Like so many of you reading this newsletter, I’m a proud alum of the University of Nebraska. I serve on a UNL alumni advisory board. I’m a die-hard Cornhusker men’s basketball season ticket holder. I met most of my best friends in college, many down at the Daily Nebraskan, our beloved college newspaper. That’s where I met future spouse Sarah Baker Hansen — one of us was the editor there, and it wasn’t me. My life was shaped and bettered by the five (yes, five) years I spent at Dear Ol’ Nebraska U.
That college experience makes me personally alarmed to see the university, and many others around the country, weakened by rounds of budget cuts and disappearing federal funding. It’s alarming because I want college, any college, to be as life altering for younger Nebraskans as it was for me.
And my experience also makes me excited for the trio of stories Flatwater is bringing you for the next week, reporting that burrows inside the numbers and tries to make some sense of what the University of Nebraska’s campuses are spending money on — and where and why the money has disappeared.
First up: FFP senior reporter Natalia Alamdari dug in and found something a little stunning. Last year — likely for the first time in the university’s 156-year history — the University of Nebraska spent more on administrators and managerial staff than it did professors.
University leaders and experts alike say ballooning administrative spending is a national trend as the business of college gets more complex, as students want more things from college, as universities hunt for new revenue sources.
But the professors Alamdari talked to asked: Is this what we want college to be?
Math fail? It seems like a bad idea to wield math while wronging a statistics professor. And sure enough: The UNL statistics department is on the chopping block. Its professors got ahold of the underlying data and metrics that university leaders say they used to make those cuts, and … well, let me just steal a wonderful quote from Flatwater Lincoln reporter Emily Wolf’s story.
“I would fail my students for an analysis like this,” one UNL stats professor said.
That professor is one of a growing chorus of voices raising doubts about the metrics that UNL used to identify its proposed budget cuts. Inappropriate comparisons, missing information, misclassified faculty and, as Wolf writes, “plain bad math.”
Next week: We’ll have another NU story for you, this one focused on state leaders. For decades, the State of Nebraska used taxpayer dollars to fund the university at one percentage level. Now we fund the university at a much smaller level. Why?
Crisis in Kearney?: Last Friday evening, we published maybe the first story we have ever published on a weekend, and for good reason. Flatwater state government watchdog reporter Sara Gentzler broke the story that a quartet of employees at one juvenile treatment center in Kearney had either resigned, been placed or leave or face criminal charges after allegations of inappropriate sexual contact with teenagers in their custody.
Now, lawyers are raising alarms about a potential systemic problem at the Kearney Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center, while a judge recently wrote that she’s “disgusted and disturbed as to the lack of transparency.”
In at least two cases, Gentzler writes, leaders at the center “learned of the alleged misconduct months earlier, but the state didn’t disclose it to probation officials, the boys’ attorneys or the judge.”
Pillen stonewall: Nonprofit newsrooms, unite! Our friends at the Nebraska Examiner this week republished Gentzler’s important story linked above. Then we returned the favor, publishing the Examiner’s important story on the McCook prison being turned into an ICE facility.
By late September, reporter Erin Bamer reports, Gov. Jim Pillen’s office had denied at least nine public records requests asking for more information about the state’s deal with the federal government regarding the McCook Work Ethic camp. There’s also evidence that broader requests on this subject have been denied, Bamer writes — and I can tell you that one of ours, by Alamdari, has been denied, too.
So, Bamer asks, what’s the justification to withhold information on a subject involving a state prison and state funds?
Pigeon party: Did you know that recently, more than 300 pigeons took off from Sidney in the Nebraska Panhandle and then raced each other across the state to the Omaha area?
I sure didn’t, not until I read Flatwater reporter Jeremy Turley’s story this week about the subculture of Nebraskans who raise and race racing pigeons.
It turns out that it’s a century-old pastime in Nebraska. And while the birds cannot be interviewed, Turley did capture a cool story — both in words and audio clips — of the people behind those speedy pigeons.
Ogallala, see you soon!: Everybody in and around Nebraska’s Cowboy Capital is invited to join us from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. next Thursday, Oct. 23, at Second Chapter Brewing, the downtown library-turned-brewpub.
We’ll serve coffee and snacks and meet you in person as part of one of our statewide listening tours. I will be there, and I’m the editor of a 4-year-old nonprofit newsroom. So will Keith County News publisher Jeff Headley — his newspaper has only been around for 140 years. Meet our news teams, share story ideas and join the convo about the future of news in Nebraska.
Lincoln, see you soon, too!: Lincoln reporter Emily Wolf and FFP managing editor Ryan Hoffman will be your hosts for a meet-the-newsroom event from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, at Francie & Finch Bookshop in Lincoln. Come by, learn more about how our newest reporter does her job, and share a news tip. At 3 p.m., Emily and Ryan will say a few words and take questions.
They’ll also bring a fresh stack of hot-off-the-presses 2025 Flatwater Free Press commemorative edition newspapers, highlighting our best work from the past year. Come grab your copy and get started on your Christmas shopping list while you’re there — the bookstore will donate 10% of sales that day to support our newsroom. Thank you, Francie & Finch.
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].
Sincerely,
Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Thanks to this week’s sponsor
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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:
- Nebraska voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana last year. But advocates now say that the state commission is subverting the will of those voters by setting rules that will keep prices high and medical marijuana scarce, they say. Stories by Nebraska Public Media’s Brian Beach and the Omaha World-Herald’s Josh Reyes. (You may need OWH subscriber access to view the World-Herald story.)
- An update to the McCook ICE facility: All inmates have been moved from the prison, the Examiner’s Zach Wendling reports, and the state has signed contracts as it anticipates the transition. This announcement comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed by McCook residents and a former state senator, KETV reports.
- Yes, the immigration crackdown is harming farmers and food prices alike, the Trump administration revealed last week in an obscure Labor Department document. The Washington Post has that story.
- Military families may be getting paid during the government shutdown, but civilian employees at Offutt Air Force Base are not, reports WOWT’s Brenna Kiefner. Some are now seeking food assistance.
- Several banners promoting a white nationalist website hung on a Grand Island bridge prompted a statement condemning those messages from that city’s mayor. Story by Kasey Mintz of 10/11 News Now.
- For decades, if your turn got hit by a disaster, FEMA would likely be there to help. But that’s starting to go away, leaving towns and cities vulnerable, reports the New York Times.
- Some people believed it to be a miracle. Local Catholic leaders with the Lincoln Diocese researched it and said, “no miracle here.” Either way, a fascinating story from the Lincoln Journal Star’s Alyssa Johnson about a relic of a saint hanging inside a display case that appeared to move. (You may need Journal Star subscriber access to view this Journal Star story.)
- He was a cattle industry legend, and a state senator known for making friends across the partisan aisle. Paul Hammel has this nice tribute to Sen. Tom Hansen, North Platte rancher, who died Saturday.
- And finally, this story isn’t about Nebraska. It’s all the way out there in Washington State. But it’s written by my pal, former Omaha World-Herald reporter and editor Nick Piastowski, who now writes for Golf.com.
And, sure enough, it’s a story about golf. More specifically, it’s his story about prisoners playing golf. Enjoy.
