Showing Up

by Kietryn Zychal

“Attendance is one area where 90 percent does not equal an A,” according to Sharif Liwaru, Elementary Schools Director at UNO’s Attendance Collaborative. That is because a 90 percent attendance rate equals 20 days of absence -- the number that triggers a referral to the County Attorney as mandated by LB 933. 

“A kid missing a couple days of school every couple of weeks may not seem like a lot...

If it feels hotter, that’s because it is

by Kietryn Zychal

After the hottest start to a year ever recorded in the United States, local activists gathered to point out the obvious from a symbolic spot.

Career National Weather Service meteorologist John Pollack is devoting his retirement to educating the public about climate change, suggesting ways to lower carbon emissions. Standing in front of the “high and dry” Salute to Labor statue on the...

Anatomy of an Election

by Kietryn Zychal

It takes months of planning, last minute details and tight organization to make an election go smoothly. “Election Day is the part that everybody sees,” said Election Commissioner Dave Phipps in his office at the Douglas County Election Commission on 115th and Davenport Streets. “Nobody wants to really know what happens and how you get to that point.”

“They just want to know that they can go...

2012 Douglas County Poll Closing Analysis: Process, Methodology And Analysis

by John Heaston

Read the full story here.

2012 Voter File:

The initial voter data for 2012 obtained by The Reader was not useable for this initial analysis because it did not have polling location for each voter listed. It did have a large amount of voting data that would prove useful later.

The Reader obtained a new file with voters and polling places linked below. This file contained 314,969 voters and...

Top Teachers

by STAFF

In honor of National Teacher  Appreciation Day and in recognition of our own Teacher Appreciation Day this Saturday, May 11, 6 p.m. at Aksarben Village, The Reader reached out to the Learning Community school districts to get the names of teachers recognized for their hard work, dedication and effectiveness. Here is just a small sampling of the educators who help shape our children’s growth and...

From Juggernaut to Commission: 16 Days in February

by Kandra Hahn

The first four and half hours of the Revenue Committee hearing on February 6 on Legislative Bill 405, one of the Governor’s proposals to eliminate state income tax for a broader sales tax, seemed noisy and riddled with insider banter. From 1:30 to 6 p.m. senators, bureaucrats and the Governor talked to each other about the bill while the public and lobbyists waited to speak.

From time to...

Nebraska Legislature 2013

by Kandra Hahn

Among the 168 legislative bills that hit the Clerk’s desk on January 23, the tenth and last day for individual senators to introduce new legislation for the 2013 Session, were a couple of heavyweights bills. Omaha senators led or were instrumental in introducing them.

The Reader sought out conversations with Omaha-area senators and, despite full committee hearing and meeting schedules at the...

About Taxes

by Kandra Hahn

Scarcely had Governor Heineman revealed half of his idea to eliminate income tax in favor of a somehow broader sales tax, than professor Richard Pomp, tax teacher and writer, and former tax change commission member, arrived in Lincoln to offer a few tax basics.

Invited by the Open Sky Policy Institute, the professor offered serious advice in homey and humorous terms. The Institute is a...