Drayage Brokersin Omaha, NE

OMAHA, Neb. —

A $325 million project in Omaha is nearly open to the public.

On Friday, the final phase of The Riverfront is ready for the crowds. Lewis and Clark Landing and Heartland of America Park are re-designed by the same people behind Gene Leahy Mall.

KETV Newswatch 7 sat down in an exclusive with the minds behind the park.

They say it's not only about downtown Omaha's bright future, it's a reminder of how the city started.

Omaha was built right along the Missouri River in 1854. 15 years later, the transcontinental railroad connected a young nation.

"The first tracks were laid westward, from basically where we're sitting," Doug Bisson, Urban Planning Design Principal at HDR said.

"This was the economic engine of Omaha," he said. "This is the jumping off space for the state of Nebraska."

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Now, boldly reimagining the spot where Omaha planted its roots, a vision executed in just seven years.

"I got the call, it was November 2016," Bisson said. "Hey, we've got this dream, let's meet and discuss how we can make this thing happen."

Architects Doug Bisson and Kyle Fiddelke, Partner at OJB Landscape Architecture, are the minds behind The Riverfront.

"We worked on this project really trying to make sure that we knitted the downtown fabric back together," Fiddelke said. "We want the river to feel like it's connected to the city and for so many years it was not."

On Friday, Aug. 18, The Riverfront will be complete, connecting Lewis and Clark Landing and Heartland of America Park to the Gene Leahy Mall, offering a combined 72 acres of exploration.

"We wanted to create nodes of interest so you get this sense of discovery as you go from one end to the other," Fiddelke said.

He says this kind of space can change a city's reputation.

"Every city is judged by the quality of its open space, whether you go to Chicago, or you go to New York, or you go to Los Angeles, it's very rarely you judge a city by how tall its buildings are, or how cool its buildings are, it's the space between the buildings."

With so much to do, every visit will be new.

"You might discover a whole other area of the park that you really never realized," Fiddelke said.

It's a return to nature masterfully blended with urban America.

"Well I mean you can hear right now with the songbirds. It's like they've come back," Fiddelke said.

Native plants have brought bees, monarch butterflies, ducks and rabbits back.

"Access to nature, access to green improves the mind body and the spirit, right. And so having this super green, urban, dense place in downtown in Omaha only adds to the wellbeing of everybody that lives in this city," Fiddelke said.

But the natural space is also bringing back people. Gene Leahy Mall saw over one million visitors in its first year after re-opening.

"It's exposing the diversity that Omaha has," Bisson said. "It is truly a community space. I have never seen, I've never seen another space that so well brought so many walks of life together."

Bisson says Lewis and Clark Landing and Heartland of America Park are going to change the city for the better.

"There's not many cities that have come out of COVID as strong as Omaha is, I mean we are on fire," Bisson said.

"It's going to continue to urbanize Omaha, it's going to allow us to continue to compete regionally, nationally, and internationally," he said.

The Riverfront's grand re-opening is at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 18, and is completely free to the public.

For more details on fireworks, food and concerts happening opening weekend, click here.

Every day at Franklin Elementary School, kindergarten teacher Kaye Kiepert-Hensley tells her students an important message: “I love you. You matter. You can do anything and I believe in you.”

The mantra has been uttered to each child before they leave class for the last four decades. Kiepert-Hensley continued the tradition on Wednesday as she welcomed new Omaha Public Schools students into the classroom on their first day.

“Every day, every year, is a new day and a new year. Every group is different,” Kiepert-Hensley said. “They’re fun. They’re excited to be here. I’m excited to see them. We can have all those meetings, but it doesn’t really come true until the day they walk through that door.”

It’s Kiepert-Hensley’s 41st year teaching in the exact same classroom at Franklin Elementary in North Omaha. The room hasn’t changed much — besides some recently installed blue carpet — and still is an open concept that actually holds two kindergarten classes, split in half by tables and shelves.

Kiepert-Hensley graduated from what was once known as Technical High School in OPS. It closed in 1984 before becoming the current Teacher Administration Center on 3215 Cuming St.

After receiving a college degree, Kiepert-Hensley’s first day began with 40 students sitting on the floor of her classroom at Franklin. Her principal asked if she could move from part time to full time in order to split the class in half to accommodate the large group.

Since that day in 41 years ago, Kiepert-Hensley has taught both children and grandchildren of former students. She said this is the reason why she keeps coming back to Franklin every year instead of taking a job elsewhere.

“I love to see the families, because it’s the same families that I had many years ago, when they were students in here,” Kiepert-Hensley said. “Now I have their babies again. So they know it’s a safe and a loving place in our room.”

Kiepert-Hensley is starting this school year with 14 students, but she said more will register throughout the fall as they move into the neighborhood.

Students trickled into the classroom around 9 a.m. on Wednesday. There were some tears upon arrival, but Kiepert-Hensley was there to dry them. She ushered the group into a U-shape as she softly explained how they will select their breakfast each morning.

Some students listened intently while others took glimpses of their first elementary classroom.

Kiepert-Hensley’s was carefully organized, with white concrete walls garnished with hundreds of positive messages, colorful art and educational posters. Several decorations around the room were personalized to students, such as a homemade paper apple tree that displayed all 14 student names. Small water bottles for each student were lined up neatly on one desk while another had enough snacks and art materials for the entire class.

Kiepert-Hensley said while her room hasn’t really changed over the years, the curriculum has.

“When I first started, it was a lot of socialization and play and interaction,” she said. “Now we’ve focused towards the academic aspect of it, where we still have that play, but our play is infused into our academics. We now teach more structure in our classroom.”

Franklin, along with the rest of the elementary schools in OPS, began instruction on Wednesday, while the majority of secondary students will have their first day of school on Thursday, said Matt Ray, interim superintendent.

The 2023-24 school year will begin with more than 52,000 students and 9,000 staff members. Ray said OPS is slowly making progress in hiring more staff to alleviate challenges like transportation delays and teacher shortages. The district is also going through a superintendent search to replace Ray’s predecessor, Cheryl Logan.

“We have great people in place,” Ray said. “If you think of how committed (Kiepert-Hensley) is, you’ll feel that energy and that excitement. And that’s what our teachers have.”

Kiepert-Hensley doesn’t see herself leaving Franklin Elementary any time soon. She said there is no better career than teaching and expects to be in her position for the next 10 to 15 years.

“When I’m not ready to do this, I will know,” she said. “But right now, I don’t see an end in sight.”

OMAHA, Neb. —

The Metropolitan Utilities District is again extending outdoor water use restrictions for the Omaha area after a pipe failure at a water plant.

People are urged to continue limiting outdoor water use until further notice. The district asks people to limit their water use to twice per week, with no watering on Mondays.

Residents of even addresses can pick two days of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, while odd addresses can pick two days from Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

"Everyone has complied. And as a result, we have not had to reduce or actually we've met or exceeded all customer demands during this summer period, which at times can be challenging," said MUD's Vice President of Customer Experience Stephanie Mueller.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

News Release: M.U.D. Thanks Customers for Limiting Outdoor Water Use; Extends Voluntary Restrictions Until Further Notice. https://t.co/qTrXY9A7lM pic.twitter.com/Xr0hV774nx

— M.U.D. Omaha (@mudomahane) August 16, 2023

MUD told KETV NewsWatch 7 that it was not a water main break — as initially reported, but instead a pipe failure due to a contractor working on modernizing the plant.

"We're keeping up and modernizing the plant over time. And so this it's a rare occurrence that something like this would occur," said Mueller.

Metropolitan Utilities District says pipe failure caused water restrictions for Omaha area

Repairs are needed inside where the main connects to electrical components and pumping equipment, and that is the reason for the extended water restrictions.

"Those are very large components that take some time to get," Mueller said.

The pipe failure occurred in July near the Florence Water Production Plant, which is just south of NP Dodge Park.

Outdoor watering includes:

MUD will stop flushing fire hydrants, and they are asking the city and other wholesale customers to also follow this temporary limit.

If customers experience problems with water pressure or water color inside their homes, call the MUD customer service line: 402-554-6666.

Did your grandparents give you savings bonds for high school graduation and you don't know what to do with them? On the latest episode of PennyWise, host Nat Cardona talks with Chanelle Bessette of NerdWallet about the article: Ask a Nerd: How do I cash in a savings bond? Nerdwallet explains how and where to cash in a savings bond, what documents you need to do so and how to check the value and see if it's worth it. Before you run to the bank, make sure you do your homework. About this program Nat Cardona is host of PennyWise as well as Lee Enterprise's true-crime podcast Late Edition: Crime Beat Chronicles. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. Episode transcript Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically: Welcome to Pennywise, a Lee Enterprises podcast. I'm your host, Nat Cardona. Dust off your old savings bonds. It might just be time to give them another look. We have Nerdwallet personal finance writer Chanel Bessette with us today to guide us through the process of cashing in, saving smart, talking about the world of cashing savings bonds. It's usually one of those things you have a stack of. If you're lucky enough, they're in an envelope. They're in a box and probably haven't been dusted off in a very long time. So what's the first thing you want to know when you grab them? Look at them and say, Hey, they're ready to be cashed? What do you do first? The age of them definitely matters because once they're past a certain age, they've stopped earning interest. So you are potentially facing that opportunity cost of losing money by keeping them as paper. Paper bonds instead of cashing them. So looking at the age first and foremost is great. If you haven't looked at them in a long time, if you've had them for a long time, it is likely that you're not facing any kind of penalty by withdrawing early. But that is something to consider if you did get a savings bond recently. So so let's say it's the former and that you do have that old savings bond. Cashing it out is going to be a great opportunity for you to have a little windfall or a big windfall, depending on how much the bond was. And then you can take that money and reinvested. Use it for a purchase that you want to make or just use it to beef up your emergency bond and have it as liquid cash so that you can use it for more day to day conveniences and needs. All right. And physically, when you're like, okay, this is good to go, these guys are ready to be cash. Do you go to your bank? Where do you go for this? So it's important to reach out to the bank in advance to make sure that they can, in fact, cash it. Not all major banks do. So you want to maybe call around at first and make sure that you know which bank is actually going be able to accept it. If you have an electronic savings bond, then you'll go to the U.S. Treasury website and cash it there. Okay. Quick question about the physical savings bonds. Ironically or coincidentally enough, my husband had found a stack of them literally a week ago. They were good to go. So we were like, okay. And didn't realize it kind of looks like a check on the back that you would endorse, fill in that kind of thing. I did read something on one of these Nerdwallet articles that you actually aren't supposed to fill that out before heading to the bank, correct? Correct. Do you want to wait until you are at that moment of reimbursement? You probably want to follow along with whatever banker is working with you, whatever customer service rep is working with you to make sure that you are doing everything at the right time, at the right moment, because you don't want to accidentally create more problems for yourself with the with the process. That'd be a big bummer. After waiting so damn long. Yes, exactly. So speaking of that, going into the physical bank branch, let's say you have your I.D. Do you need any other forms of I.D. to fear this is you on these savings bonds? Yes. When you do go in, you need usually at least a couple of forms of ID. It's a good idea maybe to have your your state issued ID like a driver's license and maybe something like your Social Security card or passport. That way, you're you're genuinely confirming that you are who you say you are. Right. And once you cash in those savings bonds, as we realized, you get a nice little form that you get to submit to the IRS when you have to pay your yearly taxes. What what other implications surrounding that on taxes that you need to know when it comes to cashing in savings bonds? Right. So savings bonds actually are a lot like bank account in that way and that you do have to pay taxes on the interest that you've earned. A lot of people don't necessarily think about that usually, because always in the past, interest rates have been so low that you don't really have enough that to like really register by paying a lot of taxes on what I've earned. But when it comes to a savings bond, that could be quite a bit of money if you've had it for decades. So it's important to make sure that you're taking that into consideration as your, you know, check cashing out that savings bond and making sure that you have that money set aside to pay Uncle Sam. It all catches up to us eventually. Right. This is just maybe me thinking out loud here. Another thing we didn't realize about the savings bonds is, hey, aside from them being a valuable thing to have and keep safe your Social Security number, at least on the physical ones from 30 years ago, plus have your whole social on them, which I didn't realize. And I think maybe not everybody realizes that. Right? Yeah, it's kind of wild how we could be so at risk for something like that. That's such a official government documentation. Yes. So. So the physical security of your savings bonds is something to think about and consider. Hopefully your parents kept it in a safe place, maybe a security deposit box or in your safe at home or in some filing cabinet that is hard to know. You know where exactly it is. People were not able to rifle through it and find your Social Security number just hanging out. So, yeah, when it comes to any kind of government documentation that could potentially put you at risk for some kind of identity theft or, you know, someone using your Social Security to open new accounts, it make sure that you are keeping it somewhere safe and away from prying eyes. Lovely, lovely. Always good advice for multiple things, unfortunately. Speaking of these savings bonds and kind of being a thing of yesteryear when it came to anniversaries or birthdays, baptisms, other special events, where where do you savings bonds come in today's world? Is it a weird thing to give out nowadays, or is it actually coming back? Is it hot? Yeah, you don't hear about it a ton, but you know a lot of older folks who are looking for a gift to give, maybe a new grandchild or a parent looking to give something to their child that's going to mature over the course of their young adulthood. You know, savings bond can still be something pretty, pretty great to get because it does help hedge against the rate of inflation and help you earn interest. And it's perhaps a little less technical than having to manage a savings account for that long period of time. So being able to add that beneficiary or co-owner on the savings bond makes it pretty easy to transfer as a gift. And I would say the main difference these days, though, is that paper bonds are probably not as frequently used as electronic ones. Electronic ones are also a little bit easier to cash. As I mentioned a moment ago, you can do it online and that's just the way the world has had it in a lot of different ways when it comes to finances is being able to just manage everything electronically. So that's probably how things are changed these days. But there are, of course, other options for setting up money for your child or grandchild. You know, college savings accounts and things like that are also fairly common. Aside from gift giving or out of the goodness of your heart when to give one of these out, would you suggest getting some of your own personal life or your own finance? Hmm. That could be something doable, but something worth noting though. So. So keep in mind, I'm not a financial advisor when it comes to investments. This is just me as a personal finance writer. But when it comes to investing in savings, bonds do tend to pale in comparison to how mutual funds or other stock based investments do over a long enough period of time. So if you're looking for something like investing and saving for retirement, that's where 41k comes into play. Or if you do want to do a college 529 investment for your child, you are likely to earn more interest than you potentially would with the savings bond on both savings bonds. There is the nice factor that is a guaranteed return, whereas saving in the stock market, you know it it could be volatile, especially in the short term. So that's why you're thinking of the longer term investments. Stock market investing is definitely something to look for. Okay. All important things to think of as you look at your finances. Is there anything else that you want to add about cashing in savings bonds, savings bonds in general in the year 2023? Yeah. So savings bonds could be a solid part of a, you know, diversified portfolio for your finances. You know, there are all kinds of vehicles that you can use to set aside money in interest if you're looking at just a regular banking products right now, savings accounts, the answer certificates of deposit are earning relatively high interest rates compared to how they have been in recent years. So you could look into that. You could look at a CD if you want to access that money sooner than you might think. On savings, bonds could be very long term and therefore less accessible and less liquid for things that you might need in the short to medium term. So just making sure you know what kind of options are available to you, what kind of rates you could potentially get. And and of course, you know, your own tolerance for risk and how you like to manage your money. But it's definitely a worthwhile option if that's something that you think you would benefit from. Beautiful. Sounds good. Thank you.

OMAHA, Neb. —

Parking is a constant complaint from customers in the Blackstone District. The Business Improvement District said it's working to improve access while also informing people on where they can park.

Jim Farho, the president of the Blackstone Improvement District, said parking in the district has improved. It most recently added a parking lot located behind Crescent Moon.

He said after 5 p.m., there are over 1,500 stalls available for parking, and private businesses have also chipped in to provide parking after hours.

Farho said while nothing is perfect, he feels the district is in pretty good shape.

"I think we really just need to get the word out and show people where you can park," Farho said.

The Blackstone Business Improvement District's website includes a map showing people the open lots for parking, hours and the walking distance.

He said the district also continues to work with the city to improve access.

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Farho said the parking garage coming in Spring to Farnam will add over 350 new spots in Blackstone. These spots will be shared with the coming retail spaces and apartments.

He said the creation of streetcar should also help. Farho said it will give people more flexibility on where to park.

"They're going to have choices. They're going to have options they've never had before," he said.

Amanda Petersmith recently opened First Round as a new business venture in Blackstone.

She said it's a 90s-themed sports bar for the non-sports fan.

So far, the business has been doing well, but she knows parking can be a problem.

"[People] want to come to Blackstone, but parking is such a pain it can sometimes turn them off," Petersmith said.

She's optimistic the new parking garage will help but said the city should focus on improving public transportation infrastructure as a long-term solution.

As a new business, First Round doesn't have much of a reputation yet, but she hopes word of mouth will spread that it's a cool place, creating a large customer base.

Petersmith said staff are working to make the bar a place worth the battle for parking.

"Our focus is on creating an experience that people want to come to, despite any pain points in parking," she said.