Public Hearing this Thursday on Election Commissioner Changes

by John Heaston

Senator Sara Howard's LB 235 will have its public hearing this Thursday, February 14th at 1:30 in the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee. This bill is in response to the polling place closures and lack of communication and accountability. It will (1) require an advisory committee to the election commissioner be formed in Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster County, (2) require...

Public Hearing this Thursday on Election Commissioner Changes

by John Heaston

Senator Sara Howard's LB 235 will have its public hearing this Thursday, February 14th at 1:30 in the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee. This bill is in response to the polling place closures and lack of communication and accountability. It will (1) require an advisory committee to the election commissioner be formed in Douglas, Sarpy, and Lancaster County, (2) require...

Beto’s Life Work

by Leo Adam Biga

Alberto "Beto" Gonzales believes working one-on-one with youths is the best way to reach them. His work as a mentor and gang prevention-intervention specialist has earned him much recognition, most recently the Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award from Creighton University.

Gonzales grew up in the South Omaha barrio he serves today as a Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands counselor. He does...

Gun Column Generates Critical Ammo

by Tim McMahan

I have been asked from time to time why The Reader doesn’t print letters to the editor, to which I always answer, “I don’t know.”

Maybe it’s a space issue, maybe it’s because no one on staff has time to read and edit letters, or maybe they just expect you to post your comments online like everyone else, to be lost in the vast miasma of social media.

I do know it’s not because they don’t...

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...

Finding Her Voice

by Leo Adam Biga

When she dreamed of rap stardom back in her hometown of San Antonio, Texas, Tunette Powell went by Short Stack. Today, Tunette will do. After years of search and struggle and a need for attention she fed with men, the 26-year-old Bellevue Neb. resident is more comfortable than she's ever been in her own skin and with her real identity.

Recently married and the mother of two young children,...

Figure Skating and Saxophones and When a Sport’s a Sport

by Tim McMahan

Sports, for the most part, is a macho business that exists on a macho concept of one guy being better than the other guy.

If you don’t have that competitive streak in you, you can’t be successful at sports of any kind. The drive to prove that you’re the better man or woman is at the heart of it, or to prove your team is the right team, the better team, the one that has its shit together,...

When New Horizons dawned for African Americans in Omaha

by Leo Adam Biga

It took the civil rights movement to bring segregation in the United States into sharp relief. The South was the epicenter of the racial equality battle but American-style apartheid as well as attempts to dismantle it were everywhere, including Nebraska.

Omaha prides itself on hospitality yet African Americans here could not always live or or work or play or attend school where they wanted...