Labor & Growth

Lawmakers to hear public views on how to disburse millions of dollars in North and South Omaha

BY: - March 6, 2023

OMAHA — The jostling over hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds approved last year for North and South Omaha will pick up in the Legislature again this week.    Public hearings are scheduled Tuesday and Thursday before two different legislative committees and are expected to set off more debate over how the money is […]

Carol Blood explains a resolution to the Executive Board

Supporters of child labor resolution say it could make Nebraska ‘new champion’

BY: - March 3, 2023

LINCOLN — Supporters of a U.S. constitutional amendment related to child labor said Friday it could make Nebraska a “new champion” in the anti-child labor movement. Legislative Resolution 5, proposed by State Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue, would have Nebraska ratify the Child Labor Amendment of 1924. This would amend the Constitution and specify that […]

Megan Hunt introduces legislation in the Judiciary Committee

Nebraska lawmaker continues push for LGBTQ nondiscrimination employment policy

BY: - March 1, 2023

LINCOLN — Jayden Speed, an 18-year-old high school student, said he is counting down the days to graduation while calculating whether Nebraska is the state to stay in. As a queer young person, Speed said, he loves Nebraska, its communities and the Legislature, and Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Creighton University have offered […]

Trans rights advocates hold signs that say "Stop attacks on trans youth," "trans rights are human rights" and "trans Nebraskans belong" at a protest in the Nebraska State Capitol

LGBTQ protections at crossroads in Nebraska Legislature

BY: - March 1, 2023

LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature stands at a crossroads in 2023 regarding LGBTQ Nebraskans, with critical bills that could expand or limit protections. This session’s proposals include restrictions on what bathrooms transgender youths could use and which athletic teams they could participate in. Other bills could expand nondiscrimination policies to include gender identity or sexual […]

Another park proposed for downtown Omaha is seen as a selling point for growing Builder’s District

BY: - February 28, 2023

OMAHA — In the works for downtown Omaha is another park, a privately owned but publicly accessible entertainment space expected to help lure residents to the developing Builder’s District that’s anchored by Kiewit Corp. The Square, as it is referred to in city documents, would cover about 1.4 acres southeast of 17th and Cuming Streets. […]

South Omaha raises a collective voice to say the area is ready for $100 million in ARPA funds

BY: - February 27, 2023

OMAHA — South Omaha leaders gathered Monday for the second time in a week to shout out a message to state officials that they are ready to put roughly $100 million in pandemic recovery funds to use in their community.  Their rallying point this time was the Plaza de la Raza — and a long-sought […]

Nebraska economic development leaders open an office in South Omaha

BY: - February 27, 2023

OMAHA — Nudged by South Omaha leaders and an avalanche of public dollars that appear to be headed to that area, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development has opened up a satellite office in South Omaha. The state’s economic development director, Anthony Goins, said he had been considering adding a “strategic South Omaha presence” even […]

Nebraska lawmaker seeks state funding for Omaha streetcar — if it extended north toward airport

BY: - February 24, 2023

LINCOLN — The controversial Omaha streetcar project could get a $100 million jolt from the State of Nebraska under a plan before the Legislature — that is, if the route were extended into North Omaha and to the airport. A measure presented Friday by State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee […]

U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh visits Lincoln job training center

BY: - February 23, 2023

LINCOLN — U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh was in Lincoln on Thursday visiting a workforce development program that was recently awarded a $2.1 million federal grant from the City of Lincoln. The nonprofit Rabble Mill earlier this year was selected by Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird’s administration to receive funding from the federal American Rescue Plan […]

Bonding bill would finish Nebraska expressways faster, supporters say

BY: - February 22, 2023

LINCOLN — A highway funding bill with Gov. Jim Pillen’s backing could help Nebraska finish a four-lane expressway system that the state has spent four decades building. But the proposal to borrow money by issuing bonds to fund highway and major road construction would end Nebraska’s decades-old, pay-as-you-go approach to major road construction.  Legislative Bill […]

Plaza

Some community leaders jittery about future of $225 million earmarked for North and South Omaha

BY: - February 22, 2023

OMAHA — It’s been six weeks since a Nebraska legislative panel released a much-anticipated report recommending how to distribute $225 million earmarked for North and South Omaha neighborhoods. Some community members have since criticized the selection process. An implementation bill has yet to be finalized, and a legislative public hearing has yet to be scheduled. […]

Cass County operation said to be a first in the nation, and Vireo Resource campus is still growing

BY: - February 21, 2023

PLATTSMOUTH, Nebraska — Vireo Systems made its initial splash in Nebraska about 15 years ago with a few employees and a single commercial bay in this town’s FourMile Industrial Park. Within five years, the Tennessee-based company that develops healthy products for people and pets expanded onto a nearby field to build its own production facility. […]