I quite literally do not know where to start today. We published four stories this week, which I believe is a record for the Flatwater Free Press, your No. 1 source for slow news.
Two of these stories were newsy, hard-hitting, investigative, giving you information you didn’t previously have. Two of these stories were lovely stories connecting you to a stranger, to their humanity and humanity in general, in a way you maybe didn’t expect.
They’re all good journalism. They are all important stories, well told. So I’m just gonna show ‘em to you in chronological order and allow you to choose your own Nebraska journalism adventure.
VA’s blunder: Way back on Monday, we published this story about a Vietnam vet who had cancer, except he didn’t know it. The Omaha VA did know it, but they failed to tell him, allowing that cancer to progress from Stage 1 to Stage 4 — essentially terminal — as he went about his life unaware.
FFP Omaha reporter Chris Bowling peeled back the onion, and learned that the reason for this error that likely hastened the death of Michael Hansen is tied to a nurse retiring, VA leaders’ failure to hire someone to replace her and a safety net system breaking as a result. Questions linger for Michael’s widow: How many other Omaha-area veterans had cancer but were never notified? How many other vets got sick and potentially died sooner because this safety net had holes?
Feek’s fight: I have known Dirk Chatelain since he was 18, and I was the wizened old age of 21. I was wise enough to know, even as a college journalism punk, that this kid from Rising City, Nebraska, was in fact rising … that he had something within him, something singular, that allowed him to tell wondrous stories. It was, and still is, a gift. His gift. Also ours.
And Dirk gave both FFP and Nebraska an early Christmas present on Wednesday, when he told us the story of Coach Brad Feeken. It’s a deeply personal story. It’s a story about basketball and teaching, life and death, the mark that a person can leave upon his or her spot in the world.
It’s a Dirk Chatelain special. If you haven’t yet, you should read it.
Zuck’s land: Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has spent more than $50 million buying nearly 900 acres of Nebraska farmland in the past five years. Just in Sarpy County! Google is buying up really expensive Nebraska farmland, too.
So, why are the tech giants buying here, and how is it changing these places at the edge of the suburbs? On Thursday, our series, “Who’s Buying Nebraska?” continued with Yanqi Xu’s look at cornfields that are becoming data centers.
FFP reporters Yanqi and Destiny Herbers, with an assist from UNL rural fellow Evelyn Mejia, have done a top-notch job with this series. Catch up on all their stories, and get more info on the Top 10 and Top 100 buyers of Nebraska land.
Reading the news, with love: For decades, she brought the news to a small Nebraska town. Now that town brings the news to her.
Anyone who has followed my journalism career knows that I’m a sucker for a story about a small town, and a story about people building and preserving community. This lovely little story about Gwen Lindberg, written by FFP Seacrest Greater Nebraska reporter Natalia Alamdari and published today, is both.
I also love the idea that Alamdari and Lindberg, newswomen separated by at least four generations, spent time together in Lindberg’s West Point, Nebraska, assisted living apartment, talking, listening, learning.
Look ma, I’m on the radio: I did a two-part interview with KIOS’ Michael Hogan last week. We chatted about FFP, stories that mattered in 2023 and also a bit about the importance of nonprofit journalism. If you didn’t catch it on KIOS, check it out here.
Speaking of the radio: Every Monday around 5:08 p.m., I or a Flatwater Free Press reporter appears on Dan Parsons’ radio show in Lincoln. Check us out with Dan on News Talk 1400 AM. Dan also posts the segments right here.
A farewell to The Reader: For nearly three decades, The Reader played an important role in the news, arts and culture journalism landscape in Omaha. And El Perico, which came along later, was crucially important to the city’s Spanish-speaking population.
Leaders of those organizations are sending ‘em out with a bang on Saturday. Executive director Matt Wynn (a one-time Reader intern), myself and Chris Bowling, The Reader’s final editor and now an FFP reporter, will all be there to celebrate. Join us if you’re free.
Thank you to our sponsor: This week it’s KIOS, Omaha’s public radio station since 1969! Local programming, music and Fresh Air every night at 6 p.m. It’s where my radio dial is generally tuned. I thank them for supporting the crucial mission of nonprofit journalism.
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].
See you next week…our last week of publishing in 2023!
—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:
- Last week, I teased Henry Cordes’ story about the Nebraska Humane Society. It published Sunday and, not surprisingly, it’s a doozy.
This sentence sticks in my head: “Omaha’s nonprofit dedicated to the humane treatment of animals hasn’t treated its people very well.” - “A failed riverboat gamble bankrolled by taxpayers” is how Mike Foley, the state auditor, described the Red Way airline debacle. The Journal Star’s Matt Olberding with the story of the auditor’s scathing report on the failed startup airline in Lincoln.
- Things appear to be going swimmingly in Sargent, Nebraska, where four (?!) school board members just got recalled by voters, which is a bit of a problem since there are only six members total. The story from NTV News in Kearney, with reporting from KBEAR in Broken Bow.
- The World-Herald’s Chris Burbach did a story on some long-vacant North Omaha public housing apartments that started with this memorable quote.
“You will not find this no place else in the city, nowhere else in the city,” Butler said Friday as a December cold front blew through the windowless, garbage-strewn, scavenged-out shells of the Omaha Housing Authority’s former Spencer Homes East apartments at 26th Avenue and Spencer Street. “But somehow North Omaha is supposed to be OK with this abandoned building, wide open. Mold, mildew, asbestos, as well as people looking for shelter … taking residency in here. It’s totally unacceptable.” - And, in a follow up published yesterday, it looks like Burbach’s initial story helped to prompt some action.
