classic Rio Grande, P.R. 7 a.m.

Monday, Feb. 23 Women’s Golf at Westbrook Spring Invitational Peoria, Ariz. 9:30 a.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 24 Men’s Golf at Puerto Rico Classic Rio Grande, P.R. 7 a.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 24 Women’s Basketball Minnesota (BTN) Pinnacle Bank Arena 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 25 Women’s Tennis St. John’s Lincoln Racquet Club 11 a.m.

Thursday, Feb. 26 Men’s Basketball at Ohio State (ESPN) Columbus, Ohio 6 p.m.

Feb. 27-March 1 Swimming & Diving at Last Chance Meet TBA TBA

Friday, Feb. 27 Track & Field at Big Ten Indoor Championships Geneva, Ohio 9 a.m.

Friday, Feb. 27 Bowling at Central Missouri Women’s Invite Kansas City, Kan. 11 a.m.

Friday, Feb. 27 Women’s Tennis Denver Lincoln Racquet Club 4 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 27 Baseball at Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, Calif. 8:05 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Rifle at GARC Championships Oxford, Miss. 8 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Bowling at Central Missouri Women’s Invite Kansas City, Kan. 8:30 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Men’s Tennis South Dakota State Lincoln, Neb. 9 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Track & Field at Big Ten Indoor Championships Geneva, Ohio 9 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Softball vs. North Texas (Tulsa Tournament) Tulsa, Okla. 10 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Softball at Tulsa (Tulsa Tournament) Tulsa, Okla. 12:15 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Women’s Tennis Denver vs. Wichita State Nebraska Tennis Center 1 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Men’s Tennis Creighton Lincoln, Neb. 6 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 28 Baseball at Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, Calif. 8:05 p.m.

Sunday, March 1 Bowling at Central Missouri Women’s Invite Kansas City, Kan. 8:30 a.m.

Sunday, March 1 Softball vs. Northern Iowa (Tulsa Tournament) Tulsa, Okla. 9 a.m.

Sunday, March 1 Softball vs. Creighton (Tulsa Tournament) Tulsa, Okla. 11 a.m.

Sunday, March 1 Women’s Tennis Wichita State Nebraska Tennis Center 1 p.m.

Sunday, March 1 Soccer South Dakota State Hawks Championship Center 2 p.m.

Sunday, March 1 Women’s Gymnastics Master’s Classic (Illinois, San Jose St.) Devaney Center 2 p.m.

Sunday, March 1 Baseball at Loyola Marymount Los Angeles, Calif. 2:05 p.m.

Sunday, March 1 Women’s Basketball Ohio State (BTN) (Senior Day) Pinnacle Bank Arena 4 p.m.

Death Toll from GM Ignition Switches Rises to 57

Posted on February 23, 2015

DETROIT (AP) — The death toll from crashes involving General Motors cars with defective ignition switches has climbed to 57.

The total is one more than last week. It was posted Monday on an Internet site by compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg.

Feinberg and aides are checking claims filed or postmarked before a Jan. 31 deadline to determine which are eligible for compensation. Each eligible death claim is worth at least $1 million under his guidelines. Feinberg was hired by GM to make payments.

As of Friday, he received 479 death claims and 3,866 injury claims. Of the injury claims, 94 will get compensation, up from 87 a week ago.

Feinberg has received a total of 4,345 claims. Of those, 666 were deemed ineligible, while Feinberg is reviewing or seeking documents for the rest.

Nebraska Finds Funding Paperwork That US Officials Wanted

Posted on February 23, 2015

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State officials say the Nebraska Crime Commission has tracked down records needed to explain how 20 law enforcement agencies spent more than $13 million in federal grants over three years.

The Justice Department had told the state last fall that grant money the commission distributed from 2009 through 2011 through the federal government’s Justice Assistance Grants program wasn’t properly documented. Federal officials said that without the documentation, the state could be required to repay the money and the crime commission could be banned from acting as a go-between for federal grants.

Commission director Darrell Fisher says all the documents have been submitted.

Former Iowa State Senate Candidate Makes Nebraska Plea Deal

Posted on February 23, 2015

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A former Iowa state Senate candidate accused of sexual assault and other misdemeanors in eastern Nebraska has made a deal with prosecutors.

Online court records say a sentencing hearing is scheduled April 3 in Papillion (puh-PIHL’-yuhn) for 69-year-old Donald Brantz. He was convicted in Sarpy County Court after pleading no contest to disturbing the peace. Prosecutors dropped misdemeanor charges of sexual assault, assault and interfering with a public service company in exchange for Brantz’s plea.

Prosecutors say Brantz, of Glenwood, was accused of inappropriately touching a woman on Oct. 10 and threatening to choke her.

Brantz ran unsuccessfully as a Libertarian candidate for the Iowa Senate seat vacated by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst. Republican Mark Costello, of Imogene, won the late December special election.

Hearing Set on Man’s Motion to Withdraw Plea in Hastings Officer Dragging Case

Posted on February 23, 2015February 23, 2015

HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — A Hastings man has won a hearing on his request to withdraw his pleas to charges stemming from the dragging of a police officer.

The hearing has been scheduled March 24 for 30-year-old Marty Deckert. He’d accepted a plea deal on charges of attempted second-degree murder and other crimes. Other charges were dismissed. Authorities say Deckert tried to avoid arrest in July by speeding away in a car while dragging a police officer.

At his sentencing hearing on Friday, Deckert told a judge that he wanted a new attorney and said, “I may be guilty of some things that happened that day, but not enough to go to prison.” The judge denied Deckert’s request for a new court-appointed attorney but set the hearing on Deckert’s request to withdraw his pleas.