Legendary Miami Herald cops reporter Edna Buchanan once described her vision of the perfect lead for a story as one that would compel a reader eating breakfast to spit out his coffee, clutch his chest and yell to his wife, “My God, Martha! Did you read this!”
Now I’m not saying that Sara Gentzler’s story today will actually cause you to spit out your Starbucks — but I believe it may well compel you to ask your spouse, friend or neighbor if they know what’s happening at one of Nebraska’s nonprofit hospitals.
Gentzler uncovers and details the chest-clutching amounts of money that Faith Health in Norfolk has paid to two of its doctors. She has hospital leaders defending and explaining the nearly $9 million in combined compensation. And she speaks to State Auditor Mike Foley, whose office has oversight over state payments to nonprofits like Faith Health. Foley calls the pay of one gastroenterologist “eye-popping” and “inexplicable.”
A school’s demise: In 2005, there were 194 Class 1 schools in Nebraska, mostly grade schools that served rural parts of the state.
When school starts again this fall, there will be four left.
Andrew Wegley has the story of a school closure just outside of Scottsbluff — the last school of its kind in Scotts Bluff County. The story explains the reasons why and the cost pressures felt by school leaders as they decided its future.
But I like it because it shows the human cost of these decisions, too. It tells the story through the eyes of one family to whom Lake Minatare School is much more than school desks and classrooms.
Prairie painter: When I think of Nebraska art, I think of Keith Jacobshagen. His work unsentimentally captures the majesty of the our state: Those oceanic prairies. Those unending skies. So I was thrilled that Kyle MacMillan suggested writing about Keith for Flatwater.
The ensuing story is a portrait of a great artist at the end of his career. What Jacobshagen did. Why he did it. And how he might be remembered.
Longtime readers of the Omaha World-Herald will remember Kyle’s byline, as he served as an art and architecture critic and writer there before holding a similar post at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. He’s now a Chicago-based freelancer, and we’re already talking about a Nebraska trip and him doing more Nebraska art and architecture stories. It’s great to share talented writers with Flatwater readers.
Conspiracy in Lincoln!: OK, OK, that’s a little misleading, because the conspiracy in question took place in 1942. But it’s still a fascinating tale about some corporate skullduggery that led to the quick death of Lincoln’s streetcar.
Story by Jeremy Turley, who has been looking into the promise and the perils of Omaha’s under-construction streetcar for Flatwater.
Speaking of Turley: I’m thrilled to say that he’s now a national award winner. Jeremy and reporting partner Lauren Wagner, an education writer for the national newsroom The 74, just won a national Education Writers Association award for investigative reporting. The story: ‘Shot down at every turn’: Nebraska schools frequently deny kids with disabilities.
It was one of a series of stories Turley did on Nebraska’s school transfer rules. Here’s another, focused on high school football.
A judge’s comment on the award-winning story: This story has one of my favorite hallmarks of classic investigative work: It seemed like a number should have been public knowledge, but wasn’t. So reporters hunted it down. And in doing so, they did a big public service.
I couldn’t agree more. Great work by Jeremy and Lauren!
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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:
- A new executive order by Gov. Jim Pillen orders Nebraska to track antisemitic behavior in schools. During the press conference announcing the order, Pillen said “anybody that wants to stand up and talk about … the Palestinians, they’ve got to understand that those people are born to kill Jews and Christians. We have to stand up and deal with reality. It’s as simple as that.”
Story by Juan Salinas II of the Nebraska Examiner. - This week, Google announced water conservation measures in Nebraska and western Iowa while noting that water used for data centers is a tiny fraction of water used on lawns.
Story by Julie Anderson of the Omaha World-Herald. (You may need OWH subscriber access to view this story.) - Also this week, a federal agency hit the pause button on Nebraska-based Union Pacific’s bid to merge with Norfolk Southern.
- More than five years after casino gambling was approved by Nebraska voters and nearly four years since the state’s first off-reservation casino opened in Lincoln, those associated with the horse racing industry in the state say there are signs of life in the industry, Nebraska Public Media’s Aaron Bonderson reports.
- Well, this ain’t great. A once-eradicated livestock parasite is back in the United States more than a half century after we got rid of it, reports Nebraska Public Media’s Macy Byars.
An expert says be vigilant but don’t panic, in a story on KRVN. - And I couldn’t in good conscience leave this week without posting another story by Macy Byars. It’s her exploration of whether the “Oma-Dome” — the wildly popular Omaha-based social media argument that severe weather misses Nebraska’s biggest city — is in fact real.
