Vintage Video Game Find, Covert Canal Talks, Tenants Demand Landlord Pay

The Cost of Rural
Nebraska’s Housing Crunch

It’s a struggle familiar to nearly every Nebraska mid-sized city and small town: There simply aren’t enough houses. That dearth is preventing jobs from being filled — from meatpackers to hospital administrators — in towns that have long prioritized job creation as a means of economic development and population growth.

Story by Natalia Alamdari. Originally published in Flatwater Free Press.
Republished in The Reader.

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Reed Moore’s Daily Rundown

Happy Thumb Appreciation Day

Today’s news says the thumb ain’t dumb — try zipping up pants, tying shoes or giving the thumbs-up sign without it: Tenants evicted from the “unlivable” Midtown apartment complex demand the landlord pay up, a closed-door meeting is held on the controversial Colorado-Nebraska canal, and factory-sealed games from a long-closed Nebraska video game store are discovered — and now they’re probably worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Harper’s Index Facts of the Day

Percentage increase in U.S. sales of cigarettes in 2020: 0.4
Year in which U.S. cigarette sales last increased: 2000

Source: Federal Trade Commission (Washington)

Reed Moore’s COVID-19 Roundup

As announced in the Wednesday, Dec. 29, bonus newsletter, in light of the Omicron variant, Reed Moore will replace the “Thing To Do” section with a COVID-19 spotlight featuring coronavirus-related content. The Reader believes it’s irresponsible to promote events when hospitals are nearing capacity and some community members refuse to get vaccinated. As cases continue, The Reader won’t promote any events — be they concerts, plays, art-gallery openings or stand-up comedy — that don’t require
masks, vaccination and social distancing.

A UNMC grant seeks to support the mental health of nurses.
Gov. Pete Ricketts pushes for a “return to normal” as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations drop.
Check out WOWT’s COVID-19 update, featuring vaccination clinics and nationwide case rates.
NU wants to use federal coronavirus relief funds for health science education, cancer research, and more.

Around Omaha

An embattled Lee Enterprises unveils a detailed investor presentation, following its controversial decision to lay off two of the Omaha World-Herald‘s top editors for budget cuts — while handing out $3 million in bonuses to top executives and board members, according to the Omaha World-Herald guild.
“A gap in services could be devastating”: Community members worry about how the impending library demolition and move could impact the city’s most vulnerable residents.
The tenants evicted from an “unlivable” Midtown apartment complex last month are demanding the landlord pay up.
Here’s how the Midlands African Chamber is helping local Black businesses.
Read about the battle to bring Black Studies to the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Around Nebraska

Latest in the Legislature: The president of Omaha’s Library Board of Trustees pushes back against a bill that would make every seat on the board — including his own — an elected, not appointed, position. State senators talk medical marijuana, decreasing income taxes for the state’s top earners, a bill encouraging employers to hire individuals with felony convictions, “economic recovery” grants for North and South O, a bill seeking to protect LGBTQ+ seniors, a proposed rural medical school on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus, and — behind closed doors — the controversial Colorado-Nebraska canal.
Indicted GOP Rep. Jeff Fortenberry met two times with the foreign national accused of illegally giving money to Fortenberry’s campaign, a memo alleges.
In 1994, a Nebraska video game store shuts its doors and dumps factory-sealed Nintendo and Sega games in a storage facility. Twenty-eight years later, those games are discovered — and now they’re probably worth tens of thousands of dollars.