OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dairy Queen plans to give away small ice cream cones later this month to celebrate the restaurant chain’s 75th anniversary.
The restaurant chain picked March 16 to celebrate with soft serve ice cream because that will be the 75th day of the year.
Dairy Queen Executive Vice President Barry Westrum says the ice cream give away is just the first thing the restaurant has planned to celebrate its anniversary this year.
While giving away ice cream cones, Dairy Queen will be accepting donations for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
The Dairy Queen chain is based in Minneapolis, and it includes more than 6,400 restaurants in 27 countries. It is owned by Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska, based Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Despite improvements, a state center for developmentally disabled Nebraskans is again facing complaints that its employees are overworked.
A report to state legislators obtained by The Associated Press shows employee overtime at the Beatrice State Developmental Center soared in the last three months of 2014. Workers logged 19,220 hours of overtime, a 39 percent increase over the same period the previous year.
The increase has prompted some workers to complain and raised new concerns about turnover among the staff, which oversees residents with physical and intellectual disabilities.
Advocates for the center’s residents stress that conditions have vastly improved since 2009, when one resident died due to neglect.
The Department of Health and Human Services says it’s reviewing why overtime increased and is working hard to recruit and keep quality workers.
THEDFORD, Neb. (AP) — Some Nebraska ranchers remain uneasy about a high-voltage power line that is planned to cross part of the state’s environmentally sensitive Sandhills region.
Rancher Dan Welch says the project will harm sensitive wildlife areas, create erosion in the sandy soil and scar the landscape with access roads.
But the Nebraska Public Power District says the new line’s route is designed to minimize the effect on the Sandhills.
Plus, utility officials say the line will improve reliability and help wind power development.
NPPD’s board approved the route for the transmission line last year after conducting more than two dozen public meetings and reviewing 2,500 comments.
The transmission line will start near Sutherland and go north to a near Thedford and then east toward Holt County.
GIBBON, Neb. (AP) — Several hundred people attended a festival this weekend to learn more about the migrating cranes that will visit Nebraska in the next few weeks.
Many families attended the event at the Rowe Sanctuary on the Platte River on Saturday.
The sanctuary’s education director Keanna Leonard says the event offered several activities to teach about the cranes.
Each spring, hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes feed in farm fields between Grand Island and Kearney during the day and resting in shallow waters of the Platte each night for several weeks. The cranes then continue their journeys to arctic breeding grounds.
Jen Rodriguez brought her two sons to the sanctuary, so they could learn more and get out of the house.
SPANISH FORK, Utah (AP) — Police say a 25-year-old woman was found dead and her 18-month-old daughter was found alive inside a car that crashed into a Utah river and wasn’t discovered until over 13 hours later.
The girl was flown to a Salt Lake City hospital in an unknown condition. Their names weren’t immediately released.
A fisherman found the car upside-down Saturday afternoon in Spanish Fork River in Spanish Fork, about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Police Lt. Matt Johnson says the woman left Salem about 10 p.m. Friday to drive to her Springville home, and a resident said he thought he heard an accident about 11 p.m. but couldn’t find anything.
The car was found about 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Some emergency responders who entered the river were released after treatment for hypothermia at a hospital.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — State education officials have approved a new accountability system that would see public schools get better state rankings if they improve students’ test scores.
The Nebraska State Board of Education also agreed Friday to seek a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind education accountability law.
The state’s new system will sort schools into four performance classes: excellent, great, good and needs improvement. Schools will jump to a higher class if scores on state tests improve from the previous year or kids demonstrate sufficient academic growth.
If a school sees an increase in students scoring below proficient, it may drop to a lower class.
The state’s new system will replace the current system, which numerically ranks public schools in a host of categories.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A proposal requiring members of the Nebraska State Board of Education to add disclaimers to their written communications has one embattled member accusing the others of unfairly targeting him.
Patrick McPherson lashed out Friday against the proposal, which would add a disclaimer to written and electronic comments indicating they don’t represent the opinions of the board. McPherson says the proposal seems to be an attempt to stifle his free speech.
The proposal follows calls for McPherson’s resignation by those who say he should be held accountable for several blog posts on his former conservative blog, “Objective Conservative,” that referred to President Barack Obama as a “half-breed.”
McPherson has denied writing the posts, but has refused to identify the author
DENVER (AP) — James Harden scored 28 points, Corey Brewer had 24 and the Houston Rockets snapped a three-game road losing streak by beating the Denver Nuggets 114-100 on Saturday night
Trevor Ariza had 19 points and Donatas Motiejunas added 18 for the Rockets, who began a key four-game road trip with their second straight win in Denver after losing the previous four.
Wilson Chandler had 26 points to lead Denver, which is 2-2 under interim coach Melvin Hunt. He replaced Brian Shaw, who was fired Tuesday.
Trailing by seven points at halftime, the Nuggets got a pair of 3-pointers and a three-point play from Randy Foye at the start of the third quarter to surge in front 62-58.
Columbus, Ohio – Senior Robert Kokesh (174) won both of his matches on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s Big Ten Finals against Penn State’s Matt Brown.
Kokesh, the top-ranked wrestler in the country at 174 pounds, defeated fourth-seeded Logan Storley of Minnesota in the semifinals after his record-setting pin in Session I. Kokesh improves to 32-0 this season and climbs into second place on Nebraska’s career victories list with 137. He will go for his second consecutive conference title on Sunday during Session IV.
Three-time All-American James Green (157) also advanced to the semifinals, but fell by a 6-5 margin to No. 2 seed Dylan Ness of Minnesota. Green, who holds a 27-4 record this season, will battle fourth-seeded Brian Murphy of Michigan on Sunday for a spot in the third-place match.
The Huskers are in seventh place as a team with 70.5 points. Ohio State leads the team race with 102.5 points, while Iowa (101) and Minnesota (86.5) round out the top three.
Tim Lambert (125), Anthony Abidin (141) and TJ Dudley (184) each managed a pair of victories in Session II to remain in contention for third place in their respective weight classes. Abidin won both of his consolation matches in bonus-point fashion with a pin and major decision. Lambert earned a first-period pin against Northwestern’s Garrison White in one of his wrestleback matches.
Eric Montoya (133) and Austin Wilson (165), who each started the second session in the consolation bracket, went 1-1 and will each wrestle for seventh place on Sunday.
Aaron Studebaker (197) and Collin Jensen (HWT) each won their ninth-place semifinal matches and will wrestle for that spot on Sunday. Justin Arthur (149) also competed for the Huskers and went 1-2 on Saturday.
Saturday’s action begins at noon (CT) with Session III, which will be streamed on BTN Plus. Session IV is set for 2 p.m., with the championship finals to be broadcasted live on the Big Ten Network.
Big Ten Championships March 7-8, 2015 St. John Arena Columbus, Ohio
125 pounds
First Round: #4 Tim Lambert (NEB) by dec. over Sean McCabe (RUT), 7-2
Quarterfinals: #5 Jordan Conaway (PSU) by dec. over #4 Tim Lambert (NEB), 7-4
Consolation Second Round: #4 Tim Lambert (NEB) by dec. over John Jimenez (WIS), 4-0
Consolation Quarterfinals: #4 Tim Lambert (NEB) by pin over Garrison White (NW), 0:27
133 pounds
First Round: #8 Rossi Bruno (MICH) by dec. over #9 Eric Montoya (NEB), 5-3
Consolation First Round: #9 Eric Montoya (NEB) Bye
Consolation Second Round: #9 Eric Montoya (NEB) by dec. over #7 Danny Sabatello (PUR), 3-0
Consolation Quarterfinals: #6 Zane Richards (ILL) by dec. over #9 Eric Montoya (NEB), 10-3
141 pounds
First Round: #3 Anthony Abidin (NEB) by pin over #14 Sean Brown (IND), 2:01
Quarterfinals: #6 Josh Dziewa (IOWA) by dec. over #3 Anthony Abidin (NEB), 3-1
Consolation Second Round: #3 Anthony Abidin (NEB) by pin over #4 Steven Rodrigues (ILL), 3:59
Consolation Quarterfinals: #3 Anthony Abidin (NEB) by major dec. over #7 Jameson Oster (NW), 13-0
149 pounds
First Round: #7 Justin Arthur (NEB) by dec. over Ben Dorsay (MD), 5-4
Quarterfinals: #2 Jason Tsirtsis (NW) by dec. over #7 Justin Arthur (NEB), 6-0
Consolation Second Round: Nick Trimble (MSU) by dec. over #7 Justin Arthur (NEB), 5-2
157 pounds
First Round: #3 James Green (NEB) by pin over #14 Travis Curley (MSU), 4:27
Quarterfinals: #3 James Green (NEB) by dec. over #6 Josh Demas (OSU), 8-2
Semifinals: #2 Dylan Ness (MINN) by dec. over #3 James Green (NEB), 6-5
165 pounds
First Round: #9 Austin Wilson (NEB) by major dec. over #8 Nick Wanzek (MINN), 11-2
Quarterfinals: #1 Bo Jordan (OSU) by dec. over #9 Austin Wilson (NEB), 4-1
Consolation Second Round: #9 Austin Wilson (NEB) by dec. over #7 Nick Moore (IOWA), 2-1
Consolation Quarterfinals: #5 Jackson Morse (ILL) by dec. over #9 Austin Wilson (NEB), 4-0
174 pounds
First Round: #1 Robert Kokesh (NEB) Bye
Quarterfinals: #1 Robert Kokesh (NEB) by pin over #9 Taylor Massa (MICH), 0:15
Semifinals: #1 Robert Kokesh (NEB) by dec. over #4 Logan Storley (MINN), 2-1
184 pounds
First Round: #6 TJ Dudley (NEB) by major dec. over #11 Anthony Pafumi (RUT), 11-3
Quarterfinals: #3 Ricky Robertson (WIS) by tiebreaker-1 over #6 TJ Dudley (NEB), 10-9
Consolation Second Round: #6 TJ Dudley (NEB) by dec. over #12 Mitch Sliga (NW), 4-0
Consolation Quarterfinals: #6 TJ Dudley (NEB) by dec. over #7 Nikko Reyes (ILL), 7-3
197 pounds
First Round: #12 Hayden Hrymack (RUT) by dec. over #5 Aaron Studebaker (NEB), 6-3
Consolation First Round: #5 Aaron Studebaker (NEB) by dec. over #13 Rob Fitzgerald (MD), 6-2
Consolation Second Round: #6 Max Huntley (MICH) by dec. over #5 Aaron Studebaker (NEB), 7-4
*Ninth-Place Semifinal: #5 Aaron Studebaker (NEB) by dec. over #12 Hayden Hrymack (RUT), 6-2
Heavyweight
First Round: #6 Michael Kroells (MINN) by dec. over #11 Collin Jensen (NEB), 8-4
Consolation First Round: #11 Collin Jensen (NEB) by dec. over #14 Tyler Kral (PUR), 6-0
Consolation Second Round: #5 Jimmy Lawson (PSU) by major dec. over #11 Collin Jensen (NEB), 8-0
*Ninth-Place Semifinal: #11 Collin Jensen (NEB) by major dec. over #9 Nick Tavanello (OSU), 10-2
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dairy Queen plans to give away small ice cream cones later this month to celebrate the restaurant chain’s 75th anniversary.
