Good morning, this is Omaha Local Pulse for Thursday, December eleventh.

We start with city hall, where Omaha’s streetcar project keeps moving forward downtown. According to The Daily News Now, utility crews along Farnam near Turner Boulevard are wrapping up work so mainline track construction can start next month. City officials say they are adjusting schedules and using a Future Riders Passport program to help businesses along the route from the riverfront through the Old Market and up toward Midtown, so we can still shop and eat local during construction.

As we step outside this morning, we are dealing with a cold, gray December start. Temperatures sit near freezing with a light north breeze, and we stay chilly through the day with only a small chance for flurries. Roads are mostly dry, but we should watch shaded spots on I 480 and Dodge for slick patches. Looking ahead, we stay cold but quiet into the weekend, with a slight warmup by Sunday for those holiday errands around Westroads and Village Pointe.

On the neighborhood front, the Daily News Now reports new backyard chicken rules in Omaha. The City Council now limits how many hens we can keep at each home, while still letting community gardens use hens for education. There is a five year grace period if we are over the new limit, and a variance process for special cases. The goal is fewer neighbor disputes and better public health without ending urban chickens entirely.

New business news includes a focus on closures and openings. The Reader notes that some long running restaurants have closed this year, hit by higher costs and construction disruptions, especially around downtown and South O. At the same time, 3 News Now highlights new spots opening in the metro, like a recent restaurant launch out in Gretna, showing our food scene is shifting, not slowing. In real estate, agents report that typical Omaha home prices are now in the mid two hundreds, with homes near Aksarben and Benson still selling within a month if they are priced right.

For jobs, local recruiters say Omaha’s unemployment rate is holding near three percent, with steady hiring in health care at UNMC, logistics near Eppley, and tech support roles in the West Dodge corridor. Many customer service and warehouse jobs are posting hourly wages in the high teens.

In schools and sports, area high school winter teams are deep into their seasons, and KMTV has highlighted local wrestling tournaments raising money for cancer research, including a recent event in Sarpy County that drew teams from around the metro.

Turning to crime and public safety, Omaha police are investigating a deadly pedestrian crash reported by KETV, involving a fifty five year old woman struck overnight. Police ask anyone who saw unusual driving along Center Street to contact Crime Stoppers. In a separate case, KETV also covers a suspect in a sex trafficking investigation who has now been bound over to district court, a reminder of the serious work our officers and advocates are doing to protect vulnerable people.

For a feel good story, 3 News Now and community outlets are highlighting holiday events across the metro, from Santa visits in La Vista to cookie crawls supporting small shops in Papillion. Closer to home, many Omaha neighborhoods around Elmwood Park and Florence are lighting up with volunteer led displays, giving families free places to stroll and soak in the season.

This has been Omaha Local Pulse. We will see you tomorrow with more local updates. Thank you for tuning in, and please remember to subscribe. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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