He heard about her stranded and suddenly homeless half a world away. It wasn’t just anyone…it was the Ukrainian mother of a Nebraska Wesleyan student he and his wife had welcomed into their Lincoln home.
The Lincoln entrepreneur heard about the Ukrainian accountant fleeing the war there, and he did something so simple and so stunning. He grabbed his passport, he flew halfway around the world, he rented a car, and he went to find her.
There’s a ton of terrible news in the world today. The invasion of Ukraine, and now the Russian military’s mass slaughter of civilians, is almost unimaginably horrifying. But, both in journalism and in life, it’s important to remember: Even in our darkest places, even in seemingly pitch-black rooms, there are always pinholes of light peeking through the cracks.
This week, Cindy Lange-Kubick tells us a story about two bits of light in that darkness. Their names are Matthew and Oksana. Their homes are in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Odesa, Ukraine. And as I edited Cindy’s piece, I kept thinking, again and again…what a story. What a story!
You got prison questions, we got prison answers:
This week, the latest attempt to reform Nebraska’s chronically overcrowded prisons fell apart in dismal fashion. As I watched it happen, I kept thinking about the following fact that should give all of us pause:
Forty eight states have prison populations that are declining. Nebraska is one of two states where the size of our prison population continues to climb.
As Nebraska’s political leaders continue to struggle for answers, Flatwater Free Press reporters Natalia Alamdari and Yanqi Xu had some during an “Ask Me Anything” they held on Reddit with World-Herald reporter Henry Cordes. You can read the discussion here.
Alamdari and Xu have both done really good journalism on prisons in the past few months. They have uncovered stories about why overcrowded prisons matter, and how the interpretation of a little-known law is keeping prisoners in longer, and how the full parole board doesn’t often show up for parole board hearings. If you have missed any of this work, check it out.
And I can guarantee you that we will continue to cover this issue. It’s simply too important for either our politicians or FFP to ignore.
See you next week.
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:
- Big parts of two Nebraska counties are currently aflame. View the latest coverage of these wildfires and a related tragedy from News Channel Nebraska and Lincoln’s 10/11, or read about it in the Omaha World-Herald.
- A bill seeking to eventually ban abortion in Nebraska narrowly failed in the Nebraska Legislature this week. New World-Herald reporter Erin Bamer (welcome, Erin!) with the story.
- The Omaha Reader did some serious reporting on the city’s bad landlords. Editor Chris Bowling found that a small number of them — including companies headquartered in the Bahamas and Switzerland, and a landlord previously found guilty of sexually harassing tenants — account for a large share of code violations. But they rarely get seriously punished. Read the important story here.
