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HERE’S YOUR RUNDOWN
Happy Women Rock! Day
Reed Moore’s playlist for today: Pink, Alicia Keys, Sheryl Crow, Tina Turner.
- The Reader takes a look at the moments that changed Omaha in 2022.
- Google looks to extend its forthcoming presence in northwest Omaha.
- Ahead of the Legislature’s 2023 session, a look at its many competing priorities.
2022 Through Our Eyes
The Reader takes a look at the defining moments that changed Omaha’s landscape last year.
By Bridget Fogarty. Published in The Reader.
The Reed Moore newsletter is supported by:
AROUND OMAHA
- Google is looking to extend its forthcoming presence in northwest Omaha. A 270-acre data center is under construction, but the developer is asking the city to rezone an additional 187 acres for more light industrial use. The data center will be northwest of State Street and Blair High Road.
- A police officer whose home was searched by the FBI has put in his papers. Johnny Palermo will leave OPD on Jan. 20, with the city looking to get his law enforcement certification revoked. He and another officer, Daniel Torres, had been placed on administrative leave by OPD.
- Nearly all pre-pandemic restaurant jobs have returned across the United States, but Omaha’s restaurant industry continues to struggle. The owner of Mama’s Pizza tells KETV that paying workers more has hurt the bottom line. He sees relaxing the rules around 15-year-olds working as a potential solution to his staffing woes.
- TCU quarterback Max Duggan is a graduate of Lewis Central High School in Council Bluffs, and his community is rallying behind him. Lewis Central’s football coach tells KMTV that six graduates, including Duggan, are playing Division 1 football, and four played in a bowl game.
AROUND NEBRASKA
- Interim Corrections Director Diane Sabatka-Rine says the state needs additional beds, but she doesn’t know whether that involves renovating the aging state penitentiary, a project that would cost $220 million. Gov.-elect Jim Pillen wants a replacement facility, which would cost $270 million.
- With the start of the new year, funds from the Inflation Reduction Act will begin to make their way to Nebraska, with farmers being given funds to fight the climate crisis. Conservation efforts, flooding and drought resilience, energy efficiency and renewable energy transition measures will be heavily subsidized.
- The Nebraska Legislature convenes for its 2023 session Wednesday, Jan. 4, and lawmakers have many competing priorities. Tax reform, school funding, fears of a recession, implementing voter ID laws, further restricting abortions and legalizing permitless carry of guns — and we’re just scratching the surface of what this session might look like.
- Nebraska releases a report justifying the feasibility of the Perkins County Canal. The proposal, which would divert up to 500 cubic feet per second out of the South Platte River, is being drawn up as part of enforcing a compact from 1923 between Nebraska and Colorado.
- U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse gives his farewell address today, Jan. 3. His press team says the farewell address will be delivered on the Senate floor at 2:30 p.m. He plans to resign Jan. 8 to become president of the University of Florida.
REED MOORE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The Omaha City Council and Douglas County Board of Commissioners are not meeting this week. Check back here next week to see what your local government is (or isn’t) up to.
Follow local government reporter Anton Johnson on Twitter to keep up with anything else that may be in the works.
FACT OF THE DAY
From Harper’s Index
Percentage increase since 2010 in the number of computer science
bachelor’s degrees awarded to U.S. undergraduates: 144
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (Washington)
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