Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone. My most fervent wish for you this weekend is that you have one friend who has a boat, a pool or a horse tank.
We’ve been laboring at FFP, and thus I’m excited to bring you the five stories, Q&A’s and videos we published in the past few days.
First, let’s talk about our new Flatwater Free Press monthly feature. Because we’re not particularly creative, we are calling it Flatwater Free Conversations.
The idea is as it sounds. Once a month, talented veteran TV and radio journalist Mike’l Severe is going to interview a fascinating Nebraskan.
First up: The only governor in Nebraska history who was awarded the Medal of Honor, and also dated a Hollywood star while in office and also, when he’s back in the state, often walks across the pedestrian bridge named after him.
I’m talking about Bob Kerrey, of course, and I know he walks across that bridge because I stopped and talked to Bob while he was strolling across the Bob this spring.
Here’s the Q&A from the interview with Bob Kerrey, during which he and Mike’l talk about the Jan. 6 insurrection and how smartphones are ruining everything. Kerrey also speaks about his own recent health issues – health issues he connects to both incredible medical breakthroughs and also the extreme cost of American health care – and also the favorite thing that happened to him as he walked across the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. (No, it wasn’t running into me.)
We’ll post both the full video and a transcript every month. We have so many more good guests, including a Republican you may recognize and a bunch of non-politicians doing amazing things, headed your way in the months to come.
Finally, here is freelancer Leo Adam Biga’s story on Kerrey, a story focused on why the longtime Nebraska politician is worried about our schools. He’s particularly worried that censorship and the whitewashing of American history is dangerous for the future of our democracy.
Speaking of our schools: Nebraska students are missing a shocking number of school days. Absenteeism and chronic absenteeism have skyrocketed during COVID-19, according to new data from the state.
It’s striking that this is happening most everywhere. Urban, suburban, rural…you name a Nebraska school district, and it’s very likely that they are grappling with the serious consequences of many more desks sitting empty on any given school day.
But this is most acutely affecting students from families in poverty, Native students, and students who are racial and ethnic minorities, reports intern wunderkind Emma Schartz. She also found school leaders and teachers who are working to solve this problem, in Schuyler, in Ralston and in Lincoln, too.
I want to give a shout out to Lincoln photographer (and longtime photojournalist) Eric Gregory, who took the very nice photos for this story and shoots many Lincoln assignments for us. He’s a pro. It’s wonderful to work with freelancers like him across Nebraska.
This ain’t your daddy’s detasseling: I didn’t detassel while growing up in Red Cloud, partly because I was already working as a below-average farmhand, and partly because…cripes, do you know how early those kids have to wake up in the morning?!
But a new story on our website, one produced by Nebraska Public Media’s Will Bauer for the Midwest Newsroom, says that my vision of detasseling as work done by small-town teens is now out of date. Instead, much of the work is done by migrant workers on temporary work visas contracted by giant ag companies. Now, hundreds of Nebraska teenagers who want to detassel can’t, according to Midwest Newsroom, which is an investigative public radio collaboration.
Flatwater Free Conversation Ideas? Who would you like to hear from during a Flatwater Free Conversation, like the one we just did with Bob Kerrey?
It can be a famous Nebraskan. It can be an unknown Nebraskan doing something amazing. Only two qualifications: They have to be connected to Nebraska. And they have to be interesting.
If you have someone you think fits that bill, respond to this newsletter or drop me an email at [email protected].
Back next week with an extra-special newsletter, because our little baby Flatwater Free Press is turning one year old. They grow up so quickly.
Have a great holiday weekend,
—Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Every week we like to share great Nebraska journalism, no matter who made it. Here’s what caught our eye this week:
- A few short months ago Nate Fisher of Yutan was evaluating loans for First National Bank. On Aug. 21, he made his major league debut with the New York Mets. It’s an unbelievable comeback story, and it’s told by the single best reporter in Nebraska to tell it: The World-Herald’s Dirk Chatelain. Give it a read.
- More fallout from a troubling story out of Grand Island, where the kids who run the school paper devoted their final edition of the year to LGBTQ issues, and then Northwest High administrators responded by…shutting down the paper and the entire journalism program. The New York Times with the story.
I got my start at the high school paper, as so many professional journalists did. So it probably goes without saying, but I will say it anyway: What a disservice to education. What a disservice to free speech. What a disservice to potential future versions of me. - Big news from Nebraska’s long-troubled prison system this week. Corrections director Scott Frakes is resigning. Read or listen to the story by Nebraska Public Media’s Fred Knapp, which details Frakes’ work leading our overcrowded prisons.
