Profiles
It’s an open book – as well it should be. We’re talking about the design concept behind Omaha’s new Central Library – and at the heart of its very mission.
To provide a welcoming space for all people...
A fresh morning drizzle on Saturday either lended to or came from the heavy fog, priced by downtown Omaha’s few skyscrapers. The view from Cummings Street was thankfully unobstructed as I drove to...
It was a hard sell.
I was loitering around in that dark Omaha alleyway, one of those ones that still have those red bricks that bring more character than the unfilled potholes on old concrete. Next...
Omaha has many religious places of worship, but only one Temple of Beauty. Windowless walls of pink Georgia-marble reach high into the air as if to both catch as much sunlight as possible while also...
Walking into a New York City pharmacy, Scott LeRette had no idea how life was about to change for him and his family.
LeRette, author of "The Unbreakable Boy," mentioned to the pharmacist he was an...
Today’s News
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — The District Court of Hall County decided Tuesday to allow criminal charges against a notary public for “official misconduct” to proceed, overturning a lower court decision....
Neb. state Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln (center) who co-chaired the Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana campaign committee, speaks in front of the State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 2, 2020. (Nati Harnik / AP Photo)
Let’s pretend for the sake of argument that all members of the Unicameral are intelligent, compassionate human beings. I know some of them really are, but you’ll have to use your imagination for the...
The Trump Administration’s War on Children
by Eli Hager
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your...
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A large crowd of supporters and advocates gathered outside a Vermont courthouse Wednesday to support a Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at...
LINCOLN — State lawmakers advanced a proposal Tuesday seeking to define “male” and “female” in state law targeted for K-12 or collegiate bathrooms, sports teams and locker rooms.
Legislative Bill 89...
This Week's News
04/25/2025 - 7:00am
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — The District Court of Hall County decided Tuesday to allow criminal charges against a notary public for “official misconduct” to proceed, overturning a lower court decision.
District Judge Andrew Butler, in a 10-page opinion,...
04/25/2025 - 5:00am
The Trump Administration’s War on Children
by Eli Hager
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
The clear-cutting across the federal...
04/25/2025 - 4:00am
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A large crowd of supporters and advocates gathered outside a Vermont courthouse Wednesday to support a Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University and was arrested during an...
04/25/2025 - 3:00am
LINCOLN — State lawmakers advanced a proposal Tuesday seeking to define “male” and “female” in state law targeted for K-12 or collegiate bathrooms, sports teams and locker rooms.
Legislative Bill 89, the “Stand With Women Act” from State Sen....
04/24/2025 - 7:00am
OMAHA — Public transit options emerged as a top complaint about the Omaha region in a survey aimed at gaining intel on how to hold onto young professional talent.
Good salary, flexible scheduling and paid time off for sickness and vacation were...
(Shutterstock)
04/24/2025 - 6:00am
Right now in the U.S., it seems that people are more divided than ever, and that sort of notion seems to be the same notion that is had every year. “This year was worse than the last." etc. While that might be true, the things that divide people...
Robyn Redding (from left) and Gianna Holliday plant a sequoia tree seedling as Andrew "Birch" Kemp brings mulch in Detroit, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Paul Sancya / AP Photo)
04/24/2025 - 5:00am
DETROIT (AP) — Arborists are turning vacant land on Detroit's eastside into a small urban forest, not of elms, oaks and red maples indigenous to the city but giant sequoias, the world's largest trees that can live for thousands of years.
The project...
04/24/2025 - 3:00am
LINCOLN — An assessment of restoring the historic Mayhew Cabin and John Brown’s Cave site in Nebraska City estimates it would cost in excess of $20 million to make it a viable attraction again.
Most of the cost, the report indicated, would be...
04/23/2025 - 7:00am
Jess Auffert showed up at the Willard Community Center in Lincoln ready for a workout. She had no expectations other than fun with her friend, Sophie Weinert, who had suggested the day-long class.
How often do you get to learn how to sword fight,...
Nebraskans in the mental health field are working to plan their practices and businesses, but they might need more predictability. (Shutterstock)
04/23/2025 - 6:00am
In 2016, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and its Division of Behavioral Health, as a part of its strategic plan, identified the need to study of the costs associated with providing mental health and substance use disorder...
Des Moines Area Religious Council Food Pantry worker Patrick Minor looks over a cooler full of ground pork packages during a pantry stop, Wednesday, May 20, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa. (Charlie Neibergall / AP Photo)
04/23/2025 - 5:00am
As part of its drive to cut federal spending, the Trump administration has paused over US$500 million of funds that had previously flowed annually to food banks across the U.S. It’s not the only policy change that could make it harder than it...
04/23/2025 - 4:00am
SOLON, Maine (AP) — From the outside, it looks like any other New England church building: a boxy, white structure with a single steeple surrounded by an old stone wall, set against rolling hills and pine forest.
Inside, though, the South Solon...
A collection of 3D-printed concrete BIOCAP tiles. (Sara Pezeshk / The Conversation)
04/23/2025 - 3:00am
Morningside Park, a beloved neighborhood park in Miami with sweeping views of Biscayne Bay, will soon pilot an innovative approach to coastal resilience.
BIOCAP tiles, a 3D-printed modular system designed to support marine life and reduce wave...
04/22/2025 - 7:00am
It’s not unusual these days to sit down at a table at The Speakeasy, the old-school steakhouse located in an honest-to-goodness ghost town a few miles outside Holdrege, and be served a decidedly new-school cut of meat.
On a recent Saturday night it...
(Shutterstock)
04/22/2025 - 6:00am
Gov. Jim Pillen and Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services CEO, Dr. Steve Corsi, are on the record that soda pop and candy are sugar highs that over time can lead to serious health-related lows. Good call.
A letter of intent from the...
(Shutterstock)
04/22/2025 - 5:00am
With the Trump administration making sweeping cuts to staff and research grants at science-related agencies, artificial intelligence could offer a tempting way to keep labs going, but scientists say there are limits to the technology’s uses.
The...
(Shutterstock)
04/22/2025 - 4:00am
First impressions matter − they shape how we’re judged in mere seconds, research shows. People are quick to evaluate others’ competence, likability and honesty, often relying on superficial cues such as appearance or handshake strength. While these...
Prisoners look out from their cell as the Costa Rica Justice and Peace minister tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Salvador Melendez / AP Photo)
04/21/2025 - 7:00am
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington found probable cause Wednesday the Trump administration is in contempt of court for defying his order to stop flights of Venezuelan immigrants headed to a prison in El Salvador.
U.S. District Judge James...
Charity Menefee, director of the Division of Public Health for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. (Courtesy of DHHS)
04/21/2025 - 5:00am
LINCOLN — The director who handles public health matters for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Charity Menefee, has resigned.
Gov. Jim Pillen announced the departure, effective May 9, in a statement Tuesday that said Menefee made...
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference on the Autism report by the CDC at the Hubert Humphrey Building Auditorium in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Jose Luis Magana / AP Photo)
04/21/2025 - 4:00am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that children in the U.S. are being diagnosed with autism at an “alarming rate,” promising on Wednesday to conduct exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may...
Elon Musk flashes his T-shirt that reads "DOGE" to the media as he walks on South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, March 9, 2025. (Jose Luis Magana / AP Photo)
04/21/2025 - 3:00am
NEW YORK (AP) — The nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice says staff from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency contacted them to assign a team to the organization and told them they planned to similarly install teams with all nonprofits...
Flint Michigan water tower. (Carlos Osorio / AP Photo)
04/21/2025 - 2:00am
Mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services are continuing as the agency makes good on its intention, announced on March 27, 2025, to shrink its workforce by 20,000 people. Among workers dismissed in early April were several teams...
