Budget cuts have consequences. We can debate as Nebraskans, and Americans, about whether those consequences matter — whether our government should spend more money on a thing, or less, or none at all. That’s a healthy debate.
But too often, we debate this without any any knowledge of actual impact. With a mistaken understanding that these taxpayer dollars are being thrown into a deep, dark cavern and can never be tracked to their source.
Yes, there is also waste, fraud and abuse. Good journalism uncovers those things. Journalism is also pretty good at finding out where the money went.
Such it was this week with our story by new FFP correspondent Ty Stewart, focused on the Nebraska theater, music, humanities and arts education programs getting wounded by federal funding cuts.
Among the programs affected: Art walks in the Benson neighborhood of Omaha. A theater company in Kearney that does productions for adults and outreach to students. The symphony in Lincoln. Music education for low-income kids in eastern Nebraska and in the Nebraska Panhandle, too.
“I’ve never seen anything close to a moment like this,” said Chris Sommerich, longtime director of the Nebraska Humanities Council, which funds many things Nebraska, including writing programs for military veterans and family literacy programs and history programming for kids and adults alike.
Maybe some (though definitely not all) of this lost dough will be replaced by private philanthropy, as some has been this year. And maybe this is how the government should cut funding. But this is the real impact.
Police gain: What a cool story we published today out of Fremont, where the police department is employing people like Jon Thomsen to aid residents in crisis. Every police department in our country gets deluged by calls from and about citizens suffering from mental illness or addiction issues.
In Fremont, people like Jon, a mental health co-responder, can help the police department focus on other things, while also helping the residents in crisis. How? Well, Jon can help those suffering from mental illness or addiction because he has already lived it.
A fascinating one from correspondent Tim Trudell.
Reading rocket ship: God, I love a good bookstore. I love the book-smart owner and the book-lovin’ employees. I love the “suggested reads” section and the “new reads” section and every book in the history section. I adore the smell.
A new Nebraska bookstore, Revolving Books, cannot give us that scent, because (for the moment at least) it’s an online-only seller of. But a growing army of fans — driven by social media — adores it all the same, because, as FFP Lincoln reporter Emily Wolf writes, it “has established itself as a trusted curator of both fiction and non-fiction for readers across the U.S.” and “… slid neatly into an underfilled niche — making high-quality, hard-to-find secondhand books available to the masses for a reasonable price.”
Yes, please. Really nice one on young Austen Baack and his Lincoln-based rocket ship of a book business.
Dreamin’ of FlatFest: This week, as I was busying myself doing editor things, a thought banged my noggin’ like a two-by-four. That thought: In a few short weeks, I’m going to be interviewing on stage, in front of hundreds of Nebraskans, both the mayor of Omaha and then the legendary longtime editor of the New York Times. Seriously, pinch me.
I then had another thought: “Holy $%!! I should start writing questions.”
Anyway, let me worry about the questions. You just make sure to buy your tickets to the Sept. 17 Flatwater Free Press Festival, code name FlatFest.
It’s a free afternoon event focused on the future of Nebraska, including my chat with Mayor John Ewing. Then, that evening, it’s the best darn journalism party this state has ever seen, at the stunning Kiewit Luminarium, where I will interview said legendary Times Editor Dean Baquet about the present and future of news.
Learn more, RSVP, buy your tickets and ready yourselves. It’s gonna be great.
Mothers and babies: We’re holding another free “journalism on stage” event I’m excited about, this one Aug. 21 at the Benson Theatre. It’s a community conversation, co-hosted by FFP and the Omaha Community Foundation, about maternal health in Omaha. We’re gonna talk about the problem of maternal health — simply put, our infant mortality rate in Nebraska, especially for babies born to Black mothers, is unacceptably high. FFP reporter Sara Gentzler interviews three of the issue’s leading voices about the problem and solutions.
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? Complete this form or reach our newsroom at [email protected].
Have yourself a fine summer 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:
- Kind of a wild week in Nebraska news, starting with Rep. Mike Flood’s Lincoln town hall, which made national news because he’s one of the last Republicans in the country doing these.
Story by the New York Times, with the national context, local story of the event by Nebraska Public Media’s Brian Beach and a follow-up story of note by the Journal Star’s Andrew Wegley — an interview with the woman who went viral after asking the congressman, “How much does it cost for fascism?”
(You may need LJS subscriber access to read that story.) - A University of Nebraska regent is facing felony charges after she allegedly drove while four times the legal alcohol limit and caused a crash that caused life-threatening injuries to another driver. Story by KETV’s Aaron Hegarty.
That regent, Elizabeth O’Connor, is no longer employed as a deputy Douglas County attorney, reports KETV. - This is an incredible one. A Nebraska woman became the first person in the world to receive a new treatment for multiple sclerosis at Nebraska Medicine, reports WOWT’s Andrew Pfeifer. She has seen marked improvement since receiving the novel therapy, reports the World-Herald’s Julie Anderson. (You may need OWH subscriber access to read this story.)
- A Trump administration-led push to redistrict in the middle of a decade in order to gain more Republican seats in Congress may come to Nebraska, reports Juan Salinas II of the Nebraska Examiner.
- Ugh. A bunch of small newspapers in Wyoming and Nebraska closed without warning this week, reports Nebraska Rural Radio.
- For years, a Kansas City-based foundation plowed money into growing entrepreneurship in Nebraska. But last year it decided to scale back that spending, leaving a financial hole that has yet to be filled, reports Lev Gringauz at Silicon Prairie News.
- My favorite quote of the week: “I brought a rhino bone,” said Jonah, an 8-year-old visitor. “I didn’t know it was a rhino bone. My brother thought it was a cow bone. It’s my new favorite fossil. I’m going to put it in my room.” Really adorable 10/11 News Now story from Pure Nebraska’s Grace McDonald about Fossil Day in Long Pine.
- And finally my favorite story, though I may be a little biased. It’s from Kansas City-based food writer Jed Portman, who ate a whiskey steak at the Drover, maybe my favorite Omaha steakhouse. He then went on a journey to recreate the “secret whiskey marinade” in his home kitchen, with a little insight from Nebraska food writer and FFP restaurant critic (and my better half) Sarah Baker Hansen. Really fun read in Serious Eats.
