In the current fiscal year, roughly 41 new refugees have been resettled in Nebraska.
Zero of these refugees are from Afghanistan. None hail from Ukraine. Not a one from Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan or Syria.
All 41 new refugees are South African. It’s likely that all 41 are white Afrikaners.
Today, Lincoln reporter Emily Wolf begins a project to gauge the impact that the second Trump administration has had on Nebraska refugees, both people hoping to seek refuge here and those who already call Nebraska home.
That impact, in a word: Immense.
In today’s first story, Wolf startled this reader by illustrating how suddenly things have changed here — it’s easy to forget that, until recently, this state and in particular Lincoln were per capita the friendliest places in the country for refugee settlement. She probes its halt on the faith-based organizations who have long welcomed far-flung strangers.
And this series will delve into the lives of Nebraska refugees themselves. How they’re surviving. And why it matters.
Great work from Emily. Read the first story in her series Refuge at Risk.
Heroes of Gyros: In a two-block radius in downtown Lincoln, there exist four different gyro shops. These four restaurants make quite possibly the four best gyros in the entire state of Nebraska.
Three of them are now owned by members of the same family. And yes, that has been a tad dramatic. Food writer Sarah Baker Hansen follows the twists and turns of the Gyro Wars of Lincoln.
Sarah did this story as a part of her ongoing Flatwater food bracket, this year meant to determine the best sandwich in all the land, or at least in the Greater Omaha/Lincoln metro areas. Somehow, none of these Lincoln gyro spots made the Final Four! (I blame Omaha.) Check out the sandwich bracket results and vote in the finals as we crown a champ.
About those wildfires … It’s only April 3, and Nebraska has already set a record we don’t want to set. More acres of our state have burned this year than in any entire year in our state’s documented history.
Flatwater reporter Anila Yoganathan on why a changing climate is making the risk of these early-season wildfires more likely. And she talks to Nebraska ranchers about the dangers to their livelihoods and their way of life.
Atlantic event info: We are sadly (and excitingly!) sold out for the April 15 event we’re co-hosting with the Atlantic, aka the best news magazine in the United States. If you RSVP’d, the event link now includes info on the event’s time, place and schedule. If you missed out, you can sign up for the waiting list! Check it out here.
Next week in Kearney!: We still have a few seats available at the World Theatre, where next Friday we are putting on a damn good “journalism on stage” event focused on stories and issues important to central Nebraska. It’s free, and we’re having a party afterward. If you’re planning to come, please RSVP and specify which events you are attending here.
20,000 strong: The first week I wrote this newsletter, on Labor Day Friday 2021, maybe 250 of you received it.
Today, I returned from a two-week newsletter absence during which, among other things, I screamed myself hoarse in Oklahoma City while celebrating Nebrasketball’s first-ever Sweet 16 appearance.
And I returned with another reason to celebrate. Because two weeks ago, for the first time, this newsletter went to 20,000 of you. Today, it’s being delivered to exactly 20,236 of you who have decided you care about the stories this small but mighty Nebraska nonprofit newsroom provides.
We have built this sucker from scratch, spending nearly zero money on advertising and using no dirty tricks to inflate the numbers. We have built it with important journalism done by our reporters. And, crucially, we have built it together — to me, this feels as pure a partnership between journalists and the public as I have ever experienced in my quarter century in this business.
You react and reply. You suggest story ideas and offer constructive criticisms. You tell your friends about Flatwater. You donate and power our journalism. And you keep coming back, more and more of you, each and every week.
This newsletter, and these stories, aren’t mine. They’re ours. Thank you.
See you next week.
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:
- The Lincoln Police Department’s ongoing investigation into a $2.5 million no-bid contract awarded to an associate of Gov. Jim Pillen will likely take months, reports Nebraska Public Media’s Jackie Ourada.
- In related news, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill this week that will give Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley more oversight over no-bid contracts. Stories from the Journal Star’s Chris Dunker and the Nebraska Examiner’s Juan Salinas II. (You may need Journal Star subscriber access to view the Journal Star story.)
- The drought continues to get worse in Nebraska, reports Nebraska Public Media’s Matt Olberding. But some relief may be on the way.
- A popular Kearney restaurant owner who came to the United States as a child has been deported despite the efforts of his friends and neighbors, reports Mike Konz of the Kearney Hub, in a story that appears here in the Omaha World-Herald. (You may need OWH subscriber access to view this story.)
- It often gets lost in these national debates about mail voting, but at least 11 Nebraska counties — all rural and all heavily Republican — have for years used the postal service and drop-off sites as their only way to vote. Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen said this week that President Trump’s recent executive order seeking to restrict mail voting won’t impact Nebraska’s May primary election — though he made no such promise for November. Story by Juan Salinas II in the Nebraska Examiner.
- OK, gonna let my Husker flag fly here for another second. Those two games in Oklahoma City were maybe the two coolest sporting events I have ever witnessed in person. And today, following a historic 28-win season, Coach Fred Hoiberg was named the Associated Press’ National Coach of the Year.
I’m already jazzed for next season. See you at Pinnacle Bank Arena in November.
