The image that FFP reporter Natalia Alamdari paints at the beginning of today’s story is haunting me a little today.
It’s an image of a retired central Nebraska teacher, sitting in her living room, working diligently to write and address and lick stamps for the 1,500 letters she’s sending to fellow Nebraskans across this state of ours.
She seems kind, grandmotherly, quintessentially Nebraskan.
These letters, as you may imagine, are freaking out their recipients, who do not view them as neighborly or Nebraska Nice.
When Alamdari checked their content, experts — including a longtime lawyer for the Federal Election Commission — say this claim made in the letter is positively bunk. They explain how it’s bunk. They list the other times it’s been previously debunked.
But what haunts me is this retired teacher, this woman who could be a relative of mine, is far from alone.
Conspiracy theories — Nebraska elections are rigged, winners are picked by an algorithm, voters’ identities are being stolen by foreigners — have taken hold in pockets of our state. Read Alamdari’s (very good) story about who is spreading them, and who is trying to stop the spread by playing what strikes me as conspiracy theory whack-a-mole.
Nun farewell: Need a spiritual cleanser after that one? I have one for you. The 179-year-old religious order of nuns that founded Omaha’s Marian High School is phasing out of existence. The 50 remaining sisters — 43 who live in Omaha — are planning that end, grappling with it. They talked honestly and beautifully to FFP correspondent Kevin Warneke about it.
Speaking of beauty: Rebecca Gratz’s photo at the end of this story, a photo of the order’s cemetery at sunrise, is lovely.
The rent is too damn high: I’m old enough to remember when cheap housing abounded in Nebraska, when you could rent a spacious apartment for not much and live on not much and save all your money for pitchers of beer (also cheap) and Jimmy John’s sandwiches.
I’m old enough to remember being young in 2004. Also now I want a Jimmy John’s sandwich.
It’s a much different story all over Nebraska today. FFP reporter Jeremy Turley has this story on the cause of and backlash to spiraling rents in Omaha and Nebraska.
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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:
- Not the best way to end up in the New York Times, Nebraska. Here’s the NYT’s story on the woman who was transported to a funeral home despite not being dead. (She then died a few hours later.)
- When Henry Cordes writes a story, I put it in this newsletter. So it goes this week, when the OWH legend uncovered a wild situation in which one prominent Omaha homebuilder was refusing to hand over blueprints and threatening to sue people who were simply trying to rebuild their homes after a tornado leveled them. The homebuilder found Jesus on this issue as soon as Cordes called ‘em. Let’s call it the Henry Effect. (This story may require subscription access.)
- This was a bit of a startler. Gov. Jim Pillen told an audience in York about how, and why, he may pull the plug on the massive Perkins County Canal project. The Legislature is set to sink hundreds of millions into the canal, which is in the early planning stages. NPM’S Fred Knapp with the story.
- Our ballot is likely gonna get mighty confusing when it comes to the issue of abortion this November. The OWH’s Erin Bamer with the story, published here in the Journal Star. (You may need subscriber access to read this story.)
- Gov. Pillen and friends are spending some serious dough on Nebraska legislative campaigns. The OWH’s fantastic Martha Stoddard explains why. (You may need subscriber access for this one, too.)
- A new Vietnam War Memorial officially opened this week, and KETV has this nice story about four veterans — including three brothers — who are being properly remembered after being left off the Wall in Washington, D.C.
- John Heaston, a Nebraska media legend, died way, way too young last Friday. There have been many incredible tributes to Heaston, who founded The Reader, Omaha’s longtime alternative newspaper, and many other things. Here is longtime Omaha music writer Tim McMahan’s, from his blog, Lazy-i.
I was gonna end this by saying, “Rest in Peace, John,” but then I thought about it for a second and knew that if there’s a Heaven, Heaston is in it and definitely feverishly scheming something as we speak. Here is correspondent (and longtime Heaston family friend) Erin Grace’s story on the whirling journalism dervish last year, when he decided to cease publication of The Reader. - You may have heard that the governor is working to cut property taxes. I enjoyed this discussion from News Channel Nebraska’s Joe Jordan and Eric McKay on the issue.
- You say rents are up? Well guess what, property valuations are way up, too. Wheeeeee! Story from KETV.
- And finally: Our sister publication, Silicon Prairie News, has a new reporter, Ani Schutz, who is teaming up with editor Stef Monge to cover startup business in Nebraska. Check out Ani’s story on an entrepreneurial neighborhood group making the Benson area of Omaha a better place to live.
