Channel 8 KLKN-TV’s top 8 stories of 2023
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – With 2023 coming to an end, Channel 8 KLKN-TV compiled its list of this year’s top stories.
Volleyball Day in Nebraska
Nebraska volleyball’s season started with a bang.
Over 92,000 fans gathered at Memorial Stadium to watch Nebraska take on UNO, setting a new world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event.
Husker coach John Cook said Grateful Dead off-shoot – Dead & Company – inspired the vision for Volleyball Day in Nebraska.
The match also boosted downtown Lincoln businesses ahead of the busy Nebraska football season.
The search for Tyler Goodrich
Tyler Goodrich went missing from his southwest Lancaster County home on Nov. 3.
Family, friends and community members searched around Lancaster County for Goodrich.
Marshall Vogel, Goodrich’s husband, sat down with Channel 8 to speak out about Goodrich’s disappearance.
Vogel said he believes his husband is still alive.
“I refuse not to,” he said. “He needs to come back and be a father to our kids. He’s my kids’ dad. I’m not going to give up hope.”
Gender-affirming surgery, abortion bans
During the 2023 Nebraska Legislative session, lawmakers passed the Let Them Grow Act.
State senators voted 33-15 to pass Legislative Bill 574, which included banned gender-affirming procedures for minors and abortions after 12 weeks.
The bill was a topic of controversy throughout the session.
Several protesters were arrested after yelling at senators and throwing pads and tampons from the balcony of the legislative chamber.
Gov. Jim Pillen signed the Let Them Grow Act on May 22.
Red Way
After less than three months of flights, Lincoln’s Red Way airline was shut down at the end of August.
Officials hoped the airline would draw more business, tourism and general travel to Lincoln.
The airline said it came to the “difficult conclusion” to close due to the “compounding of costs and lack of resources.”
In an audit, Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley said Red Way “was a failed riverboat gamble bankrolled by taxpayers.”
KLKN-TV’S TOP 8 STORIES OF 2023, AS VOTED ON BY NEWSROOM STAFF:
- Over 90,000 Husker fans gather for Volleyball Day in Nebraska
- ‘I’m not going to give up hope’: Tyler Goodrich’s husband breaks his silence
- 26-year-old man who posed as Lincoln high school student accused of sex crimes
- Seward County sheriff responds to allegations of missing money
- Nebraska Legislature passes abortion, gender-affirming surgery bans
- ‘A failed riverboat gamble’: Nebraska auditor slams Red Way ‘debacle’
- Man accidentally shot child while officiating wedding near Lincoln, deputy says
- Woman intentionally hit, killed two men with vehicle in south Lincoln, police say
