02-07-13

Posted on Feb 7th, 2013 at 7:37 am

Happy Birthday Wishes to:

Brad Carlson, Gary Dean, Brandee Drahota, Norm Geyer, Jerry Guenther, Karen Osborn, Garry Depp, Dee Wachter, Carla Wegner

Skywatch Weather:

Today, partial clearing at times, high 40. Tonight, partly to mostly cloudy, low 20. Friday, becoming mostly sunny, high 47.

Sports:

ESPN Radio now at 105.9 WJAG-FM & 780 WJAG-AM Mon-Fri at 5:00 PM & Sat & Sun at 4:00!

Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini has announced a 26-player recruiting class that analysts consider more talented than the one he signed in 2012 and perhaps the best of the six he's assembled for the Cornhuskers. ESPN recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree says Nebraska is adding depth at linebacker and running back and have their quarterback of the future in Johnny Stanton of California. The Huskers yesterday signed twelve players on offense, 13 on defense and a long snapper. Scout.com has NU’s class ranked eleventh in the nation after listing them 50th a year ago. Rivals.com ranked Nebraska 17th and ESPN.com and 247sports.com each have the Huskers 23rd. Walking on for the Huskers will be Norfolk Catholic standouts Connor Ketter & Jordan Bellar. Ketter, who will play tight end, caught 18 passes last year for 256 yards and three touchdowns. Bellar, who will be a punter, punted 30 times for a 45.1 yard average.

The National Junior College Athletic Association updated their women’s college basketball rankings yesterday. The Northeast Hawks moved up from 15th to 13th in Division I. They are 23-2 on the season and winners of twelve games in a row and 13 of their last 14 after road wins in the last week over North Platte Community College 79-43 on Saturday and Southeast Community College 83-53 on Tuesday.

KJ Bluford of the Northeast Hawks men’s basketball team has given a verbal pledge to Iowa State for next season. Bluford is a 6’2 shooting guard where he leads the Hawks in scoring at 18.2 points. He is also shooing 39% from three-point range by making 104-269. Bluford was also recruited by Creighton, Bradley, Drake, Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, Missouri State, Northern Iowa, Illinois State, Wichita State, Murray State, Purdue, Rhode Island, Arkansas State, Alabama State, and others.

Local Schedule: Nfk Cath at Crofton (GBB-8:00); Nebraska-Omaha at Western Illinois at Macomb, IL (MBB-7:00).

Saturday Evening: The Norfolk Catholic boys basketball team takes part in the Heartland Hoops Classic at the Heartland Events Center in Grand Island as they play Boys Town at 7:00. Pregame coverage at approximately 6:40 on Newstalk WJAG 105.9 FM & WJAG.com.

Local Scores: Indiana St. 76 (16) Creighton 57 (MBB).

Kwifax:

Divots..2/9 @ 8pm have a laugh @ the Great American Comedy Amateur Night .. $10

110 million red roses are sold in the U.S. around Valentine’s Day.

News Briefs:

A news conference is set for this morning at 10:30 to announce a new global partnership between Northeast Community College and the Aarhus Business College in Denmark. It will be held in the school's Lifelong Learning Center. Representatives from both colleges will take part in the news conference, with the Aarhus officials participating through a live video link from Denmark. The monthly meeting of college's Board of Governors is slated for 3:00 this afternoon, also at the Lifelong Learning Center.

The second of three amateur comedy competitions for the Viaero Great American Comedy Festival is set for Norfolk this weekend. The event at the Divots DeVent Center begins at 8:00 Saturday night. Amber Preston of Minneapolis, who finished third in last year's professional competition will host the evening. Tickets can be purchased at the door. The audience will determine the top two funny people who will advance to the amateur finals at this June's festival. The first of the three amateur competitions was held in West Point in January; the third is slated for O'Neill in March.

Dan Ruettiger, the real-life inspiration for the movie Rudy is coming to Norfolk. Ruettiger is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the annual banquet for the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce, April 4th at the Divots DeVent Center. Rudy will also address a joint assembly for high school students from Norfolk High, Norfolk Catholic and Lutheran High Northeast. Ruettiger's story as a walk-on football player for Notre Dame is chronicled in the movie.

Nebraska's VFW has endorsed Governor Dave Heineman's plan to eliminate Nebraska's corporate and individual income taxes. The state commander says it would ease the burden on veterans who live month-to-month on Social Security benefits. The state's largest business groups oppose the governor's plan.

Veterans groups are lining up behind the nomination of former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary. They're praising the twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran as their longtime advocate. Hagel's first test could come tomorrow with a possible vote in the Senate Armed Services Committee. Some Republicans are pressing for a delay.

The current issue of Nebraska Life magazine shows a cowboy drover cracking his bull whip on a cattle drive. It's part of one of the issue's most popular articles featuring the Ogallala cattle drives of the 1860s and 70s. Renowned history writer Ron Soodalter chronicles a time when Texas ranchers drove their cattle north to pasture in the summer, and the western Nebraska town of Ogallala was the end of the line. Norfolk artist Gale Jones is also featured The magazine's editor Chris Amundson of Norfolk says Jones opened the Ravenwood Art Gallery nearly 25 years ago but his story goes back much farther than that. Nebraska Life is published in Norfolk and features the history, wildlife and people of Nebraska.