Sunday, August 31, 2025

Omaha Daily Record

Non-Profit News

In North Omaha, A Veteran Jazz Artist Set Out To Build A Hub For Music. It’s Starting To Find Its Rhythm.

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 08/06/2025 - 12:00am

Ava Hardy, 7, learns to play drums during a summer camp at North Omaha Music & Arts in Omaha.
(Rebecca S. Gratz / Flatwater Free Press)

Dana Murray climbed behind a professional drum set for the first time in the summer of 1983. He was 12 years old, perched behind a kit that felt a “mile high” on stage at Omaha’s old Civic Auditorium.

Hours later with a professional at the helm, those drums sounded the beat as Marvin Gaye sang “Sexual Healing” and other hits.

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Expanding Biotech Education And Workforce Pathways In Rural Communities

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 08/06/2025 - 12:00am

The U.S. bioeconomy is driven by access to domestic feedstocks and our ability to successfully convert those feedstocks into the manufactured goods that we use every day. America’s heartland is a rich source of these feedstocks — including corn, soybeans, and sugar beets — that can be used by bioindustrial manufacturers to realize the promise of the bioeconomy.

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PBS Accounts For Nearly Half Of First Graders’ Most Frequently Watched Educational TV And Video Programs

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 08/06/2025 - 12:00am

Fred Rogers (right) talks with David Newell, a.k.a. Speedy Delivery's Mr. McFeely, during a rehearsal for a segment of his television program "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" in Pittsburgh on June 8, 1993.
(Gene J. Puskar / AP Photo)

At U.S. President Donald Trump’s request, Congress voted in July 2025 to claw back US$1.1 billion it had previously approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That measure, which passed in the House and the Senate by very narrow margins, will cut off all federal tax dollars that would have otherwise flowed to PBS and its affiliated TV stations for the next two fiscal years.

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At This Summer Camp Run By Grandmas, Kids Learn Cooking Skills And Life Advice

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 08/06/2025 - 12:00am

Amal Alalim helps a student in a sewing class at Olive Community Services, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Fullerton, Calif. The class was part of the organization's Intergenerational Summer Camp.
(Zoë Meyers / AP Photo)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The smell of frying garlic and ginger is inescapable as it wafts through the room, while a row of fidgety kids watches an older woman in a blue plaid apron cooking in front of them.

“When I was growing up my mom used to make this a lot,” she says, showing a chicken stir fry recipe.

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The Rise, Fall And Return Of Maha

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 12:00am

Weezer headlines the 2018 Maha music festival in Omaha’s Aksarben Village. Launched in 2009, Maha brought both big-name and lesser-known acts to Omaha every year until 2024, when financial issues led the festival to call off plans for that year.
(Courtesy of Maha)

A month before the return of the big event, the founders of the Maha Music Festival debated its future over drinks in the private-ish front room of Pageturners Lounge in Omaha’s Dundee neighborhood.

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The Righteousness Of The Blind

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 12:00am

There is much going on in the world, events severe enough that they deserve respect and attention. The topographically distant, but via the internet, the ever-present war in Ukraine is the loudest of the events, and its end will spell out what the next era for Europe will look like. Tensions are rising once more in the caucuses. The country of Georgia (which borders Russia) is hosting military drills with Ukrainians and some members of NATO.

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More Americans Are Family Caregivers; States Struggle To Help Them, Report Finds

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 12:00am

More than 63 million Americans are caregivers for a family member with complex medical needs, a 20 million increase over the past decade, according to a new report.

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Freed From Russian Prisons, Ukrainian Soldiers Lean Into Counseling To Rebuild Their Lives

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 12:00am

Ukrainian marine Stanislav Tarnavskyi kisses his girlfriend, Tetiana Baieva, in Irpin, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 8, 2025.
(Evgeniy Maloletka / AP Photo)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Since his release from a Russian prison in April, Stanislav Tarnavskyi has been in a hurry to build the life in Ukraine he dreamed about during three years of captivity.

The 25-year-old has proposed to his girlfriend, bought an apartment and adopted a golden retriever. And that was just what he accomplished one week in July.

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Colorado’s Marshall Fire Survivors Find Healing And Meaning Through Oral History Project

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 12:00am

The Marshall Fire impacted people of all ages. Rebecca Slusar organized her children and their friends in the neighborhood to paint signs of community resilience and thanking first responders.
(Courtesy of the Louisville Historical Museum)

The Colorado Marshall Fire killed two people and destroyed over 1,000 structures on Dec. 30, 2021.

The news cycle has long since moved on, but people impacted by the fire are still recovering. Part of that process is through storytelling.

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Advocates Fear For Autistic Nebraska Youths As Cuts Come To Medicaid Reimbursement Rates

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 07/23/2025 - 12:00am

Max Perry of Lincoln, challenged by autism spectrum disorder and epilepsy, plays a memory game as part of applied behavior analysis therapy. His mom, Nikki Perry, says the game helps with social interaction, rules, coping with loss, celebrating wins and more. Nebraska officials have cut Medicaid reimbursement rates to providers as costs soar, saying they want to be more aligned with other states.
(Courtesy of Perry family)

LINCOLN — Advocates for young Nebraskans with autism worry that access to services will take a hit as the state cuts Medicaid reimbursement rates for therapies by a range of 28% to as much as 79%.

“All these kids that have Medicaid will have more difficulty having access to vital treatment that will help them become more independent,” said Cathy Martinez, president of the Autism Family Network in Nebraska.

Read more about Advocates Fear For Autistic Nebraska Youths As Cuts Come To Medicaid Reimbursement Rates

Omaha Daily Record

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