Author
Nebraska Legislature advances package focused on North and South Omaha to final debate
LINCOLN — Funding to help erect a Chief Standing Bear museum and to tear down dilapidated property in western Nebraska are among additions to a multimillion-dollar package aimed primarily at lifting North and South Omaha. The updated Economic Recovery Act cleared voting hurdles Thursday that now push it to the final debate stage. State Sen. […]
Child care services spotlighted as key to reversing Nebraska workforce shortage
LINCOLN — Nebraska communities are at a critical “inflection point” where they must figure out how to solve younger generations’ demands for quality child care — or face continued worker shortages. That’s a message that Dr. Jack Shonkoff, a child health and development expert at Harvard Medical School, delivered during a three-day visit this week […]
Gov. Jim Pillen tackles ‘obstacle’ to getting new teachers into Nebraska classrooms
LINCOLN — Nebraska is eliminating what Gov. Jim Pillen called a costly and unnecessary obstacle to getting new teachers into classrooms suffering from the statewide workforce shortage. Tuesday, the governor announced the repeal of Rule 23, which requires a basic skills test of math, reading and writing that budding educators must pass to get their […]
Report puts Nebraska near bottom of the pack for female business ownership
OMAHA — When seeking financing early on for a company that today is climbing the Inc. 5000 national list of fastest-growing companies, Carmen Tapio faced questions that remain burned in her memory. One banker, she said, asked: Does your husband know what you are doing? She said she was characterized as risky. “Not the business, but […]
Nearly $23 million doled out from Nebraska’s rural workforce housing fund
LINCOLN — Twenty-seven nonprofits in rural Nebraska will get a chunk of $22.8 million awarded from the state’s Rural Workforce Housing Fund. The grants were announced Thursday by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. Signed into law in 2017 as part of the Rural Workforce Housing Investment Act, the fund created by the Nebraska Legislature […]
New vision for Omaha’s former Civic Auditorium site includes grocery store, offices, housing
OMAHA — A national grocer, affordable housing and a five-story office and retail building are key components of the latest multimillion-dollar plan for the former Civic Auditorium site in downtown Omaha. New renderings released Thursday show the Civic Square project as about nine acres filled with a parking structure, new roads and multiple buildings that […]
$5 million state grant to help pay for documentary about U.S. StratCom
LINCOLN — The State of Nebraska has granted $5 million to a Dallas-based production company to create a documentary highlighting the history and mission of the U.S. Strategic Command. The money, administered by the Nebraska Department of Veterans Affairs, comes from a larger “military base development and support fund” established last year by state lawmakers. […]
Record number of votes pick favorite Omaha area tourism spots
OMAHA — More than 18,000 votes have narrowed down the Omaha metro area’s top tourism spots for 2023, and those range from the Gene Leahy Mall at the Riverfront to the Sarpy County Museum. The number of votes cast by the public set a record, doubling last year’s votes tallied for the Omaha Metropolitan Area […]
Groundbreaking event for $65 million project expected to be Nebraska’s new medical business hub
OMAHA — The giant shell of an old steel plant in midtown Omaha is to be transformed within a couple of years into Nebraska’s new, roughly $65 million hub of medical business innovation. Called the Catalyst, the 170,000-square-foot structure on the west side of Saddle Creek Road near Farnam Street will be operating in tandem […]
Some businesses that endorsed a letter against anti-LGBTQ proposals field ‘harassing’ calls
OMAHA — At least one Nebraska business owner called her local police department Monday about what she considers a threatening call from a person angry over a public letter urging state officials to drop bills targeting LGBTQ rights. Andrea Kathol, founder of Field Day Development, was one of several businesses and nonprofits who endorsed the […]
Nebraska opioid-exposed babies part of national study to improve treatment
OMAHA — Nebraska babies, parents and medical professionals have been involved in what a local doctor called a groundbreaking clinical study to improve outcomes for infants exposed to opioids. “It’s about getting moms and babies help they need to have a successful start to their lives,” said Dr. Ann Anderson Berry, primary investigator for the […]
Nebraska’s biggest city reports record year for TIF, an incentive under scrutiny by some lawmakers
OMAHA — Nebraska’s largest city gave the green light last year to a record amount of tax-increment financing incentives, according to a report listing 23 development projects that represent about $160 million in TIF loans. For perspective, Omaha’s average annual tally of TIF approvals over the past five years was about $36 million. Contributing to […]