Business News

New Coalition Aims To Sharpen Nebraska’s Competitive Edge, Has Single Focus: Child Care Policy

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 09/01/2026 - 12:00am

Rylee Monn plays with children in her class at a child care center in Lexington, Ky., March 13, 2024. A 2025 poll from advocacy group First Five Years Fund found that 4 out of 5 rural Americans “say the ability of working parents to find and afford quality child care is either in a ‘state of crisis’ or ‘a major problem.’”
(Dylan Lovan / AP Photo)

LINCOLN — Carrying and delivering twins didn’t take nearly the toll on Jessica Pallas as what came after: finding suitable childcare so she and husband Cale could hold onto their jobs and health insurance.

“Figuring out the childcare puzzle was more stressful than the pregnancy and the twins in the beginning,” said the first-time mom who lives in the small Nebraska town of Stromsburg with husband Cale and their daughters Merrick and Rowan.

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Real Men Don’t Bike: How Cars Became The Symbol Of American Manhood

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 09/01/2026 - 12:00am

Kyle Kirkwood (right) poses for a photo with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy (left) after winning the IndyCar Freedom 250 Grand Prix auto race in Washington, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.
(Alex Brandon / AP Photo)

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Some States Raise Pay For Home Caregivers As Shortage Looms

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 09/01/2026 - 12:00am

WILMINGTON, Ohio — From her recliner in her tidy townhouse, Donna Logan offers advice to the first baby boomers to hit the big ‘8-0’ this year: Life can be good, especially with someone like Helen Aponte helping with laundry and housekeeping and the drive to the doctor’s office.

“I do most things on my own,” said Logan, 81, a native of Wilmington, Ohio. “But having Helen come in once a week gives me confidence.”

“I drive her, whatever she needs,” said Aponte, 52. “It makes me happy to help Donna stay in her home.”

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‘It’s Hard Work’: Nebraska’s Corn Detasseling Tradition Is Quietly Fading

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 08/25/2026 - 12:00am

Daily for about three weeks in July and early August, detasselers board Hagan buses at 5:30 a.m. - three at Kearney and one at Minden - to arrive at an area cornfield by sunrise. On most days, they detassel in more than one field and work until early afternoon.
(Lori Potter / Flatwater Free Press)

On a warm July morning, three busloads of young people ranging in age from 14 to 25 roll through flashing yellow traffic lights before dawn in Kearney.

It’s necessary to get ahead of the blistering summer sun. For the next four to eight hours, these workers will carry out a summer job long considered a rite of passage for young Nebraskans: Corn detasseling.

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Personal Bankruptcy Filings Are Soaring In 2026, Signaling Growing Economic Distress

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 08/25/2026 - 12:00am

The number of Americans who file for bankruptcy is growing. More than 500,000 people took this step in 2025, nearly 50% more than in 2022. And the numbers have kept on climbing, with a 12% jump in June 2026 from a year earlier as many consumers struggled to pay their bills.

I am a business school professor who has researched bankruptcies and whether, when you are at the end of your financial rope, bankruptcy helps or hurts.

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Amid Renewable Energy Backlash, Some Nebraska Communities Are Making Millions

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 08/18/2026 - 12:00am

Platteview Solar, owned by AES Corp., operates a solar panel farm in Saunders County. The county received about $266,000 in nameplate capacity tax revenue in 2025.
(Lily Smith / Flatwater Free Press)

This story is made possible through a partnership between Flatwater Free Press and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization.

After about 10 years of discussions and a failed bond issue, then-Superintendent Amy Shane finally got to see a much-needed expansion at the O’Neill Public School District’s aging junior-senior high school. Expanded classrooms, state-of-the-art science labs, a new gym.

The difference-maker that helped push the $13.2 million project from proposal to reality: taxes on renewable energy developments.

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Incompetence, Promotions and Culture

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 08/18/2026 - 12:00am

You know, the absolute craziest idea that I have come across in recent memory is the “Peter Principle." Raymond Hull and Laurence Peter jointly authored the book of the same name based on Laurence’s research, published in 1969. Generally, it is a theorem that says eventually everyone in a hierarchy will be promoted into a role for which they are incompetent, and there they shall remain. Such is an example:

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Trump Announces $180M For Mining Education As Administration Recommits To Coal

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 08/18/2026 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday the federal government will fund $180 million in grants for mining schools across the country as part of his administration’s goal of rebuilding the U.S. coal industry.

The grants will include $100 million from the Department of Energy spread across the 14 accredited mining schools in the U.S., while the Department of Defense will dedicate just over $80 million for three major schools of mining and metallurgy: the Colorado School of Mines, the South Dakota School of Mines and Johns Hopkins University.

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Small Businesses At The Gateways To America’s National Parks Face 4 Big Risks – Including Changing Boundaries And Extreme Weather

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 08/18/2026 - 12:00am

Chris Crawford, of Mount Desert Island, Maine, films the raging surf near Otter Point in Acadia National Park as severe weather associated with storm Lee pounds the region, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Bar Harbor, Maine.
(Robert F. Bukaty / AP Photo)

A record 332 million people visited U.S. national parks in 2024, followed by roughly 323 million in 2025.

That’s a lot of love for national parks and lands. You might think that such big numbers of visitors automatically create windfalls for the towns and businesses that serve them. The National Park Service calls towns or counties within roughly 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) of a park boundary “gateway” communities. Gateway businesses operate in those jurisdictions.