When Cindy Lange-Kubick sent me the rough draft of her story a few days ago, I read the first few paragraphs and said aloud, to no one in particular, “This is gonna be good.”
And it was. And it is.
CLK, as only CLK can, takes a random letter she received in the mail and spins it into a tale about a little-known division inside state government that attempts to return millions of dollars to Nebraskans each year… even though those Nebraskans generally don’t realize they have lost their money.
Cindy was one of the first writers we spoke to when Flatwater Free Press was merely an idea. I remain so thankful she said yes and continues to deliver another great story to us each month.
I may be feeling sentimental because…
It’s our first birthday here at FFP. We started publishing this week last year. At the time, it was Executive Director Matt Wynn and I. We didn’t have an office chair. Or an office. Or a reporter. Or much more than a fervent belief that we needed to do something to help build Nebraska journalism after watching for two decades as Nebraska’s reporting corps was chopped in half. (Really. In half.)
We sure haven’t solved the problem in year one. But I know we are already making a difference. We hired two great reporters. We’re announcing a third hire we are very excited about next week.
Six-thousand of you read this newsletter. An astonishing quarter-million Nebraskans see our stories each week in a Nebraska news outlet…because nearly 50 newspapers, radio stations and TV station websites have published our stories.
That includes USA Today, Indian Country Today and the York News-Times…but not the New York Times. (Yet.) We frankly didn’t have any idea we could have a national reach right out of the gate. But we are, in fact, telling Nebraska stories to Nebraskans, and people all across the U.S.
And that’s what I am most proud of. The stories.
Reporter Yanqi Xu told Nebraskans crucial stories about a no-show parole board and a small-town threat to democracy in Alvo.
Reporter Natalia Alamdari went to Warsaw and wrote wonderful stories about Nebraskans helping Ukrainian refugees. And she, working in partnership with the World-Herald’s Henry Cordes, has done some of the most consistent and crucial reporting about Nebraska’s overcrowded prison system in…forever.
We told you about billionaire out-of-state landlords and small-town clerks repeatedly stealing taxpayer money and a film rife with misinformation that accuses public school teachers of being groomers.
Cindy Lange-Kubick has spun her always-lovely tales about Burger King employees who all quit and a Lincoln church helping the poor and this week’s story about Nebraskans finding money they didn’t know they lost.
I could go on and on and on. (So much important COVID stuff! Nebraska’s last video store! A wondrous small-town cafe! Johnny’s!)
But let me just say this, before I go: None of this happens without you. None of it.
At the end of year one, we have 990 individual donors to Flatwater Free Press. Some people give $5. Some give $5,000. I appreciate every last one of you from the very bottom of my heart. And if any of you should happen to dig into your wallets and become our 1,000th donor…I promise to buy you a beverage of your choice at a bar or soda fountain of your choice.
I may even make Matt Wynn come so he can pay.
Now. Deep breath. Onto year two!
Sincerely,
—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:
- They cancelled high school journalism at Grand Island Northwest and ended up getting a bit more ink than they bargained for. This week, former student and scrappy young journalist Marcus Pennell penned two editorials, in the Washington Post and the Omaha Reader. That’s quite a week, Marcus.
- The Lincoln Journal Star and reporter Jenna Thompson had an eye-opening story over Labor Day weekend on the seemingly horrific conditions that meatpacking plant workers continue to face in Nebraska.
- And finally…remember Alvo and those gigantic tire pile? Nebraska Examiner reporter Paul Hammel updates the story and informs us that the tires have vanished.
