This is Ryan Hoffman, Flatwater managing editor, coming to you this week because, well, I wanted to. Sometimes, the stories we share hit close to home. This week, we published one of those stories.
Reporter Destiny Herbers writes that Nebraska is seeking to eliminate retroactive Medicaid coverage. It is intended to prevent low-income people from incurring crippling medical debt in the wake of an emergency, between initiating care and enrolling in Medicaid.
State officials say the move will save millions of dollars each year and incentivize hospitals to enroll patients faster. But hospital leaders worry this will be disastrous for vulnerable patients, including newborns who can’t be enrolled in Medicaid until after they are born.
Nearly three years and five months ago to the day, I thought the birth of my two sons might also be their death. My wife was just past the 29-week mark when she started feeling off. Off turned to bad. Bad turned to pain. Pain turned to a 4 a.m. drive to Bryan Health. Within seconds of starting her exam, the nurse told my wife: Don’t be alarmed … but you’re going to have these babies today.
“They’re dead,” I thought.
We ended up spending 61 days in the NICU — the earliest days marked by exhaustion and feeling shell-shocked. Had we lacked health insurance for even two of those 61 days, it would have financially ruined us.
And had somebody asked us in those early days — when survival wasn’t certain — to fill out pages and pages of confusing paperwork, I’m certain I would have lost it.
You can read Destiny’s story here.
Crazy for cranes: George Archibald is what you call “a big deal” in the conservation world. Throughout his decades of traveling the globe and working to save cranes, Archibald has pretty much always managed to make it to Nebraska in March for “one of the world’s great migration spectacles.” Correspondent Lori Potter has the story and an interesting look at some recent crane trends.
YRTC shake-up: The top administrator at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney is out of a job, Flatwater’s Sara Gentzler reported earlier this week. The firing came roughly five months after sexual abuse allegations at the center came to light.
Name change: Did you know that Omaha was once called Omaha City? Me neither. Flatwater’s Jeremy Turley dug into the old name and why Omaha, unlike other metros in the region, dropped the “city” from its name.
Play ball: In the 1950s, the Sandhills town of Rushville had one of the nicest baseball parks in Nebraska. But it largely went unused … until a local man (who happened to be the brother of Notre Dame’s football coach) devised a plan. Kevin Warneke tells the story of how Rushville briefly became a destination for aspiring ballplayers and MLB clubs.
Shoutout to this week’s sponsor:
Eventide and Tabitha have been building a relationship based on shared ideals and common values. Like compassion and kindness. Like integrity and respect. Like faith and family and a philosophy that just might surprise you. Learn more at eventide.org.
Coming to Kearney: We’re counting down the days to our Flatwater Forum in Kearney on April 10. It’s an afternoon of discussions on topics important to the present and future of central Nebraska. And afterward, in the evening, we’re throwing a party at the Museum of Nebraska Art. Learn more about the day’s activities and register for the free event here.
Child care chat: Earlier this week, the aforementioned Gentzler moderated a discussion on Lincoln’s child care crisis. The star of the show was Sam Dov, a father who is living the crisis. His partner quit her job to care for their kids. Meanwhile, Sam works long days to pay the bills. “I don’t see numbers. I don’t see reports. I don’t see statistics. I see real life,” he said. Matthew Mittlieder at 10/11 covered the event, as did former Flatwater fellow Shelby Rickert, whose coverage for Nebraska News Service we republished here.
Questions wanted: Some of our best story ideas come from readers, and they typically start with a burning question that just cries out for an answer. Have a question that our reporters need to look into? Email our newsroom at [email protected].
Thanks for reading,
Ryan Hoffman, managing 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:
- First, fire.
Earlier this week, firefighters reached full containment on the largest recorded wildfire in state history, News Channel Nebraska reported.
Meanwhile, two new wildfires erupted Wednesday night into Thursday morning, prompting evacuation orders in two communities, according to News Channel Nebraska.
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office lifted those evacuation orders Thursday, KNOP in North Platte reported. KNOP’s Tristen Winder spoke with an Ashby woman who recalled the moment she fled her home.
This weekend’s weather forecast will not help ease wildfire conditions, but relief could be coming by the middle of next week, reports Jessica Blum at 10/11 News. - A task force appointed by Gov. Jim Pillen is recommending incentive‑based strategies to protect Nebraska’s water from nitrate contamination, reports Steve White at KRVN.
Flatwater’s Yanqi Xu helped put a spotlight on Nebraska’s nitrate problem several years ago with her excellent reporting. Find it here. - Citing a need to study the issue, lawmakers shelved a proposal to shake up where the state houses in-custody youth, reports Nebraska Public Media’s Noelle Annonen.
As Flatwater’s Sara Gentzler reported earlier this year, Pillen called for the move in his state budget proposal several months after multiple teens accused staff at the Kearney YRTC of sexual abuse. - The Nebraska Supreme Court directed the state’s election chief to put a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate back on the ballot, reports Juan Salinas II at the Nebraska Examiner. Republican groups argued Cindy Burbank was not a serious candidate but a plant meant to boost independent candidate Dan Osborn.
A day later, Salinas reported that Burbank had paid the filing fee for Mike Marvin, a Legal Marijuana NOW Party candidate also accused of being a plant meant to help Osborn. - The firing of a nurse practitioner in the Webster County community of Blue Hill has ignited fear among residents that the local health clinic is closing. But a monthlong investigation found no evidence to support that fear, reports KSNB’s Ian Mason.
- A new report found that as many as half of individuals who die of natural causes in state prisons each year may have been eligible for medical parole, reports Chris Dunker at the Lincoln Journal Star. (You may need a Journal Star subscription to read this story.)
- And finally, our soon-to-be robot overlords are up to nefarious activity in Kearney — whipping up Asian stir fry, Japanese-style Ramen dishes and boba tea. Mike Konz at the Kearney Hub with a fun story about one of Kearney’s newest restaurants and the “chefs” behind the cuisine. (You may need a Kearney Hub subscription to read this story.)
