Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 06/17/2026 - 12:00am
High above an Illinois cornfield, the plane with the “O” on its tail sliced through the cloudy blue sky.
Cullen “Bill” Leitner steered the Cessna 152 and watched the timer. Will Skradski surveyed the landscape below for secret checkpoints, referencing a paper map to track their position.
The duo was tasked with navigating a 125-mile route, unknown to them until shortly before takeoff, without the GPS tools pilots have come to rely on. Every second off schedule and every extra drop of fuel used counted against them.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 06/17/2026 - 12:00am
A child at a playground tries to climb, jump or negotiate with a peer, and their attempt does not work. They fall, get left out of a game or reach another impasse. Then they try again.
Failure, conflict and frustration might look like a struggle, but this is often how children learn.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 06/10/2026 - 12:00am
Nebraska’s state auditor calls it inexplicable. A former health insurance CEO suggests it’s excessive. A veteran doctor says it’s unheard of.
They’re reacting to what a nonprofit hospital paid its gastroenterologist in 2024: Nearly $5 million, according to public tax documents. That same hospital, Faith Health in Norfolk, paid a plastic surgeon $3.8 million.
Those sums made the doctors the two highest-paid employees of any Nebraska-headquartered nonprofit that year, according to an online database.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 06/10/2026 - 12:00am
OMAHA — A key manager of a Nebraska grant program that’s investing multimillions into historically disadvantaged North and South Omaha neighborhoods has left state government to join the administration of Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr.
Javier Saldaña Jr., formerly the economic recovery division administrator for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, is now Omaha deputy chief of staff for economic development. His new job involves steering real estate development projects for Omaha and helping to carry out mayoral initiatives and priorities.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 06/10/2026 - 12:00am
As the 2026 FIFA World Cup starts on June 11, 2026, traditional news and social media channels will be full of pictures of the players. Many of them will be showing their tattoos.
Body art has become increasingly part of international soccer, although its prevalence can vary across geographical regions. A study of athletes participating in the 2018 World Cup found that Latin American players were the most heavily tattooed, followed by those from Oceania and Europe. African and Asian players are the least tattooed.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 06/03/2026 - 12:00am
A few years ago, Emily Rau decided she needed friends.
Rau had moved to Lincoln in 2014 for graduate school at the University of Nebraska. By 2021, most of her fellow students had left town, but she stayed and took a job as a professor with the university’s library.
“I was like, ‘OK, I need to make some friends that aren't grad students,’” Rau said.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 06/03/2026 - 12:00am
OMAHA — Nebraska Public Media is launching its own dedicated station in Omaha to expand its statewide reach and better utilize two recently added reporters in the state’s largest city.
NPM recently purchased KOOO, located at 101.9 on the FM dial and plans a June 15 launch for new programming that features National Public Radio news and conversation programs, as well as an “eclectic mix” of rock, blues, folk and alternative country music at night.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 05/27/2026 - 12:00am
Dariauna “Stretch” Lewis doesn’t have much free time. Between playing professional basketball overseas and training for her career after basketball, the former Omaha North High standout keeps busy.
Still, Lewis rarely misses a chance to return to North and mentor the impressionable girls with big dreams — girls who remind Lewis of herself.
“Even when I don’t feel like getting up, don’t feel like coming to the gym, I realize I was in their place, and I want to come pour into them every chance I get, so I come there,” Lewis said.
Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 05/27/2026 - 12:00am
Social scientists and commentators have for years been expressing concerns about what they call the “authoritarian playbook.” To be clear, no such book exists. But would-be and actual dictators do tend to follow a common set of strategies to consolidate power.
Since the 2000s, populist leaders from Russia to Venezuela have used their countries’ own democratic systems to overturn democracy itself. One reason for their success may be the fact that supporters of democratic institutions do not seem to have a defensive playbook to match the authoritarians’ offensive one.