Howdy, Omaha — it’s Jeremy.
It’s mid-June, it’s 92 degrees outside and that can only mean one thing: the College World Series is upon us.
All eight teams that will take to Charles Schwab Field this year come from the South, so if y’all are fixin’ for some baseball, I reckon there’ll be some twangs and drawls downtown.
Now if college baseball had a hall of fame to celebrate its rich history, you’d think the home of the sport’s biggest tournament since 1950 would be a good place to put it, right?
Well, a nonprofit spearheading the venture disagreed. They passed over Omaha and picked a Kansas City suburb with no obvious ties to college baseball.
In our feature story this week, contributing writer Greg Echlin dug into Omaha’s failed bid to become college’s Cooperstown. It includes a cameo from Huskers and Royals legend Alex Gordon that you won’t want to miss.
Read Greg’s story here (or click the photo above).
Weeks ago, contributor Jonathan Orozco reached out to the Joslyn about interviewing Kehinde Wiley, a famous painter whose work would anchor the art museum’s much-anticipated reopening in September. He never got that interview.
That’s because the museum quietly postponed Wiley’s exhibit featuring portraits of South Sudanese immigrants in Omaha after three men accused the artists of sexual assault, which Wiley denied on Instagram and through his representatives.
Orozco and Omaha reporter Chris Bowling broke the story, which you can read here.
— Jeremy Turley, Flatwater Free Press
An iconic Omaha restaurant, resurrected
Reinventing an Omaha restaurant — especially one that’s incredibly recognizable — is a tough order. But that’s what Ooh De Lally is doing in Dundee with its reinvention of Marks, the beloved second-floor restaurant that closed two years ago. Marks was known for its mac and cheese, and Ooh De Lally is, so far, mostly known for its mission of creating culinary careers for formerly incarcerated adults. Perhaps, though, the two can coexist.
Read my latest review here (or click the photo above.)
Sarah Baker Hansen is an award-winning writer who has covered Omaha’s food scene for more than a decade. She posts restaurant reviews and food news on her blog, sarahbakerhansen.com.
Omaha’s own DJ Crabrangucci is kicking off this College World Series season at Slowdown’s outdoor stage on Saturday. Last weekend I danced the night away as she spun hits for the River City Mixed Chorus’ spring concert afterparty, and now I can’t wait to hear more Crabrangucci beats!
— Destiny Herbers, Flatwater Free Press
A Gretna-based builder wasn’t letting Omaha tornado victims use copies of their homes’ blueprints to rebuild what they’d lost, even threatening to sue homeowners and other contractors. The company, Hildy Homes, changed its tune after The Omaha World-Herald’s Henry Cordes started sniffing around. (Note: Some readers may need a subscription to read this story.)
It’s property valuation season, and many Omaha-area homeowners are learning that their tax bills will rise this year. KETV’s Bill Schammert caught up with a La Vista widow whose home valuation went up 17% from 2023. She planned to be among a small group to formally contest the county’s appraisal.
A busload of property developers recently toured North and South Omaha to look at abandoned lots that could become sites for new housing, the Nebraska Examiner’s Cindy Gonzalez reported. The Omaha Land Bank received a state grant to turn a series of empty lots into shovel-ready sites for affordable housing.
An indictment last year revealed police nonprofit fundraiser Jack Olson kept most of the money he raised for the Omaha chapter of the Latino Peace Officers Association. The World-Herald’s Molly Ashford found that Olson was just the tip of the iceberg. Fundraisers kept about 85% of the cash they raised for four local police nonprofits from 2009 to 2022, meaning that little money went to support community programs.
Jean Stothert’s critics have long asserted that the Omaha mayor spends too much time or secretly lives in her former hometown of St. Louis. Stothert addressed the whisperings with Omaha podcaster Tony Bock.
The Flatwater Free Press is published by the Nebraska Journalism Trust, a 501(c)(3) public charity