April 5

1921 — Voters in Hastings defeated a proposal to allow the showing of movies on Sundays.

1944 — Wendell Willkie told about 4,000 people at the Omaha Civic Auditorium that he was withdrawing from the presidential campaign after being defeated in the Wisconsin primary election.

April 6

1944 — An explosion ripped through the Naval Ordnance Depot at Hastings, killing eight people. It was the second of three fatal explosions at the depot during the year.

April 7

1871 — The first group of settlers from the Soldiers Free Homestead Colony reached Gibbon by Union Pacific Railroad. The colonists at first lived in train boxcars.

1891 — The Legislature passed one of the first eight-hour workday laws in the nation.

1895 — A prairie fire raced through Deuel County, killing an estimated 1,400 sheep near Big Springs.

The North Platte Area Children’s Museum invites you to our annual fundraiser:
Hats Off to the Horses
Holiday Inn Express
Saturday, May 4, 2013
3:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Presented by NebraskaLand National Bank
This will be a fantastic afternoon of hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, hat parade, bourbon toss, silent auction, live viewing of the 139th Run for the Roses.
As well as photo ops with Mr. Photobooth, live band (Belles & Whistles) and an opportunity to win a Nascar trip, a NEBRASKALand Days Golden Circle Kid Rock concert package or an iPad!
Tickets are $40 per person and include food and 2 drink tickets.
They can be purchased at the Children’s Museum or any NebraskaLand National Bank location.

Actress-singer Doris Day is 90
Actress Marsha Mason is 71
Singer Wayne Newton is 71
Singer Billy Joe Royal is 71
Singer Tony Orlando is 69
Singer Richard Thompson is 64
Bassist Curtis Stone of Highway 101 is 63
Guitarist Mick Mars of Motley Crue is 57
Actor Alec Baldwin is 55
Actor David Hyde Pierce is 54
Comedian-actor Eddie Murphy is 52
Singer-guitarist Mike Ness of Social Distortion is 51
Singer Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) is 45
Actress Jennie Garth is 41
Actress Cobie Smulders is 31
Singer Leona Lewis is 28
Actress Amanda Bynes is 27

Film critic Roger Ebert says he has cancer again and is scaling back his movie reviews while undergoing radiation.

In a blog post, the 70-year-old said he’ll take a “leave of presence.”

The veteran critic has previously battled cancer in his thyroid and salivary glands and lost the ability to speak and eat after surgery.

In a lengthy essay posted late Tuesday, Ebert says the latest cancer was discovered after a “painful fracture” that made it difficult for him to walk. The Pulitzer Prize winner was hospitalized late last year with a hip fracture.

Ebert writes he’s “not going away.” Instead, he’ll write select movie reviews while leaving the rest of the work to a team of writers.

He also plans to spend time writing about his own health challenges.

1860 — The Pony Express began operations, crossing parts of Nebraska.

1924 — Actor Marlon Brando was born in Omaha.

1944 – Evelyn Sharp of Ord, the first woman to deliver airmail in the United States, died when a P-38 fighter plane she was piloting crashed in Pennsylvania. She was 24.

2008 — An 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a woman against a Lancaster County District judge who barred the word “rape” in a sexual-assault trial.

The North Platte Community College Theater Department will present the David Lindsay-Abaire comedy, “Fuddy Meers” at 8 p.m. on April 3-6, at NPCC’s McDonald-Belton Theater.

This poignant and brutal comedy traces one woman’s attempt to regain her memory while surrounded by a curio-cabinet of alarmingly bizarre characters. The play follows Claire who has a rare form of psychogenic amnesia that erases her memory whenever she goes to sleep. This particular morning, like all mornings, she wakes up a blank slate.

Every twist and turn in this funhouse plot bring Claire closer to revealing her past life and everything she thought she’d forgotten. It is one harrowing and hilarious turn after another on this roller coaster ride through the day of an amnesiac trying to decipher her fractured life.

Ritch Galvan, NPCC theatre instructor and play director notes, “Though this play is a comedy, it deals with a very serious subject. I am hoping it touches the audience and brings awareness to the possible destructive nature of violence in a family.”

This play contains adult themes and subject matter and is intended for mature audiences. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for seniors. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

April 1

1865 — The steamship Bertrand, laden with cargo bound for Montana, sank in the Missouri River at the village of DeSoto, north of Omaha. The wreck was discovered in 1967 and excavated in 1968-69.

1921 — Opponents of Sunday movies held a rally at the Kerr Opera House in Hastings.

2008 — Lawsuits by three families were dismissed because they reached an $18.4 million settlement of their lawsuits over a 2002 helicopter crash in Norfolk that killed three people aboard. The multimillion-dollar settlement is thought to be the largest ever in Nebraska.

April 2

1856 — Rev. Joseph Barker, an English immigrant, arrived in Omaha and wrote that the city consisted of “a few huts, two or three decent houses, a bank, the state house, a saw mill and a few stores.”

Playing thru 4/4
Screen #1
The Host…1:20, 4:20, 7:05 & 9:50
Screen #2
G.I. Joe Retaliation 2D….4:00 & 9:50
G.I. Joe Retaliation 3D….1:05 & 7:00
Screen #3
OZ The Great & Powerful 2D….4:05 & 10:05
OZ The Great & Powerful 3D….1:00 & 7:10
Screen #4
Olympus Has Fallen….1:00, 4:00, 7:00 & 9:40
R(must ID)
Screen #5
The Croods 2D….4:05 & 9:45
The Croods 3D….1:25 & 7:10
Screen #6
Silver Linings Playbook….1:10, 4:10, 7:15 & 10:00
R(must ID)

Playing 4/5 – 4/11
Screen #1
Evil Dead….1:00, 4:00, 7:00 & 9:40
R(must ID)
Screen #2
Jurasic Park 3D….1:10, 4:10, 7:05 & 9:55
Screen #3
G.I. Joe Retaliation 2D….4:00 & 9:50
G.I. Joe Retaliation 3D….1:05 & 7:00
Screen #4
Olympus Has Fallen….1:00, 4:15, 7:15 & 9:55
R(must ID)
Screen #5
The Croods 2D….4:05 & 9:45
The Croods 3D….1:25 & 7:10
Screen #6
The Host…1:20, 4:20, 7:05 & 9:50

Singer Leon Russell is 71
Jazz guitarist Larry Coryell is 70
Actress Linda Hunt is 68
Singer Emmylou Harris is 66
Actress Pamela Reed is 64
Drummer Dave Robinson of The Cars is 60
Country singer Buddy Jewell is 52
Actor Christopher Meloni is 52
Singer Keren Woodward of Bananarama is 52
Country singer Billy Dean is 51
Actor Clark Gregg is 51
Guitarist Greg Camp (Smash Mouth) is 46
Guitarist Tony Fredianelli of Third Eye Blind is 44
Actor Adam Rodriguez is 38
Actor Michael Fassbender is 36
Keyboardist Jesse Carmichael of Maroon 5 is 34
Actress Bethany Joy Galeotti is 32
Singer Lee Dewyze is 27.

After a nine-month delay, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” deployed to the top spot at the box office.

The action film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum marched into the No. 1 position at the weekend box office, earning $41.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The sequel to 2009’s “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra” was postponed last year to convert the film to 3-D.

“Retaliation” opened Wednesday, which helped to bring its domestic total to $51.7 million.

The animated prehistoric comedy “The Croods” slipped to the No. 2 spot with $26.5 million in its second weekend.

“Tyler Perry’s Temptation” opened with $22.3 million at No. 3, while the Stephenie Meyer sci-fi adaptation “The Host” landed at No. 6 in its debut weekend with $11 million.