NEW YORK Gene Budig, the self-effacing educator and baseball fan from small-town Nebraska who became the head of three major universities and the last president of the American League, died Tuesday. Mixing his passion for academics and athletics at Kansas, Budig oversaw a smart move in 1988. Budig became an assistant professor of educational administration at Nebraska in 1967 and rose to full professor, assistant vice chancellor and assistant vice president and director of public affairs. He moved to Illinois State in 1972 as a vice president, dean and professor of educational administration and its youngest full professor. Budig is survived by his wife, Gretchen Van Bloom Budig, and three children: Christopher Budig, Mary Frances Budig and Kathryn Budig; sister Mary Ann Myers; brother Richard Budig; and five grandchildren.

WARWICK, R.I. There goes Rhode Island again always finding a way to get its tiny tentacles onto the national stage. The 30-second spot, aired Tuesday night during the convention's roll call as Rhode Island's Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden for president, was an instant social media sensation. "Rhode Island trended for hours overnight on Twitter. The backstory: Joseph McNamara, who chairs the state Democratic Party and appeared in the video, lobbied successfully in 2014 to make calamari Rhode Island's official state appetizer. Rhode Island has been a punch line since the Cianci era.