Real Estate News

Strong Winds Broke Nebraska Records, Trees, Buildings And Budgets In 2025

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 01/08/2026 - 12:00am

A broken stump, seen here on Dec. 18, 2025, is all that remains of a 30-foot pine tree that stood in the backyard of Rick Peters in Lincoln. It fell during an Aug. 9, 2025, storm that produced 90-mph wind gusts and destroyed the garage of Peters' neighbor, Justin Mains, who had to pay out of pocket to rebuild the structure in the background.
(Nick Loomis / The Midwest Newsroom / Nebraska Public Media)

As of Dec. 30, there were 46 high wind warnings in Nebraska in 2025. That count ties the record high since the agency started keeping track of that statistic 20 years ago.

Rick Peters had a 30-foot pine tree in the backyard of his Lincoln home until Aug. 9, when wind gusts of 90 mph came through the Capital City and much of eastern Nebraska.

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One Iowan’s Quest For Darker Skies Might Benefit Rural Areas

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 01/08/2026 - 12:00am

The aurora borealis lights up the night sky north of Dunkerton, Iowa, Sunday night, Nov. 7, 2004.
(Brandon Pollock / Waterloo Courier / AP Photo)

James Bruton grew up in rural Texas where the night skies were full of constellations.

As he moved to larger cities, before ultimately settling in Des Moines, evening star gazing faded away for Bruton and could only be found with intentional trips away from the light-polluted metropolitans.

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Big Tech's Fast-Expanding Plans For Data Centers Are Running Into Stiff Community Opposition

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 01/08/2026 - 12:00am

SPRING CITY, Pa. (AP) — Tech companies and developers looking to plunge billions of dollars into ever-bigger data centers to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing are increasingly losing fights in communities where people don’t want to live next to them, or even near them.

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Homeless Youth Say They Need More From Schools, Social Services

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

Twenty-year-old Mikayla Foreman knows her experience is meaningful. Dealing with homelessness since 18 and currently living in a shelter, Foreman has managed to continue her academic journey, studying for exams this month in hopes of attaining a nursing degree.

But Foreman believes there were intervention points that could’ve prevented her from experiencing homelessness in the first place.

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Cypriot Fishermen Battle Invasive Lionfish And Turn Them Into A Tavern Delicacy

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

Fisherman Photis Gaitanos collects fish from nets off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus, in the eastern Mediterranean, early Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025.
(Petros Karadjias / AP Photo)

LARNACA, Cyprus (AP) — Photis Gaitanos’ rough fingers adroitly untangle the venomous spikes of a lionfish from a net, throwing the exotic-looking creature into an ice-filled rubber bin along with other fish from the day’s catch.

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LA Fires Showed How Much Neighborliness Matters For Wildfire Safety – Schools Can Do Much More To Teach It

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

On Jan. 7, 2025, people across the Los Angeles area watched in horror as powerful winds began spreading wildfires through neighborhood after neighborhood. Over three weeks, the fires destroyed more than 16,000 homes and businesses. At least 31 people died, and studies suggest the smoke and stress likely contributed to hundreds more deaths.

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A Small Town's American Dream Is At Risk. What Happens When Its Biggest Employer Shuts Down?

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 12/25/2025 - 12:00am

LEXINGTON, Neb. (AP) — On a frigid day after Mass at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in rural Nebraska, worshippers shuffled into the basement and sat on folding chairs, their faces barely masking the fear gripping their town.

A pall hung over the room just as it hung over the holiday season in Lexington, Nebraska.

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Bridal Budgets Beware: Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium Is Available

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 12/25/2025 - 12:00am

More than 92,000 fans crowded into Memorial Stadium for “Volleyball Day,” setting a new world record for attendance at a women’s athletic event, Aug. 30, 2023.
(Paul Hammel / Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — Husker athletics is revealing more information as to what it will charge for people to rent out its premier spaces for corporate gatherings, weddings and other events.

And the department is hoping new marketing will bolster venue interest from prospective brides to international pop stars and country acts.

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Hospitals and Healthcare: The Mess

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 12/25/2025 - 12:00am

The ‘Institute for Middle East Understanding’ is a pro-Palestinian education group that focuses on human rights, which surveyed over 1,200 Republicans in the United States who were under the age of 45. Three out of every four of those polled preferred that the billions of dollars given as weapons to Israel every year be instead used on healthcare in the United States. The same polling data from the pro-Palestinian research group also says that those same Republicans still favor supporting Israel over Palestine.

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Bad For Ag: Axing of UNL’s Atmospheric Sciences Department Will Harm Nebraska, Researchers Say

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 12/25/2025 - 12:00am

Quentin Connealy looks back at his crops from the seat of his tractor. Connealy, who has been farming full time for the past 15 years, said he has had to deal with increasingly extreme weather.
(Photo courtesy of Quentin Connealy via Flatwater Free Press)

In his 15 years of farming full time, Quentin Connealy has weathered his share of storms — literally.

The first major flood hit in 2011. Three more came in 2019. The waters rose again in 2024 and ruined about 20% of his crops. This past summer, he dealt with at least three hail and wind events that damaged his corn and soybeans.