The best journalism peels back the layers of superficial life. It uses deep reporting, or data, to get us down to something real. Something true.
I’m happy to report we have several examples of that this week, two very different stories from two very different places that two FFP reporters took two different reporting routes to complete.
But here’s what unites them: They both get us to something true.
Marco’s Journey: “His eyes are tired from scanning the conveyer belt. His feet and back are sore after hours standing in his steel-toed boots. His brain is fried from searching…the more than 1,000 metal pieces whizzing past him on the belt during the graveyard shift….It’s now 7 a.m. on a Wednesday…Marco has been working for nearly 15 hours. Now it’s time to go to school.”
Such begins this must-read story from FFP Seacrest Greater Nebraska Senior Reporter Natalia Alamdari. There’s a lot of sound and fury over immigration today, hot takes fired in all directions. But there’s not enough stories about its reality.
That’s the gift Natalia, and her main subject, Marco Gutierrez, have given us today. They have opened a window into Marco’s world, a world of thousands of teens — a world hidden to even some teachers and administrators at Schuyler Central High School and places like it across Nebraska. How Marco got here. The lengths that he goes to survive here. What he hopes to become. And what he fears, too.
I’m so glad to bring Marco’s Journey to you today.
It’s the fourth story in Natalia’s ongoing series, “Nebraska Evolving.”
Who Runs This Town Anyway? When you ask me where I interned in college, I can say the Hastings Tribune. When you ask Destiny Herbers where she interned, she can say NASA.
So, there are reasons that Destiny this week did something I can’t fathom. She figured out how to identify the 150 Omahans who occupy positions of leadership inside multiple city nonprofits. She broke that list down in all the ways she could — a breakdown leading us to the truth that these people are way older and more male than the city’s residents.
And then she built interactive data visualizations, for you, that show how these 150 people are connected.
And then she ALSO did some good ol’ fashioned reporting — the kind I learned at the Hastings Tribune! — and talked to those grappling with the continued reality that, as one memorably put it, “This city doesn’t look like its leaders.”
I’m so glad to bring you this story today, too. It’s the second part of our series, “The Philanthropy Chronicles.” (Here’s the previous story on the family of Warren Buffett.)
A High School Juggernaut…Onstage? We also have a wonderful story from little Wausa, Nebraska, today, a story about two people — and a bunch of committed teens — building a dynasty known to everyone in town. Sixteen state titles in 19 years!
But it’s not on the football field, or the basketball court. It’s on the stage. Really nice one from correspondent Pat Janssen.
Omaha’s Top 5 New(-ish) Restaurants: Tis the season for year-end “best of” lists. Our resident food critic Sarah Baker Hansen has a nice one you can use the next time you’re dining out in Nebraska’s biggest metro area…her Top 5 Restaurants that have opened in the past five years.
Dumplings in Ralston. Pizza in north downtown. The majestic bread board in the far-west suburbs. I seriously cannot write these sentences without getting very hungry.
Brass tacks: Do you value the stories you see in this email? Would you like to see even more?
Then it’s a good time to join the Nebraskans who have already supported Flatwater Free Press with a gift in 2024. We’re going into the New Year with ambitious plans to grow and serve more Nebraskans with more good work like you see here.
Your support matters. It powers this nonprofit newsroom. And it makes a statement that you value a free press — that you value what we do, week in and week out.
Sarah Baker Hansen and I made our statement last week, when we made our annual gift. I’m setting a personal goal: 200 more donors by year’s end. Let’s do this, Nebraska!
Thanks to our sponsor: This week, I’m shouting out the Nebraska Community Foundation, which has sponsored us and supported us from Day One. They just celebrated their 30th anniversary of helping Nebraska’s smaller towns thrive and build a better future for the next generation. Thank you to NCF for supporting the important mission of Nebraska 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].
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:
- Aaron Sanderford of the Nebraska Examiner with a good interview with Gov. Jim Pillen, who appears to be shifting a few priorities as he prepares for a potential challenge from Charles Herbster. And if you haven’t yet, congratulate Aaron for being named the new editor of the Examiner!
- And a really revealing interview with Dan Osborn, done by another Friend of FFP, Tony Bock at Omapod. Listen to be taken behind the scenes of the end of Osborn’s campaign, his concession call to Deb Fischer and his future.
- When I was but a cub reporter, I covered higher education while Howard Hawks served as a University of Nebraska Regent. I was only scared of him a little. Hawks, an absolute giant in business, in philanthropy and at good ol’ Nebraska U, passed away this week at the age of 89. Story by the OWH’s Kevin Cole. (May need to be a World-Herald subscriber to access.)
- State leaders remain quiet on what they plan to do with the Nebraska State Penitentiary as they build a new prison on Lincoln’s outskirts. But they did recently start knocking down an especially problematic part of the state pen. The Journal Star’s Andrew Wegley with the story. (May need an LJS subscription to view.)
- A company is making a massive new investment in Falls City in southeast Nebraska. Interview and transcript by Nebraska Public Media’s Dale Johnson.
- Here’s a story apropos of nothing to end. The universe is expanding at an unexpectedly rapid rate.
- I lied. Here’s another story apropos of absolutely nothing to end. Poker players have figured out a whole new way to cheat.
