March 2015 – Page 15 – North Platte Post Archive

Nebraska Official Takes Plea Deal in County Theft Case

Posted on March 26, 2015

NELIGH, Neb. (AP) — A county supervisor in northeast Nebraska has been convicted of theft.

Sixty-three-year-old Harlan Brandt, of Oakdale, had been charged with felony theft. Prosecutors say a State Patrol investigation found that Brandt had used a county credit card to buy gas for his personal use over an almost three-year period.

Court records say he pleaded no contest and was convicted of misdemeanor theft after a prosecutor lowered the charge. He’s agreed to pay back about $2,600 to the county.

Brandt is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27.

Huskers’ Miles and Billikens’ Crews To Coach in Reese’s Division I College All-Star Game

Posted on March 26, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 26, 2015) – The University of Nebraska’s Tim Miles and Jim Crews of Saint Louis University have been named head coaches for the 2015 Reese’sDivision I College All-Star Game, which will be played on Reese’s Final Four Friday, April 3, at 4:30 p.m., at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Reese’s brand is the official candy partner of the NCAA®.

The Reese’s brand is also the title sponsor of the Reese’s Division III College All-Star Game played on Saturday, March 21, at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va., in conjunction with the NCAA Division III championships. An all-star game played on Friday, March 27, at 7 p.m. at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind., during the NCAA Division II Elite Eight®, will also have Reese’sbrand as its title sponsor.

Miles will coach the Reese’s East All-Stars while Crews will lead theReese’s West All-Stars. The game features 20 of the nation’s most outstanding college senior student-athletes selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

Tim Miles, Head Coach, University of Nebraska (EAST)
Since his first experience as a head coach at Mayville (ND) State University in 1995, Tim Miles has earned a reputation as a program builder. He is the only active coach who has taken teams to the postseason in NCAA Division I, Division II and in the NAIA, and has won 330 games in his 20 seasons as a head coach. In 2013-14, just his second season at Nebraska, Miles guided the Huskers to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 16 seasons and captured a pair of prestigious coaching awards – Big Ten Coach of the Year and the Jim Phelan Award as National Coach of the Year.

Miles arrived at Nebraska after five successful seasons at Colorado State, where he increased the Rams’ win total every year, reaching the postseason in each of his last three seasons in Fort Collins. The Rams earned a berth in the NCAA tournament in 2012, one of four for the Mountain West Conference, and won 20 games for only the seventh time in Colorado State’s 108 seasons.

In six seasons at North Dakota State, he helped orchestrate the Bison’s successful transition to Division I, which included a win at Wisconsin, snapping a 27-game Badgers’ win streak against non-conference opponents.

Miles led Southwest Minnesota State for four seasons, taking a program that had one winning season in a decade to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, winning 28 games. In his first head coaching stint at Mayville after six seasons as an assistant at Northern State, Miles’ teams won a pair of conference titles for a program that had won just four games in the two previous seasons.

Jim Crews, Head Coach, Saint Louis University (WEST)
In three seasons as the head coach at Saint Louis University, Jim Crews has guided the Billikens to unprecedented success. Following a season as an assistant to Rick Majerus, Crews was named interim head coach in 2012-13 when the Billikens set a program record with 28 wins, won the Atlantic-10 Conference regular season championship and earned a second straight NCAA berth. Crews was named UPS NABC Division I Coach of the Year, Sporting News National Coach of the Year, A-10 Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year.

After being named as the Billikens’ head coach on April 12, 2013, Crews led SLU to another A-10 regular season championship and a school-record third straight NCAA tournament with a 27-7 record. The season included a 19-game win streak as Crews was named A-10 Coach of the Year for the second straight season and was one of 10 finalists for the USBWA’s Henry Iba Coach of the Year Award.

Crews has been a part of 16 NCAA tournaments as a player, assistant coach and head coach. He played on Indiana’s undefeated 1976 championship team and was an assistant to Bob Knight on the Hoosiers’ 1981 national champions. He was the head coach at Evansville for 17 seasons, including four NCAA tournament berths, and was head coach at Army for seven seasons.

About the National Association of Basketball Coaches
Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Forrest “Phog” Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men’s basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today’s student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education. Additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, can be found at www.nabc.org.

Ex-Husker DE Randy Gregory to NFL Media: I Failed Drug Tests

Posted on March 26, 2015

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Defensive end Randy Gregory says he’s tested positive for marijuana at the NFL scouting combine last month and that he failed two drug tests at Nebraska last year.

Gregory disclosed his marijuana use in an interview with NFL Media on Wednesday.

Gregory went into February’s scouting combine projected to be among the top 10 picks in the draft. He declared for the draft after his junior season at Nebraska, where he recorded 17 1/2 sacks in two seasons.

He said he tested positive for marijuana at Nebraska in January 2014 and April 2014. Gregory said he hadn’t smoked marijuana since December and that he understands the failed drug tests could hurt his draft position.

Eddie Rhodman Jr., one of Gregory’s handlers, said on Thursday that Gregory would not comment further.

Nebraska Term-Limit Expansion Measure Triggers Debate

Posted on March 26, 2015March 26, 2015

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska voters could once again decide whether to let lawmakers serve an extra four years in office under a proposal in the Legislature.

Lawmakers began debate Wednesday on a ballot measure that would allow future senators to serve up to 12 consecutive years.

Term limits went into effect in 2006 under a voter-approved constitutional amendment that limited lawmakers to two consecutive four-year terms.

Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus says he introduced the measure because it takes time for lawmakers to build the experience needed to govern effectively.

Some opponents argue that lawmakers should respect the will of voters, who rejected a ballot measure in 2012 that would have let lawmakers serve three consecutive four-year terms.

North Platte Weather-March 26

Posted on March 26, 2015

Today: Isolated showers after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 60. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north northwest 19 to 24 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tonight: A 20 percent chance of snow showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. Blustery, with a north wind 15 to 20 mph becoming southeast 5 to 10 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.
Friday: Partly sunny, with a high near 66. Light and variable wind becoming south 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 33. North northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming light and variable in the evening.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 78. West northwest wind 5 to 13 mph becoming southeast in the morning.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 43.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Breezy.

Wood River Farmers Say Flooding Due to Water Fowl Conservation

Posted on March 25, 2015March 25, 2015

WOOD RIVER, Neb. (AP) — Farmers from the Wood River area are claiming that waterfowl conservation efforts along the Platte River are damaging Hall County roads and cropland.

Four farming families, who have land along the recently flooded Shoemaker Island Road, spoke with county supervisors Tuesday about their concerns. The families said that flood damage that occurred in February will happen again because of raised nesting islands that have been placed in the river by the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program.

The landowners say the program calls for increased river water flows and increased nesting grounds for water fowl. According to the farmers, the land has flooded twice since the nesting islands were placed in the river.

Platte River Recovery Executive Director Jerry Kenny said that analysis indicates that the flooding was not caused by the nesting islands.

Covington Scores 25 Points, 76ers beat Nuggets 99-85

Posted on March 25, 2015

DENVER (AP) — Rookie Robert Covington tied a career high with 25 points and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Denver Nuggets 99-85 on Wednesday night.

Nerlens Noel had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the 76ers, who swept the season series from the Nuggets.

Ty Lawson scored 19 points and Wilson Chandler had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets.

Covington, who also tied a career high with six 3-pointers, scored 15 points in a 6:16 span of the third quarter to give Philadelphia a 66-62 lead.

Denver responded with a 14-6 run to end the third. Lawson hit a pair of 3-pointers, the second of which gave the Nuggets a 74-72 lead with 30 seconds left in the third quarter. Denver led by four midway through the fourth when Ish Smith drove in for a layup and Noel’s rebound and layup tied it at 79.

Philadelphia took control from there.

Kansas Lawmakers Pass Nation’s 1st Ban on Abortion Procedure

Posted on March 25, 2015March 25, 2015

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators have approved a proposed ban on a common second-trimester procedure described by abortion opponents as dismembering a fetus.

Activists on both sides said Kansas is the first in the nation to have legislators pass such a ban, which was model legislation written by the National Right to Life Committee.

The House voted 98-26 to outlaw the dilation and evacuation procedure. The procedure is used in about 8 percent of all abortions in Kansas.

The Senate approved the measure last month, so it goes to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. He has promised to sign it.

Abortion foes call the procedure gruesome. Abortion rights supporters say it’s often the safest way for a woman terminating a pregnancy.

Derek Roy gets Tiebreaking Goal as Oilers beat Avalanche

Posted on March 25, 2015

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Derek Roy scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and the Edmonton Oilers recovered after giving up a three-goal lead and held on to beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Martin Marincin, Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall all scored in the first 9:36 of the game for the Oilers, who have won two of their last three games. Ben Scrivens stopped 31 shots.

Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay scored in the second period, and Ryan O’Reilly tied it early in the third for the Avalanche, who have lost three in a row and are 10 points out of playoff spot with just nine games remaining.

Semyon Varlamov allowed three goals on the first seven shots he faced before getting pulled in favor of Reto Berra, who finished with 26 saves.

Omaha Woman Says Sister Sold Family Dog

Posted on March 25, 2015March 25, 2015

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman says she returned home from vacation to discover that her sister had sold the family dog.

A 46-year-old woman filed a complaint with the Omaha Police Department claiming her 29-year-old sister sold the male Chihuahua named Milo for $250. Her sister had been house-sitting when the sale allegedly occurred.

According to the police report, the woman says her sister originally told her that the 2-year-old dog had escaped. She says her sister later told her three children that she had sold the dog.

The woman describes Milo as a tiny black Chihuahua with brown spots on his nose and belly. It is unclear whether he will be returned to her.