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HERE’S YOUR RUNDOWN
Happy National Licorice Day
Reed Moore found this on licorice.com: One of Taylor Swift’s backstage demands has been a bag of red licorice.
Today’s news: State senators kill a bill that would have expanded eligibility for food stamps to people convicted of certain drug offenses, a Black businessman files a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Omaha, and Creighton University reneges on its decision to give the go-ahead to a conservative student group’s on-campus political event after learning more information about it.
REED MOORE’S FEATURED STORY
In Caring for Omaha’s Most Absent Kids, Many Still Fall Through the Cracks
The GOALS Center addresses attendance and truancy issues for students in metro schools. But advocates say the absentee interventions aren’t reaching the students who need them most.
By Bridget Fogarty, Report for America Corps Member. Published in The Reader.
COVID-19 UPDATE
‘Rona roundup:
Philadelphia restarts its indoor mask mandate as cases creep up throughout the country — but, so far, Nebraska is spared a spike in COVID-19.
By the numbers:
AROUND OMAHA
- Here’s how the city is trying to make the Blackstone District — the site of 14 crashes involving pedestrians since 2015 — safer for people walking in the area.
- A Black businessman with a North O-based cleaning company files a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Omaha. Forty-nine-year-old Rodney Johnson, who’s seeking $5 million in damages, alleges that wrongful bidding practices discriminated against him and favored a white-owned company.
- Creighton University reneges on its decision to give the go-ahead to a conservative student group’s on-campus political event after the event’s title changes to “Take Back Nebraska Summit ’22” and Creighton officials learn that alt-right political activist Jack Posobiec, who’s pushed debunked conspiracy theories, was slated to speak at a cocktail reception held off campus.
- The University of Nebraska Medical Center has plans to create a research center for women’s health, according to KETV.
- Community Alliance, a nonprofit that for four decades has served community members battling mental illness, is planning to expand its services and construct a 120,000-square-foot headquarters, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
- Triage Staffing, which matches traveling nurses and health care professionals with facilities that need assistance, is getting ready to move almost 350 local workers into a 100,000-square-foot headquarters, according to the Nebraska Examiner.
AROUND NEBRASKA
- Latest in the Legislature: A filibuster blocks a bill that would let people carry concealed guns without a permit. And state senators kill a bill that would have expanded eligibility for food stamps to people convicted of certain drug offenses.
- A Hastings meat processing plant agrees to pay a $3,000 fine for neglecting to report injuries to workers, according to the Nebraska Examiner, so it wouldn’t have to pay increased premiums for workers compensation insurance.
- Research from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has the potential to decrease the world’s consumption of digital energy by up to 5%, as well as keep up with the world’s growing need for digital memory, according to KLKN.
- Gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster gives his campaign $4.2 million in the first quarter of 2022. The amount given to him by individual donors and groups during that time? $113,000.
REED MOORE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The City Council and Board of County Commissioners are meeting today, April 12, and reporter Anton Johnson is sitting in on the City Council meeting. Follow Anton at @AntonIsWriting for live tweets, and to catch up on important Omaha government happenings. Tune in here to the Omaha City Council at 2 p.m.
FACT OF THE DAY
From Harper’s Index
Portion of U.S. public companies that selectively report losses as profits: 1/7
Source: Kurt Gee, Pennsylvania State University (State College, Pa.)
DAILY FUNNY
To see the full funny by Jen Sorensen,
plus more daily funnies, click the image or below link.