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Today’s Highlights:
- The fourth and final installment of Chris Bowling’s “Downward Spiral” series.
- Lawmakers resume the conversation on how to distribute economic recovery funds to North and South Omaha.
- Parents of a child illegally employed at a meatpacking plant face child abuse charges and possible deportation.
In Lieu of Systemic Solutions, Omahans Find Ways to Heal Together
This is the fourth and final installment of The Reader’s series “The Downward Spiral,” which focuses on the fraught relationship between our criminal justice and mental health systems. (Read parts one, two and three.)
By Chris Bowling. Published in The Reader.
Around Omaha
The Legislature resumes its conversation on how to appropriate funds to North and South Omaha as part of an economic recovery effort, with public hearings scheduled for this week. Several nonprofits say they are confused by the process, having assumed that a consultant-led report was the blueprint for where the money should go.
An analysis from affordable housing nonprofit Front Porch Investments found that the Omaha area is home to 100,000 low-income families that qualify for about 20,000 dedicated affordable housing units. Meanwhile, only 300 such units are being built per year. The low supply has joined high prices to spark a statewide housing crisis that begins right here in Omaha.
With Eppley Airfield’s terminal modernization project set to begin this year, the president of the surrounding neighborhood association says he wants to provide input on the $600 million remodel. Joe Higgins, who once worked at the airport, says Eppley needs more bike and pedestrian upgrades, plus increased access to transit.
An overnight fire at a nail salon in Millard causes more than $300,000 in damage. Crews were called around 2:11 a.m. to a strip mall near 144th and U streets, where the salon is located. No injuries were reported and everyone was evacuated. OFD says the fire caused $75,000 in structural damage and $250,000 to the contents.
Upcoming Events
- March 3-April 4: Voices of Choice
- March 7-12: 18th Annual Omaha Film Festival
- March 12: Folklórico
- March 18: Art Battle Omaha City Championship
- March 18: Afrovibe Master Concert
- March 18: David Cross – Worst Daddy in the World Tour
- March 18: Omaha Symphony Gala in honor of Ree and Jun Kaneko
- March 20: Jillian Hernandez – Aesthetics of Excess
Be sure to get the updated booster shot before heading to any of these events.
Around Nebraska
So far, the company that supplied child labor for cleaning some meatpacking plants in Nebraska has faced no criminal charges. But one of the more than two dozen children working at the JBS plant in Grand Island has watched her life unravel, with her parents facing child abuse charges and possible deportation to Guatemala.
The parents of a fifth-grader who brought a loaded handgun to Prescott Elementary School in Lincoln will not be charged. A police captain says there were proper measures in place to secure the firearm that the child circumvented. The student cannot be charged with a crime because he’s under the age of 12.
Legislature:
- Sen. Rob Dover supports increasing the Legislature’s term limits from two terms to three, saying it was wrong to impose term limits just to force out former Sen. Ernie Chambers. The resolution, which would require approval from the public, has 39 cosponsors, more than enough to head to the ballot.
- After a three-day filibuster, Sen. Tom Brewer’s bill to allow concealed carry of a firearm without a permit advances through first-round debate. The bill passed 36-12 despite opposition from the mayors and police chiefs of Omaha and Lincoln. It needs to clear two more rounds of debate before it can head to the governor’s desk.
Fact of the Day
From Harper’s Index
1. Percentage of U.S. households that
had a single occupant in 1960: 13
2. In 2022: 29
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (Suitland, Md.)
DAILY FUNNY
Comic by Jeffrey Koterba. Support him on Patreon.
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