Roger Garcia represents District 1 on the Douglas County Board of Commissioners. Garcia was elected to his first term in 2021, becoming the seven-member board’s first-ever Latino commissioner. He’s up for reelection this year but is running unopposed. Garcia was born in Los Angeles to immigrant parents from Honduras and Mexico. He was raised in Columbus, Nebraska and moved to Omaha in 2005. He holds bachelor’s degrees in psychology and Latino/Latin American Studies, a master’s in public administ...
Sep 14, 2024•51 min
Eduardo Gardea is a self-taught painter who works out of his studio at Hot Shops Art Center in the North Downtown neighborhood. He recently decided to quit his day job and pursue art full-time. His work is influenced by stories of the disenfranchised, often encouraging the viewer to think more deeply about the immigrant experience. Gardea has also created a number of murals around Omaha. One of his more recent works can be found on the exterior of Ooh De Lally in Dundee. In this conversation, Ga...
Sep 07, 2024•52 min
Episode 198 Attorney Matthew Wurstner returns to the show for a conversation with Tom Knoblauch about the legality of the United States' attempts to ban TikTok if it isn't sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance. Originally aired 6-24-24
Sep 07, 2024•51 min
Cyrus Jaffery is the founder and CEO of Jaffery Insurance. His new memoir is “Triumph After Trauma: How a Scrappy Battle-Scarred Refugee Insured His Own Success and Can Inspire Yours,” which he co-wrote with Leo Adam Biga. The book outlines Jaffery’s journey of migrating to the United States as an Afghan refugee, and applying the principles he learned in his journey to the business world. Jaffery is in conversation with Michael Griffin about his transition from war-torn Afghanistan to suburban O...
Aug 19, 2024•51 min
Episode 199 Doris Lassiter is a public health advocate for North Omaha. Lassiter’s career began with a corporate job, which she left after becoming pregnant unexpectedly and prematurely giving birth to her daughter. The experience led her to work with the Omaha Housing Authority on reducing infant mortality rates among Omaha's Black community. With OHA, Lassiter helped launch the Omaha Healthy Start program at Charles Drew, which provides education and healthcare services to new parents and thei...
Aug 14, 2024•53 min
Episode 202 Diana Rogel is the diversity outreach and engagement coordinator at Live On Nebraska, one of 56 organ procurement organizations in the country. Live On is responsible for recovering organs and tissue from deceased donors for transplantation, and maintaining the state's donor registry. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 100,000 people in the United States are awaiting transplants. One donor can save up to eight lives. Part of Live On Nebraska’s mission is to ...
Aug 14, 2024•50 min
Episode 201 Martin Sneider, former co-CEO of Edison Brothers Stores, is author of the new book “Amy Unbound,” the second installment in his Feldman Family Saga. The series follows a powerful family in the fashion industry, and the rise and fall of their business empire. Some of the story based on Sneider’s own experience as a fourth generation fashion retailer. “Amy Unbound” is out now and available wherever you get books. Sneider was raised in Omaha and attended Central High. Today, he divides ...
Aug 14, 2024•50 min
Episode 200 Marcos Eduardo Mora Barrientos is the executive director of Casa de la Cultura, the organization behind Omaha’s annual Cinco de Mayo celebration. Mora was born in Los Angeles and raised in Omaha, where his family has lived for nearly a century after his grandfather, Vidal Barrientos, migrated from Mexico in the 1920s. La familia Barrientos has been known for its musicianship in South Omaha ever since, and Mora is no exception. He plays guitar in three bands. As executive director of ...
Aug 14, 2024•51 min
Episode 203 Leah Whitney Chavez is the founder and executive director of World Speaks Omaha, a nonprofit that works to expand language access in Omaha. World Speaks offers low-cost tutoring and language classes, and translation services in more than two dozen languages to businesses and other organizations. World Speaks is also launching the Open Doors Initiative later this year. The program is meant to provide community members whose first language isn’t English with free interpreting services ...
Aug 14, 2024•51 min
Clarice Dombeck is a candidate for the Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Board of Directors in District 2. The Transit Authority, also known as Metro, is responsible for running Omaha’s bus system, including ORBT and MOBY services. The first elected board will have seven nonpartisan members, one for each district. Prior to this year, seats were appointed by the mayor rather than elected. The change is part of Metro’s increased budget and expanded regional services. Board responsibilities...
Jun 17, 2024•53 min
Shelley Mann is the founder and executive director of Nebraska Abortion Resources, also known as NEAR. Mann started NEAR in 2020 with a mission of providing financial aid to people seeking abortions. That assistance can take different forms, such as paying for the procedure itself or covering travel costs. Mann says NEAR has helped 800 people access abortions in four years. Mann has a long history of advocacy related to reproductive rights and other causes. She’s long been a fixture outside the ...
Jun 10, 2024•53 min
In today's episode, Michael speaks with Lucia Pedroza-Estrada, Elevate Omaha ’s advocacy and grantmaking director. Born in Guatemala, and a self-described lifelong lover of politics, Pedroza-Estrada’s work involves acting as a connector to elected officials and other advocacy groups. She also makes the grantmaking process more accessible to youth and develops advocacy strategies that are youth-led.
Jun 03, 2024•53 min
The Omaha Summer Arts Festival is a weekend-long, annual celebration of the city’s culture. The festival includes an artist market with more than 130 vendors, a lineup of local musicians, and lots of local food. This year’s festival is June 7 through June 9 in Aksarben Village, and it’s a milestone: number 50. Today, Michael is speaking with Maggie Winton, the Omaha Summer Arts Festival’s marketing manager. She’s here to give a rundown of the festival’s 50-year history, how it adapted during the...
Jun 03, 2024•53 min
Ja Keen Fox is an advocate from Nebraska with experience in political organizing, journalism, and media. Earlier this year, Fox began working on The Dreamland Report, a nonprofit news service expected to launch this November. Fox created the serice in an effort to close the information gap between North Omaha and the rest of the city, and to make news about the Black community accessible to readers.
Jun 03, 2024•53 min
Susi Amendola is a yoga therapist, author and Ornish Lifestyle Medicine trainer. She has more than 30 years experience in yoga and stress management. Her studio Yoga Now , where she still teaches, opened in Benson in 1983. Amendola also directs the studio’s annual yoga teacher certification program, which begins this September. Amendola’s new book is “The Centered Heart: Evidence-Based Mind Body Practices to Stress Less and Improve Cardiac Health.” The book explores the relationship between stre...
Jun 03, 2024•53 min
The Omaha Mobile Stage is a traveling performance venue that was built out of an 18-foot box truck. The truck is rented for block parties, markets, youth talent shows and other community-centered events as a platform for all kinds of live performance. On this episode, Jessica Scheuerman and Keiria Marsha talk about their goals for the stage as a creative placemaking effort, and what’s planned for the venue this summer. Scheuerman is the founder and executive director of Partners for Livable Omah...
Jun 03, 2024•53 min
Qasim Shabazz Asad is a co-founder and co-chair of the Black Agenda Alliance , a Pan-African group working to improve social, economic and cultural conditions in Omaha’s Black community In 2019, Asad and other community members formed the Black Agenda Alliance to bring a new perspective to advocacy in Omaha. The organization’s goals include youth education, strengthening families, building economic independence and political engagement. In this conversation, he speaks with Chris Bowling about ov...
Jun 02, 2024•53 min
Miah Sommer is the founder and executive director of Astute Coffee, formerly known as the Bike Union. The nonprofit coffee shop employs young adults impacted by the foster care system and creates programming to give them the tools to succeed in the workforce and their personal lives. Sommer was born and raised in Omaha. His mission with Astute Coffee was informed and inspired by his childhood.
Jun 02, 2024•53 min
Maurtice Ivy was a record-breaking basketball player as a student at Central High School in the 1980s. She went on to play for the Nebraska Cornhuskers women’s basketball team, where was the first player in Husker history to surpass the 2,000-point barrier. Her jersey was retired in in 2011. She was inducted into the Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020. Today, Ivy is pursuing her doctorate degree in educational leadership at Doane University. She’s also the founder and CEO of Ivy League Yout...
Jun 02, 2024•53 min
Today's episode features a conversation between Tom Knoblauch and Matthew Wurstner, an attorney from Omaha, Nebraska. If you've ever watched Supreme Court proceedings, a word that you've heard a lot is "precedent." How much does precedent matter? How much should we revere the standards of the past, and how much should we look to rewrite the rules of the future? These questions don't have firm answers, but people have strong opinions about them — particularly in an age of gridlocked Congress and ...
Jun 02, 2024•52 min
Today's show is a conversation between Michael Griffin and Tena Hahn Rodriguez, co-interim executive director of Black & Pink National , a nonprofit prison abolition organization headquartered in Omaha. Hahn Rodriguez is a dancer, educator and Omaha native. She’s worked at various nonprofits in Omaha, including Inclusive Communities and Heartland Pride, and co-founded the queer nightlife event Revel in 2014. Today, Hahn Rodriguez discusses her Omaha upbringing and how it shapes her advocacy,...
Mar 23, 2024•53 min
Inclusive Communities is a nonprofit that uses human relations work to promote diversity and inclusion among individuals, workplaces and communities. The organization also holds public events to encourage cross-cultural dialogue, including the Jane H. & Rabbi Sidney H. Brooks Conversations for Change series. The series brings in prominent entertainment industry figures for conversation to build connections across identities. Conversations for Change launched last year with actor Kal Penn as ...
Mar 16, 2024•53 min
Congressman Don Bacon has represented Nebraska's Second Congressional District since 2017. He is running for re-election again this year against Nebraska State Senator Tony Vargas. Today, he recounts his experience during the January 6th attack, why he thinks Republicans should regain control, and what he makes of Donald Trump's enduring influence over the Republican Party.
Mar 09, 2024•54 min
If you follow Omaha politics, you likely know Dr. Erin Feichtinger--or at least her tweets. Feichtinger has a PhD in history and currently serves as policy director at the Women’s Fund of Omaha, and she has made it a mission to shine a light on the details, drama, and triumphs of our local power structures. In this time of political dysfunction, often at the national and the local level, Feichtinger talks with Tom Knoblauch about what history can offer us to understand today and what all of this...
Mar 01, 2024•53 min
Filmmaker Tony Bonacci previously appeared on the show when his acclaimed short , The Headliner, made festival rounds in 2018. Even then, he was adamant that he would turn that story into a feature alongside the short’s writer, Christine Burright, and its star, Darrick Silkman. Several years and one global pandemic later, he has. Bonacci’s feature film debut, also titled The Headliner, is premiering on Saturday March 2nd at this year’s Omaha Film Festival . On this week's show, Bonacci talks w...
Feb 23, 2024•54 min
Machaela Cavanaugh represents Nebraska's 6th District in the Unicameral. She was re-elected to a second term in 2022 and in 2023, Cavanaugh made national news when she filibustered LB574, also known as the Let Them Grow Act, which bans gender-affirming care for Nebraska children. Cavanaugh spoke on the bill up to 12 hours a day for 11 weeks. LB574 was passed by the Legislature in May and went into effect last October. In the current legislative session, which began on January 3rd, Cavanaugh says...
Feb 10, 2024•54 min
Keyonna King is an associate professor in the UNMC College of Public Health. She holds a doctorate in public health from Loma Linda University. King specializes in community-based participatory research, or CBPR, an approach that works with community members to make public health programs more equitable and inclusive. King is also a co-investigator in UNMC’s BEAT Cancer study. BEAT Cancer, which stands for Black Equity, Access and Testing for Cancer, seeks to increase colorectal cancer screening...
Feb 02, 2024•54 min
Josh Tague was born and raised in Omaha and has a business degree from UNO. He’s played guitar in various bands and is a regular audience member at local concerts — including performances by the biggest local band in town, the Omaha Symphony. As director of marketing and communications at the Omaha Symphony, Tague is responsible for building and cultivating the group’s audiences and brand. Today, Tague and Michael Griffin are talking about the symphony’s history and about how classical music spa...
Jan 27, 2024•54 min
Jaden Perkins is grassroots community organizer from Omaha who specializes in coalition building. He currently works for the Heartland Workers Center as a policy fellow. Perkins has also worked on campaigns for local political candidates, including Dave Pantos, Cammy Watkins, and Jasmine Harris. His event, "Politically Speaking… It’s a Drag," uses performing arts to help audiences understand political issues. Perkins previously hosted the event in October of 2022 with then–Douglas County Attorne...
Jan 21, 2024•54 min
Mia Perales is a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Last year she won an environmental achievement award from the Nebraska chapter of the Sierra Club after leading climate work with the city-wide group Students for Sustainability and starting a lunch composting program at Omaha South High School that’s since been adopted at Central High School. David Corbin is a longtime environmentalist in Omaha. He’s been a public health professor at UNO, a leader in the local Sierra Club and a st...
Jan 05, 2024•54 min
