Omaha

Plano, Texas – October 15, 2026 -- Two nonprofit leaders who open up youth sports to more girls and kids received $25,000 grants each from Toyota at the 2026 espnW: Women + Sports Summit in Ojai, California. Markeshia Grant of EPIC for Girls and Rhiannon Potkey of Goods4Greatness are the 11th class of Toyota Everyday Heroes.

The Heroes were surprised on stage. Tiffany Shido, general manager of brand at Toyota Motor North America, presented the honors alongside espnW emcee and Toyota Ambassador Jess Sims. Shido said the pair are expanding access to sports and removing barriers to participation.

EPIC for Girls builds up the people who serve girls in sports

Grant is Executive Director of EPIC for Girls, a capacity-building nonprofit based in Omaha, Nebraska. EPIC strengthens the organizations, coaches and systems that serve girls. It gives those groups resources, relationships and support to widen access to quality sports and youth development.

Omaha, Neb. – September 29, 2026 -- Halloween shopping has stopped being a one-night errand, with 49% of shoppers starting in September or earlier and total U.S. spending on track to hit a record $13.5 billion this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

The average celebrant will spend $115.14, and decorations alone account for $4.3 billion of the total. Retailers point to a simple shift: 74% of Americans now celebrate Halloween, and the holiday has expanded from a single evening into a season that includes early yard decorating, school parties in mid-October, church or neighborhood trunk-or-treats, and door-to-door candy on the 31st.

Omaha, Neb. – September 15, 2026 -- Omaha Steaks has slashed its average delivery time from more than six days in early 2025 to just two days today, part of a broader overhaul of the 109-year-old company's business and a new "No Bull" brand campaign.

Delivery speeds up as retail footprint expands

The company is rapidly growing its retail and fulfillment network, using stores as both shopping destinations and local fulfillment hubs. That expansion now enables same-day and next-day delivery for more customers, alongside a wider range of customizable protein packages.

Omaha – September 15, 2026 -- Slim Jim, the meat snack brand owned by Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), has officially set a Guinness World Records title for the World's Longest Meat Snack Stick, unveiling a 429-foot-5-inch creation at the company's Omaha campus.

The record-setting snack measured 143 yards -- longer than a football field -- and weighed nearly 70 pounds. A Guinness World Records adjudicator was on site to certify the achievement.

The new record smashes the previous mark by more than 100 feet

The giant Slim Jim surpassed the former record holder, a 314-foot meat stick unveiled in 2023, by over 115 feet.

Eleven employees spent months building the oversized snack

Work on the project began in June 2025, when a team of 11 Conagra Brands employees was tasked with scaling up the classic Slim Jim recipe while preserving its signature snap.