Army service during WWII left a great impact on 106-year-old veteran
Published in Omaha World-Herald 11/06/2022
A small, wooden model B-24 bomber sits proudly next to a miniature American flag. A larger version of the stars and stripes rests gently on a display case full of medals and certificates in the corner of the living room.
At 106-years-old, Staff Sgt. Joe Burgess’ life is much quieter today than the long days spent on airplanes flying over foreign countries and awaiting the next mission on an Army base.
Born July 14, 1916, Burgess enlisted in the Army in 1940, roughly a year before the United States joined World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served for five years, flying over 30 successful missions in B-24 bomber planes across Germany, Italy, Romania, Austria and other European countries. Now, he lives at Elk Ridge Village in Elkhorn.
Veteran escaped death during service as a merchant marine during WWII
Published in Omaha World-Herald 11/06/2022
The dark skies were filled with pink lights as flares went up in all directions, attempting to alert someone to the sinking tanker ship below.
Just before midnight, the ship was struck by a German torpedo, knocking Jim Greer, who was on watch duty at the time, off his feet. As the water crept closer, he frantically searched for a lifeboat.
Finally, he found one.
Greer descended a rope ladder to the boat filled with his shipmates, but they left before he could make it down, leaving him dangling above wearing nothing but slippers, shorts and a T-shirt.
Nebraskan congressional members voice support, prayers for Paul Pelosi after attack
Published in Omaha World-Herald 10/28/2022
Members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation expressed sympathy and shock Friday after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked with a hammer in their San Francisco home.
Paul Pelosi, 82, was attacked around 2:30 a.m. Friday as an intruder searched for his wife, yelling: “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” Police arrived on the scene and arrested David DePape, 42.
Paul Pelosi was transported to a hospital, where he underwent surgery on his skull and an arm. He is expected to recover.
The speaker, a leader in the Democratic Party, was in Washington at the time of the attack.
U.S. Rep. Don Bacon was the first of Nebraska’s five congressional members — all Republicans — to publicly respond to the attacks Friday.
Abortion, inflation factor heavily in final debate between Flood and Pansing Brooks
Published in Omaha World-Herald 10/02/2022
U.S. Rep. Mike Flood and State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks went head to head Sunday in the final debate before the November general election.
The hourlong debate, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and KLKN, touched on many of the same topics and arguments made during a debate one week earlier, with abortion, student debt forgiveness and inflation factoring into Sunday’s discussion.
The pair also debated in June before the special election that Flood, a Republican from Norfolk, ultimately won. He is now serving the remainder of former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s term representing Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District.
Flood and Pansing Brooks, a Democrat from Lincoln, are now battling to hold the seat in Washington, D.C., for a full two-year term that will start in January.
Omaha man marks 50 years of delivering The World-Herald
Published in Omaha World-Herald 09/20/2022
From midnight to 4 a.m., while most of Omaha is sleeping, Bob Dropinski is awake, walking the same route he has walked for 50 years.
An old satchel slung over his shoulder holds freshly printed copies of the The World-Herald. As he walks, he places newspapers on porches, in between screen doors or on front steps — wherever the residents prefer it to be in the morning.
By the time he’s completed his routes, he has walked over 6 miles and is ready to finally go to bed just as the rest of the city is waking up.
Dropinski doesn’t mind the unusual schedule — he loves what he does.
Annual Omaha Comedy Fest gets underway Thursday
Published in Omaha World-Herald 08/31/2022
Over 150 comedians are set to bring plenty of jokes and laughs to Omaha when the city’s largest comedy event returns later this week.
The ninth annual Omaha Comedy Fest runs Thursday through Sunday, and it promises to be the biggest one yet, with headliners Amber Ruffin and the #IMOMSOHARD podcast duo of Kristin Hensley and Jen Smedley.
“Our goal is to bring comedy from all over the world to Omaha to showcase to people in the Midwest, and to help people who are local to Nebraska in the comedy scene get their faces out there as well,” said Timmy Tamisiea, an event organizer.
Omaha fisherman snags 90 million-year-old fossil
Published in Omaha World-Herald 08/30/2022
Andy Moore had just tied a swim jig onto his line and was rushing to make the perfect cast, aiming directly into a weeded area along a rocky cliff in the Missouri River.
His line missed the vegetation and snagged on a large rock upstream.
The Omaha man fought to release his lure, yanking, twisting and turning this way and that. He even tried to break his line so he could get back to his hunt for a tournament-winning bass, but it wouldn’t budge. Instead, he was forced to paddle his kayak to what he thought was nothing more than a piece of the fallen cliff.
When he got there, Moore found that he had snagged not just a rock, but something better — even better than the largemouth bass he had been searching for all morning.
Creighton grad heading to Africa as Peace Corps volunteer
Published in Omaha World-Herald 08/27/2022
Her suitcases are packed, ready to be lugged through security, shoved into airplane belly after airplane belly and taken across the world to Namibia in southern Africa.
Jennifer Ecklund, a 2022 Creighton University graduate, will leave behind life as she knows it and spend the next two years in the Peace Corps, traveling, exploring and helping communities in need.
She will be one of the first Nebraskans to travel overseas with the Peace Corps since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when all volunteers were ushered back into the United States.