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A Journal of the Plague Year, being a thoroughly depressing accounting of events large and small in Omaha and in Nebraska in the year of someone's Lord 2020.
Prepared in no particular order
Prepared in no particular order
Governor Ricketts starts off strong. Well, comparatively to past behavior. Maybe we aren't doomed.
Then the folksy banter at the daily press briefings gets stale and forced when we all realize he isn't actually going to *do* anything.
Then the folksy banter at the daily press briefings gets stale and forced when we all realize he isn't actually going to *do* anything.
The Nebraska Legislature takes a break out of a concern for safety. A lot of old people there. Everyone pats themselves on the back for that unique Unicameral nonpartisanship that allows them to reconvene in order to accept the CARES money coming to the State.
But it turns out (or seems to be the case, at least, the Governor acts like it's the case) that in so doing they have also ceded any authority over how the $1.25 billion in CARES money is ultimately distributed and spent.
Nebraska got its $1.25 billion in CARES money on May 27. Some time later it was announced that NE DHHS would get $85 million for various projects to help struggling Nebraskans. It is called Community CARES.
For 2 months no one has Any Idea how, exactly, the community CARES.
For 2 months no one has Any Idea how, exactly, the community CARES.
In late-July, DHHS finally starts giving out CARES money.
Oh, and all of it needs to be spent by December 30.
Oh, and all of it needs to be spent by December 30.
Early on community advocates start calling for an eviction moratorium - I mean we are all being told to stay home but at the same time are continuing to make people homeless.
We didn't know everything about COVID but at least knew that crowding people into courtrooms to lose their homes after which those same people would be doubling up with others or going to congregate living like shelters or on the streets might be a bad idea
Not to mention the economic havoc ripping through the community - lost jobs cut hours etc etc. Sure the stock market seemed like it was okay but it was devastation in the everyday ways that mattered to people's actual lives.
The County Courts, the State Supreme Court, the City Councils, the County Boards all said there was nothing they could do.
Governor Ricketts signs a very limited moratorium that puts on the tenant the burden of proving they *deserve* protection from eviction
Governor Ricketts signs a very limited moratorium that puts on the tenant the burden of proving they *deserve* protection from eviction
We needed COVID tests and the absolute debacle that was happening at the federal level aside, Nebraska needed tests too.
So Governor Ricketts signed a $27 million deal with a brand new company to TestNebraska with few privacy protections and, it turns out, a veritable Utah-sized mountain of problems. Not just general scandal problems but the kind that jeopardize the health and safety of Nebraskans
Governor Ricketts and his spokesman, Taylor Gage, say everything is fine and the real problem is that people aren't signing up for tests.
Cities, listening to what science *does* know about stopping the spread of COVID-19 - a simple piece of cloth worn over your mouth and nose to keep you and your neighbors safe - start thinking about implementing mask mandates. You know, to keep citizens safe and also, business!
No less than the liberal socialist bastion of the Chambers of Commerce support masks but Governor Ricketts, citing Nebraskans' loathing of big government interfering in their lives, uses the power of his office to threaten cities who want a mandate by withholding CARES help
Small government for the win. https://omaha.com/state-and-regional/ricketts-tells-local-governments-they-wont-get-federal-covid-19-money-if-they-require-masks/article_d15459b9-26df-527e-9899-9f579a3d8597.html
Dr. Adi Pour (or, "Adi Pour, Ph.D" as the anti-masker heroes call her) head of the Douglas County Health Department, feels she no longer has the authority after the Governor issues this ultimatum. So it must be taken up by the Omaha City Council.
After 3 hours of the kind of testimony that will make even the most gracious of citizens lose all faith in humanity, Omaha passes a mask mandate in early August. Then doesn't really do anything to enforce it. https://omaha.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/get-used-to-wearing-a-mask-omahans-after-4-hour-hearing-council-unanimously-passes-mandate/article_f4ed8c84-a15c-5776-ae3c-f4d345358051.html
Meanwhile, Douglas County receives $166 million in CARES funding and the City of Omaha is livid. Watchers of the County Board know this is going to be a wild ride.
Early on, the County votes to hire Deloitte to oversee CARES Act distribution and to advise the Board on appropriate uses of CARES according not only to Treasury guidance but also to something called the Deloitte Center for Excellence. The County is following the State's example.
The County starts allocating CARES funding, including $10 million to a rental assistance program to be administered by Douglas County General Assistance, and, coincidentally, by 2 levels of Deloitte staff who will vet applications and will ultimately cost close to $1 million.
We all learn that although the County Board meetings are a hot mess, Douglas County does a fairly good job of providing information on their website.
https://www.douglascounty-ne.gov/the-cares-act
https://www.douglascounty-ne.gov/the-cares-act
The documentation required to access County rental assistance seems a bit onerous, maybe unnecessary, but Deloitte maintains that these requirements (and their continued help administering the program) are absolutely necessary lest the County be audited and have to give back $
One of those requirements initially was that you had to be a US Citizen.
It turns out only someone in the household applying for assistance had to be a US Citizen.
Took a minute to figure that out but surely no harm done.
It turns out only someone in the household applying for assistance had to be a US Citizen.
Took a minute to figure that out but surely no harm done.
Any push for reducing documentation requirements to 1) help more people and 2) make sure all that $10 million is spent by the 12/30 deadline - is blocked by Deloitte's threat of an audit should we waver.
As if the US Dept of Treasury is going to come to Douglas County, Nebraska and comb through every single one of our applications for assistance (even a spot check) and then say, "Well, you gave Joe Omaha $1,347 to pay his rent and he didn't provide you with his February paystubs"
So the rental assistance program closes in mid-December with a little over $2 million left on the table.
But not really on the table because in September the Board voted to give themselves $26 million and any leftover CARES funding to go into their General Fund.
But not really on the table because in September the Board voted to give themselves $26 million and any leftover CARES funding to go into their General Fund.
It feels like around the time that Americans realized that no one was coming to save us and we stopped sharing uplifting heartwarming videos and more and more people started coming around to the idea that everything was fundamentally broken
Then a white police officer, enabled by the white supremacy that undergirds so much of our society and its institutions, murdered George Floyd in cold blood.
In Omaha, citizens assembled around 72nd and Dodge to call for a police accountability, for police to stop killing their neighbors, for our elected officials to stop covering for what is so clearly murder, to end white supremacy. To have a reckoning. As a community.
Police, armed with all of the tools they could need to crush an insurgency in a faraway place, felt threatened and responded with disproportionate force knowing full well they would not be held accountable for their actions. https://omaha.com/news/local/72nd-and-dodge-shut-down-as-tear-gas-protesters-fill-streets-omaha-police-make-multiple/article_85901422-09dc-500c-b016-7d6be516e418.html
And they weren't.
The protest moved downtown where a white bar owner, Jake Gardner, murdered a black man named James Scurlock. It turns out Gardner had a history of racist behavior and also, no permit for the gun he was carrying.
The Douglas County Attorney, Don Kleine, had a press conference.
The Douglas County Attorney, Don Kleine, had a press conference.
They said James Scurlock was vandalizing. They said he pushed Gardner's dad. They walked us through tape. They said Jake Gardner had never been booked for anything and that he said he felt threatened and didn't mean to and that he felt bad and so they let him go.
Protests continued. OPD kettled protestors on a bridge, rounded them up, and stuffed them into the County Jail in the middle of a pandemic. The City started offering deals to protestors and ignored the fact that they had violated their First Amendment rights
Outrage.
The City denied making deals.
They let the protestors go.
They decide they are still going to charge those with criminal backgrounds.
Then the ACLU files a lawsuit. https://omaha.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/federal-lawsuit-alleges-omaha-police-used-excessive-force-against-protesters/article_49a047f4-6026-5160-bfdc-0f2f989c867c.html
The City denied making deals.
They let the protestors go.
They decide they are still going to charge those with criminal backgrounds.
Then the ACLU files a lawsuit. https://omaha.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/federal-lawsuit-alleges-omaha-police-used-excessive-force-against-protesters/article_49a047f4-6026-5160-bfdc-0f2f989c867c.html
In response to "unrest" (so-called, always, because it is uncomfortable only to a certain group of the privileged who do not have to think about this usually), Omaha decides it's going to be on the forefront of reform.
Well, not the forefront, of course, because we have the best police force in the country. Top 10 at least. But we will be somewhere on the wave of reform.
A new Citizen Complaint process in front of a board chosen by the Mayor and the Chief and which require a notary but at least you can get the complaint form at the library.
Also officers will now get vacation for Juneteenth.
Also officers will now get vacation for Juneteenth.
Somewhere in all of this time-not-time, the Nebraska Legislature reconvened because they had Very Important Things to do and Nebraskans were and continue to struggle.
Big topics on the agenda included the All-Important and All-Consuming Property Tax Relief and so-called "Pro-Life" legislation banning certain types of abortion.
Nevermind that the rest of us were struggling through the medical, economic, and emotional trauma that is COVID-19.
Nevermind that the rest of us were struggling through the medical, economic, and emotional trauma that is COVID-19.
Nevermind that the community *needed*, right then and there, to confront its racism.
The Judiciary Committee held hearings on racial justice. https://omaha.com/news/local/dozens-tell-nebraska-lawmakers-their-frustrations-with-police-ideas-for-change/article_63fa4464-108d-5a20-8f65-a4199c3fd2e2.html
Senator @TonyVargas led a valiant effort to hold a hearing on conditions in the meatpacking plants which had become early hotspots and ignored because, well, who works there. As Governor Ricketts said, it wasn't the meatpacking plants' fault, it was the way the workers lived.
Senator @Adam_Morfeld tried to get an amendment onto a bill at this late stage in the game to clarify who has the authority to issue an eviction moratorium and try to get people some housing relief.
Senator @senatormachaela Cavanaugh along with some of her colleagues tried to establish at least an iota of control over the CARES money
Senator @NebraskaMegan Hunt pointed out over and over again how ridiculous it was that we would debate an abortion bill in the midst of COVID-19 when Nebraskans were struggling and dying.
Senator @Patty4Nebraska had a rotating collection of social justice face masks and absolutely eviscerated her colleagues for their callousness and their inaction to take this, their only opportunity do anything of any meaning for their constituents.
Senator Mike "No Face Mask and Definitely No Co-morbidities" Groene flipped her off, told her to shut up, then threw an absolute temper tantrum and called himself the victim. https://www.klkntv.com/another-heated-debate-on-nebraskas-legislative-floor/
Senator Vargas' efforts were stopped because of what are apparently absolutely immutable procedural rules of the Nebraska Legislature but those same rules do not apply when discussing the Sanctity of Life or Property Taxes, a point repeatedly made by Senator Hunt.
Senator Steve Lathrop lost it, saying what we were all thinking - that this was all just too broken. So broken that no one person, no matter how hard they tried, could do even the smallest thing to help. That none of it had to be this way. https://journalstar.com/legislature/prison-reform-parole-bill-is-filibustered-advanced-amid-acrimony/article_989008c1-fa0d-5970-bed8-8c26548e1e95.html
And that was basically the end of any hope that the Legislature would save us.
Governor Ricketts went to the White House and fell over himself praising Trump's COVID response. Case counts rose in Nebraska. HCWs cried for help. Taylor Gage attacked female physicians for bias. Governor Ricketts asked us to turn on blue lights but did nothing else.
Mask mandates remained unenforced but where they were implemented they started helping a little bit. Just enough that Governor Ricketts started rolling back what very small measures were originally there to protect us. We spent Thanksgiving without our families. Then Christmas.
People who lost their jobs tried to navigate the labyrinth of unemployment. The department in charge of that task admitted they were not, and still are not, prepared to handle the onslaught. And the numbers grow. Benefits are taken away then given back.
The deadline to spend CARES Act money has technically passed on 12/30, and though the new COVID relief bill signed at the last minute extended that deadline into next year, DHHS says all these programs with money left need to close out and give back whatever money remains.
Omaha City Council approved the Police contract and closed the year appointing a woman who questioned the seriousness of COVID, said Asian-Americans were probably trying to take over Nebraska, and thought it was perfectly fine for her to write from the "African American" side.
They have voted each time to extend the mask mandate.
Douglas County Board transferred $26 million CARES money to the General Fund and then closed the year by voting $10 million from the General Fund to the Juvenile Justice Center project. One testifier said it was the most embarrassing display of governance she's seen.
$2 million remained unspent in rental assistance. $500,000 in utility assistance. But Deloitte got their check and closed out the programs.
We have two new Board members who are sworn in this week.
We have two new Board members who are sworn in this week.
We came out of this election having lost progressive seats in the Legislature. The outgoing Speaker says masks will not be required this session. Medical experts Senators Erdman and Halloran still believe in herd immunity.
Senators are being asked to reduce the number of bills they introduce so there won't be so many hearings or people in hearings because of, you know, COVID concerns though no other steps will be taken.
There are Senators who are introducing bills to mitigate the worst consequences of this entire experience - food, shelter, income. Help. Stability.
Session starts this week.
Session starts this week.
In Douglas County, there have been 1700 eviction filings since March 6, when Nebraska announced its first COVID case.
In Omaha, one food pantry will have served around 160,000 people this year.
My daughter was born in February. She will turn one in just a few weeks. We have spent almost the entirety of her life so far at home.
We have lost 1,694 Nebraskans to COVID.
