On Monday, April 19, after proclaiming Rodeo Week and riding a horse around the governor’s mansion three times, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts took questions from the media. With horse trailers as a backdrop, reporters inquired about his office's new media credentialing application and the letter from Media of Nebraska challenging its validity and constitutionality.
Read MoreIn mid-December, Omaha news outlets began reporting on a whistleblower account of financial misconduct within St. Francis Ministries, which is contracted by the state to handle adoption and foster care cases. The faith-based group operates in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Central America, with satellite offices in Kentucky, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and is based out of Kansas. Thus, NOISE is working with The Kansas Reflector, a non-profit news organization in Kansas to bring you more complete coverage of this developing story than NOISE could deliver on our own.
Image credit: Andrew Ebrahim
Read MoreThe North Omaha Trail is set to begin construction in the spring/summer of 2021, with the aim of connecting North Omaha to the North Downtown area of Omaha. The project was developed from the City of Omaha Master Plan, the North Omaha Development Project, and many other resources, to create a local and necessary north-south route for transportation, recreation, and support of public health.
Read MoreThe protestors started with three demands: name the officers involved in the shooting, release the unedited body cam footage of the incident, and start an independent review board to investigate the incident and any others with transparency and clarity. To this date only the first demand has been met.
Each night protestors met a line of officers around Omaha Police Headquarters and launched a verbal assault on officers standing on the patio. Protestors did speak with some officers, making moral arguments to the police for the release of the footage. One night, Kenneth Jones’s family joined activists in pleading for the footage to be released.
Read MoreA graphic reminder that a building is more than its brick and mortar came during a November 16 Omaha Public Schools Board of Education meeting that decided the fate of the former Yates Elementary School at 3260 Davenport Street. The 6-1 vote to sell Yates to a local nonprofit interest group over a Colorado developer represented a major win for the Gifford Park Neighborhood Association (GPNA), whose Save Yates for Omaha campaign enlisted considerable community support.
Kenneth Jones, 35, was fatally shot by an Omaha Police officer during a traffic stop at 27th and Harrison on the evening of Thursday, November 19. Witness Charlene Rainey called the event “traumatizing” and said that she fears for her boys as they too are African American. Police reports indicate Jones may have had a gun on him which prompted one of the officers to shoot. Bodycam footage is being reviewed by OPD and the public calling for its immediate release.
Read MoreThe City of Omaha will no longer be working with the nonprofit in charge of the Love’s Jazz and Art Center (LJAC). After operating for 15 years, the LJAC’s lease has expired and the city is choosing to turn over management to the North 24th Business Improvement District, according to a press release from October 8, 2020. We spoke to former board members, the 24th Street BID president, and Preston Love to get the full story.
Read MoreBob Gibson, famed baseball player and North Omaha native, passed away at age 84 on October 2, 2020. Gibson, the most accomplished Nebraska-born athlete in Major League Baseball to date, died Friday night after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.
Read MoreThe Omaha City Council voted 5-2 to extend the city’s mask requirement to late November before Thanksgiving. Dr. Adi Pour, director of the Douglas County Health Department, said the county experienced “a very disappointing week” of rising numbers pertaining to COVID-19.
Read MoreGrand jury selection for the murder will begin Tuesday, for the case of 22-year-old James Scurlock who was fatally shot by Jake Gardner during a Black Lives Matter protest on May 30 in the Old Market in downtown Omaha.
Read MoreOver 100 people were detained in a mass arrest in Omaha Nebraska last weekend while professing Justice for James Scurlock and solidarity with the Protests in Portland. It is believed the mass arrest violated state law, and the violent treatment protesters say they experienced at the hands of police raises bigger questions of civil rights violations. Hear what the protesters experienced in their own words in The Protestors' Diary: Farnam Street Bridge.
Read MoreSeveral socially conscious events took place around Omaha this past weekend offering an alternative to the standard July Fourth celebrations.
Read MoreThe community is coming together to make sure people are fed. Not just any food: fresh nutritious produce from local farmers. Organizations like Heartland Family Service are working to connect senior citizens in North Omaha with produce by providing vouchers that can be used at local farmer’s markets.
Read MoreOmaha Public Schools rolled out its new COVID-19 rules and protections for students in the 2020-2021 school year. The new changes include the staggering of passing periods – face mask requirements, which OPS will provide, and a school week that will see students with last names beginning with A-K coming in on Monday/Tuesday and those with their last name beginning with L-Z coming in on Thursday/Friday, alternating on Wednesday.
Read MoreYoung Progressives of Nebraska (YPN) held a march for transgender people of color Saturday, June 27 in front of the Douglas County Courthouse in downtown Omaha. YPN is made up of high school and college students and aims to create a community of progressives in Nebraska working towards peace. The march had around 100 people in attendance.
Read MoreThe longest-standing BLM protest in Omaha has gathered every day since June 4. Organizer, Ja Keen Fox explains how it’s an opportunity for new activists.
Read MoreMayor Jean Stothert announced Thursday, June 25 plans to revise Omaha Police Department’s “Use of Force Policy”, as well as implement diversity and inclusion initiatives throughout the city government. Photo: WOWT/Channel 6
Read MoreImages captured by Andrew Washington, local photographer, during the first protests on 72nd and Dodge Streets – in response to police brutality, economic injustice, and the recent murder of George Floyd a week ago.
Read MoreA legion of police wearing riot gear, armed with tear gas, rubber bullets, flash-bang grenades, and pepper bullets met thousands of protestors who had come out to demonstrate after the death of George Floyd at the hands of several members of the Minneapolis Police Department. These skirmishes took place throughout the weekend all over Omaha. The protests originated on 72nd and Dodge Streets on Friday (May 29) and Saturday (May 30) and moved to downtown Omaha on Saturday evening.
Read MoreBlack people are being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
This determination does not come as a surprise as Black communities demonstrate some of the largest health disparities in the country, and are no exception in Douglas County.
This is an opportunity to take hold of our lives and determine the long-term health of our community.
