Today: Sunny, with a high near 88. Southwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon.
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 32. Breezy, with a north northeast wind 20 to 29 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph.
Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 50. North northeast wind 8 to 16 mph becoming east in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 24 mph.
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. East wind 9 to 13 mph.
Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Southeast wind 8 to 15 mph becoming south southwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34.
Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58.
Month: March 2015
Kentucky Leads the Way
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two Wildcats, a Badger and a Blue Devil. The NCAA has announced its 68-team field for the men’s basketball tournament, and there were no major surprises when the top seeds were revealed.
As expected Kentucky is the top overall seed and No. 1 in the Midwest Region. The unbeaten Wildcats will open play Thursday in Louisville against either Manhattan or Hampton.
Kansas has the No. 2 seed in the Midwest despite its loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 title game. ACC champion Notre Dame is third, followed by Big 10 semifinalist Maryland.
The top-seed in the East is Villanova of the Big East. This is the second time ‘Nova has been a No. 1 seed. The Wildcats will face Lafayette Thursday in Pittsburgh.
Virginia is No. 2 in the East, followed by Oklahoma and Louisville. The Cavaliers had a top seed in their grasp until they lost in the ACC quarterfinals.
Duke is the top seed in the South. This marks the 13th time the Blue Devils have been a No. 1 seed. They open play Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina, against the winner of the North Florida and Robert Morris game in Dayton, Ohio.
The second seed in the South is Gonzaga, the West Coast Conference champs. Iowa State is third and Georgetown fourth.
And the top-seed in the West is Wisconsin. The Badgers are the top team from the Big Ten and will play Friday in Omaha, Nebraska against Coastal Carolina. This is the first time Wisconsin has been a top seed.
Arizona has to settle for the second seed in the West despite winning the Pac-12 title in convincing fashion. Baylor is third, followed by North Carolina.
The 68 team field is comprised of 32 teams that won automatic berths by winning a conference championship and 36 at-large schools.
The first games in the NCAA Tournament are Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, in what the NCAA now calls the First Four.
Barton leads Nuggets to 118-111 Win over Pelicans in 2 OTs
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Will Barton scored 25 points, including the tying 3-pointer late in the first overtime, and the undermanned Denver Nuggets won their fourth straight, 118-111 over the New Orleans Pelicans in double overtime Sunday night.
Kenneth Faried had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Denver. Danilo Gallinari added 17 points, including a 3 that gave the Nuggets a 114-109 lead with 1:30 left in the second overtime.
Ty Lawson added 19 points and Jameer Nelson 18 for Denver, which won even as coach Melvin Hunt chose to rest three regulars — Wilson Chandler, Randy Foye and Darrell Arthur — so the team could get a better look at some younger players.
Anthony Davis had 36 points, 14 rebounds, nine blocks and a career-high seven assists for New Orleans, which fell a game behind Oklahoma City for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Prosecutor: 20-Year-Old Charged in Ferguson Shooting of 2 Officers
CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say the 20-year-old man charged in the shooting of two St. Louis area officers had been at the protest earlier that night.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch said 20-year-old Jeffrey Williams is charged with two counts of first-degree assault, one count of firing a weapon from a vehicle and three counts of armed criminal action.
The officers were shot early Thursday outside of the Ferguson Police Department during a protest hours after the city’s police chief resigned in the wake of a scathing federal Justice Department report.
McCulloch also said Williams told police he was firing at someone in which he was in a dispute, not at the police officers.
The officers were released later Thursday.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said Williams is black.
Williams is being held on $300,000 bond.
NPCC Knights Swept by Iowa Western
The North Platte Community College Knights had their seven game winning streak come to a halt, losing to the Iowa Western Community College Lady Reivers in both games of a double header 6 – 1 in the first game, and 10 – 1 in the finale.
In the first game, the Reivers scored in the first inning on a run by Tracey Edwards. Edwards walked to start the game. Kayla Chase advanced Edwards to second on a sacrifice. Knights pitcher Baileigh Oleson hit the next two Lady Reiver hitters and Edwards scored on an error by Knights left-fielder Tara Crouch to make the score 1 – 0.
The Knights held the Lady Reivers scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Rievers scored their five remaining runs. The Reivers scored their five runs on five hits and a walk including doubles by Jocelyn Hernandez and Raylene Uribe which knocked in three runs.
The Knights got on the scoreboard in the seventh when Caroline Motis singled and was batted in on Sara Runia’s double.
Rachel Henks of the Reivers pitched seven innings and allowed five hits, one unearned run, and two walks and struck out nine North Platte hitters.
Baileigh Oleson pitched six innings for the Knights and allowed five earned runs on nine hits and four walks. Oleson struck out four hitters.
Game two was all Iowa Western, The Reivers scored three runs in the second, three runs in the third and four runs in the fourth to defeat the Knights in five innings.
Sara Runia led the Knights at the plate by going two for three and scoring the Knights only run. Runia had a single in the first, reached on a fielder’s choice in the third and doubled in the fifth.
The Knights had the bases loaded in the fifth but only managed to score the run by Runia on a single by Shelby Clark.
Shannon Lieber picked up the loss for the Knights. Lieber allowed 10 runs on 12 hits and two walks. Lieber also struck out two batters.
The Knights are now 10 – 14 on the season, while .the Lady Reivers are 15 – 11 on the season.
The Knights travel to McCook on Thursday, March 19 to face the 19th rated McCook Community College Lady Indians. The games will be live streamed on www.coachesaid.com . Game times are at 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m CDT.
Huskers Win 3-2, Sweep Eagles In Front of Record Crowd
Lincoln – The Nebraska baseball team (12-6, 0-0 Big Ten) polished off a three-game sweep of the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles (8-12-1, 0-0 Atlantic Sun) and improved to 5-0 at home this season with a 3-2 win on Sunday afternoon.
Husker fans posted a three-day attendance of 17,083 during the series, which easily broke the previous facility record of 14,885 for a non-conference series at Hawks Field. The previous mark was set in 2006, when the Huskers opened their home schedule with a three-game series against Alabama.
Sophomore Derek Burkamper improved to 2-1 on the year with 6.0 innings of work, while Josh Roeder notched his fifth save of the season. After Burkamper retired the Eagles in order in the sixth, Jeff Chesnut, Colton Howell and Roeder each tossed a perfect inning of relief, as the Huskers retired FGCU’s final 12 batters of the game.
With Ryan Boldt and Blake Headley each out of the lineup with illness, the Huskers need contributions from other players and got it. Freshman Scott Schreiber was 3-for-4 with a double, a run scored and a RBI. The Menasha, Wis., native scored NU’s first run of the game after leading off the fifth with a double and then drove in the eventual game winning run in the sixth with a two-out single after Ben Miller tied the game with an RBI triple.
Freshman Jake Meyers, who was making his first start in the field after making five appearances on the mound, drove in NU’s first run of the game in the fifth with a one-out single.
The Huskers had to rally on the day after the Eagles took their first lead of the series with a pair of runs in the fourth. The Huskers didn’t score until the fifth after scoring in the first inning in each of their last five games.
The Eagles notched all five of their hits in the first four innings and tallied just two base runners after the fourth frame. On the other hand, Nebraska had just one hit through the first four innings, before notching six total hits over the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
The Huskers will take Monday off before getting back to their 16-game homestand with a two-game series against the Indiana State Sycamores. Tuesday’s game is scheduled for 4:05 p.m., and Wednesday’s game is set for 1:35 p.m.
Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ Debuts with $70.1M at the Box Office
NEW YORK (AP) — “Cinderella” is the belle of the box office, where Disney’s live-action fairy tale debuted with $70.1 million over the weekend at North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The box office-topping opening added to a string of recent live-action successes for Disney like “Maleficent” and “Alice in Wonderland.” Interest in “Cinderella,” directed by Kenneth Branagh, was also boosted by a “Frozen” short that played before the feature.
The Liam Neeson, Ed Harris thriller “Run All Night” didn’t have much gas at the box office. It opened with $11 million for Warner Bros., the weakest debut for Neeson as an action film star.
Last week’s top film, the sci-fi thriller “Chappie,” slid to fifth with $5.8 million.
New Job Training Program to Help Nebraska Inmates
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new program will help provide job training to parolees and minimum-security inmates to help reduce the chances of them returning to prison.
The state recently awarded $6.2 million in grants to eight organizations across Nebraska to provide training to nearly 1,500 felons.
The Center for People in Need in Lincoln plans to put them to work running forklifts in the warehouse and in the kitchen of a food service program.
About 27 percent of the Nebraska prisoners released in 2011 had returned to prison by June 30, 2014. Corrections Department spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith says she hopes the program shrinks that number.
Oklahoma Isn’t Alone in Race-Related Fraternity Incidents
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many colleges are clamping down on campus fraternities after their reputations are sullied by race-tainted incidents.
Even with a school’s sometimes swift and hard action, episodes such as the racist chants by members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at the University of Oklahoma still surface.
In recent years, numerous other fraternities have been suspended and students expelled from school for racially tinged parties or behavior. Actions have included hanging nooses and shouting racial profanities.
Many incidents come to light after the students themselves post pictures or videos online, drawing public attention.
Defenders of fraternities point to the system’s charitable works and social and professional benefits for members.
But beyond racism, fraternities in recent years have had to confront issues of sexual assault, binge drinking and hazing among members.
4 US Aid Workers Being Monitored for Ebola in Nebraska
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Four American aid workers who were exposed to Ebola while working in Sierra Leone are being monitored at a Nebraska hospital.
Nebraska Medical Center spokesman Taylor Wilson says the four individuals arrived in Omaha around 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Those four are part of a group of 10 clinicians who were evacuated after one of their colleagues contracted the deadly virus. They were all working with the Boston-based nonprofit Partners in Health.
Wilson said Sunday morning that none of the four people being monitored in Omaha were sick. If any of them do develop Ebola, they will be treated in the hospital’s specialized biocontainment unit.
The other clinicians exposed to Ebola will be monitored at U.S. hospitals with experience treating the disease in Atlanta and in Bethesda, Maryland.