Flatwater managing editor and Lincoln reporter Ryan Hoffman here, pinch hitting for our incomparable editor who is on a well deserved break.
Shortly after moving to Lincoln four years ago, I became intrigued by the cluster of Vietnamese restaurants in the 27th Street area. From that hunger-fueled curiosity, I quickly learned about Lincoln’s history welcoming refugees. It became a point of pride in my adopted home – proof that this town has a heart and cherishes the very ideal that we once proudly and universally proclaimed a key ingredient to American exceptionalism.
Welcoming the world’s vulnerable and persecuted says a lot about a place. But resettlement often represents the end of a journey. Rarely do we hear the stories of life before arriving in Lincoln. Stories like the one kicking off the newsletter this week:
A harrowing escape: When the bombs started falling and flames filled the sky, two Ukrainian brothers came to a daunting realization: They could stay and surely die, or they could pack up their families and flee their homeland. What followed was an 11-day, 900-mile journey across a country under siege in a 37-year-old clunker that most of us wouldn’t feel safe driving to the supermarket.
Author and journalist Joe Starita tells the gripping story of a family displaced by conflict and reunited in Nebraska.
Reducing nitrate, saving dolla dolla bills y’all: If you’ve followed FFP for any meaningful amount of time, you’ve probably read some of reporter Yanqi Xu’s revelatory reporting on nitrate, a compound that research has linked to a variety of diseases including pediatric cancer. Nitrate has become increasingly present in Nebraska’s groundwater, as Yanqi previously reported. But some farmers and researchers are turning to technology to reduce their contributions to this growing problem. And they’re saving money in the process. Here’s how they’re doing it.
Get in the giving spirit, Lincoln: Wednesday is Give to Lincoln Day, when this city’s residents can support hundreds of participating nonprofits. Your favorite independent, statewide nonprofit newsroom is among them. I hope you’ll consider supporting Flatwater’s work in Lincoln and the people who produce it, including the schmuck currently badgering you to part with your hard-earned money. Since joining Flatwater in March, my admiration for the dedicated reporters here has only grown. And ICYMI, I’m not alone there … as evidenced by FFP’s showing at the Great Plains Journalism Awards earlier this month. All of this is possible because of your support. Thank you!
And thanks for tolerating this scrub in your inbox. Barring a breakout debut on Broadway, Matthew should be back next week.
Sincerely,
—Ryan Hoffman, Managing Editor and Lincoln Reporter
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:
- Have you seen this former U.S. senator/Runza slinger? Ben Sasse, the former Nebraska senator turned University of Florida president, has been keeping a low profile in Gainesville … probably because he’s been super busy with “calls” and “meetings.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, through a public-records request, obtained daily appointment logs from Sasse’s first seven weeks as UF’s president. They show blocks of time, some stretching several hours, labeled “call” or “meeting.” The reporting builds on stories by the Tampa Bay Times – which noted that flyers depicting Sasse with the words “MISSING” and “Have you seen this man?” appeared on campus in March – and the Independent Florida Alligator, the student newspaper. The Alligator has been all over this story and Sasse’s tenure, including his meeting with an LGBTQ+ advisory committee last week. Nobody, however, has been able to nail down whether Sasse will be hawking the Florida equivalent to Runza (whatever that is) when the Gators take the field in The Swamp.
- Grand Island High School senior Kenny Morales was all set to deliver a perfectly sanguine (I assume) commencement speech to his classmates at graduation, or so administrators thought. Turns out he used ChatGPT to draft a decoy speech. His actual remarks contained some criticisms, including a critique of the school’s culture. The local school board president told the GI Independent’s Jessica Votipka that while he appreciated some of Morales’ points, the graduating senior went about it the wrong way. But as someone who was part of a graduating class that planned to hand the principal a marble with each post-diploma handshake (thereby leaving him with 100+ marbles), I say Morales’ use of deception to deliver some hard truths demonstrated a more mature flaunting of authority. (If you were wondering, most of us marble-armed teenagers chickened out that day … we didn’t have Morales’ guts.)
- Going once, going twice, sold. In rural communities, auctions have long served as social gatherings bringing together neighbors. But technology is gradually pushing these events online. When I heard this story on the radio, it instantly took me back to my days covering small towns in southeast Nebraska. Elizabeth Rembert of Nebraska Public Media with this smart and well-told story.
- The crumbling Virginia birthplace of noted Nebraska author Willa Cather appeared destined for demolition. That was until a local real estate agent bought the property with plans to donate it to a nonprofit, according to Ashley Olson with the National Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud. Yes, even in Matthew’s absence we are contractually obligated to share any Cather-related news. The Nebraska Examiner’s Paul Hammel (who I’m starting to suspect of being an A.I. powered robot, based on the number of stories he is cranking out) with the story.
- Advocates for medical marijuana in Nebraska filed paperwork Thursday to try to put two questions on the ballot in 2024 that would legalize medicinal cannabis. Assuming they get the all-clear to start collecting signatures, this will be the third time that proponents attempt to put the issue before voters. The Lincoln Journal Star’s Chris Dunker with a comprehensive look at the latest developments.
- And finally, there are days when I deeply miss editing Nebraska statehouse coverage (my previous job at the Omaha World-Herald) and there are days I’m relieved to be free of it all. I still don’t know which of those feelings applies to Wednesday — but it was without question A DAY. Hours of impassioned and contentious remarks set to a backing soundtrack of protest from Nebraskans who flooded the rotunda, all while a supermajority of lawmakers advanced an amended bill limiting gender-affirming surgery for trans youth and abortion access in the state. Today, lawmakers will decide whether to push the legislation across the finish line and send it to the governor. The World-Herald’s Erin Bamer sets the stage for a day that won’t soon be forgotten regardless of how it plays out.
