Nebraska
A federal judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to fully comply with NEPA in allowing the controversial pipeline to cross under the Missouri River. The judge did not order Energy Transfers Partners to cease operations of the pipeline.
NPR: The Two-Way
In 2015, the U.S. Census made some changes to its methodology for estimating city populations. The city of Ralston, a suburb of Omaha, provides a case study for the effect of the changes.
Ralston Recorder
Activists use plungers to unclog streets for bikers, as tide of active transit flows unimpeded across America's planes.
Omaha World Herald
Communities across Nebraska report plenty of jobs to go around, but not enough housing for the workers to fulfill the demand.
Omaha World-Herald
Following through on a January executive action, President Trump announced Friday that he was approving the oil pipeline that his predecessor had rejected over a year ago. Oil is already flowing from Steele City, Nebraska to Gulf Coast refineries.
The New York Times - Energy & Environment
A large mixed-use development proposed as a 'gateway to western Omaha' has received approval from the city's planning board.
Omaha World Herald
The euphemism refers to a cost-saving measure that's happening even in central districts, to the chagrin of residents. This reversion to gravel roads is one manifestation of a looming local infrastructure deficit.
The New York Times
Pennsylvania, the state that had the highest gas tax last year, saw the highest gas tax increase of 7.9 cents per gallon, the final increment of a 2013 law. Michigan's 7.3 cents tax increase, signed into law in 2015, is the second largest increase.
Tax Justice Blog
It used to be that only New Orleans and Las Vegas allowed people to carry a drink outdoors and imbibe in public. Now cities all over the country, mostly in traditionally conservative states, are loosening their laws.
Stateline
Community and Regional Planning Associate Professor Zhenghong Tang received an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to explore the use of drones to monitor wetlands.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Surprisingly, legislators are rewarded for supporting new gas taxes: they get reelected, according to a new analysis by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. What's more, they overwhelmingly hail from red states.
The Hill
Decades ago, developers installed sub-standard asphalt on residential streets in Omaha, with the understanding that residents, not the city, would maintain them.
The Associated Press via The Denver Post
Climate researchers are hoping to coordinate the efforts of Midwest cities toward creating plans and working toward more holistic approaches to climate change.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
On July 1, two states will increase gas taxes, one will decrease its tax, and two will be adjusted downwards per state legislation, according to Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).
Tax Justice Blog
Good jobs, affordable housing, and quality of life rarely come in a total package. In fact, according to new analysis from the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis, only three cities in the United States combine all three.
Gizmodo
A new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration documents the increasing frequency of nuisance floods and "clear-sky flooding."
USA Today
Among the ten state legislatures, mostly Republican controlled, which passed gas tax increases last year, the one that stood out the most was Nebraska's because it had to override Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) veto of the six-cent gas tax hike bill.
The Omaha World-Herald
TransCanada, developer of the controversial 1,179-mile pipeline that would transport crude derived from oils sands in Alberta to Steele City, Nebraska, asked the State Department to hold-off processing its application for the seven-year-old project.
Los Angeles Times
Aaron Renn scours the Internet to find 12 maps that attempt to do the impossible: define the geographic and cultural expanse known as the American Midwest.
The Urbanophile
Carl Davis, Research Director of the Institute on Tax and Economic Policy (ITEP) writes where gas taxes used to fund transportation infrastructure increased, if only by decimal points, and about the aberration—the six-cent plunge in California.
Tax Justice Blog
