Erin McGuire spent years cultivating fruits and vegetables like onions, peppers and tomatoes as a scientist and later director of a lab at the University of California-Davis. She collaborated with hundreds of people to breed drought-resistant varieties, develop new ways to cool fresh produce and find ways to make more money for small farmers at home and overseas.

Jessie Holmes crossed the finish line at the 2025 Iditarod, a little bit of Teagan Rodrigo was with the champion. The Omaha teen's art was featured on envelopes carried by each of the 33 mushers participating in the Alaska dog sled race.

All her life, nobody wanted to hear what Christy Farlee had to say.

“I was just an addict, in trouble all the time, no good, in and out of prison,” the Lincoln woman said.

But that’s changing. Now, for what feels like the first time in Farlee’s life, “my voice has importance and can do something.”

The family started dancing when they heard the news.

Over a grainy video call from his home in Omaha, 19-year-old Zak Abughalyoon could hear his cousins playing music in their small apartment in Jordan, their shrieks of celebration.