Read past Reed Moore daily newsletters
HERE’S YOUR RUNDOWN
Happy National Dinosaur Day
Dino from “The Flintstones” is Reed Moore’s favorite dinosaur.
Today’s news: City and county representatives are holding an event at 6 p.m. today, June 1, to answer questions about the fire at Nox-Crete in South Omaha. Gov. Pete Ricketts and First Lady Susanne Shore unveil the next iteration of Nebraska’s license plate, to be issued in 2023. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is testing air in Mead, near the former AltEn ethanol plant.
REED MOORE’S FEATURED STORY
Reader Radio Podcast: Douglas County Diversity Officer Marisa Hattab
In this conversation with Reader news editor Chris Bowling, Hattab talks about true community engagement, leading with a collective vision and how her history in promoting diversity can inform her new countywide purview.
By Chris Bowling. Published in The Reader.
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COVID-19 UPDATE
‘Rona roundup:
New research from the University of Milan, Italy, finds a link between thyroid dysfunction and COVID-19. The goal of the study was to correlate the severity of a COVID-19 infection with reduced function of the thyroid. Patients with severe COVID-19 were found to have persistent regions of thyroiditis a year after their infection, even though most patients had initially appeared normal. The scientists say their research warrants a follow-up from health care professionals in the years to come.
By the numbers:
AROUND OMAHA
- A notice of environmental concern is filed by Nox-Crete, the concrete chemical company whose plant was on fire Monday, May 30. A meeting is planned for 6 p.m. today, June 1, at The Berkeley on 19th and Leavenworth. City and county representatives will answer questions about the fire.
- A town hall on homeownership in North Omaha earns packed attendance, following a Flatwater Free Press report on an Ohio-based company that has been buying up homes in Omaha at an alarming pace.
- Nearly two years to the day that civil rights protestor James Scurlock was shot and killed by bar owner Jake Gardner, a federal judge tosses a wrongful death lawsuitfrom Gardner’s parents. David and Glenda Sue Gardner alleged that their son’s right to a fair trial had been violated, resulting in his suicide. Among other claims, the parents’ attorney accused Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine of conspiring with a special prosecutor to ensure Jake Gardner would not receive a fair trial.
- New documents from the Omaha Planning Board detail the impact of flood maps on an apartment complex being proposed at Saddle Creek and Pacific. The planning board says preliminary maps show “significant changes” to the floodplains in the area where development is being proposed.
AROUND NEBRASKA
- Gov. Pete Ricketts and First Lady Susanne Shore unveil the next iteration of Nebraska’s license plate, to be issued in 2023. The new background is a mosaic from the Nebraska State Capitol, intended to show that the state is more than its trademark cattle, windmills, and sunsets. Prison inmates will be producing the plates, as required by state law.
- Despite Nebraska relaxing its WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) rules, baby formula remains scarce. Nebraska’s WIC sources all its baby formula from Abbott, the company at the center of the nationwide shortage. The state applied for federal waivers in February that allow parents on WIC to buy different brands of formula, a band-aid that allows families extra breathing room.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is sampling air from Mead, near the former AltEn ethanol plant, in an attempt to determine the source of foul odors. The plant shut down last year after AltEn was found to be in noncompliance with multiple environmental regulations.
REED MOORE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The Omaha City Council is not meeting this week. Neither is the Douglas County Board of Commissioners.
Check back here next week for more coverage on what Omaha’s elected officials are doing (or not doing).
FACT OF THE DAY
From Harper’s Index
Percentage by which more Russians than average
read BBC News in the week Ukraine was invaded: 245
Source: BBC (London)
DAILY FUNNY
Comic by Koterba. Support him on Patreon.