title: Grand Canyon

text: Camping on the North and South rims is generally restricted to established campgrounds and reservations are highly recommended, especially at the busier South Rim. There is at large camping available along many parts of the North Rim managed by Kaibab National Forest. North Rim campsites are only open seasonally due to road closures from weather and winter snowpack. All overnight camping below the rim requires a backcountry permit from the Backcountry Office (BCO). Each year Grand Canyon National Park receives approximately 30,000 requests for backcountry permits. The park issues 13,000 permits, and close to 40,000 people camp overnight. The earliest a permit application is accepted is the first of the month, four months before the proposed start month.


title: Grand Canyon

text: Tourists wishing for a more vertical perspective can go skydiving, board helicopters and small airplanes in Boulder, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Grand Canyon National Park Airport (seven miles from the South Rim) for canyon flyovers. Scenic flights are no longer allowed to fly within of the rim within the national park because of a late 1990s crash. The last aerial video footage from below the rim was filmed in 1984. However, some helicopter flights land on the Havasupai and Hualapai Indian Reservations within Grand Canyon (outside of the park boundaries).


title: Grand Canyon

text: In 2007, the Hualapai Tribe opened the glass-bottomed Grand Canyon Skywalk on their property, Grand Canyon West. The Skywalk is about by road from Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim.


title: Grand Canyon

text: In 2016, skydiving at the Grand Canyon become possible with the first Grand Canyon Skydiving operation opening up at the Grand Canyon National Park Airport, on the South Rim.


title: Grand Canyon

text: In 2014, a developer announced plans to build a multimedia complex on the canyon's rim called the Grand Canyon Escalade. On there would be shops, an IMAX theater, hotels and an RV park. A gondola would enable easy visits to the canyon floor where a "riverwalk" of "connected walkways, an eatery, a tramway station, a seating area and a wastewater package plant" would be situated. On October 31, 2017, the Navajo Nation Council voted against the project.


title: Grand Canyon

text: Lipan Point is a promontory located on the South Rim. This point is located to the east of the Grand Canyon Village along the Desert View Drive. There is a parking lot for visitors to Lipan Point. The trailhead to the Tanner Trail is located just before the parking lot. The view from Lipan Point shows a wide array of rock strata and the Unkar Delta area in the inner canyon.


title: Grand Canyon

text: About 770 deaths have occurred between the mid 1800s and 2015. Of the fatalities that occurred from 1869 to 2001, some were as follows: 53 resulted from falls; 65 were attributable to environmental causes, including heat stroke, cardiac arrest, dehydration, and hypothermia; 7 were caught in flash floods; 79 were drowned in the Colorado River; 242 perished in airplane and helicopter crashes (128 of them in the 1956 disaster mentioned below); 25 died in freak errors and accidents, including lightning strikes and rock falls; and 23 were the victims of homicides.


title: Grand Canyon

text: In 1956, the Grand Canyon was the site of the deadliest commercial aviation disaster in history at the time.


title: Grand Canyon

text: On the morning of June 30, 1956, a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation and a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 departed Los Angeles International Airport within three minutes of one another on eastbound transcontinental flights. Approximately 90 minutes later, the two propeller-driven airliners collided above the canyon while both were flying in unmonitored airspace.


title: Grand Canyon

text: The wreckage of both planes fell into the eastern portion of the canyon, on Temple and Chuar Buttes, near the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. The disaster killed all 128 passengers and crew members aboard both planes.


title: Grand Canyon

text: This accident led to the institution of high-altitude airways and direct radar observation of aircraft (known as positive control) by en route ground controllers.


title: Grand Canyon

text: In "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon", Thomas M. Myers, a journalist and author, documents every death in the Grand Canyon.


title: Grand Canyon

text: On October 3, 2020, former Major League Baseball player Charlie Haeger was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on a canyon trail. He was under investigation for the murder of his ex-girlfriend which had taken place the day before in Scottsdale.


title: Walter Matthau

text: Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director.


title: Walter Matthau

text: He is best known for his film roles in "A Face in the Crowd" (1957), "King Creole" (1958) and as a coach of a hapless little league team in the baseball comedy "The Bad News Bears" (1976). He also starred in 10 films alongside Jack Lemmon, including "The Odd Couple" (1968), "The Front Page" (1974) and "Grumpy Old Men" (1993). Matthau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Billy Wilder film "The Fortune Cookie" (1966). Matthau is also known for his performances in Stanley Donen's romance "Charade" (1963), Gene Kelly's musical "Hello, Dolly!" (1969), Elaine May's screwball comedy "A New Leaf" (1971) and Herbert Ross' ensemble comedy "California Suite" (1978). He also starred in "Plaza Suite", "Kotch" (both 1971), "Charley Varrick" (1973), "The Sunshine Boys" (1975), and "Hopscotch" (1980).


title: Walter Matthau

text: On Broadway, Matthau originated the role of Oscar Madison in "The Odd Couple" by playwright Neil Simon, for which he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1965, his second after "A Shot in the Dark" in 1962. Matthau also received two British Academy Film Awards and a Golden Globe Award. In 1963 he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for his performance in "The DuPont Show of the Week". In 1982, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: Walter Matthau

text: Matthau was born Walter John Matthow on October 1, 1920, in New York City's Lower East Side. He had two brothers, one older and one younger.


title: Walter Matthau

text: His mother, Rose ( Berolsky or Beransky), was a Lithuanian-Jewish immigrant who worked in a garment sweatshop, and his father, Milton Matuschansky, was a Ukrainian-Jewish peddler and electrician, from Kyiv, Ukraine. They married in New York in 1917.


title: Walter Matthau

text: As part of a lifelong love of practical jokes, Matthau created the rumors that his middle name was "Foghorn" and his last name was originally "Matuschanskayasky" (under which he is credited for a cameo role in the film "Earthquake").


title: Walter Matthau

text: As a young boy, Matthau attended a Jewish non-profit sleepaway camp, Tranquillity Camp, where he first began acting in the shows the camp would stage on Saturday nights. He also attended Surprise Lake Camp. His high school was Seward Park High School. He worked for a short time as a concession stand cashier in the Yiddish Theatre District.


title: Walter Matthau

text: During World War II, Matthau saw active service as a radioman-gunner in the U.S. Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force in the United Kingdom, crewing a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber. He was with the same 453rd Bombardment Group as James Stewart. While based in England at RAF Old Buckenham in Norfolk, he flew missions across to continental Europe during the Battle of the Bulge. He ended the war with the rank of Staff Sergeant, and returned home to America for demobilization at the war's end intent on pursuing a career as an actor.


title: Walter Matthau

text: Matthau was trained in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School with German director Erwin Piscator. He often joked that his best early review came in a play where he posed as a derelict. One reviewer said, "The others just looked like actors in make-up, Walter Matthau really looks like a skid row bum!" Matthau was a respected stage actor for years in such fare as "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" and "A Shot in the Dark", for his performance in the latter winning the 1962 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.


title: Walter Matthau

text: Matthau appeared in the pilot of "Mister Peepers" (1952) with Wally Cox. For reasons unknown he used the name Leonard Elliot. His role was of the gym teacher Mr. Wall. He made his motion picture debut as a whip-wielding bad guy in "The Kentuckian" (1955) opposite Burt Lancaster. He played a villain in "King Creole" (1958), in which he gets beaten up by Elvis Presley. Around the same time, he made "Ride a Crooked Trail" with Audie Murphy, and "Onionhead" (both 1958) starring Andy Griffith; the latter was a flop. Matthau and Griffith later appeared in the critical and box office hit "A Face in the Crowd" (1957), directed by Elia Kazan. Matthau appeared with James Mason in "Bigger Than Life" (1956) directed by Nicholas Ray. Matthau directed a low-budget movie called "The Gangster Story" (1960) and played a sympathetic sheriff in "Lonely Are the Brave" (1962), which starred Kirk Douglas. He appeared in the Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn crime thriller "Charade" (1963).


title: Walter Matthau

text: On television, he appeared twice on "Naked City", as well as in four installments of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". He appeared eight times between 1962 and 1964 on "The DuPont Show of the Week" and as Franklin Gaer in an episode of "Dr. Kildare" ("Man Is a Rock", 1964).


title: Walter Matthau

text: Comedies were rare in Matthau's work at that time. He was cast in a number of stark dramas, such as "Fail Safe" (1964), in which he portrayed Pentagon adviser Dr. Groeteschele, who urges an all-out nuclear attack on the Soviet Union in response to an accidental transmission of an attack signal to U.S. Air Force bombers. Neil Simon cast him in the play "The Odd Couple" in 1965, with Matthau playing slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison, opposite Art Carney as Felix Ungar. Matthau later reprised the role in the film version, with Jack Lemmon as Felix Unger. He played detective Ted Casselle in the Hitchcockian thriller "Mirage" (1965), directed by Edward Dmytryk.


title: Walter Matthau

text: He achieved great success in the comedy film, "The Fortune Cookie" (1966), as a shyster lawyer, William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, starring yet again opposite Lemmon; the first of many collaborations with Billy Wilder, and a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Filming had to be placed on a five-month hiatus after Matthau had a serious heart attack. He gave up his three pack a day smoking habit as a result. Matthau appeared during the Oscar telecast shortly after having been injured in a bicycle accident; nonetheless, he scolded actors who had not attended the ceremony, especially the other major award winners that night: Paul Scofield, Elizabeth Taylor and Sandy Dennis.


title: Walter Matthau

text: Oscar nominations would come Matthau's way again for "Kotch" (1971), directed by Lemmon, and "The Sunshine Boys" (1975), another adaptation of a Neil Simon stage play, this time about a pair of former vaudeville stars. For the latter role he won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.


title: Walter Matthau

text: Broadway hits turned into films continued to cast Matthau in lead roles in "Hello, Dolly!" and "Cactus Flower" (both 1969); for the latter film, Goldie Hawn received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Matthau played three roles in the film version of Simon's "Plaza Suite" (1971) and was in the cast of its followup "California Suite" (1978).


title: Walter Matthau

text: Matthau starred in three crime dramas in the mid-1970s, as a detective investigating a mass murder on a bus in "The Laughing Policeman" (1973), as a bank robber on the run from the Mafia and the law in "Charley Varrick" (also 1973) and as a New York transit official in the action-adventure "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974). A change of pace about misfits on a Little League baseball team turned out to be a solid hit when Matthau starred as coach Morris Buttermaker in the comedy "The Bad News Bears" (1976).


title: Walter Matthau

text: Matthau looked to produce some films with Universal Pictures, with his son Charlie also becoming involved in his production company, Walcar Productions, but the only film he produced was the third remake of "Little Miss Marker" (1980). He was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor—Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of former CIA field operative Miles Kendig in the elaborate spy comedy "Hopscotch" (1980), co-starring with Glenda Jackson. The original script, a dark work based on the novel of the same name, was rewritten and transformed into a comedy in order to play to Matthau's specific talents. The rewrite was a condition of his participation. Matthau participated in the script revisions, and the film's director, Ronald Neame, observed that Matthau's contributions entitled him to screen credit, but that was never pursued. Matthau wrote the scene in which Kendig and Isobel—apparently strangers—meet in a Salzburg restaurant and strike up a conversation about wine that ends in a passionate kiss. He also wrote the last scene of the film, where Kendig, presumed to be dead, disguises himself as a Sikh in order to enter a bookshop. He also helped in choosing appropriate compositions by Mozart that made up much of the score. TCM's Susan Doll observes that ""Hopscotch" could be considered the end of a long career peak or the beginning of (Matthau's) slide downhill, depending on the viewpoint," as character parts and supporting parts became the only thing available to an actor his age.


title: Walter Matthau

text: The next year, he was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor—Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of the fictional Associate Justice Daniel Snow in "First Monday in October" (1981). The film was about the (fictional) first appointment of a woman (played by Jill Clayburgh) to the Supreme Court of the United States. It was scheduled for release in 1982, but when President Ronald Reagan named Sandra Day O'Connor in July 1981, the release date was moved up to August 1981. "New York Times" critic Janet Maslin disliked the film but praised Matthau's performance. Matthau portrayed Herbert Tucker in "I Ought to Be in Pictures" (1982), with Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff. Matthau took the leading role of Captain Thomas Bartholomew Red in Roman Polanski's swashbuckler "Pirates" (1986).


title: Walter Matthau

text: During the 1980s and 1990s Matthau served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute.


title: Walter Matthau

text: Matthau narrated the "Doctor Seuss Video Classics: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" (1992) and played the role of Mr. Wilson in the film "Dennis the Menace" (1993). In a change of pace, Matthau played Albert Einstein in the film "I.Q." (1994), starring Tim Robbins and Meg Ryan.


title: Walter Matthau

text: His partnership with Jack Lemmon became one of the most enduring collaborations in Hollywood. They became lifelong friends after making "The Fortune Cookie" and would make a total of 10 movies together—11 counting "Kotch", in which Lemmon has a cameo as a sleeping bus passenger. Apart from their many comedies, the two appeared (although they did not share any scenes) in the Oliver Stone drama, "JFK" (1991). Matthau and Lemmon reunited for the comedy "Grumpy Old Men" (1993), co-starring Ann-Margret, and its sequel, "Grumpier Old Men" (1995), also co-starring Sophia Loren. This led to further pairings late in their careers, "Out to Sea" (1997) and a Simon-scripted sequel to their much earlier success, "The Odd Couple II" (1998).


title: Walter Matthau

text: Matthau was married twice: first to Grace Geraldine Johnson from 1948 to 1958, and then to Carol Marcus from 1959 until his death in 2000. He had two children, Jenny and David, by his first wife, and a son, Charlie Matthau, with his second wife. Matthau also helped raise his stepchildren, Aram Saroyan and Lucy Saroyan.


title: Walter Matthau

text: A heavy smoker, Matthau had a heart attack in 1966 while filming "The Fortune Cookie", the first of at least three in his lifetime.


title: Walter Matthau

text: In 1976, ten years after his first heart attack, he underwent heart bypass surgery. After working in Minnesota for "Grumpy Old Men" (1993), he was hospitalized for double pneumonia. In December 1995, he had a colon tumor removed, apparently successfully, as there was no mention of cancer in his death certificate. He was hospitalized in May 1999 for more than two months, owing again to pneumonia.


title: Walter Matthau

text: His death certificate lists the causes of death as "cardiac arrest" and "atherosclerotic heart disease" with "end stage renal disease" and "atrial fibrillation" as significant contributing factors. There is no mention of cancer.


title: Walter Matthau

text: Matthau had atherosclerotic heart disease during the last years of his life. On the late evening of June 30, 2000, he had a heart attack at his home and was taken by ambulance to the St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica where he died a few hours later at 1:42 a.m. on July 1, 2000, at age 79. He was buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Matthau's wife Carol Marcus died in 2003, and her body was interred in the same grave as her husband.


title: MonsterVerse

text: The MonsterVerse is an American multimedia franchise and shared fictional universe featuring Godzilla, King Kong, and other monster characters owned and created by Toho Co., Ltd. The franchise is produced by Legendary Pictures and co-produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The first installment was "Godzilla" (2014), a reboot of the "Godzilla" franchise, which was followed by "" (2017), a reboot of the "King Kong" franchise, "" (2019), and "Godzilla vs. Kong" (2021). The franchise received a generally positive reception and has been commercially successful with a combined gross of $1.950 billion worldwide.


title: MonsterVerse

text: The franchise will continue with two television series and an untitled "Godzilla vs. Kong" sequel concurrently in production.


title: MonsterVerse

text: Writer Max Borenstein stated that the MonsterVerse did not begin as a franchise but as an American reboot of "Godzilla". Borenstein credits Legendary Entertainment's founder and then CEO Thomas Tull as the one responsible for the MonsterVerse, having acquired the rights to Godzilla and negotiated the complicated rights to King Kong. Tull had offered Borenstein the opportunity to write the first draft for "", with the goal to establish Kong in the same universe as Legendary's "Godzilla" film. Tull's vision was for the films to one day lead to "Godzilla vs. Kong".


title: MonsterVerse

text: Legendary confirmed at the July 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International that it had acquired the licensing rights to Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah from Toho Co., Ltd. and revealed concept footage with the closing title cards reading "Conflict: inevitable. Let them fight". In September 2015, Legendary announced that the film "Kong: Skull Island" would not be developed with Universal Studios. Instead, it would be developed with Warner Bros., which sparked media speculation that Godzilla and Kong would appear in a film together.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In October 2015, Legendary announced plans to unite Godzilla and Kong in a film titled "Godzilla vs. Kong", set for a 2020 release date. Legendary planned to create a shared cinematic franchise "centered around Monarch" (the secret government agency which debuted in 2014's "Godzilla") and that "brings together Godzilla and Legendary’s King Kong in an ecosystem of other giant super-species, both classic and new". Later in October, it was announced that "Kong: Skull Island" would have references to Monarch.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In May 2016, Warner Bros. announced that "Godzilla vs. Kong" would be released on May 29, 2020, later pushed back to May 21, 2021, and that "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" would be pushed back from its original June 8, 2018 release date to March 22, 2019, however, the film was later pushed back again to May 31, 2019. In October 2016, Legendary announced that "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" would be filmed at its parent company Wanda's Oriental Movie Metropolis facility in Qingdao, China, along with "". That same month, it was revealed that Legendary was planning a writers room to create their Godzilla–Kong cinematic universe, with Alex Garcia overseeing the project for Legendary.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In early January 2017, Thomas Tull, founder of Legendary, resigned from the company but would remain as producer for the Godzilla–Kong series, which was revealed as the "MonsterVerse". In March 2017, Legendary assembled a writers room led by Terry Rossio to develop the story for "Godzilla vs. Kong".


title: MonsterVerse

text: Legendary's license to Godzilla expired in 2020. However, Toho announced in July 2021 that Godzilla would be featured in a sequel to "Godzilla vs. Kong". In January 2022, Legendary announced plans for a live-action TV series centered on Godzilla and other Titans.


title: MonsterVerse

text: The film reimagines Godzilla's origins and is set 15 years after a nuclear meltdown in Japan which was caused by giant parasitic creatures, known as "MUTOs". As two MUTOs ravage the countryside in order to reproduce, they awaken a larger ancient alpha predator, known as "Godzilla", whose existence has been kept secret by the U.S. government since 1954. The film introduces Godzilla, the MUTOs, and the Monarch organization to the MonsterVerse.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In 2004, director Yoshimitsu Banno acquired permission from Toho to produce a short IMAX "Godzilla" film which was in development for several years until the project was eventually turned over to Legendary Pictures. In March 2010, Legendary announced to have acquired the rights to Godzilla for a feature film reboot. In January 2011, Gareth Edwards was announced as the director for the film. The film was co-produced with Warner Bros. Pictures with filming completed in 2013 in Canada and the United States for release in 2014. "Godzilla" was released on May 16, 2014, to positive reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $529 million worldwide against a budget of $160 million.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In the film, set in 1973, a team of scientists and Vietnam War soldiers travel to an uncharted island in the Pacific and encounter terrifying creatures and the mighty Kong. The film introduces Kong, the Mother Longlegs, the Sker Buffalo, the Mire Squid, the Leafwing, the Psychovulture, the Spore Mantis, the Skull Devil, and the Skullcrawlers to the MonsterVerse and a post-credits scene introduces Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidorah to the MonsterVerse. The Skull Devil was originally trademarked as "Ramarak the Skullcrawler" until it was abandoned in September 2017.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In July 2014 at the San Diego Comic-Con, Legendary announced a King Kong origin story, initially titled "Skull Island", with a release date of November 4, 2016, and Universal Pictures distributing. In September 2014, Jordan Vogt-Roberts was announced as the film's director. In September 2015, Legendary moved development of the film from Universal Pictures to Warner Bros. to create an expanded cinematic universe. Principal photography began on October 19, 2015, in Hawaii and Vietnam. "Kong: Skull Island" was released on March 10, 2017, to positive reviews, and was a box office success, grossing $566 million worldwide against a budget of $185 million. The film received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 90th Academy Awards.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In the film, eco-terrorists release King Ghidorah, who awakens other monsters known as "Titans" across the world, forcing Godzilla and Mothra to surface and engage Ghidorah and Rodan in a decisive battle. The film changes the monsters' designation from "MUTOs" to "Titans". The film introduces Scylla, Methuselah, Behemoth, and the Queen MUTO to the MonsterVerse. Off-screen, the film introduces Baphomet, Typhon, Mokele-Mbembe, Sargon, Tiamat, Abaddon, Leviathan, and Bunyip to the MonsterVerse.


title: MonsterVerse

text: Prior to announcing a shared cinematic universe between Godzilla and Kong, Legendary originally intended to produce a "Godzilla" trilogy, with Gareth Edwards attached to direct all films. However, Edwards left the sequel in May 2016 to work on smaller scale projects. In January 2017, Michael Dougherty was announced as the director and co-writer for the film. Principal photography began in June 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia and wrapped in September 2017. The film was released on May 31, 2019, to mixed reviews, and was a box office disappointment, grossing $386 million worldwide against a budget between $170–200 million.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In the film, Kong clashes with Godzilla as humans lure the ape into the Hollow Earth to retrieve a power source for a weapon to stop Godzilla's mysterious rampages. The film introduces Mechagodzilla, the Warbat, and the Hellhawk to the MonsterVerse.


title: MonsterVerse

text: The project was announced in October 2015 when Legendary announced plans for a shared cinematic universe between Godzilla and King Kong. The film's writers room was assembled in March 2017 and Adam Wingard was announced as the director in May 2017. Principal photography began in November 2018 in Hawaii and Australia and concluded in April 2019. After being delayed from a November 2020 release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was theatrically released internationally on March 24, 2021, and was released in the United States on March 31, 2021, where it was released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. The film received generally positive reviews and was a box office success, breaking pandemic records and grossing $470 million. It was also a streaming hit, becoming the most successful launch item in HBO Max's history until it was overtaken by "Mortal Kombat".


title: MonsterVerse

text: Godzilla and Kong reunite against an undiscovered threat hidden deep within the Earth that challenges the existence of humans and Titans alike.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In March 2022, it was announced that a sequel to "Godzilla vs. Kong" is scheduled to commence filming later in the year in Gold Coast, Queensland and other locations in South East Queensland. In May 2022, it was announced that Wingard would return to direct and that Dan Stevens had been cast as the lead. Wingard and Stevens had previously worked together on "The Guest". The film is scheduled to be released on March 15, 2024 in IMAX.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In October 2017, Steven S. DeKnight (director and co-writer of "") noted that there have been discussions about a cross-over between the MonsterVerse and "Pacific Rim" franchise, however, he iterated it was all theoretical possibilities. Guillermo del Toro (director and co-writer of "Pacific Rim") had also expressed interest in "Pacific Rim" crossing over with the Monsterverse. In March 2019, when asked about the future of the MonsterVerse, Garcia stated, "It's one brick at a time, each piece has to be as good as it can be, so right now it's all focused on this ["Godzilla: King of the Monsters" and "Godzilla vs. Kong"]. But could there be? Yeah, that's the hope if the movies turn out really well."


title: MonsterVerse

text: In February 2021, Wingard stated, "I know where we could go potentially with future films." However, he noted that the MonsterVerse was created "to a certain degree" to lead towards "Godzilla vs. Kong". Wingard added that the MonsterVerse is at a "crossroads", stating, "It’s really at the point where audiences have to kind of step forward and vote for more of these things. If this movie is a success obviously they will continue forward."


title: MonsterVerse

text: On April 4, 2021, Legendary's CEO Josh Grode commented on potential sequels, "we have a number of ideas for more movies." That same month, the hashtag #ContinueTheMonsterverse began trending on Twitter, which was acknowledged by Legendary and garnered support from Vogt-Roberts. On April 27, 2021, "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that Legendary was "quietly taking steps to stretch the series into one or more installments," while negotiating with Wingard to potentially return to direct. Various ideas were considered, including "Son of Kong" as one potential title.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In August 2021, Borenstein stated that "there will be some new, interesting installments coming" due to the success of "Godzilla vs. Kong". Borenstein had also expressed interest in seeing Legendary produce a film with minimal human characters, stating, "I think it is possible. It would be very ambitious. I think ambitious in that "" way. I think it’s totally possible to do that with the absolute minimum amount of human characters and really characterize the creatures."


title: MonsterVerse

text: In January 2021, an anime-styled animated series titled "Skull Island" was announced to be in development. The series will center around the adventures of shipwrecked characters, trying to escape from the titular island which is home to various prehistoric monsters. The project will be written by Brian Duffield, who will also serve as co-executive producer with Jacob Robinson. The series will be a joint-venture production between Legendary Television, Tractor Pants Productions, Powerhouse Animation Studios, and Netflix Animation. The show will be released as a streaming exclusive on Netflix.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In January 2022, Legendary announced that Apple TV+ had ordered an untitled live-action series featuring Godzilla and other Titans, with Chris Black serving as showrunner. Black and Matt Fraction will serve as co-creators and executive producers. The series will focus on "one family’s journey to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch." Joby Harold, Tory Tunnell, Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita will serve as additional executive producers.


title: MonsterVerse

text: Following the success of "Godzilla vs. Kong", discussions commenced on ways that the MonsterVerse could be expanded beyond feature films. Legendary proposed a live-action series, and amongst the potential buyers, Apple TV+ expressed immediate interest and negotiated a deal to begin development. The project will be a joint-venture production between Legendary Television, Safehouse Pictures, Toho Co. Ltd., and Apple TV+ Original Series.


title: MonsterVerse

text: In June 2022, Legendary announced that Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett and Elisa Lasowski had been cast in the series. Matt Shakman will direct the first two episodes and also serve as executive producer. In July 2022, Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt Russell were added to the cast.


title: MonsterVerse

text: For "Godzilla" (2014), Alexandre Desplat was announced as the film's composer in August 2013. Director Gareth Edwards chose Desplat after creating a music playlist, stating, "I dragged and dropped all my favorite soundtracks, and the person who got high score was Alexandre Desplat." Desplat accepted the job because he was impressed with Edwards' debut film "Monsters" and had never composed a monster film, adding that he always attempted to accept differentiating films. Desplat had organized a large orchestra that he described as "stupidly big, as big as Godzilla." He explained that the orchestra had to be big in order to avoid filling gaps in the score with electronics. Desplat had described his score as "non-stop fortissimo, with lots of brass, Japanese drums, and electric violin." He echoed the film's Japanese origins and influence by applying a shakuhachi bamboo flute and taiko drums throughout the score. While the themes of Akira Ifukube, the composer of various "Godzilla" films, were not used for the film, Edwards described the music as "very much in the same tone of Akira." Desplat also paid homage to Ifukube during the track "Godzilla!" by flaring the brass to reflect sounds similar to Ifukube's themes.


title: MonsterVerse

text: For "" (2017), Henry Jackman blended 1970s psychedelic guitars into the score, which was considered to be a combination of mixing electronic sounds with symphony orchestra. Jackman stated that "The great thing about a monster movie is that it opens the door to use the symphony orchestra in its most sumptuous way. [Director] Jordan Vogt-Roberts was happy to celebrate the gravity and history that comes with a full orchestra, but we also explored less traditional elements. That's a field day for a composer." Vogt-Roberts also used rock music from the Vietnam-era and hits from the 70s, stating, "this provides a striking dichotomy, sets the tone and gives us great moments of fun."


title: MonsterVerse

text: For "" (2019), it was announced during Comic-Con 2018 that Bear McCreary would compose the score and utilize Ifukube's themes and Yūji Koseki's Mothra theme. He chose to adapt Ifukube and Koseki's themes to form a "connection between Ifukube’s uniquely brilliant style and the aesthetics of modern blockbusters." For the film's soundtrack, McCreary produced a cover of Blue Öyster Cult's "Godzilla", that featured Serj Tankian on vocals, as well as Brendon Small, Gene Hoglan, and other members of Dethklok contributing to the cover. McCreary described the cover as "the most audacious piece of music" he had produced in his career.


title: MonsterVerse

text: For "Godzilla vs. Kong" (2021), Tom Holkenborg was announced as the film's composer in June 2020. During a meeting in 2018, Holkenborg admitted to director Adam Wingard to being a Godzilla fan and had composed a Godzilla theme recreationally. Wingard chose not to recycle Ifukube's theme, feeling it was "insincere" since he associated them with Toho's Godzilla. Instead, Wingard wanted to use new themes that embraced the MonsterVerse's Godzilla while honoring its influences. Holkenborg requested a bass drum roughly ten feet in diameter, but the builder was only able to scale it down to eight feet. He wanted to create a Godzilla theme that "lived and breathed" the history behind monster themes and that was slow and sluggish to reflect Godzilla. Lower brass and big tympanis were used to underscore Godzilla's power. For Kong's theme, Holkenborg used an "organic approach." The sound was interwoven with electronic and sound design elements. The score began with melody and "got colors and orchestration and different types of electronic instruments with it".


title: MonsterVerse

text: Legendary's Godzilla was featured as a playable character in Bandai Namco's 2014 video game "Godzilla" as "Hollywood Godzilla". In 2017, a short virtual reality experience titled "Kong VR: Destination Skull Island" was made available at 1500 Samsung retail demo locations, in 15 AMC theater locations, and Samsung VR stores. Godzilla and Kong were featured in cross-over events for "PUBG Mobile", "World of Warships", "Godzilla: Battle Line", and "".


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city, Omaha's 2020 census population was 486,051.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha is the anchor of the eight-county, bi-state Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. The Omaha Metropolitan Area is the 58th-largest in the United States, with a population of 967,604. The Omaha-Council Bluffs-Fremont, NE-IA Combined Statistical Area (CSA) totaled 1,004,771, according to 2020 estimates. Approximately 1.5 million people reside within the Greater Omaha area, within a radius of Downtown Omaha. It is ranked as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, which in 2020 gave it "sufficiency" status.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's pioneer period began in 1854, when the city was founded by speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa. The city was founded along the Missouri River, and a crossing called Lone Tree Ferry earned the city its nickname, the "Gateway to the West". Omaha introduced this new West to the world in 1898, when it played host to the World's Fair, dubbed the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. During the 19th century, Omaha's central location in the United States spurred the city to become an important national transportation hub. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the transportation and jobbing sectors were important in the city, along with its railroads and breweries. In the 20th century, the Omaha Stockyards, once the world's largest, and its meatpacking plants gained international prominence.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Today, Omaha is the home to the headquarters of four Fortune 500 companies: conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway; one of the world's largest construction companies, Kiewit Corporation; insurance and financial firm Mutual of Omaha; and the United States' largest railroad operator, Union Pacific Corporation. Berkshire Hathaway is headed by local investor Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world, according to a decade's worth of "Forbes" rankings, some of which have ranked him as high as No. 1.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha is also the home to five Fortune 1000 headquarters: Green Plains, Intrado, TD Ameritrade, Valmont Industries, and Werner Enterprises. Also headquartered in Omaha are the following: First National Bank of Omaha, the third largest privately held bank in the United States; three of the nation's ten largest architecture/engineering firms (DLR Group, HDR, Inc., and Leo A Daly); and the Gallup Organization, of Gallup Poll fame, and its riverfront Gallup University.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Notable modern Omaha inventions include the following: the "pink hair curler" created at Omaha's Tip-Top Products; Butter Brickle Ice Cream, and the Reuben sandwich, conceived by a chef at the then–Blackstone Hotel on 36th and Farnam Streets; cake mix, developed by Duncan Hines, then a division of Omaha's Nebraska Consolidated Mills, the forerunner to today's ConAgra Foods; center-pivot irrigation by the Omaha company now known as Valmont Corporation; Raisin Bran, developed by Omaha's Skinner Macaroni Co.; the first ski lift in the U.S., in 1936, by Omaha's Union Pacific Corp.; the Top 40 radio format, pioneered by Todd Storz, scion of Omaha's Storz Brewing Co. and head of Storz Broadcasting, and first used in the U.S. at Omaha's KOWH Radio; and the TV dinner, developed by Omaha's Carl A. Swanson.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Various Native American tribes had lived in the land that became Omaha, including since the 17th century, the Omaha and Ponca, Dhegihan-Siouan language people who had originated in the lower Ohio River valley and migrated west by the early 17th century; Pawnee, Otoe, Missouri, and Ioway. The word "Omaha" (actually "Umoⁿhoⁿ" or "Umaⁿhaⁿ") in the Omaha language means "Upstream People" or "Against The Current."


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed the riverbanks where the city of Omaha would be built. Between July 30 and August 3, 1804, members of the expedition, including Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, met with Oto and Missouria tribal leaders at the Council Bluff at a point about north of present-day Omaha. Immediately south of that area, Americans built several fur trading outposts in succeeding years, including Fort Lisa in 1812; Fort Atkinson in 1819; Cabanné's Trading Post, built in 1822, and Fontenelle's Post in 1823, in what became Bellevue. There was fierce competition among fur traders until John Jacob Astor created the monopoly of the American Fur Company. The Mormons built a town called Cutler's Park in the area in 1846. While it was temporary, the settlement provided the basis for further development.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Through 26 separate treaties with the United States federal government, Native American tribes in Nebraska gradually ceded the lands that now make up the state. The treaty and cession involving the Omaha area occurred in 1854 when the Omaha Tribe ceded most of east-central Nebraska. Logan Fontenelle, an interpreter for the Omaha and signatory to the 1854 treaty, played an essential role in those proceedings.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Before it was legal to claim land in Indian Country, William D. Brown operated the Lone Tree Ferry that brought settlers from Council Bluffs, Iowa to the area that became Omaha. Brown is generally credited as having the first vision for a city where Omaha now sits. The passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854 was presaged by the staking out of claims around the area to become Omaha by residents from neighboring Council Bluffs. On July 4, 1854, the city was informally established at a picnic on Capital Hill, current site of Omaha Central High School. Soon after, the Omaha Claim Club was formed to provide vigilante justice for claim jumpers and others who infringed on the land of many of the city's founding fathers. Some of this land, which now wraps around Downtown Omaha, was later used to entice Nebraska Territorial legislators to an area called Scriptown. The Territorial capitol was in Omaha, but when Nebraska became a state in 1867, the capital was relocated to Lincoln, south-west of Omaha. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled against numerous landowners whose violent actions were condemned in "Baker v. Morton".


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Many of Omaha's founding figures stayed at the Douglas House or the Cozzens House Hotel. Dodge Street was important early in the city's early commercial history; North 24th Street and South 24th Street also developed independently as business districts. Early pioneers were buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery and Cedar Hill Cemetery. Cedar Hill closed in the 1860s and its graves were moved to Prospect Hill, where pioneers were later joined by soldiers from Fort Omaha, African Americans and early European immigrants. There are several other historical cemeteries in Omaha, historical Jewish synagogues and historical Christian churches dating from the pioneer era, as well. Two sculpture parks, Pioneer Courage and Spirit of Nebraska's Wilderness and The Transcontinental Railroad, celebrate the city's pioneering history.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The economy of Omaha boomed and busted through its early years. In 1858, the "Omaha Daily Republican" was founded by the "Omaha Printing Company (rebranded Aradius Group, 2016)", it was Nebraska's first regional newspaper–founded before Nebraska claimed statehood. Omaha was a stopping point for settlers and prospectors heading west, either overland or by the Missouri River. The steamboat "Bertrand" sank north of Omaha on its way to the goldfields in 1865. Its massive collection of artifacts is on display at the nearby Desoto National Wildlife Refuge. The jobbing and wholesaling district brought new jobs, followed by the railroads and the stockyards. Groundbreaking for the First transcontinental railroad in 1863, provided an essential developmental boom for the city. In 1862, the U.S. Congress allowed the Union Pacific Railroad to begin building westward railways; in January 1866 it commenced construction out of Omaha.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Union Stockyards, another important part of the city's development, were founded in South Omaha in 1883. Within 20 years, Omaha had four of the five major meatpacking companies in the United States. By the 1950s, half the city's workforce was employed in meatpacking and processing. Meatpacking, jobbing and railroads were responsible for most of the growth in the city from the late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Immigrants soon created ethnic enclaves throughout the city, including Irish in Sheelytown in South Omaha; Germans in the Near North Side, joined by the European Jews and black migrants from the South; Little Italy and Little Bohemia in South Omaha. Beginning in the late 19th century, Omaha's upper class lived in posh enclaves throughout the city, including the south and north Gold Coast neighborhoods, Bemis Park, Kountze Place, Field Club and throughout Midtown Omaha. They traveled the city's sprawling park system on boulevards designed by renowned landscape architect Horace Cleveland. The Omaha Horse Railway first carried passengers throughout the city, as did the later Omaha Cable Tramway Company and several similar companies. In 1888, the Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway and Bridge Company built the Douglas Street Bridge, the first pedestrian and wagon bridge between Omaha and Council Bluffs.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Gambling, drinking and prostitution were widespread in the 19th century, first rampant in the city's Burnt District and later in the Sporting District. Controlled by Omaha's political boss Tom Dennison by 1890, criminal elements enjoyed support from Omaha's "perpetual" mayor, "Cowboy Jim" Dahlman, nicknamed for his eight terms as mayor.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Calamities such as the Great Flood of 1881 did not slow down the city's violence. In 1882, the Camp Dump Strike pitted state militia against unionized strikers, drawing national attention to Omaha's labor troubles. The Governor of Nebraska had to call in U.S. Army troops from nearby Fort Omaha to protect strikebreakers for the Burlington Railroad, bringing along Gatling guns and a cannon for defense. When the event ended, one man was dead and several were wounded. In 1891, a mob hanged Joe Coe, an African-American porter after he was accused of raping a white girl. There were also several other riots and civil unrest events in Omaha during this period.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In 1898, Omaha's leaders, under the guidance of Gurdon Wattles, held the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, touted as a celebration of agricultural and industrial growth throughout the Midwest. The Indian Congress, which drew more than 500 American Indians from across the country, was held simultaneously. More than 2 million visitors attended these events at Kountze Park and the Omaha Driving Park in the Kountze Place neighborhood.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: With dramatically increasing population in the 20th century, competition and fierce labor struggles led to major civil unrest. In 1900, Omaha was the center of a national uproar over the kidnapping of Edward Cudahy, Jr., the son of a local meatpacking magnate.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The city's labor and management clashed in bitter strikes, racial tension escalated as Blacks were hired as strikebreakers, and ethnic strife broke out. A major riot by earlier immigrants in South Omaha destroyed the city's Greek Town in 1909, completely driving out the Greek population.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The civil rights movement in Omaha has roots that extend back to 1912, when the first chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People west of the Mississippi River was founded in the city.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Omaha Easter Sunday Tornado of 1913 destroyed much of the city's African-American community, in addition to much of Midtown Omaha.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Six years later, in 1919, the city was caught up in the Red Summer riots when thousands of whites marched from South Omaha to the courthouse to lynch a Black worker, Willy Brown, a suspect in an alleged rape of a white woman. The mob burned the Douglas County Courthouse to get the prisoner, causing more than $1 million damage. They hanged and shot Will Brown, then burned his body. Troops were called in from Fort Omaha to quell the riot, prevent more crowds gathering in South Omaha, and to protect the Black community in North Omaha.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The culture of North Omaha thrived throughout the 1920s through 1950s, with several creative figures, including Tillie Olsen, Wallace Thurman, Lloyd Hunter, and Anna Mae Winburn emerging from the vibrant Near North Side.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Musicians created their own world in Omaha, and also joined national bands and groups that toured and appeared in the city.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: After the tumultuous Great Depression of the 1930s, Omaha rebounded with the development of Offutt Air Force Base just south of the city. The Glenn L. Martin Company operated a factory there in the 1940s that produced 521 B-29 "Superfortresses", including the "Enola Gay" and "Bockscar" used in the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The construction of Interstates 80, 480 and 680, along with the North Omaha Freeway, spurred development. There was also controversy, particularly in North Omaha, where new routes bisected several neighborhoods. Creighton University hosted the DePorres Club, an early civil rights group whose use of sit-in strategies for integration of public facilities predated the national movement.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Following the development of the Glenn L. Martin Company bomber manufacturing plant in Bellevue at the beginning of World War II, the relocation of the Strategic Air Command to the Omaha suburb in 1948 provided a major economic boost to the area.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: From the 1950s through the 1960s, more than 40 insurance companies were headquartered in Omaha, including Woodmen of the World and Mutual of Omaha. By the late 1960s, the city rivaled, but never surpassed, the United States insurance centers of Hartford, Connecticut, New York City and Boston.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: After surpassing Chicago in meat processing by the late 1950s, Omaha suffered the loss of 10,000 jobs as both the railroad and meatpacking industries restructured. The city struggled for decades to shift its economy as workers suffered. Poverty became more entrenched among families who remained in North Omaha.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In the 1960s, three major race riots along North 24th Street destroyed the Near North Side's economic base, with recovery slow for decades. In 1969, Woodmen Tower was completed and became Omaha's tallest building and first major skyscraper at , a sign of renewal.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Since the 1970s, Omaha has continued expanding and growing, mostly to available land to the west. West Omaha has become home to the majority of the city's population. North and South Omaha's populations continue to be centers of new immigrants, with economic and racial diversity. In 1975 a major tornado, along with a major blizzard, caused more than $100 million in damages in 1975 dollars.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Downtown Omaha has since been rejuvenated in numerous ways, starting with the development of Gene Leahy Mall and W. Dale Clark Library in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, Omaha's fruit warehouses were converted into a shopping area called the Old Market.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The demolition of Jobber's Canyon in 1989 led to the creation of the ConAgra Foods campus. Several nearby buildings, including the Nash Block, have been converted into condominiums. The stockyards were taken down; the only surviving building is the Livestock Exchange Building, which was converted to multi-use and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: A historic preservation movement in Omaha has led to a number of historic structures and districts being designated Omaha Landmarks or listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Much of the push toward preservation came after Omaha gained the notorious designation of having, in 1989, demolished the largest-ever National Register historic district in the United States, a record that still stands as of 2013. The Jobbers Canyon Historic District, along the Missouri River, was felled for a new headquarters campus for ConAgra Foods, a company which threatened to relocate if Omaha did not allow them to raze the city's historic district. The Jobber's Canyon warehouses had before then been allowed to deteriorate and were the scene of several fires set by the homeless population that had come to live in the abandoned buildings. At the time, there were no plans in place for revitalizing the buildings.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, Omaha also saw major company headquarters leave the city, including Enron, founded in the city in 1930 and taken to Houston in 1987 by the now-notorious Kenneth Lay. First Data Corporation, a large credit-card processor, also was founded in Omaha in 1969; as of 2009, its headquarters are in Atlanta.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Inacom, founded in Omaha in 1991, was a technology company that customized computer systems for large businesses, and was on the Fortune 500 list from 1997 until 2000, when it filed for bankruptcy. Northwestern Bell, the Bell System affiliate for Northwestern states, had its headquarters in Omaha from its founding in 1896 until it moved to Denver in 1991 as US West. Level 3 Communications, a large Tier 1 network provider, was founded in Omaha in 1985 as Kiewit Diversified Group, a division of Kiewit Corporation, a Fortune 500 construction and mining company still headquartered in Omaha; Level 3 moved to Denver in 1998. World Com was founded by a merger with Omaha's MFS Communications, started as Metropolitan Fiber Systems in 1993. MFS, backed by Kiewit Corporation CEO Walter Scott and Warren Buffett, purchased UUNET, one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, for $2 billion in 1996. The now-infamous Bernie Ebbers purchased the much larger MFS for $14.3 billion in 1997 under his World Com. He moved headquarters of the merged company from Omaha to Mississippi.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Around the start of the 21st century, several new downtown skyscrapers and cultural institutions were built. One First National Center was completed in 2002, surpassing the Woodmen Tower as the tallest building in Omaha as well as in the state at . The creation of the city's new North Downtown included the construction of the CenturyLink Center and the Slowdown/Film Streams development at North 14th and Webster Streets. Construction of the new TD Ameritrade Park began in 2009 and was completed in 2011, also in the North Downtown area, near the CenturyLink Center. TD Ameritrade Park is now the home of the College World Series, an event tourists flock to each year.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: New construction has occurred throughout the city since the start of the 21st century. Important retail and office developments have occurred in West Omaha such as the Village Pointe shopping center and several business parks including First National Business Park and parks for Bank of the West and C&A Industries, Inc and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and several others. Downtown and Midtown Omaha have both seen the development of a significant number of condominiums in recent years. In Midtown Omaha significant mixed-use projects are underway. The site of the former Ak-Sar-Ben arena has been redeveloped into a mixed-use development Aksarben Village. In January 2009 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska announced plans to build a new 10 story, $98 million headquarters, in the Aksarben Village, completed in Spring 2011. Gordmans is also building their new corporate headquarters in Aksarben. The other major mixed-use development is Midtown Crossing at Turner Park. Developed by Mutual of Omaha, the development includes several condominium towers and retail businesses built around Omaha's Turner Park.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Holland Performing Arts Center opened in 2005 near the Gene Leahy Mall and the Union Pacific Center opened in 2004.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: There have also been several developments along the Missouri River waterfront in downtown. The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge was opened to foot and bicycle traffic on September 28, 2008. Started in 2003, RiverFront Place Condos first phase was completed in 2006 and is fully occupied and the second phase was opened in 2011. The development along Omaha's riverfront is attributed with prompting the City of Council Bluffs to move their own riverfront development time line forward.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In the summers of 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2021 the United States Olympic Team swimming trials were held in Omaha, at the Qwest/Century Link Center. These events were highlights in the city's sports community, as well as a showcase for redevelopment in the downtown area.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Situated in the Midwestern United States on the bank of the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska, much of Omaha is built in the Missouri River Valley. Other significant bodies of water in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area include Lake Manawa, Papillion Creek, Carter Lake, Platte River and the Glenn Cunningham Lake. The city's land has been altered considerably with substantial land grading throughout Downtown Omaha and scattered across the city. East Omaha sits on a flood plain west of the Missouri River. The area is the location of Carter Lake, an oxbow lake. The lake was once the site of East Omaha Island and Florence Lake, which dried up in the 1920s.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area consists of eight counties; five in Nebraska and three in Iowa. The metropolitan area now includes Harrison, Pottawattamie, and Mills Counties in Iowa and Washington, Douglas, Sarpy, Cass, and Saunders Counties in Nebraska. This area was formerly referred to only as the Omaha Metropolitan Statistical Area and consisted of only five counties: Pottawattamie in Iowa, and Washington, Douglas, Cass, and Sarpy in Nebraska. The Omaha-Council Bluffs combined statistical area comprises the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan statistical area and the Fremont Micropolitan statistical area; the CSA has a population of 858,720 (2005 Census Bureau estimate). Omaha ranks as the 42nd-largest city in the United States, and is the core city of its 60th-largest metropolitan area. There are no consolidated city-counties in the area; the City of Omaha studied the possibility extensively through 2003 and concluded, "The City of Omaha and Douglas County should merge into a municipal county, work to commence immediately, and that functional consolidations begin immediately in as many departments as possible, including but not limited to parks, fleet management, facilities management, local planning, purchasing and personnel."


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Geographically, Omaha is considered as being in the "Heartland" of the United States. Important environmental impacts on the natural habitat in the area include the spread of invasive plant species, restoring prairies and bur oak savanna habitats, and managing the whitetail deer population.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha is home to several hospitals, mostly along Dodge Street (US6). Being the county seat, it is also the location of the county courthouse.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha is generally divided into six geographic areas: Downtown, Midtown, North Omaha, South Omaha, West Omaha, and East Omaha. West Omaha includes the Miracle Hills, Boys Town, Regency, and Gateway areas. The city has a wide range of historical and new neighborhoods and suburbs that reflect its socioeconomic diversity. Early neighborhood development happened in ethnic enclaves, including Little Italy, Little Bohemia, Little Mexico and Greek Town. According to U.S. Census data, five European ethnic enclaves existed in Omaha in 1880, expanding to nine in 1900.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Around the start of the 20th century. the City of Omaha annexed several surrounding communities, including Florence, Dundee and Benson. At the same time, the city annexed all of South Omaha, including the Dahlman and Burlington Road neighborhoods. From its first annexation in 1857 (of East Omaha) to its controversial annexation of Elkhorn in 2007, Omaha has continually had an eye towards growth.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Starting in the 1950s, development of highways and new housing led to the movement of the middle class to suburbs in West Omaha. Some of the movement was designated as white flight from racial unrest in the 1960s. Newer and poorer migrants lived in older housing close to downtown; those residents who were more established moved west into newer housing. Some suburbs are gated communities or have become edge cities. Recently, Omahans have made strides to revitalize the downtown and Midtown areas with the redevelopment of the Old Market, Turner Park, Gifford Park, and the designation of the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha, due to its latitude of 41.26˚ N and location far from moderating bodies of water or mountain ranges, displays a hot-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: "Dfa"). July averages , with average relative humidity around 70% which then leads to relatively frequent thunderstorms. Temperatures reach on 29 days and on 1.7 days annually. The January daily average is , with lows reaching on 11 days annually. The lowest temperature recorded in the city was on January 5, 1884, and the highest on July 25, 1936. Average yearly precipitation is , falling mostly in the warmer months. Snow is the most common precipitation in winter, with average seasonal snowfall being .


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Based on 30-year averages obtained from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center for the months of December, January and February, Weather Channel ranked Omaha the 5th coldest major U.S. city as of 2014.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: As of the census of 2020, there were 486,051 people and 186,883 households. The population density was 3,361 inhabitants per square mile (1,297/km). The city's racial makeup was 77.5% White, 12.3% African American, 0.6% Native American, 3.8% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 13.9% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 66.6% of the population.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 408,958 people, 162,627 households, and 96,477 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 177,518 housing units at an average density of . The city's racial makeup was 73.1% White, 13.7% African American, 0.8% Native American, 2.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 6.9% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 13.1% of the population. Non-Hispanic Whites were 68.0% of the population.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: There were 162,627 households, of which 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.7% were non-families. 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.3% had someone living alone who was at least 65 years old. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.14.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The median age in the city was 33.5 years. 25.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 11.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.9% were from 25 to 44; 24.4% were from 45 to 64; and 11.4% were 65 years of age or older. The city's gender makeup was 49.2% male and 50.8% female.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 390,007 people, 156,738 households, and 94,983 families residing within city limits. The population density was 3,370.7 people per square mile (1,301.5/km). There were 165,731 housing units at an average density of 1,432.4 per square mile (553.1/km). The city's racial makeup was 78.4% White, 13.3% African American, 0.7% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.9% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.5% of the population.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The city's median household income was $40,006, and the median family income was $50,821. Males had a median income of $34,301 versus $26,652 for females. The city's per capita income was $21,756. About 11.3% of the population and 7.8% of families were below the poverty line, including 15.6% of those under the age of 18 and 7.4% of those 65 and older.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's rate of violent crimes per 100,000 residents has been lower than the average rates of three dozen United States cities of similar size. Unlike Omaha, those cities have experienced an increase in violent crime overall since 2003. Rates for property crime have decreased for both Omaha and its peer cities during the same time period. In 2006, Omaha was ranked for homicides as 46th out of the 72 cities in the United States of more than 250,000 in population.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: As a major industrial city into the mid-20th century, Omaha shared in social tensions that came with rapid growth and the arrival of large numbers of immigrants and migrants. Persistent poverty resulting from racial discrimination and job losses generated different crimes in the late 20th century, with the drug trade and drug abuse becoming associated with violent crime rates, which climbed after 1986 as Los Angeles gangs made affiliates in the city.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Gambling in Omaha has been an important part of the city's history. From its founding in the 1850s through the 1930s, the city was known as a "wide-open" town where gambling of all sorts was openly accepted. By the 1950s, at the same time large-scale restructuring of the railroads, the meatpacking industry and other sectors caused widespread job losses and unemployment, Omaha reportedly had more illicit gambling than any other city in the nation. From the 1930s through the 1970s, a Mafia-based criminal element controlled gambling in the city.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: As most forms of gambling are currently restricted in Nebraska, gambling in Omaha is limited to keno, lotteries, and parimutuel betting. This leaves Omahans to drive across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where casinos are legal and many businesses operate. Recently, the National Indian Gaming Commission approved a controversial proposal made by the Ponca tribe of Nebraska. It will allow the tribe to build a casino in Carter Lake, Iowa, which sits on the west side of the Missouri River, adjacent to Omaha, where casinos are illegal.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Native Americans were the first residents of the Omaha area. The city of Omaha was established by white settlers from neighboring Council Bluffs who arrived from the Northeast United States a few years earlier. While much of the early population was of Yankee stock, over the next 100 years numerous ethnic groups moved to the city. In 1910, the Census Bureau reported Omaha's population as 96.4% White and 3.6% Black. Irish immigrants in Omaha originally moved to an area in present-day North Omaha called Gophertown, as they lived in dug-out sod houses. That population was followed by Polish immigrants in the Sheelytown neighborhood, and many immigrants were recruited for jobs in South Omaha's stockyards and meatpacking industry. The German community in Omaha was largely responsible for founding its once-thriving beer industry, including the Metz, Krug, Falstaff and the Storz breweries.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Since its founding, ethnic groups in the city have clustered in enclaves in north, south and downtown Omaha. In its early days, the sometimes lawless nature of a new frontier city included crime, such as illicit gambling and riots.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In the early 20th century, Jewish immigrants set up many businesses along the North 24th Street commercial area. It suffered with the loss of industrial jobs in the 1960s and later, the shifting of population west of the city. The commercial area is now the center of the African-American community, concentrated in North Omaha. The African American community has maintained its social and religious base, while it is experiencing an economic revitalization.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Little Italy neighborhood grew south of downtown, as many Italian immigrants came to the city to work in the Union Pacific shops. Scandinavians first came to Omaha as Mormon settlers in the Florence neighborhood. Czechs had a strong political and cultural voice in Omaha, and were involved in a variety of trades and businesses, including banks, wholesale houses, and funeral homes. The Notre Dame Academy and Convent and Czechoslovak Museum are legacies of their residence. Today the legacy of the city's early European immigrant populations is evident in many social and cultural institutions in Downtown and South Omaha.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Mexicans originally immigrated to Omaha to work in the rail yards. Today they account for most of South Omaha's Hispanic population and many have taken jobs in meat processing. Other large early ethnic populations in Omaha included Danes, Poles, and Swedes.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: A growing number of African immigrants have made their homes in Omaha in the last twenty years. There are approximately 8,500 Sudanese living in Omaha, including the largest population of Sudanese refugees in the United States. Most have immigrated since 1995 because of warfare in Sudan. They represent ten ethnic groups, including the Nuer, Dinka, Equatorians, Maubans and Nubians. Most Sudanese people in Omaha speak the Nuer language. Other Africans have immigrated to Omaha as well, with one-third from Nigeria, and large populations from Kenya, Togo, Cameroon and Ghana.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: With the expansion of railroad and industrial jobs in meatpacking, Omaha attracted many immigrants and migrants. As the major city in Nebraska, it has historically been more racially and ethnically diverse than the rest of the state. At times rapid population change, overcrowded housing and job competition have aroused racial and ethnic tensions. Around the start of the 20th century, violence towards new immigrants in Omaha often erupted out of suspicion and fear.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In 1909, anti-Greek sentiment flared after increased Greek immigration, and worsened their tendency to become strikebreakers. The killing of a policeman of Irish descent enraged the Irish community; an angry mob violently stormed the Greek neighborhood in Omaha in what would become known as the Greek Town Riot. That mob violence forced the Greek immigrant population to flee from the city. By 1910, 53.7% of Omaha's residents and 64.2% of South Omaha's residents were foreign born or had at least one parent born outside of America.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Six years after the Greek Town Riot, in 1915, a mob killed Juan Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant, near Scribner, a town in the Greater Omaha metropolitan area. The event occurred after an Omaha Police Department officer investigated a criminal operation that sold goods stolen from the nearby railroad yards. Racial profiling targeted Gonzalez as the culprit. After escaping the city, he was trapped along the Elkhorn River, where the mob, including several policemen from Omaha, shot him more than twenty times. It was discovered Gonzalez was unarmed, and he had a reliable alibi for the time of the murder. No one was ever indicted for his killing.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In the fall of 1919, following Red Summer, postwar social and economic tensions, the earlier hiring of African Americans as strikebreakers, and job uncertainty contributed to a mob from South Omaha lynching Willy Brown and the ensuing Omaha Race Riot. Trying to defend Brown, the city's mayor, Edward Parsons Smith, was lynched also, surviving only after a quick rescue.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Like other industrial cities in the U.S., Omaha suffered severe job losses in the 1950s, more than 10,000 in all, as the railroad and meatpacking industries restructured. Stockyards and packing plants were located closer to ranches, and union achievements were lost as wages declined in surviving jobs. Many workers left the area if they could get to other jobs. Poverty deepened in areas of the city whose residents depended on those jobs, specifically North and South Omaha. At the same time, with reduced revenues, the city had less financial ability to respond to longstanding problems.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Despair after the April 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. contributed to riots in North Omaha, including one at the Logan Fontenelle Housing Project. For some, the civil rights movement in Omaha, Nebraska evolved towards black nationalism, as the Black Panther Party was involved in tensions in the late 1960s. Organizations such as the Black Association for Nationalism Through Unity became popular among the city's African-American youth. This tension culminated in the "cause célèbre" trial of the Rice/Poindexter Case, in which an Omaha Police Department officer was killed by a bomb while answering an emergency call.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Whites in Omaha have followed the white flight pattern, suburbanizing to West Omaha. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, gang violence and incidents between the Omaha Police and Black residents undermined relations between groups in North and South Omaha.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: With diversification in several industries, including banking, insurance, telecommunications, architecture/construction, and transportation, Omaha's economy has grown since the early 1990s, and six national fiber optic networks converge in Omaha.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's most prominent businessman is Warren Buffett, nicknamed the "Oracle of Omaha", who is regularly ranked one of the richest people in the world. Four Omaha-based companies: Berkshire Hathaway, Union Pacific Railroad, Mutual of Omaha, and Kiewit Corporation, are among the "Fortune" 500.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha is the headquarters of several other major corporations, including the Gallup Organization, TD Ameritrade, Werner Enterprises, First National Bank, Gavilon, Scoular and First Comp Insurance. Many other large national firms have major operations or operational headquarters in Omaha, including Bank of the West, First Data, Sojern, PayPal, LinkedIn, Pacific Life, MetLife and Conagra Brands. The city is also home to three of the 30 largest architecture firms in the United States, including HDR, Inc., DLR Group, Inc., and Leo A Daly.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Tourist attractions in Omaha include history, sports, outdoors and cultural experiences. Its principal tourist attractions are the Henry Doorly Zoo and the College World Series. The Old Market in Downtown Omaha is another major attraction and is important to the city's retail economy. The city has been a tourist destination for many years. Famous early visitors included British author Rudyard Kipling and General George Crook. In 1883 Omaha hosted the first official performance of the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for 8,000 attendees. In 1898 the city hosted more than 1 million visitors from across the United States at the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, a world's fair that lasted for more than half the year.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Research on leisure and hospitality situates Omaha in the same tier for tourists as the neighboring cities of Des Moines, Iowa; Topeka, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Denver, Colorado; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. A recent study found investment of $1 million in cultural tourism generated approximately $83,000 in state and local taxes, and provided support for hundreds of jobs for the metropolitan area, which in turn led to additional tax revenue for government.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Several national newspapers, including the "Boston Globe" and The "New York Times" have lauded Omaha's historical and cultural attractions.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The city is home to the Omaha Community Playhouse, the largest community theater in the United States. The Omaha Symphony Orchestra and its modern Holland Performing Arts Center, the Opera Omaha at the Orpheum theater, the Blue Barn Theatre, American Midwest Ballet, and The Rose Theater form the backbone of Omaha's performing arts community. Opened in 1931, the Joslyn Art Museum has large art collections. Since its inception in 1976, Omaha Children's Museum has been a place where children can challenge themselves, discover how the world works and learn through play. The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, one of the nation's premier urban artist colonies, was founded in Omaha in 1981, and the Durham Museum is accredited with the Smithsonian Institution for traveling exhibits. The city is also home to the largest singly funded mural in the nation, "Fertile Ground", by Meg Saligman. The annual Omaha Blues, Jazz, & Gospel Festival celebrates local music along with the Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In 1955, Omaha's Union Stockyards overtook Chicago's stockyards as the United States' meat packing center. This legacy is reflected in the cuisine of Omaha, with renowned steakhouses such as Gorat's and the recently closed Mister C's, as well as the retail chain Omaha Steaks.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Henry Doorly Zoo is widely considered one of the premier zoos in the world. The zoo is home to the world's largest nocturnal exhibit and indoor swamp; the world's largest indoor rainforest, the world's largest indoor desert, and the largest geodesic dome in the world (13 stories tall). The zoo is Nebraska's number-one paid attendance attraction and has welcomed more than 25 million visitors over the past 40 years.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Old Market is a major historic district in Downtown Omaha listed on the National Register of Historical Places. Today, its warehouses and other buildings house shops, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and art galleries. Downtown is also the location of the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District, which has several art galleries and restaurants. Lauritzen Gardens features with a variety of landscaping, and the new Kenefick Park recognizes Union Pacific Railroad's long history in Omaha. North Omaha has several historical cultural attractions including the Dreamland Historical Project, Love's Jazz and Art Center, and the John Beasley Theater. The annual River City Roundup is celebrated at Fort Omaha, and the neighborhood of Florence celebrates its history during "Florence Days". Native Omaha Days is a biennial event celebrating Near North Side heritage.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Religious institutions reflect the city's heritage. The city's Christian community has several historical churches dating from the founding of the city. There are also all sizes of congregations, including small, medium and megachurches. Omaha hosts the only Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in Nebraska along with a large Jewish community. There are 152 parishes in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha, and several Eastern Orthodox congregations throughout the city.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's rich history in rhythm and blues, and jazz gave rise to a number of influential bands, including Anna Mae Winburn's Cotton Club Boys and Lloyd Hunter's Seranaders. Rock and roll pioneer Wynonie Harris, jazz great Preston Love, drummer Buddy Miles, and Luigi Waites are among the city's homegrown talent. Doug Ingle from the late 1960s band Iron Butterfly was born in Omaha, as was indie folk singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, though both were raised elsewhere.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Today, the diverse culture of Omaha includes a variety of performance venues, museums, and musical heritage, including the historically significant jazz scene in North Omaha and the modern and influential "Omaha Sound".


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Contemporary music groups either in or originally from Omaha include Mannheim Steamroller, Bright Eyes, The Faint, Cursive, Azure Ray, Tilly and the Wall, and 311. During the late 1990s, Omaha became nationally known as the birthplace of Saddle Creek Records, and the subsequent "Omaha Sound" was born from their bands' collective style.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha also has a fledgling hip hop scene. Long-time bastion Houston Alexander, a one-time graffiti artist and professional Mixed Martial Arts competitor, is a local hip-hop radio show host. Cerone Thompson, known as "Scrybe", has had a number one single on college radio stations across the United States. He has also had several number one hits on the local hip hop station respectively titled, "Lose Control" and "Do What U Do". Other notable artists include Stylo of Mastered Trax Latino who holds a strong following in South Omaha and Mexico / Latin America.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Many ethnic and cultural bands have come from Omaha. The Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame celebrates the city's long history of African-American music and the Strathdon Caledonia Pipe Band carries on a Scottish legacy. Internationally renowned composer Antonín Dvořák wrote his Ninth ("New World") Symphony in 1893 based on his impressions of the region after visiting Omaha's robust Czech community. In the period surrounding World War I Valentin J. Peter encouraged Germans in Omaha to celebrate their rich musical heritage, too. Frederick Metz, Gottlieb Storz and Frederick Krug were influential brewers whose beer gardens kept many German bands active.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha is home to dozens of nationally, regionally and locally significant landmarks. The city has more than a dozen historic districts, including Fort Omaha Historic District, Gold Coast Historic District, Omaha Quartermaster Depot Historic District, Field Club Historic District, Bemis Park Historic District, and the South Omaha Main Street Historic District. Omaha is notorious for its 1989 demolition of 24 buildings in the Jobbers Canyon Historic District, which represents to date the largest loss of buildings on the National Register. The only original building surviving of that complex is the Nash Block.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha has almost one hundred individual properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Bank of Florence, Holy Family Church, the Christian Specht Building and the Joslyn Castle. There are also three properties designated as National Historic Landmarks.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Locally designated landmarks, including residential, commercial, religious, educational, agricultural and socially significant locations across the city, honor Omaha's cultural legacy and important history. The City of Omaha Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission is the government body that works with the mayor of Omaha and the Omaha City Council to protect historic places. Important history organizations in the community include the Douglas County Historical Society.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Sports have been important in Omaha for more than a century, and the city plays host to three minor-league professional sports teams.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha has hosted the annual June NCAA College World Series men's baseball tournament since 1950. It has been played at the downtown Charles Schwab Field since 2011.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Omaha Sports Commission is a quasi-governmental nonprofit organization that coordinates much of the professional and amateur athletic activity in the city, including the 2008, 2012 and 2016 US Olympic Swimming Team Trials and the building of a new stadium in North Downtown. The University of Nebraska and the Commission co-hosted the 2008 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division One Women's Volleyball Championship in December of that year. The 2016 Big 10 Baseball Championship was also played at the College World Series Stadium. Another quasi-governmental board, the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA), was created by city voters in 2000, and is responsible for maintaining the CHI Health Center Omaha (formerly CenturyLink Center Omaha).


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Omaha Storm Chasers play at Werner Park. They won seven championships (in 1969, 1970, 1978, 1990, 2011, 2013, and 2014).


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha is also home to the Omaha Diamond Spirit, a collegiate summer baseball team that plays in the MINK league.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Creighton University Bluejays compete in a number of NCAA Division I sports as members of the Big East Conference. The Bluejays play baseball at Charles Schwab Field, soccer at Morrison Stadium, and basketball at the 18,000 seat CHI Health Center Omaha. The Jays annually rank in the top 15 in attendance each year, averaging more than 16,000 people per game.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Omaha Mavericks, representing the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO), also play basketball, baseball and soccer in NCAA Division I as members of The Summit League. The UNO men's ice hockey team plays in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Ice hockey is a popular spectator sport in Omaha. The Omaha Lancers, a United States Hockey League team, play at the Ralston Arena. The Omaha Mavericks play in the on-campus Baxter Arena.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha was home to an expansion team, the Nighthawks, in the United Football League from 2010 to 2011. The Omaha Beef indoor football team played at the Omaha Civic Auditorium until 2012 when they moved to the new Ralston Arena.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha was the legendary catchword of Pro Football Hall of Fame Quarterback Peyton Manning. In 2021 he launched Omaha Productions.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Kansas City-Omaha Kings, an NBA franchise, played in both cities from 1972 to 1978, before decamping solely to Kansas City until 1985, when the team moved to its current home of Sacramento.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Cox Classic golf tournament was part of the Web.com Tour from 1996 to 2013. The circuit returned to Omaha in 2017 with the Pinnacle Bank Championship.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha has a thriving running community and many miles of paved running and biking trails throughout the city and surrounding communities. The Omaha Marathon involves a half-marathon and a race that takes place annually in September. Omaha also has a history of curling, including multiple junior national champions.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The city's historic boulevards were originally designed by Horace Cleveland in 1889 to work with the parks to create a seamless flow of trees, grass and flowers throughout the city. Florence Boulevard and Fontenelle Boulevard are among the remnants of this system. Omaha boasts more than of trails for pedestrians, bicyclists and hikers. They include the American Discovery Trail, which traverses the entire United States, and the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail passes through Omaha as it travels westward from Illinois to Oregon. Trails throughout the area are included in comprehensive plans for the city of Omaha, the Omaha metropolitan area, Douglas County, and long-distance coordinated plans between the municipalities of southeast Nebraska. The city also has a park dedicated to pollinating bees and insects called ‘Pacific Preserve’


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha has a strong mayor form of government, along with a city council elected from seven districts across the city. The mayor is Jean Stothert, who was elected in May 2013, re-elected May 10, 2017, and re-elected again May 11, 2021. The longest-serving mayor in Omaha's history was "Cowboy" Jim Dahlman, who served 20 years over eight terms. He was regarded as the "wettest mayor in America" because of the flourishing number of bars in Omaha during his tenure. Dahlman was a close associate of political boss Tom Dennison. During Dahlman's tenure, the city switched from its original strong-mayor form of government to a city commission government. In 1956, the city switched back.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The city clerk is Elizabeth Butler. The City of Omaha administers twelve departments, including finance, police, human rights, libraries and planning. The Omaha City Council is the legislative branch and has seven members elected from districts across the city. The council enacts local ordinances and approves the city budget. Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance approved annually. The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions. Nebraska's constitution grants the option of home rule to cities with more than 5,000 residents, meaning they may operate under their own charters. Omaha is one of only three cities in Nebraska to use this option, out of 17 eligible. The City of Omaha is considering consolidating with Douglas County government.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Although registered Republicans outnumbered Democrats in the 2nd congressional district, which includes Omaha, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama opened three campaign offices in the city with 15 staff members to cover the state in fall 2008. Mike Fahey, the former Democratic mayor of Omaha, said he would do whatever it took to deliver the district's electoral vote to Obama; and the Obama campaign considered the district "in play". Former Nebraska U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey and then-U.S. Senator Ben Nelson campaigned in the city for Obama, and in November 2008 Obama won the district's electoral vote. This was an historical win, as Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win an electoral vote in Nebraska since 1964, only made possible by Nebraska's split electoral vote system.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In 2011, Nebraska lawmakers moved Offutt Air Force Base and the town of Bellevue — an area with a large minority population — out of the Omaha-based 2nd District and shifted in the Republican-heavy Omaha suburbs in Sarpy County. The move is expected to dilute the city's urban Democratic vote.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's 2nd District sent its single electoral vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Biden's victory, by more than 20,000 votes, shows Omaha's and the 2nd Districts’ continuing trend toward Democratic politics in recent years.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha has many public and private educational institutions, including Omaha Public Schools, the largest public school district in Nebraska, which serves more than 47,750 students in more than 75 schools. After a contentious period of uncertainty, in 2007 the Nebraska Legislature approved a plan to create a learning community for Omaha-area school districts with a central administrative board.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha operates numerous private Catholic schools with 21,500 students in 32 elementary schools and nine high schools. They include St. Cecilia Grade School at in Midtown Omaha, Holy Cross at in Morton Meadows, St. Robert Bellarmine School at 120th and Pacific Street, St. Stephen the Martyr School in Millard, and Creighton Preparatory School, all of which have received the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School award.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The Westside Community Schools, also known as District 66, is a district in the heart of Omaha. It serves students in pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade and recorded a district enrollment of 6,123 students K-12 for the 2015–16 school year.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Through annexations Omaha also has the Millard Public Schools and Elkhorn Public Schools. Omaha is also home to Brownell-Talbot School, Nebraska's only preschool through grade 12, independent college preparatory school.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: There are eleven colleges and universities among Omaha's higher education institutions, including the University of Nebraska Omaha. The University of Nebraska Medical Center in midtown Omaha is home to the Eppley Cancer Center, one of 66 designated Cancer Centers by the National Cancer Institute in the United States. The University of Nebraska College of Medicine, also on the UNMC campus, is ranked 7th in the country by "U.S. News & World Report" for primary care medical education.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's Creighton University is ranked the top non-doctoral regional university in the Midwestern United States by "U.S. News & World Report". The Jesuit institution's campus just outside Downtown Omaha in the new North Downtown district has a combined 6,700 students in its undergraduate, graduate, medical, and law schools.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The city is the focus of the Omaha designated market area, and is the 76th largest in the United States.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: The major daily newspaper in Nebraska is the "Omaha World-Herald", which is the largest employee-owned newspaper in the United States. Weeklies in the city include the Midlands Business Journal (weekly business publication); "American Classifieds" (formerly "Thrifty Nickel"), a weekly classified newspaper; "The Reader", as well as "The Omaha Star". Founded in 1938 in North Omaha, the "Star" is Nebraska's only African-American newspaper.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's four television news stations include: KETV 7 (ABC- branded NewsWatch 7), KMTV-TV 3 (CBS- branded 3 News Now), WOWT 6 (NBC Omaha), and KPTM 42 (FOX 42). There is a fifth station, KXVO 15 (branded CW 15), though it does not air any news content. Cox Communications provides cable television services throughout the metropolitan area. Prism TV offered through CenturyLink is a broadband TV option also available throughout the Omaha area. Satellite providers such as DirecTV and Dish Network and the local programming they offer are also available throughout the metropolitan area.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: In 2008 "Kiplinger's Personal Finance" magazine ranked Omaha the No. 3 best city in the United States to "live, work and play". Omaha's growth has required the constant development of new urban infrastructure that influence, allow and encourage the constant expansion of the city.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Retail natural gas and water public utilities in Omaha are provided by the Metropolitan Utilities District. Nebraska is the only public power state in the nation. All electric utilities are non-profit and customer-owned. Electricity in the city is provided by the Omaha Public Power District. Public housing is governed by the Omaha Housing Authority governs Public housing and Metro Area Transit provides public transportation. CenturyLink and Cox provide local telephone and internet services. The City of Omaha maintains two modern sewage treatment plants.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Portions of the Enron corporation began as Northern Natural Gas Company in Omaha. Northern provides three natural gas lines to Omaha. Enron formerly owned UtiliCorp United, Inc., which became Aquila, Inc. Peoples Natural Gas, a division of Aquila, Inc., serves several surrounding communities around the Omaha metropolitan area, including Plattsmouth.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: There are several hospitals in Omaha. Research hospitals include the Boys Town National Research Hospital, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Creighton University Medical Center. The Boys Town facility is well known for hearing-related research and treatment. The University of Nebraska Medical Center hosts the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases, a world-renowned cancer treatment facility named in honor of Omahan Eugene Eppley.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's central role in the history of transportation across America earned it the nickname "Gate City of the West." Despite President Lincoln's decree that Council Bluffs, Iowa, be the starting point for the Union Pacific Railroad, construction began from Omaha on the eastern portion of the first transcontinental railroad. By the middle of the 20th century, nearly every major railroad served Omaha.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Today, the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District celebrates this connection, along with the listing of the Burlington Train Station and the Union Station on the National Register of Historic Places. First housed in the former Herndon House, the Union Pacific Railroad's corporate headquarters have been in Omaha since the company began. Their new headquarters, the Union Pacific Center, opened in Downtown Omaha in 2004.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service through Omaha. The Greyhound Lines terminal is at 1601 Jackson St. in downtown Omaha. The terminal also provides service to Jefferson Lines, Burlington Trailways, and Express Arrow. Megabus has a stop at Crossroads Mall – N 72nd St. between Dodge St. and Cass St. – and provides service to Des Moines, Iowa City, and Chicago. Metro Transit, previously known as Metro Area Transit, is the local bus system.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Omaha's position as a transportation center was finalized with the 1872 opening of the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge that linked the transcontinental railroad to the railroads terminating in Council Bluffs. In 1888, the first road bridge, the Douglas Street Bridge, opened. In the 1890s, the Illinois Central drawbridge opened as the largest bridge of its type in the world. Omaha's Missouri River road bridges are now entering their second generation, including the Works Progress Administration-financed South Omaha Bridge, now called Veteran's Memorial Bridge, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2006, Omaha and Council Bluffs announced joint plans to build the Missouri River Pedestrian Bridge, which opened in 2008.


title: Omaha, Nebraska

text: Today, the primary mode of transportation in Omaha is by automobile, with I-80, I-480, I-680, I-29, and U.S. Route 75 (JFK Freeway and North Freeway) providing freeway service across the metropolitan area. The expressway along West Dodge Road (U.S. Route 6 and Nebraska Link 28B) and U.S. Route 275 has been upgraded to freeway standards from I-680 to Fremont. City owned Metro Transit, formerly as MAT Metro Area Transit, provides public bus service to hundreds of locations throughout the Metro.