Author

Senior Reporter Cindy Gonzalez, an Omaha native, has more than 35 years of experience, largely at the Omaha World-Herald. Her coverage areas have included business and real estate development; regional reporting; immigration, demographics and diverse communities; and City Hall and local politics.
Nebraska senators want to create a new state housing agency
By: Cindy Gonzalez - February 1, 2022
House prices on the Nebraska homefront have jumped: The average sale price across the Omaha and Lincoln areas went up more than 11% in the last year and about 25% since 2018. Looking farther back, over a decade, the Great Plains Regional MLS shows also that the average Omaha-area sale price of new and existing […]
NU Law program recognized for its tenant assistance project
By: Cindy Gonzalez - January 31, 2022
The University of Nebraska College of Law was among the 99 law schools that responded to the U.S. Attorney General’s call in August to help people in their communities access emergency rental assistance. Law schools overall acted with urgency, the Justice Department said, and over the past five months have continued to draw upon resources […]
Creighton Law School steps up
By: Cindy Gonzalez - January 28, 2022
Creighton University in Omaha was among 99 law schools recognized Friday by the Biden administration for their response to the U.S. attorney general’s call to address the housing and eviction crisis. Attorney General Merrick Garland said he asked the legal community for help, and law students and lawyers across the country stepped up to take on […]
Omaha explores new 72nd and Dodge library branch
By: Cindy Gonzalez - January 28, 2022
Omahans might see a new and different library facility rise southwest of the busy 72nd and Dodge Streets intersection. That public library, which is not a done deal, is separate from the City of Omaha’s ongoing and controversial process to relocate the downtown W. Dale Clark Library to 1401 Jones St. Mutual of Omaha said […]
Lawmakers object to TIF use for Omaha streetcar
By: Cindy Gonzalez - January 27, 2022
OMAHA — A Nebraska senator who championed the law that gave “extremely blighted” neighborhoods a better shot at economic development says it is being “abused” for the proposed Omaha streetcar project. Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha said he intended the 2020 change to tax-increment financing legislation to benefit the poorest areas of the state. The […]
Omaha aims for revamped urban core with streetcar, new downtown Mutual HQ
By: Aaron Sanderford and Cindy Gonzalez - January 26, 2022
Editor’s note: This story has been updated. OMAHA — A long-discussed streetcar, free to ride and running three miles from 10th Street to midtown, was the key to Mutual of Omaha’s decision to build a skyscraper on the property that houses the city’s main library. The Nebraska Examiner broke the news of both new projects […]
UNMC sparks long-term shifts on corridor
By: Cindy Gonzalez - January 26, 2022
OMAHA — A $44 million housing and retail campus appears to be next in the lineup of projects fast and furiously changing a midtown Omaha corridor anchored by the expanding University of Nebraska Medical Center. Nearly 200 market-rate apartments and row houses, a restaurant and a bank would rise on about five acres northwest of […]
Mutual of Omaha HQ headed for downtown Omaha library site
By: Cindy Gonzalez, Aaron Sanderford and Paul Hammel - January 25, 2022
Mutual of Omaha — a corporate icon that’s been planted in midtown Omaha for decades — is poised to build a new headquarters where the city’s downtown public library stands, according to sources familiar with the project. The relocation of the Fortune 500 company, now based at 33rd and Dodge Streets, answers part of the […]
Nebraska jobless rate lowest in nation once again
By: Cindy Gonzalez - January 25, 2022
Nebraska has again topped the nation in recording the lowest unemployment rate of all states, followed by Utah, Oklahoma and Idaho. The state’s seasonally adjusted rate for December was 1.7% — that’s the lowest on record for any state since the collection of unemployment started in 1976. “Nebraska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to drop, […]
Nebraska Furniture Mart foresees growing pains in Omaha
By: Cindy Gonzalez - January 25, 2022
Nebraska’s furniture titan is swiftly expanding its footprint, in king-sized ways, outside the city where it was founded 85 years ago. But big-ticket renovations at home in Omaha are on hold until officials reassess a flood-plain related regulation that threatens growth.