Hi everyone, Natalia Alamdari here, filling in for Matthew Hansen on newsletter duty this week.
Here’s how my reporter brain works: A driver told me a story of being pulled over in Seward County, his car searched and his money seized. But he said somewhere between the money being seized by deputies, and it being documented in court records, a couple thousand went missing.
One driver alleging that to me raises my eyebrows. Two drivers piques my interest. Three — and then the former public defender recounting similar stories — tells me it’s time to start digging.
This week, we published a story detailing allegedly missing money during traffic stops on the interstate.
It’s our second installment of forfeiture stories from the interstate, after sharing the story of Seward County last month, and the millions of dollars it brings in seizing cash without convicting I-80 drivers of a crime.
When I started digging deeper into the missing cash drivers told me about, the sheriff’s department said missing money would be impossible. Everything officers do is captured on body cam and dash cam, they said. A machine takes a picture of every bill counted.
So, I requested the camera footage.
And that public records request was denied.
Go deeper into the story here. And if you have a tip to share, reach our newsroom at [email protected].
A baseball homecoming: When ballplayer Cole Fontenelle found out TCU had qualified for the College World Series in Omaha, his grandfather told him: “You’re returning to the land of the Fontenelles.”
Cole’s a descendant of none other than Chief Big Elk, the last full-blooded chief of the Omaha tribe.
Mike Kelly, new to the pages of FFP, but a veteran of Nebraska news, brings us this heartwarming story about reconnecting with your heritage, and how baseball brought Fontenelles around the country together.
Transit saga continues: Back in January, Norfolk buses stopped operating after transit general manager Jeff Stewart was accused of stealing as much as $1 million from North Fork Area Transit. Stewart was nowhere to be found, and authorities believed he’d fled the country.
Well, folks, Stewart turned himself in at the Texas and Mexico border this morning, News Channel Nebraska reported. The former transit director called the TV station from Mexico on Thursday to share his side of the story.
In February, FFP dove into internal emails that showed the increasing frustration and concern as transit employees started to realize the extent of Stewart’s financial mismanagement. That same day, an Omaha-based donor pledged the amount needed to restart bus operations.
Fall festivities: If you subscribe to this newsletter, you clearly are down to celebrate journalism. Join us in doing just that, at what FFP editor-in-chief Matthew Hansen has dubbed Flatfest, on Sept. 14 (Official name being Flatwater Free Press Festival. Say that five times fast). We’ll have drinks. We’ll have food trucks. We’ll have deep conversations about the state of the news media with a panel of journalists with Nebraska ties. And of course, we’ll have fun. Get your tickets here.
Shoutout to our sponsor: This week, it’s Ho-Chunk Inc., Nebraska’s largest minority-run business. We think it’s crucial to share well-told and important Native stories like this week’s Fontenelle-CWS crossover, and we’re glad that Ho-Chunk supports the mission of Nebraska nonprofit journalism.
Sincerely,
—Natalia Alamdari, Seacrest Greater Nebraska Reporter
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:
- Local donations to the Nebraska GOP took a hit after last year’s chaotic convention and leadership shake-up. They’ve yet to bounce back, OWH reporter Erin Bamer reports. Something Bramer notes: the absence of donations from Sen. Pete Ricketts and the Ricketts family since last year’s convention.
- A Lincoln nonprofit has started a project to build 20 tiny homes for people just released from prison. Neighbors say they believe in the mission…just not in their neighborhood. 10/11 with the story.
- Archeologists began the excavation of the potential gravesite at the Genoa U.S. Indian Industrial school this week, searching for at least 86 children who died on the campus. OWH reporter Jessica Wade has covered this story with sensitivity and compassion – her stories, paired with photojournalist Anna Reed’s photos and video, follow the descendants helping to find their ancestors.
- Gov. Jim Pillen has accepted millions of dollars in emergency rent aid from the federal government, the Nebraska Examiner reports. What started as a potential $120 million in emergency rental assistance for Nebraskans has dwindled down to $48 million, after former Gov. Pete Ricketts left the money untouched.
