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LINCOLN — More Nebraska businesses are coming out in opposition to a controversial bill that would ban gender-affirming care for individuals under 19.

A letter sent to state lawmakers and Gov. Jim Pillen Thursday included signatures from 112 local businesses and nonprofits sharing concerns about Legislative Bill 574. They also took issue with a similar bill, LB 575, which would regulate transgender students’ access to bathrooms and locker rooms, and their participation in school sports.

The primary critique in the letter is that the bills could increase Nebraska’s already significant labor shortage, deterring out-of-state prospective employees from moving in. The legislation poses the same risk to Nebraska’s effort to recruit new businesses, the letter said.

“Businesses are watching state legislatures,” the letter said. “They are investing in states with laws that foster diversity, equity, inclusion, and a robust workforce. And states that sanction discrimination simply cannot compete”

The letter follows a similar statement issued recently by the Greater Omaha Chamber, urging lawmakers to step away from debating divisive policies and focus more on economic and workforce development. Though the chamber’s statement doesn’t reference any specific bills, many have taken it as a criticism of LB 574.

And nationally, the Human Rights Campaign is collecting signatures from businesses for a letter that takes issue with similar bills proposed in state legislatures across the country. As of Thursday, 319 businesses have signed on, including massive companies like Apple, Google, Pepsi and many others.

“America’s business community has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws have a negative effect on our employees, our customers, our competitiveness, and state and national economies,” the Human Rights Campaign letter reads.

The letter from Nebraska businesses includes signatures from a range of Nebraska companies, from smaller ones like A Novel Idea Bookstore to larger ones like Omaha Steaks.

It was drafted by Mike Hornacek, CEO of the nonprofit Together Omaha. The parent of a transgender teenager, Hornacek has said if LB 574 passes as it stands, his family will leave Nebraska.

LB 574 and LB 575 were both introduced by State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha. LB 574 needs to pass just one more round of debate before it goes to Pillen’s desk to be signed. Meanwhile, LB 575 has yet to make it out of its committee.

Kauth said Thursday that the businesses signing the letter are entitled to their opinion. But she said lawmakers who support her bills should pay attention to which businesses signed as opponents when they “decide where they spend their money.”

She described the notion that her bills will hurt Nebraska’s economy as a fear-mongering tactic that lacks evidence. Nebraska has more conservatives than liberals, she said, so failing to pass conservative policies might actually deter potential workers and make the labor shortage worse.

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Beginning this month, the Nebraska Humane Society will close its overnight drop-off kennels.

Humane Society officials say the move comes after “extensive research and at the advice of national animal organizations,” including Best Friends Animal Society, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Association of Shelter Veterinarians.

Many shelters nationwide have closed their night drop boxes because the practice is not in the best interest of the animals who occupy them, the Humane Society said in a press release, which pointed out some of the problems found with the practice:

Often fragile, sick and injured animals are left, delaying lifesaving care and pain intervention and adding to their suffering.

Without timely isolation, sick animals can create health risks and infectious disease exposure for other animals.

Many people drop off animals anonymously, without any paperwork. But background information, including behavioral information and medical history, is crucial to effectively work with and ultimately find positive placement for animals.

Without face-to-face interaction, there is no counseling with pet owners, so shelters can’t offer other resources (pet food pantry, training classes, supplies, limited financial help etc.) that may help owners avoid unnecessary surrenders.

Knowing where and when a pet was found can be critical in reuniting a pet with his/her family.

The Association of Shelter Veterinarians advises that for these reasons and others, unmonitored intake is unacceptable, the press release stated.

“NHS will continue to provide the same services to homeless animals, the process will simply look a little different,” the release stated.

The Humane Society will now instead offer:

Managed intake and surrender counseling at the shelter seven days a week. This allows the Humane Society to offer resources and/or get key information about the pet’s medical and behavior history, allowing better placement should the pet need to be surrendered.

Opportunities for the owner to place the pet themselves through “Home to Home” and other rehoming options, alleviating stress on the animal and giving the owner the chance to meet and talk directly with new owners.

The Humane Society will continue its partnerships with 24-hour vet clinics, along with staff and overnight dispatch services, to offer a resource for pets who need urgent attention after hours, the release stated.

Once an amusement park, twice a golf course, now the home of a multi-purpose arena.

Ralston’s northeast corner has had quite a life.

The focal point for its early years was Seymour Lake.

It’s where a summer resort opened with rides, in 1909. It turned into a country club where Omaha golfing great Johnny Goodman held a membership for the first time.

After 20 years of lying fallow, the lake bed dried up, and another golf course came along.

Since 2012, built on what had been part of the lake, Ralston’s now-named Liberty First Arena has welcomed thousands of sports- and concert-goers.

And next month, it’s the one-time host for the Taste of Omaha festival.

Newspaper publisher Dr. George Miller, whose Omaha Herald became part of The World-Herald, began purchasing land southwest of what would be 72nd and L Streets in 1867.

During oil exploration in the Big Papillion Creek valley in 1894, a bountiful artesian spring was found and the water was dammed through levees to create a 50-acre lake. The Cudahy Packing Company leased the lake for ice production to supply its South Omaha packing house.

Miller foresaw the lake as potential for outdoor activities. He didn’t act on it, but civil engineer Roy Towl (later an Omaha mayor) and real estate agent C.M. Skinner were among those who did.

Omaha had Krug Park in Benson and Cortland Beach at Cutoff (Carter) Lake as summer resorts. Council Bluffs had Lake Manawa. South Omaha and its packing-house families had long jaunts to get to those.

Towl and Skinner were the officers for the Ralston Amusement Company formed in 1909. They spent $15,000, and within weeks a fledging amusement park/summer resort opened June 12. Among the amusements were “Horizontal Roller” and “Human Roulette Wheel.”

“On the horizontal roller the pleasure seeker is given a series of thrills in cars which move over hidden rails and along a zigzag course. The experience of traveling over a course which changes its direction every few feet makes this feature unique,” wrote the Omaha Daily News. “It is claimed that two rides in one of these cars will remove the worst case of ennui or cold feet while three rides will restore a torpid liver to its pristine usefulness.”

As for the human roulette wheel, it was a revolving apparatus around which people stand “and are hurled in a harmless manner.”

There were at least 50 rowboats to rent, a passenger launch holding 18 and a swan boat as seen at lake resorts around Chicago.

Other attractions at this “veritable Coney Island,” a phrase in the Daily News, included an open-air theater for summer stock, roller-skating pavilion, dance hall, bowling alleys, “ocean wave,” campground, bath house and a sand bottom beach designed by an expert from San Francisco.

Twenty concessionaires, some coming from Krug Park, set up shop. “A camp of gypsies will be a feature,” the Daily News reported, “with a mystic tent where the curious may learn all things, future and celestial.”

The lake was lit up at night by an electrical line that tapped into the interurban railway line leading from Omaha. Campers also had electric lights available.

Nearly 2,000 people came to the resort on the opening Sunday, 6,000 the next and 4,000 the third. By August, there was a good-sized tent colony on the slope that had been Dr. Miller’s orchard.

New management operated Seymour Lake in 1910, keeping many of the same attractions. There would be no third act.

The land was sold in 1911 for the new Seymour Lake Country Club. Ernest Gibson, the city’s first expert golf greenskeeper, laid out a nine-hole course and a clubhouse was built of Minnesota logs and stone. Lots on the orchard grove/campground were laid out and some summer cottages built.

The lake was made private. The club kept the beach and bath house and added an auto-repair garage, since club members would drive there rather than using public transportation.

It took a roundabout way to get there. Not until the 1940s was 72nd Street cut through between L and Q Streets. The Easter tornado of 1913 took out the clubhouse and Cudahy ice house, along with most of the remainder of the village.

Seymour Lake Country Club rebuilt the clubhouse (Cudahy rebuilt its ice house, too) and expanded the course to 18 holes on a layout by famed golf architect Tom Bendelow. The club twice was reorganized and renamed, to Lakoma in 1920 and Lakewood in 1926.

Goodman, the one-time caddie from a poor South Omaha family, was a Lakewood member in 1929 when he beat the great Bobby Jones at Pebble Beach in the opening round of the U.S. Amateur.

Lakewood closed after the 1936 season. The club donated its 110 acres of land and lake and Cudahy its 15 acres of the lake to Ralston to redevelop the property into a public park. The Works Progress Association gave $165,000 to aid the project. The golf course was rerouted and shortened, a new bath house built and the clubhouse opened to public dining and dancing.

The course sustained flood damage in 1938, 1941 and 1945 before closing. Cudahy tore down its ice house in 1941. Swimming’s last gasp was in a much smaller lake built in front of the clubhouse during World War II.

The clubhouse became the home of the Ralston Country Club (no golf) from 1943 to 1962.

The nine-hole Lakeview Golf Course opened in 1968 and rented its clubhouse space from the American Legion Post 373 headquarters. The course failed in 2007 and the city of Ralston, still the landowner, repurposed the site for its arena.

Had the 1909 rules for the amusement park land held on, Taste of Omaha would have had to pass on Ralston, too, after the Omaha City Council rejected its application for a liquor license.

Towl and Co. couldn’t sell alcohol. The daylight saloon laws, and Dr. Miller’s wishes, were to be respected.

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Posted at 10:21 AM, May 06, 2023

and last updated 8:21 AM, May 06, 2023

OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The Berkshire annual shareholders meeting starts on Saturday, but Friday was all about the shopping.

3 News Now Reporter Molly Hudson went to the CHI Health Center and Borscheims where thousands made their way to Omaha for the fun.

Thousands spent the day shopping and filling bags from Berkshire brands.

"My bag is full of Fruit of the Loom and See's candy," said shareholder Dorrie Heronimus. "That was her first stop, it was gotta get the candy. Did the candy and then Fruit of the Loom was just fun. It was just fun," said Angela Johns, Omaha visitor.

And of course, like many, they had their Dairy Queen in hand.

"It's just fun. It's just fun to see everything with the Berkshire name on it," Johns said

Taking pictures, trying out video games and looking at all different kinds of products. Some come from around Nebraska, but others make the trek from around the world.

"It's a pretty long trip, yeah with three flights to get here, about 9-10 hours on (the) plane. It's a long way to come but you know it's worthwhile," said Martin Tierney, who traveled from Ireland.

It is Martin's second year coming all the way from Ireland, but this year is a little extra special.

"I thought this year would best bring our investment manager with us. So I brought John along so he can get his head around investing at an early age," Tierney said.

Bringing his son John to experience it all, especially hearing from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.

"I've been a shareholder for just a couple years, and you know I think speaking to other people who have been shareholders for decades it's really nice and to think that perhaps John will be a shareholder in 50 years to come that's a nice thought," Tierney said.

But the shopping experience doesn't end at the CHI Health Center.

Many shareholders made their way to Borchseims to see all the beautiful pieces, especially one featured item.

The price tag of one of the featured rings goes for $19.2 million. Luckily, it is on sale this weekend for 25% off.

Omaha Gross senior Connor Capece struck out 16 Blair batters on Friday, May 5 as the Cougars won 5-2 to advance to their second straight state tournament.

The Creighton commit said his fastball was working.

"I threw all fastballs. I threw for off speed pitches the whole entire game and they hit two of them. So I just stuck with the fastball, and obviously it was working."

Head coach Jim Hempel said big-game experience prepared Capece for his first start of the season on the mound.

"He's played a lot of baseball, he's played a lot of big moments. And guys around him, like I said, feed off of that," Hempel said. "It's one of those things where it's contagious. You start stringing some at bats together, and he's usually in the middle of that somewhere either starting it or kind of the big hit he had in a second to to get us on the board and get runners in scoring position and then we take the lead and and that was important."

After opening up a 2-0 lead in the second, Capece took over on the mound.

Scoring three in the sixth to add some insurance, including an RBI single by Alex Kosse, Capece finished off a complete game. Throughout, the Cougars fed off of one of the top crowds in school history.

"I mean, you don't see too many high school crowds like that at a high school baseball game, and we've had that all year. This is a really close senior class. Today, it was our last day of school, so I know this was kind of a night to come out and celebrate, and we were hoping that we'd be able to have this moment tonight for them and and they feed off of that again, you know in my 24 years up here there's not too many nights where you have a crowd packed in like that and and it was good to see the entire school, the whole community to get to experience that tonight."

After experiencing a home district championship last year, from the beginning of the season, the Cougars aimed to have history repeat itself.

"It was the first thing we put on the board. Can we can we get to another dog pile on our field? And it was exciting to see them do it tonight. There's such a great group of guys and great senior leadership out of this group. We've got eight seniors, seven of them went to the state championship in football and so they've got big game experience and they were used to these moments."

While they've enjoyed the deja vu up to this point, the Cougars will hope a new story is written in Omaha this year.

"We saw what we could do last year we got there and then we laid an egg and I think with the seniors we have now and all of our experience there. I think we're ready," Capece said."

"It's enjoyable to get back," Hempel added. "We'll have a group of guys that have some experience there last year. It was a little wide eyed for some guys, we hadn't been there since '15. And so yeah, it'll be a fun experience next week."

Being able to go to state in back-to-back seasons also sets the stage for the future.

"we've we've got a real proud program up here. We've been to state a lot historically," Hempel said. "And now you start stringing seasons back to back like this, we got all these little guys running around out here that are either in the school or coming to the school, and them seeing this and experiencing this, it's all about the program and the parents and families and it's real important to so many people that are here and so many people that keep an eye on this program from a distance.

"It's going to be a good night tonight for a lot of Cougars around the state."