Humanities Desk

A unique memorial ceremony was held at the Lincoln Police Station Tuesday morning to honor fallen Investigator Mario Herrera who passed away on September 7, 2020.

“End of Watch Ride to Remember” is the name of a motorcycle tour put together by an organization called “Beyond the Call of Duty.” This is the second year of the tour.

Jagrut Shah is the founder of the organization and he says they will visit 194 police departments across the country to honor officers who died in 2020.

Finding hundreds of unmarked graves at indigenous schools in Canada has sparked an investigation into similar schools in the U.S., including one in Genoa, Nebraska

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) recently hired a Senior Associate Athletic Director for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Dr. Lawrence Chatters. Nebraska Public Media News spoke with Dr. Chatters about diversity and its relation to UNL athletics and college athletics as a whole.

A historic hospital in Walthill, Nebraska is being restored. The facility was built by a local Northeast Nebraska doctor in 1912.

Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte became the first Native American female physician in the nation in 1889. ‘Dr. Susan,’ as she was affectionately referred to, raised money with help from a local church to build the ‘Picotte Center’ hospital, making it the first built on a reservation without federal funding.

Yazidi refugees in Nebraska face language barriers, social stigma, and economic hardships, but the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issues. Local groups and researchers are trying to help alleviate the barriers.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center has a new endowed professor and director for its American Indian Health Department in its College of Public Health. Jackie Ourada, with Nebraska Public Media News, spoke with Dr. Siobhan Wescott, who hopes to address Native American health and healing in her new role.

COVID-19 cases are trending in the wrong direction, and Nebraska infectious disease experts point to the Delta variant as the lead suspect in the state. Will Bauer of Nebraska Public Media News reports.

The pandemic had reached all-time lows just over one month ago. Cases stood in the high 20s, but now the Delta variant has come on strongly in the state. COVID cases are up 42% in the past week. From over one month ago, cases are up 440%. Dr. Angela Hewlett is the Medical Director of the Nebraska Biocontainment

Five rodeo competitors comment on how they believe rodeo is different from other sports. One person says it's because of how friendly everyone is, while others point to taking care of animals as being far different than other sports.

Athletes from Mexico and Canada traveled to Lincoln over the last couple weeks to compete in the National High School Finals Rodeo. Most of Team Mexico’s competitors drove about 20 hours north. Some of them flew and so did a member of Team Saskatchewan, Canada. It costs a lot of money to bring a horse along international travel.

Navy 1st class sailor Louis Tushla died aboard the U.S.S. Oklahoma during the 1941 Japanese Pearl Harbor attack. Late last week, he returned home to Atkinson with a State Patrol and American legion motorcycle escort from Offutt Air Force Base.

Tushla’s remains were unidentified until last September when scientists at Offutt’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency lab helped confirm his identity with DNA testing and forensic anthropological analysis.