Flatwater Free PressNancy Gaarder has 40 years experience covering the news in Nebraska and neighboring Missouri, first as a reporter and editor for the St. Joseph, Mo., News-Press and then for 28 years at the Omaha World-Herald. She has been honored by the Great Plains Journalism Association for news and feature writing. She has broken stories on misconduct by government officials and has been the go-to reporter in Nebraska for news on climate change and extreme weather. She is the author of Nebraska Weather. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism, she is a former board member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. She resides in Omaha, where her spare time is spent bicycling and hanging out with friends.
Nebraska jumped to the forefront of monitoring for outbreaks after two dogs died in 2004. But political and economic hurdles continue to slow efforts to prevent toxic blooms.
Dan Griffith is just scraping by. His work restoring windmills and the income from his farmland has kept the lights on, he said, but not much more. That…