Omaha’s own Jeff Davis, the founder of the Playing With Fire concert series, is among the international blues industry professionals who are being honored by The Blues Foundation’s 2026 Keeping the Blues Alive Awards. The Award recipients were announced in the fall of 2025 and the honorees will be recognized with a brunch in Memphis […]
Posted inTheater
Veteran theater-maker Vincent Orduña enjoys homecoming as new Omaha Community Playhouse artistic director
Since his official July 1 start, Vincent “VJ” Orduña has made history as the first African American to serve as artistic director at the Omaha Community Playhouse (OCP). It meant a homecoming on many levels for the Omaha native, who grew up performing at home, churches and schools wherever his father’s military assignments took the […]
Posted inMovies
The top 10 best (and 5 worst) movies of 2025
What’s your favorite cognitive distortion? I know, it’s hard to pick, right? Mine is pretty easily “black and white thinking,” an upsetting mental fixation where everything gets sorted into either “good” or “bad” with nary a “gray area” purgatory to be found. This is weird because I remain an unrepentant Lost apologist! I bring […]
Posted inMovies
I saw 6 more movies and didn’t tell you (until now)
The holiday season has everything: peace, joy, and the soul-crushing pressure associated with gift-giving and the litany of obligatory seasonal social engagements. More than the first two, that last one explains why you are once again getting a brief roundup of my reaction to films notable enough to tell you about but insignificant enough to […]
Posted inNews
Nebraska AG drops lawsuit against OPPD over North Omaha coal plant
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced Tuesday the dismissal of a lawsuit against the Omaha Public Power District. The suit was filed by Hilgers in October over the public utility’s plan to change a north Omaha coal plant over to natural gas. After months of discussion, OPPD voted last week to again delay that change […]
Posted inEconomy
New Omaha Chamber report urges state business incentives overhaul, ways to stem ‘brain drain’
Critical that Nebraska has “stepped back” from its award-winning focus on economic development, Omaha area business leaders have launched an offensive plan to regain a competitive edge. The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce today released a 24-page “Omaha Competes” report that urges major updates to the state’s key business incentive program and outlines strategies to help reverse […]
Posted inNews
Cause & Culture: Local organizations rally to combat food insecurity and cold weather
This winter may feel like Omaha’s harshest yet. Not only because local weather experts are forecasting cooler-than-average temperatures at the start of the new year, but also because of federal policy changes that may affect food security and housing stability for low-income individuals and families. Those impacts are likely to be felt most by seniors, […]
Posted inMovies
The last Avatar was all wet. This one is insanely dry.
What makes a film epic is the scope and scale, not simply a running time long enough to conceive, gestate, and deliver a baby elephant. Each successive Avatar has been identical to its predecessor in every way but length: each is longer than the one before, like some cinematic witch’s curse. This new one is […]
Posted inNews
The ‘Oracle of Omaha’ wraps up his last year as Berkshire CEO
People thought Robert Johnson was a little silly back in the early 1980s when he bought $1,000 worth of stock in the company owned by his high school buddy’s dad. That company was Berkshire Hathaway. And that dad was Warren Buffett. “I wish I could tell you that it was because I was so smart, […]
Posted inLocal Government
OPPD again delays plan to stop burning coal at North Omaha plant
Coal will continue to burn in North Omaha. Omaha Public Power District’s board of directors voted Thursday to delay decommissioning the North Omaha Station’s coal-fired units despite previous pledges and public health concerns. The public utility cites a “new energy reality” driving its decision. OPPD President Javier Fernandez shared a statement ahead of the board […]