Labor & Growth
Business Hall of Fame inductees make a mark on Omaha’s coffee, call center services and more
Five business leaders whose work expertise ranges from coffee to call center operations have been selected as the 2022 inductees of the Omaha Business Hall of Fame. Each year, the Greater Omaha Chamber honors a slate of people whose “vision, work ethic and dedication” have made a mark on the Omaha area. Winners are nominated […]
Omaha’s 111-year-old Keeline Building poised for $6.8 million revamp
When the historic Keeline Building rose more than a century ago in downtown Omaha, it proved pivotal to the area’s shift from a residential to a commercial and public center. In fact, the home of a famous Omahan sat on the property at 319 S. 17th St. before the seven-story Keeline was built and opened […]
Omaha hits new strides in construction activity
OMAHA — The signs are plentiful: newly framed houses around town, freshly bulldozed land, tower cranes dotting the skyline. Now a recently released report reinforces that construction activity in Nebraska’s largest city has reached new heights in several ways. According to the City of Omaha’s latest annual “Building and Development Summary,” the total estimated value […]
Shortage of examiners means closure, cutbacks at state motor vehicle offices
LINCOLN – Nebraskans need to be flexible if they’re seeking to take a state driver’s test. Due to a shortage of driver examiners at the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, about 30 DMV offices across the state, mostly in rural areas, have closed temporarily or seen hours cut back. The closures have prompted frustration and […]
Omaha construction company responds to inflation, hands out extra check to workers at the job site
An Omaha-based construction company is responding to recent cost inflation by putting something extra in employee wallets, in time for the holiday weekend. Hawkins Construction, a regional contractor that employs about 400 people, has created an “inflation protection fund” and plans to disburse up to $2,000 to each hourly worker this year. CEO and president […]
Iowa worker’s wage lawsuit survives in U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a small, but potentially significant, victory to a fast-food worker from Iowa. The court did not address the basic premise of Robyn Morgan’s lawsuit — that the Taco Bell restaurant she worked for had violated wage-and-hour laws. The court did, however, address a procedural issue that could have […]
Nebraska unemployment rate hits all-time low for second straight month
Nebraska’s latest unemployment rate of 1.9% represented an all-time low for the second straight month, and that April level remains tied for the lowest reached by any state in history. That’s according to the State Department of Labor’s preliminary and seasonally adjusted report, released Friday. The April rate is down from the March 2022 rate […]
Nebraska Supreme Court rules in favor of a meatpacking worker fired during the pandemic
The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday reversed a lower court’s opinion denying several weeks of unemployment benefits to a packinghouse worker who said he refused to take on additional duties of a colleague absent with COVID-19. The ruling centered on whether Saied Badawi’s actions leading up to his termination from JBS Swift Beef amounted to […]
An obsolete health club in Omaha is to see a different 24-hour use — as apartments
Editor’s note: This has been updated to revise the cost of the project. After sitting vacant and in disrepair for four years, a former 24 Hour Fitness in northwest Omaha is poised to bounce back as a $35 million apartment complex. In its new form, the obsolete health club will gain heft and height: A […]
Mutual of Omaha’s downtown move expected to spur $1 billion in investment at new and old campuses
OMAHA — Mutual of Omaha’s move from midtown to downtown is now projected to spur roughly $1 billion in redevelopment — an escalated $600 million for the insurer’s new headquarters and a $400 million makeover at its old campus. That’s the update according to the Fortune 500 company and its real estate developer, Lanoha Real […]
Omahan rises from public housing to provider of affordable housing
Don Curry said he knows firsthand how affordable housing can help boost a kid toward success. As a 13-year-old in 1983, he and his mom and sister became one of the first families in Omaha’s scattered-site public housing program. They lived in a government subsidized home near 16th and Emmet Streets before Curry moved away […]
Retired Omaha Chamber leader takes consulting position with Wisconsin firm
David Brown, recently retired CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber, has been named lead consultant of a Madison, Wisconsin, firm. Brown, who led the Omaha chamber for nearly 20 years, said he will remain living in Omaha and will work remotely on a project-by-project basis for NEXT Generation Consulting. The firm helps businesses and organizations […]