Ice scabs over the charred remains of M’s Pub Sunday morning, serving as a beautiful and terrifying tribute to the decades of tradition The Old Market lost in Saturday’s fire. With the blaze finally contained, we know that the basement of M’s partially collapsed late afternoon Saturday, while the apartment and restaurant ceilings collapsed in the […]
Public Safety
Fire Destroys M’s Pub
Firefighters have worked in shifts throughout Saturday, battling not only the 3 alarm fire that engulfed M’s Pub, but also the single degree temperatures that have made working outside unsafe. It remains unclear what caused an explosion, which blew out the front window of the building on 11th and Howard around 2:45pm, but witnesses in the area reported the smell […]
Heineman Gives Health Care to Feds
When Governor Dave Heineman told the federal government on Nov. 15 that Nebraska would pass on running its own health insurance exchange, he pointed to cost and lack of control. It was a very different Governor from the one who had presided over a public meeting featuring invited panels of health insurance executives and agent/brokers […]
Meet the Chief
First, a primer on how to pronounce “Schmaderer,” the new police chief’s last name: “SHMA’ der.” Rhymes with water. “Some of our relatives actually dropped the last ‘er,’” he explained during an hour-long interview with The Reader. Water is an apt metaphor for Todd Schmaderer’s thoughtful, soft-spoken demeanor. Still waters run deep and so does […]
A State of Homelessness
As winter takes hold the number of homeless moving into shelters is on the rise. Winter is the toughest time of the year and emergency shelters are focused on the most basic needs. The seasonal surge will test a budding framework helping Omahans without a place to go to recover their lives and find a […]
Ganging Up
Alberto Gonzales didn’t enter the meeting room at the South Omaha Library on March 15 so much as the room opened up and embraced him. The 30 or so community leaders at the first South Omaha Violence Prevention and Intervention meeting included: local clergy members; representatives from the mayor’s office; citizens; school advisors; the captain […]
Police reviewing gun policy following school shooting
The Omaha Police Department is reviewing its gun policy for off-duty officers after Robert Butler Jr. used his father’s police weapon in the Jan. 5 shooting at Millard South High School. The department’s current policy reads: “Officers will not store or leave a firearm in any place within the reach or easy access of a […]
Man dies while cleaning gun
James Williams, 61, died Jan. 11 after his gun accidentally fired while he was cleaning it at his home at 4527 Decatur St. Police do not suspect foul play, and are continuing to investigate. […]
Millard principal’s condition improves
Principal Curtis Case was upgraded to fair condition Jan. 6 after being shot a day earlier at Millard South High School. Case was previously listed in serious condition. Robert Butler Jr., 17, shot Case and Assistant Principal Vicki Kaspar shortly before 1 p.m. on Jan. 5. He had been suspended from school earlier that day. […]
Man killed at gas station
Milton Jackson, 54, was shot and killed Jan. 6 while inside the Shell Rapid Lube near 114th and Center. Police have made no arrests. […]