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Check out the new features at Omaha’s Gene Leahy Mall

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Check out the new features at Omaha’s Gene Leahy Mall


Omaha — Ezra Salazar smiled as he ran up the concrete steps to the highest of Gene Leahy Mall’s metallic slides. 

The three-year-old joined a crowd of kids on the high, some with wax paper in hand, a couple of waving to their dad and mom under, all keen to slip down one of many park’s most iconic options. 

The slides have gotten quite a lot of use for the reason that downtown park’s reopening July 1. 

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Tens of hundreds of individuals visited Gene Leahy Mall throughout its opening weekend, each to see the park that was underneath development for greater than three years, and to make the most of dozens of free occasions. 

The overhaul of the mall and two different downtown parks started with the formation of the fundraising nonprofit Downtown Riverfront Belief.

Together with a metropolis contribution of $50 million, the Downtown Riverfront Belief raised about $400 million for the three-park undertaking. 

The Metropolitan Leisure and Conference Authority (MECA) manages the park.

Building on the mall began in March 2019. Heartland of America Park and Lewis & Clark Touchdown are in earlier levels of renovation and anticipated to reopen in 2023.

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Under are a number of the new and improved options on the revamped Gene Leahy Mall.






Ani, a 5-month-old Bernedoodle belonging to Ron and Peggy Bulbulian of Elkhorn, performs within the canine park on the Gene Leahy Mall Wednesday. After a closure that lasted greater than three years, the park reopened July 1 with new and improved options, together with the canine park on the east finish of Gene Leahy. The canine park has two sides, one for bigger canines and one for smaller. Each embody turf hills for the canines to climb and dog-level water fountains.

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Gene Leahy Mall’s Efficiency Pavilion hosted various high-caliber exhibits throughout the park’s opening weekend. Stretching out from the pavilion to the west is a 42,000-square-foot inexperienced garden the place hundreds of individuals gathered throughout the venue’s first performances. Park officers describe the pavilion as harking back to the enduring Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, which has the same arch-shaped masking over the stage. At evening, the pavilion will be lit from beneath to create a glow impact.

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Alongside the southern fringe of the park, midway between tenth and thirteenth Streets, orange arches rise into the sky. The arches, obtainable for youngsters to climb on, are a part of a brand new and fashionable playground. The realm features a rope forest, a picket deck for climbing and a rock wall.

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A 26-foot-tall sculpture stands on the western finish of Gene Leahy Mall. The piece was commissioned by MECA and created by London-based artist Yinka Shonibare as an iconic part of the downtown park. The sculpture, which took a couple of 12 months to make, is an expression of Omaha, Shonibare mentioned in an interview over Zoom. Particulars of the town will be discovered within the hand-painted fiberglass, which was made to look gentle and ethereal, like a chunk of colourful cloth floating within the wind. Native crops had been included within the sculpture’s particulars, and the prevalence of water will be seen in a number of the ripples of the design.

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5 public artwork items make up Gene Leahy’s sculpture backyard on the north finish of the park, alongside Douglas Avenue.

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A path guides guests by way of the backyard with native crops, fireplace pits and seating areas that make the area a bit quieter in comparison with the playground on the other facet of the inexperienced garden.

Candice Crutcher walked by way of the backyard Wednesday together with her dad and mom.

“It is a fantastic area for individuals to come back and stroll, individuals with households, individuals with canines, individuals by themselves who wish to hangout and discover a place to take a seat,” Crutcher mentioned. 

The sculptures featured within the backyard had been delivered to Omaha by way of a partnership between native artwork gallery Kaneko and MECA. Kaneko turned to the Worldwide Sculpture Heart, which helped establish 10 artists, who had been then narrowed down to 5.

The 5 items will likely be rotated out after three years. 

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Omaha’s historic metal-and-concrete slides had been spruced up with a brand new concrete overlay earlier than the park reopened. Shade canopies had been put in close to the slides for fogeys and guardians to take a load off. Three extra slides had been added, together with a “curler slide” that folks can race down on their bellies. A sledding and rolling hill is simply to the north of the slides. As 3-year-old Ezra raced up and down the metallic slides, his sisters ready to go down a smaller slide close by. Camila Salazar, 9, sat on the high of the slide together with her sister Galilea Salazar, practically 2 years outdated, in her lap. Of all of the park’s new options, Camila mentioned the slides had been her favourite. 

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Nebraska

All-Out Blitz Week 13: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers

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All-Out Blitz Week 13: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers


All-Out Blitz Week 13: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers

BadgerBlitz.com brings back its All-Out Blitz weekly series for the 2024 season, where you can find everything you need to know about Wisconsin’s upcoming opponent. We look at UW’s tenth opponent in the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who the Badgers will travel to play Saturday afternoon in Lincoln at 2:30 p.m. on BTN.

QUICK PROGRAM FACTS

Head Coach: Matt Rhule (57-55 career record, second season at Nebraska)

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Nebraska All Time Record: 887-404-38 (.667)

2024 Record: 5-5 (2-5 Big Ten)

Rankings: N/A

Series vs. Wisconsin: 4-13

WHEN NEBRASKA HAS THE FOOTBALL

COMPARING THE PROJECTED STARTERS

Nebraska’s gradual decline over the course of this season is parallel with the decline of their offense.

Through the first five games, in which the team began 4-1, the offense averaged 405.4 yards per game. Over the last five, the 1-4 Cornhuskers are averaging just 294 yards per game.

This prompted the demoting of offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield, and promotion of Dana Holgorsen, prior to last week’s loss to USC.

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It was the hope that Holgorsen, a former disciple of Mike Leach, could reinvigorate freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola.

It’s hard to tell if the former No. 1 quarterback in the 2024 class is responsible for the offense’s drop-off, or merely a victim of it, but all we know is that his season has fallen off of a cliff.

Through the first five games, he threw for nine touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 70% of his passes. In the five games since, he’s down to two touchdowns and eight interceptions, completing just 60% of his passes.

Raiola hasn’t received much help from his receiving core. He never had a true No. 1 receiver, even when the offense looked good, and nobody is stepping up now. No Husker receiver has reached 100 yards in a game since the season opener against UTEP.

They added two starters via the transfer portal — Isaiah Neyor (Texas) and Jahmal Banks (Wake Forest) — but both have been solid at best.

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Wisconsin’s pass defense, which has only improved as the season has gone on, should create problems for Raiola and co.

They held Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel without a touchdown for the first time all season in what felt like a triumphant defensive performance, despite the 16-13 loss.

Beyond the strong coverage of cornerbacks Ricardo Hallman and Nyzier Fourqurean, what was most impressive about Wisconsin’s defense was how their line was able to generate consistent pressure on Gabriel.

It’ll be key for the Badgers to shut down Nebraska’s passing attack, because their running game isn’t particularly dangerous.

They rotate between three backs on a regular basis, led by Dante Dowdell, who averages a team-high 12 carries per game. Sophomore Emmett Johnson received more carries than Dowdell in the most recent outing against USC and could be ascending up the depth chart. Regardless, no Nebraska back has been a consistent threat.

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WHEN WISCONSIN HAS THE BALL

COMPARING THE PROJECTED STARTERS

This will be the first game Wisconsin plays since offensive coordinator Phil Longo was fired on Sunday.

Fickell wasn’t willing to name a replacement play caller, instead alluding to a “collaborative” operation.

However that turns out, it must lead to some sort of reinvigoration. Over Wisconsin’s three-game losing streak, the offense is averaging just 261.6 total yards per game.

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The offensive incompetence was especially frustrating against Oregon, a game in which the defense had their best performance of the season.

The offense needs to go back to basics. All season, they’ve been at their best when the offensive line opens up running lanes and allows for a balanced game plan.

Running back Tawee Walker struggled mightily against Penn State and Iowa, rushing for just 111 yards over those two games, but rebounded with a 97-yard performance last week against Oregon.

The front line will have a tough matchup against Nebraska’s defensive line trio of Ty Robinson, Jamari Butler and Nash Hutmacher, who lead the 20th-ranked rushing defense in the nation.

The production of Wisconsin’s running game will be key, because they simply can’t rely on quarterback Braedyn Locke, who’s coming off of a 96-yard passing performance against Oregon. He’s thrown an interception in all seven of his starts this season, bringing his season touchdown-interception ratio to 9-9.

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Locke will try to take advantage of a Nebraska secondary that suffered a crushing blow earlier this week, with the announcement that Tommi Hill would miss the rest of the season due to a foot injury.

The best starter besides Hill is Malcolm Herzog, the team leader in interception (four) who primarily plays in the slot. Although the biggest priority for Wisconsin will be safety Isaac Gifford, who leads the team in tackles with 59 and can manage to fly all over the field.

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HUSKER GAMEDAY: Nebraska, Wisconsin seek bowl eligibility in Big Ten clash

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HUSKER GAMEDAY: Nebraska, Wisconsin seek bowl eligibility in Big Ten clash


LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) – When Nebraska (5-5, 2-5) and Wisconsin (5-5, 3-4) face off in a Big Ten conference bout Saturday, it will be like looking in the mirror.

Yes, the similarities between these teams run far deeper than the color palette.

Both squads exceeded expectations early in the 2024 season, each stringing together solid wins and even earning conference championship contender status for a brief moment. But then both teams faltered… and faltered, and faltered again.

Alas, neither team has won a game in the last 30 days.

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GAME INFO

  • WHERE: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.
  • WHEN: 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 23
  • WATCH: Big Ten Network
  • LISTEN: Huskers Radio Network
  • VEGAS ODDS: Wisconsin +1, O/U 41.5

And both head coaches — Nebraska’s Matt Rhule and Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell — are in their second year with their current employer, both of whom were brought in to turn their respective programs back toward the success of old. Both of whom seem to be slightly behind schedule on said objective, depending on who you ask.

Again, the similarities are striking, and that’s without even mentioning the fact that both teams sit at 5-5 and need one more win to achieve bowl eligibility. That’s where one of the few differences can be exposed, though. Wisconsin’s last bowl appearance came, well, last year. In fact, they’ve played in a bowl game every season since 2002.

For Nebraska, it’s been a long, arduous eight-year bowl drought, which could all come to an end inside Memorial Stadium on Saturday. But the Huskers haven’t won a game since it beat Rutgers 14-7 at home on Oct. 5. Four consecutive losses followed. Still, as Husker fans know so well, not all losses are the same.

Nebraska’s 56-7 blowout loss to Indiana left a gross taste in the mouths of Big Red Nation, but then, the Huskers lost three straight games by one score, including a near upset of No. 4 Ohio State. There are no moral victories, though, and fans have grown far too used to seeing one-score losses.

Nebraska defensive lineman Ty Robinson (9) pursues Purdue quarterback Hudson Card (1) in the backfield during an NCAA football game on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in West Lafayette, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)(Doug McSchooler | AP)

But despite all the ire and hand-wringing present around the Husker program over the past six weeks, they still have a chance to do something no Nebraska team has managed to do since 2016, and that’s make a bowl game.

To do so in front of their home crowd on senior day would be a cherry on top.

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“I think the veteran guys, those senior guys are locked in,” Rhule said in his press conference Thursday. “There’s 30 seniors. There’s a lot of guys who’ve been here for five or six years, so this means a lot to them. The gravity of the situation is not lost on them and I know how much they’d like to win. I know how much they’d like to be the ones who broke through.”

This will be the second game in which Nebraska’s play-calling duties are in the hands of Dana Holgorsen, who Rhule hired last week to be the team’s new offensive coordinator, demoting Marcus Satterfield to tight ends coach.

Though, according to Rhule, it wasn’t necessarily the X’s and O’s that were the problem, and Holgorsen has echoed that.

“[Holgorsen] is putting a lot of pressure on the guys to make the plays,” Rhule said. “He’s been very direct with them. If they want to win, they’re going to have go make plays. They’re going to have to catch balls, break tackles, make long runs, make big blocks against an excellent defense, score touchdowns in the red zone. It’s not the plays that do it, it’s the players that do it. We want our players to believe that players win games.”

Wisconsin poses a unique challenge to Nebraska in that, again, they’re very much alike. The Badgers don’t really boast any major firepower on offense. Halfback Tawee Walker is their best playmaker, having found the end zone 10 times this year with an average of just under five yards per carry.

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Wisconsin cornerback Ricardo Hallman (2) returns an interception 95-yards for touchdown as...
Wisconsin cornerback Ricardo Hallman (2) returns an interception 95-yards for touchdown as Rutgers quarterback Gavin Wimsatt, left, chases during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)(Andy Manis | AP)

But this year’s Wisconsin squad hangs its hat on the defensive side of the ball — namely, the secondary. The Badgers rank in the top 10 nationally in both passing yards allowed and passing yards per game. Cornerback Ricardo Hallman is one of the top-rated NFL Draft prospects at his position.

Last week, the Badgers held Oregon quarterback and Heisman candidate to just 218 yards, no touchdowns and an interception.

“They’re an excellent defense,” said Rhule. “They’ve got guys who can cover. They’re going to play man [coverage]. They’ve got a great safety, linebackers who can run, excellent pass rush. They held Oregon to 16 points and they were really good in the red zone against Oregon, so it’s probably as good of a defense as we’ll see all year.”



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Tigers Top Flip Target Locks in Commitment with Nebraska

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Tigers Top Flip Target Locks in Commitment with Nebraska


Eli Drinkwitz and the Missouri football staff have compiled the No. 20 ranked recruiting class in the nation up to this point, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.

The Tigers hoped to add to that class with the addition of 4-Star safety Jeremiah Jones from Murray, Kentucky, but the talented defender had other ideas.

Despite taking a visit to Columbia last week and speaking highly of his time in Missouri, Jones locked in his commitment to Nebraska this week with a post on social media.

Jones is rated as the No. 4 player in the state of Kentucky and is the No. 35 safety in the nation, according to 247Sports. He committed to Nebraska in July of this year, joining the Cornhuskers’ 21st ranked recruiting class. As just a sophomore at Murray High School in Kentucky, Jones compiled an impressive 97 tackles and five interceptions.

Nebraska has struggled in recent weeks after a hot start that saw them jump out to a 5-1 record. The Cornhuskers now sit at 5-5 after dropping four straight games to conference opponents, but still have a chance at bowl eligibility with games remaining against Wisconsin and Iowa.

Head coach Matt Rhule put together a strong recruiting class in 2024, headlined by 5-Star quarterback Dylan Raiola, that finished in the top-20 in the nation. As it stands now, Nebraska looks to be in position once again to secure a top-20 class potentially.

Despite missing out on the flip, Drinkwitz and Missouri are also still in play for one of the nation’s top classes. The Tigers finished 20th in the country in 2024, and are still in position to do so again.





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