A suspect who was killed in a shootout that left three Omaha police officers injured has been identified. Twenty-eight-year-old Juan Melgar-Ayala, an El Salvador national, was killed in a shootout with police at a gas station near 33rd and L streets on Wednesday. Melgar-Ayala is a suspect in a shooting outside an Omaha grocery store earlier on Wednesday that left a 61-year-old man injured.
Weather and holiday delays are pushing back trash, recycling, and yard waste pickup in Omaha. Crews are working to recover from interruptions, with some areas experiencing longer delays than the standard one-day schedule. FCC Environmental has temporarily combined garbage and yard waste collection to improve efficiency. Residents are asked to keep carts and materials accessible and clear of snow and ice. Collection starts at 6 a.m., and any missed pickups can be reported by 7 p.m. the following day.
The Council Bluffs Community School District is seeing a decline in enrollment. Officials say the district has lost between 49 and 140 students each year since the COVID-19 pandemic. Council Bluffs Superintendent Vickie Murillo says Educational Savings Accounts have given families opportunities to send their students to private schools.
The Metropolitan Utilities District has finalized its 2026 budget, including new rates for water and natural gas. Officials say the average residential customer can expect an increase just under three-percent. Gas rates will jump up around one-point-eight-percent and water up four-and-a-half-percent. Individual bills may vary depending on weather, consumption, and gas pass-through costs. The rate changes will total around 33-dollars annually and are scheduled to take effect January 2nd, 2026.
The Iowa Finance Authority is giving affordable housing projects across the state a four-percent tax credit worth eleven-million dollars. In Sioux City alone, the credits are being awarded to the Martin Tower Apartments, Morning Hills Apartments, South View Apartments and another unnamed project on Third street. The money has been set aside to construct and rehab nearly 800 affordable rental homes throughout the state.
An Omaha restaurant is closing its doors. Don and Millie's in the 44-hundred block of Farnam Street is closing December 27th, and employees will move to the restaurant's location at 108th and Center starting on January 6th. The Farnam restaurant will be torn down to make way for a new retail and parking facility for the University of Nebraska Medical Center.