• Today: Isolated sprinkles before 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. North wind 5 to 14 mph becoming east in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph.
• Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 61. East southeast wind 6 to 9 mph.
• Saturday: A chance of thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 88. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
• Saturday Night: A chance of thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. East southeast wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
• Sunday: A chance of thunderstorms after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 90. Light and variable wind becoming east 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
• Sunday Night: A slight chance of thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 65. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

(AP) — A Rapid City man has died in Nebraska after he was run over by a tractor.

66-year-old Daniel N. Grooms was performing maintenance on a tractor about 2 p.m. Tuesday when the equipment accidentally started and ran Grooms over.

Grooms called for help and was conscious and breathing when rescue personnel arrived. He was transported to Chadron Community Hospital, where he ultimately was pronounced dead.

(AP) — Till jail do us part wasn’t included in their vows, but two western Nebraska newlyweds will be spending the next few weeks in separate cells.

They’d been caught having sex in Gering’s Oregon Trail Park on Tuesday evening, behind a tree but within view of pool swimmers several dozen yards away.

A Gering officer says he pulled his vehicle up to within three feet of the couple, who were so involved in each other they didn’t notice him. The officer says that when they finally stopped and got dressed, they told him they’d just gotten married.

The woman’s 5-year-old daughter was found in a nearby park shelter.

On Wednesday 31-year-old Miaya Smith and 23-year-old Saint Ramirez Jr. pleaded guilty to public indecency and were given 30 days in jail.

(AP) — The oppressively hot weather in the Northeast has surprised meteorologists: It’s moving backward across America, something that rarely happens.

The operations chief at the National Weather Service’s prediction branch says the western Atlantic high pressure system behind the hot dry weather started moving east to west last week and by Tuesday was centered over lower Michigan.

Jon Gottschalck (GAHT’chawlk) said the high pressure was going the wrong way. Normally U.S. weather systems move west to east. He said the high pressure is about to return eastward, extending the Northeastern heat wave an extra day or so until the weekend.

He said there’s no evidence pointing at man-made climate change, but this is likely just natural chaos in the atmosphere.

Thursday, the heat index hit 106 degrees in Washington and Philadelphia.

The American Red Cross today launched the Team Red Cross App, which allows people to sign up to help, get an overview on basic tasks and receive notifications about Red Cross disaster volunteer opportunities in their community.

“When people see an emergency happening in their community, they often want to help but may not know how,” said Tina Labellarte, Region CEO. “The Team Red Cross App provides an easy and quick way for people to sign up to help the Red Cross and support their community.”

Once users download the app, they create an account. Then they learn about different jobs, such as working in a warehouse, handing out supplies or assisting with feeding. When the Red Cross has a need for volunteers, the Team Red Cross App will notify users based on their location. Potential volunteers can instantly accept or decline the volunteer opportunity.

The Red Cross is encouraging the public to download the app before a disaster strikes in Nebraska or Iowa so volunteers can help immediately.

The app is free and designed for iPhone and Android smart phones and tablets. Additional features include:

• A quick orientation right on the mobile device.
• Ability for people to share notifications for volunteers with their social network.

• ·         Earn digital “badges” by completing a job test, accepting a job, sharing the app, recruiting volunteers, etc. The “badges” can then be shared with their social network.

• Allows people to donate money to the Red Cross and sign up to donate blood.
• Offers emergency response information that people can share with their friends at the touch of a button.

The Team Red Cross App is the seventh in a series of highly successful Red Cross apps, which are now on more than 3 million mobile devices across the country. A recent Red Cross survey shows that apps are now tied with social media as the fourth most popular way to get information during emergencies—behind TV, radio and online news sites. Nearly one-fifth of Americans say they’ve received some kind of emergency information from an app they’ve downloaded, making the Red Cross apps an important way for the public to get ready for disasters.

The Team Red Cross App can be found in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store by searching for American Red Cross or by going toredcross.org/mobileapps.

(AP) — The Cattlemen’s Ball raised a record $2.1 million this year, passing the $2 million mark for the first time.

Ninety percent of the money will go to the Eppley Cancer Center in Omaha, with the remainder divided up as grants to health and wellness organizations in the Paxton-Sutherland area. This year’s ball was held June 7-8 at the Hanging H Ranch near Sutherland.

The Cattlemen’s Ball is hosted each year by a different Nebraska family involved in the beef industry. The first ball was held in 1998, and over the years a total of more than $8.4 million has been raised.

Next year’s Cattlemen’s Ball will be held on the Hoot Owl Ranch in Banner County.

(AP) — The trial has been delayed for a 27-year-old man charged with child abuse in the death of a 2-year-old western Nebraska girl.

The original trial date of Aug. 5 has been delayed until Oct. 21. Defense lawyers had sought more time to prepare their case for Dustin Chauncey. He’s pleaded not guilty to a charge of intentional child abuse resulting in the death of Juliette Geurts, of Gering, in July 2008. He was the boyfriend at the time of the girl’s mother, Charyse Geurts. Charges against her have been dismissed because of the statute of limitations.

Colorado prison records say Chauncey is serving time at Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, Colo.

 

A North Platte man is in the Lincoln County Jail after he was busted with dope following a traffic stop.

An Officer with the North Platte Police Department was on patrol early Wednesday morning when he observed a 1998 Oldsmobile Aurora traveling on West 4th Street.  The Officer conducted a traffic stop after he noticed the vehicle did not have license plates, and made contact with the driver, Patrick Hamilton, and a male passenger.

An odor of burnt marijuana was detected and a pipe was observed inside the vehicle.

A subsequent search of Hamilton revealed a small amount of marijuana and a pipe believed to be used to smoke methamphetamine.

Hamilton also had a suspended license and was placed under arrest.

While processing Hamilton at the Jail, a further search of his person revealed a small container of white crystals which tested positive for methamphetamine.

Hamilton was charged with Driving Under Suspension, Possession of Marijuana-Less Than One Ounce, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of Methamphetamine.

(AP) — A political watchdog group is criticizing private fundraising events held for Nebraska lawmakers while the Legislature is in session.

Common Cause Nebraska released a report Wednesday that identified 19 state lawmakers who participated in breakfast, lunch and dinner events sponsored by lobbyists this year.

State law allows lobbyists to deliver checks from their clients during the meals. As long as the amount is below $250, the contribution can be reported as cash, and the donor can become impossible to identify. The group estimates that one event can generate up to $7,000 for an incumbent lawmaker.

Common Cause spokesman Jack Gould says Nebraska should join 29 other states that have banned in-session fundraisers, or at least lower the disclosure requirement to $100.

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(AP) — The Nebraska state director of the U.S. Farm Service Agency says drought conditions have substantially reduced the amount of forage available for livestock.

Dan Steinkruger said Wednesday that conditions appeared to improve at the beginning of the year, but many parts of central, western and southwest Nebraska are still much drier than normal.

Steinkruger says 54 Nebraska counties are now approved for emergency haying and grazing on land that’s enrolled in the federal Conservation Reserve Program.

Nebraska Cattlemen spokesman Pete McClymont says producers managed to endure last year’s drought because they began the season with good soil moisture. This year, McClymont says producers are in “crisis management” mode because the soil is drier, and many have had to reduce the size of their herds.