Monday, May 11
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Weighing Health Risks, Civic Duties Ahead of Primary
As mail-in ballots for the 2020 primary shatter previous records, the number of people voting remotely in East and West Omaha vary drastically, deepening existing disparities.
View our guide to local resources at TheReader.com
Good morning,
Today we have stories about meatpacking plant workers sharing fears as COVID-19 continues to pummel their industry, an Omaha-area strip club using protection as it reopens and the White House struggling to contain its own outbreak.
Your top local stories
Check out an interactive version of this map on our website.
In Omaha
- As Omaha heads into its Tuesday primary, see how three of the candidates for its 2nd Congressional District differ on four key issues.
- As Douglas County residents stay home, they’ve taken in rescued baby wildlife at alarming rates, local officials say.
- Many were able to attend church services for the first time in months yesterday, albeit in masks and sitting six feet across from each other on the pews.
- Omaha firefighters were tested for COVID-19 as well as antibodies for the virus.
- Moms found different ways to celebrate Mother’s Day over the weekend.
- One Omaha-area strip club said it would reopen, letting its dancers strip their clothes but keep on masks and gloves.
- A Pottawattamie sheriff’s deputy and 2020 candidate for Sheriff is accused of mishandling the department’s funds while she was treasurer.
- Many people got outside this weekend as Douglas County relaxed restrictions; however, many still kept their distance.
- More people will be tested at the Open Door Mission following testing last week that revealed the virus has spread to 12 residents and six staff inside the facility.
Around the State
- Nebraska’s meatpacking plant workers and their families speak out about COVID-19’s spread through the industry that’s made the state a national hot spot.
- An eighth corrections worker has tested positive for the coronavirus. Three prisoners also took the test, the first in Nebraska’s overcrowded prison system to do so.
- As colleges across the country look at pay cuts and consolidations to close budget gaps caused by COVID-19, officials in the University of Nebraska system are still understanding the scope of how the virus will impact their funds.
- UNMC and the state’s university system teamed up to release a guide to how U.S. colleges should decide when to reopen. Creighton University announced its fall semester would start early.
- While Nebraska passed the date of its originally projected peak, experts say that milestone is probably still ahead of us.
- One UNL student’s testimonial of graduating during a pandemic.
- TestNebraska’s fourth site is opening in Schuyler today where the Cargill beef plant has led the small town to become an infectious hot spot.
- Lincoln, Blair and Fremont joined Omaha as health mandates relaxed and people were allowed to return to restaurants and other activities.
- Too soon to know COVID-19’s impact on the state budget, Ricketts says.
- Gov. Ricketts to hold daily press briefing today
What to do during quarantine?
From our list of things to do during quarantine:
A Song In Your Pocket
The Omaha Symphony continues to serve the community through their new digital initiative – Omaha Symphony | Anywhere. You can listen to concerts, learn from tutorials created by orchestra members, and keep engaged with the symphony through their social media.
What’s happening in the United States?
- Just as President Donald Trump planned to wind down his COVID-19 task force, several staffers and employees tested positive for the virus.
- Air travel is down 94% as about half of planes sit parked and vacant on runways while the other half carry nearly empty cabins to and from destinations. This, and the hundreds of millions of dollars the airlines lose daily, will probably continue until a vaccine makes travel and business safe again.
- As the world races to find something that will treat the effects of COVID-19, high pricing by pharmaceutical companies will likely mean Americans have to pay much more than other countries.
Biden Looks to Kamala Harris as Possible VP
- The two used to spar about school busing and racial divides as presidential candidates; now it seems they could share a ticket.
What’s happening across the world?
Europeans Weigh Risk, Relief as Life Resumes
- Before restarting economies, many countries are starting with schools. But as kids crowd into classrooms, officials worry they might become the new super spreaders.
Check out more coverage online at TheReader.com
The Omaha Reader
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