Published by jason@omahadail... on Wed, 02/04/2026 - 12:00am
VANDALIA, Mo. — Kathy Briggs slipped her arms through the thick straps of a brand-new baby carrier, tugging it over her beige shirt as two other women stood beside her, tightening buckles and adjusting the padded waistband.
The carrier was still stiff from its packaging, and Briggs shifted her feet as one of the women gently lifted then-6-month-old Melody into the front pouch.
Melody’s gray-blue eyes tracked the women’s hands, and her wispy blond hair — gathered into a tiny pink bow — bobbed slightly with the movement. She blinked up at the adults.
Published by jason@omahadail... on Wed, 02/04/2026 - 12:00am
“Don’t give me narcotics.”
Emmalee Hortin, a doula, recalled one of her clients delivering that message to hospital staff. Doctors were operating on the woman to clear tissue after a miscarriage.
But despite her patient’s pleas, clinicians still administered fentanyl via IV to manage pain, Hortin said. Her client had substance use disorder and had been working toward recovery.
“She was really, really upset,” Hortin said. “She actually was really worried about returning to use, and so was her husband.”
Published by jason@omahadail... on Wed, 02/04/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — Since it was renovated and reopened in 1997, the 729-seat Midwest Theater in Scottsbluff has served as a cultural beacon in the state’s Panhandle.
The 79-year-old Art Deco theater hosts Grammy-winning musicians, classic movies and films nominated for Academy Awards, as well as local theater performances and weddings.
Published by jason@omahadail... on Wed, 01/28/2026 - 12:00am
As nurses rushed Rachel Woollen to an Omaha operating room, all she could do was pray for the four tiny babies she was about to deliver.
“All I could say was, ‘Please, God, help them.’ I repeated it over and over. One nurse heard me, grabbed my hand, and told me she and everyone else on the medical team were praying the same thing.”
Brett entered the world at 2:04 p.m. Brother Kaden, sister Parker and brother Cooper followed within the next two minutes. None weighed more than 1.8 pounds.
Published by jason@omahadail... on Wed, 01/28/2026 - 12:00am
WASHINGTON — Several U.S. Senate Democrats launched an investigation into how the Trump administration’s child care funding cuts and policy changes are affecting rural families, in a Sunday letter provided exclusively to States Newsroom.
Published by jason@omahadail... on Wed, 01/28/2026 - 12:00am
First, they killed a mom moments after she dropped off her son at school. Then, they came for the children; in one suburban Minneapolis school district, four students have been detained. On Friday, educators, activists, faith leaders and families braved frigid temperatures to protest the aggressive tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in their state, with solidarity protests happening across the country.
Published by jason@omahadail... on Wed, 01/28/2026 - 12:00am
LINCOLN — A novel centered on a young Army nurse who served in Vietnam and the latest in a “romantasy” series topped the list of popular fiction titles checked out at public libraries of Nebraska’s capital city.
The City of Lincoln’s public library system Thursday announced its most popular titles in various categories for 2025. Here’s a glimpse of what adults mostly read in the fiction category:
Published by jason@omahadail... on Wed, 01/21/2026 - 12:00am
Wesley Dacus doesn’t mind the attention his North Omaha home garners — the people stopping to take photos, the notes left on his door, the passersby wondering if he has a room to rent. Dacus welcomes the opportunity to talk about the historic house.
“Every time people come by, they just kind of marvel at it,” the 76-year-old Omaha native said.
“I even got guys that come up in Ubers and say, ‘Hey, man, do you got an apartment for rent?”’
Published by jason@omahadail... on Tue, 01/20/2026 - 11:03pm
LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen is seeking a criminal investigation into State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha over removing and later returning part of a Nebraska Capitol display on American history from conservative nonprofit PragerU.