LINCOLN — Amid concerns raised by a Nebraska legislative committee, the state’s director for economic development Wednesday defended her team’s handling of a roughly $235 million grant program aimed at lifting North and South Omaha.
The hearing before the Economic Recovery Special Committee featured a question-answer period between four lawmakers and invited managers of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. DED oversees administration of pandemic-related grant programs.
In the case of the “North and South Omaha Recovery Grant” program, funding originated from federal COVID-19 recovery dollars, but later was switched with state-funded projects to allow for more flexibility in meeting spending deadlines…