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Today’s news:

  • Guest columnist Trilety Wade details a new website devoted to traffic safety.
  • OPD fails to preserve dashcam footage from a traffic stop subject to a lawsuit.
  • Indigenous activists stand against development on land considered sacred.

OPINION: Despite Slow Rollout, Omaha Vision Zero Website Still A Step Forward for Transit Equity

A view of crosswalks and streets from Omaha City Hall. Photo by Trilety Wade.

Omaha’s Vision Zero website is a worldwide strategy to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries.

By Trilety Wade, co-founder of Safe Omaha Streets. Published in The Reader.

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AROUND OMAHA

News Channel Nebraska’s investigation reveals OPD failed to preserve dashcam footage in a traffic stop from summer 2020. The media company says both sides agree awhite officer pulled over a Black woman on I-80 and pointed a gun at her son, who was a passenger. The City Council voted to settle a lawsuit over the stop, but the family’s lawyer was not able to use any footage in court because OPD didn’t save it. OPD is required to save video for 120 days after an incident.

The Omaha Public Power District is clearing trees to make way for new transmission lines, but some homeowners are trying to stall the project, saying they didn’t receive notice of the removal until late January and the scope of the project was not made clear. The neighbors are trying to slow the removal by invoking bird migration laws.

Benson High School students begin work on the Bluestem Prairie development near 52nd and Sorensen. Located on the site of the former Wintergreen Apartments, the project comes from Habitat for Humanity. The land has sat vacant for 15 years, but 40 homes are expected to be built this year.

Fastwyre is installing fiber internet throughout Bellevue, but some residents say the installation is resulting in property damage. Broken gas and water lines, a lack of communication and placement of boxes are just some of the complaints. Mayor Rusty Hike says it’s a small price to pay for what residents will gain in internet service.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Be sure to get the updated booster shot before heading to any of these events.

AROUND NEBRASKA

Indigenous activists of the Niskíthe Prayer Camp stand in front of machinery and vehicles to halt work on the Wilderness Park development. The protest comes after a judge dismissed a lawsuit by the City of Lincoln to stop activists’ appeal of the development. Activists who filed the appeal expected a public hearing. Instead, the board of zoning appeals rejected that appeal.

Legislature: Gov. Jim Pillen’s proposal to increase state aid to schools earns support, but it’s contingent on ensuring limits on school property taxes. One opponent, OPS board president Spencer Head, says the proposal would provide aid to districts that don’t need it. Meanwhile, a bill that shifts broadband responsibilities from the Public Service Commission to the state Department of Transportation receives positive-to-neutral testimony.

The state’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry says Nebraska needs to be known as a technology state, and that raising the state’s tech profile will help address the state’s workforce crunch. Bryan Slone, the Chamber’s president, says that can be done by renewing existing tax credits for businesses, as well as creating new ones.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners discusses juvenile justice and opposes a legislative bill that would require legal counsel for tenants facing eviction. The Omaha City Council approves a revised preliminary plat for UNMC’s Saddle Creek campus.

Click here to read local government reporter Anton Johnson’s full article for The Reader.

FACT OF THE DAY

From Harper’s Index

Percentage change in the past decade in the amount
of time the average American spends alone: +23

Source: Bryce Ward (Missoula, Mont.)

DAILY FUNNY

Comic by Jeffrey Koterba. Support him on Patreon.

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