I have a beard that’s whiter by the day. I am occasionally jolly. It’s very cold where I live today.
I’m basically Santa if Santa jogged. And I come bearing gifts today, gifts you may not wrap and put under the tree, but gifts nonetheless.
The gifts of…five good stories.
Listen, sorry, I couldn’t buy everyone a Starbucks gift card, ok? There are 16,221 of you elves receiving this newsletter, and I have no idea if you’ve been naughty or nice. Let’s just get to an action-packed pre-Yuletide week at the Flatwater Free Press before I turn back into Scrooge.
$1 out of every $11: Sometimes a number really brings things into focus. This number, or rather these two, did it for me with this new story we published today. In the past election cycle, $1 out of every $11 spent on Nebraska political campaigns was spent by one family. That’s every race, every political candidate down to dogcatcher, every ballot initiative, every known political action committee, every donor. $1 out of every $11 spent was spent by one family. It’s the family of Sen. Pete Ricketts.
FFP state government watchdog reporter Sara Gentzler, with the help of campaign finance guru Alex Richards, has that story, which includes a couple of amazing quotes from former Nebraska governor and senator Bob Kerrey. It also has new information on how Gov. Jim Pillen is using PACs, not his own pocketbook, to help influence races for the Nebraska Legislature.
Real-life Christmas movie: A beloved TV Christmas movie, and the resulting book, were the idea of a woman once voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by the senior class of Valley, Nebraska. And the movie is based on her real-life tragedy and her triumph. I bring, courtesy of correspondent Tim Trudell, the story of Gail Rock and the Christmas tale she created.
Getting engaged in GI: A new Grand Island program is trying to solve what’s surely an issue in many Nebraska communities. When a new immigrant population starts to move into town, how do you help them get engaged?
One out of five Grand Islanders are foreign-born. Nearly 40% are people of color. But the vast majority of elected officials are white. A new leadership program in GI is helping participants get more civically involved, and its leaders hope that some eventually run for public office.
From FFP Greater Nebraska Reporter Natalia Alamdari, it’s the latest story in our “Nebraska Evolving” series on how immigration is reshaping the state. Here’s our “Quick Hit” summarizing the series.
Fading into the sunset: A generation of Omaha business titans with familiar names — Holland, Scott, Hawks — is passing away. It’s causing the leaders of their family foundations, foundations which have funded big projects and a whole galaxy of nonprofits for decades, to ask an existential question: How long do we keep this going?
Which raises a crucial question for Omaha: Who, if anyone, will replace them?
FFP reporter Jeremy Turley with this important story regarding the future of Omaha.
SBH’s Fave Omaha Restaurants: It wouldn’t be the end of the year without year-end lists, and we have a nice one for you today. Food critic Sarah Baker Hansen picks her five favorite Omaha restaurants of 2024. They include a great burger downtown, great midtown sushi, great West Omaha Italian…and a beautiful memory of her Dad.
Big announcement time: Flatwater Free Press is getting bigger and better in 2025. This week we listed a new reporter’s job, someone to do investigative and depth reporting in Lincoln. Thank you to every single Lincolnite who made this job possible and sustainable.
And we’re adding a new Howard reporting fellow starting in January, who will join Alamdari in covering Greater Nebraska.
There’s nothing that warms an editor’s heart more than two more talented journalists in our newsroom. Except for maybe a Negroni. Does Santa like Negronis?
So, how are we growing? It’s pretty simple. This Nebraska nonprofit newsroom is growing because of you. We’re growing because you, the people reading this right now, have given us $10/month, or $100 a year, or less, or more, or told your friends about Flatwater Free Press, who told their friends, etc. There’s power in numbers. There is power in word of mouth. And you are proving it, and helping us prove it, more and more every day.
We’re doing our final push in our year-end fundraising campaign. One of our goals during this campaign, which started ‘round Thanksgiving, was to get 400 brand-new donors. We are extremely close…367 and counting. Help us get there.
Do you like the journalism you see here? Do you want to support it with a gift and spread a little pre-Christmas cheer? If you give your 2024 donation before the ball drops on NYE, every $1 you donate becomes $2 because of a generous local donors, including our all-volunteer nonprofit board of directors.
Next week: The last story of 2024. The last newsletter of 2024. And a best-of-2024 list of my own. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday.
Ho Ho Ho,
—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:
- Gov. Jim Pillen, originally against a federal food program that feeds low-income kids during the summer, now is looking to expand it. A really interesting change of heart and a Nebraska-specific solution in this story from the OWH’s Erin Bamer. (May need an OWH subscription to access.)
- Nebraska’s vaccination rates for schoolchildren continue to drop. Paul Hammel, who is allegedly semi-retired, has this important story from the Nebraska Examiner.
- Speaking of Pillen, he did an interview with Nebraska Public Media’s Fred Knapp where he discussed the potential ban of lab-grown meat.
- Nebraska farm income is way down since the record-breaking year of 2022. Story by 10/11 News Now’s John Grinvalds.
- The Washington Post did a state-by-state look at fluoride in drinking water, and it includes some Nebraska info.
- Here’s my favorite national story this week, and a story bound to get your blood pressure up. A bunch of super-rich musicians took pandemic relief money that was meant for local artists and venues. They used it to do things like throw themselves lavish birthday parties, rent our resorts for a vacation and fly in porn actresses and other “mystery woman.”
Sometimes investigative journalism can read a little dry. And sometimes…wow. Story from Business Insider. - Speaking of stories that can make a guy’s blood boil — drugmakers like Purdue Pharma paid off pharmacy benefit managers to make sure they wouldn’t restrict painkiller prescriptions. A great and infuriating piece of investigative journalism from the New York Times.
- And no big deal, just a piece of jewelry recently discovered that may change the history of Christianity as its currently understood. Story from Popular Mechanics.
- And last but not least. We’re 2 million strong! The Nebraska population jumped over the 2 million mark, and Omaha probably just surpassed 1 mil. Story by the OWH’s Henry Cordes and KETV’s McKenzy Parsons.
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