Riverside Chats

Mayor Jean Stothert is running for reelection against John Ewing. The election is Tuesday, May 13.  We spoke to Ewing on last week’s show, and you can find that episode wherever you get your podcasts.  This is Stothert’s fourth campaign for mayor. Before she entered politics, Stothert was head nurse at St. Louis University Hospital. She moved to Omaha with her family in 1993 and has served on the Millard Board of Education and the Omaha City Council before she began her first mayoral term in 2013. Michael Griffin is talking with Stothert about her life before politics and how her background in critical care nursing prepared her for city government. She shares her priorities for a fourth term, including increased public safety and developing the urban core.

It’s election season in Omaha, and today's guest is John Ewing, who’s running for mayor against incumbent Jean Stothert. We’ll hear from Stothert in next week’s episode. Ewing spent 25 years as a police officer before assuming office in 2007 as Douglas County Treasurer. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and criminal justice and a master's degree in urban studies from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Ewing and Michael Griffin are talking about Ewing’s decision to seek mayoral office after decades of public service and his priorities if he wins the election on May 13.

Phillip McClain is founder of the real estate company the Mensch Group. Through the Mensch Group, McClain spearheads affordable housing developments in North Omaha. The company broke ground on its first project last year: nine single-family homes at 49th and Curtis Streets, an area known as Curtis Corner. McClain sold the houses to families for below market value thanks to assistance from local organizations like Spark Capital and Habitat for Humanity. Tax-increment financing helped cover development costs. North Omaha has seen a surge in development in recent years, with projects like the Highlander complex on 30th Street, the North 24th Street Business Improvement District and the Levi Carter Park sports facility, which just began construction near Eppley Airfield. McClain and Michael Griffin are talking about the need for affordable housing and the Black developers working to make the landscape more equitable. They also get into TIF and its role in development.

Kaleb Michaud is a professor of rheumatology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the director of Spielbound Board Game Cafe. Michaud grew up in Kansas, where he developed a passion for music and astrophysics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Rochester and a PhD from Stanford University.  When he was 3 years old, Michaud was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease causing painful swelling and stiffness in joints and connective tissues. A doctor told Michaud’s parents that he may not survive past his early 20s.  Living with the chronic illness inspired Michaud’s career change in 2001, when he returned to Kansas to work at the National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases. He joined the staff of UNMC in 2007 and is now a professor in the Division of Rheumatology and Director of the Rheumatology Fellowship Research Program Michaud is also a board game enthusiast with a personal collection of more than 6,000 games. He serves as the director of Spielbound, a nonprofit board game cafe he founded in 2014 at 33rd and Harney Streets. In this episode, Michaud and Michael Griffin are talking about Michaud's love of board games, how living with chronic pain inspired his rheumatology research and how he balances his diverse interests.

Karen Russell's “The Antidote” follows five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their fictional small town of Uz, Nebraska. Together, the group of outcasts join forces to reveal the town’s secrets and show the importance of remembering and acknowledging injustices to create a better future. Russell has received MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her debut novel “Swamplandia.” She has taught literature and creative writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the University of California-Irvine, Williams College, Columbia University, and Bryn Mawr College, and was the Endowed Chair of Texas State's MFA program. She serves on the board of Street Books, a mobile-library for people living outdoors. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, son and daughter. “The Antidote” is Russell's second novel. She will be at The Bookworm at 6 p.m. on April 3 in conversation with Broc Anderson of the Nebraska State Historical Society. Russell and Michael Griffin discuss the role of intellect and imagination in writing, the natural world’s influence on the artistic process and the symbiotic relationship between the author and reader.