A few years ago my wife Sarah and I stood chatting with a man in the second-floor lobby of my hometown’s historic Red Cloud Opera House. To be more specific, the man, then maybe 80, was chatting and we were listening, transfixed…he was telling us about his trip to Nepal, and the guide he met, and the route they took up the mountain, and then how he met famed Nebraskan Dick Cavett as a child…
Outside, the skies darkened. Rain started to fall, gently at first and then harder, harder, hammering the windows. Other guests at the Willa Cather Annual Conference looked at their phones and murmured, concerned. Then the sky turned green. Then the tornado sirens went off. Then the staff ushered panicked-looking guests to the basement.
Ron Hull didn’t appear to notice. He kept right on chatting, unspooling the contents of a truly magical Nebraska life to his audience — Sarah and I — who were, to be clear, now getting a little worried, too, since it looked like the first scene of the Wizard of Oz outside.
There are very few Nebraskans I would risk a funnel cloud to listen to. Hull has always been one of them. Which is why I was thrilled when FFP correspondent Leo Adam Biga suggested a profile of one of the very best Nebraskans. So here’s Ron Hull, who was born in a brothel, built public television as we know it, befriended pretty much every famous Nebraskan along the way and now, at 92, is still doing life as only he can.
Santee to state: They have a hard time scheduling games with nearby towns, and so they played fewer games than most any team in the state. They feel that they often battle against both their opponent and the referees. They hadn’t been to the state tournament…ever. Not once.
Which is why it was such a big deal this week when Santee made it to the state boys’ basketball tourney. Here’s the story of how they did it, and what it means, from FFP correspondent Tim Trudell — one he wrote originally for the Indian Country Today, the biggest Native media outlet in the country.
And of course, a sad postscript, for anyone who follows high school basketball. Santee lost Thursday night in a wildly controversial finish after their star player was called for a technical foul — assessed because he was deemed to have committed a foul during a dead-ball situation, an automatic T in high school — with seven seconds remaining and Santee leading by one, with the ball.
Watch the call for yourself, courtesy of News Channel Nebraska. It happens around the 1:11 mark of the video. I watched it repeatedly this morning and tried to imagine what that call must feel like if your people had survived this, and then their own Trail of Tears, and now survive things like this.
I’m positive the Santee community is still wildly proud of their boys’ basketball team this morning, as they should be. And they have much else to be proud of: A few months ago we had a stunning story about the success of their school system.
Join us at our Norfolk nitrate event: We’re doing some journalism live onstage on Tuesday, March 14, when I moderate a panel of farmers, public health experts and state leaders. Among the topics: How bad is our nitrate in drinking water problem? And what can we do to make sure Nebraska kids, particularly those in small towns and rural areas, don’t drink water high in nitrate?
More detail about the panel discussion here.
Important note: News Channel Nebraska will also broadcast the event on its TV channels (check your local listings) and also livestream it at their website.
Thanks to our sponsor: This week it’s the Nebraska Community Foundation, an organization that has personally taught me so much about how small towns rise and fall — and the various paths forward for Nebraska small towns working to thrive.
Thank you, NCF, for being a supporter of the Flatwater Free Press and for understanding the importance of nonprofit Nebraska journalism as we tell stories all across this state.
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:
- Affordable housing has long been a good reason to move to, or stay, in Omaha. But it’s gotten increasingly unaffordable. The World-Herald’s longtime reporter extraordinaire Henry Cordes is diving into a new project that I’m gonna follow closely. How unaffordable is housing in Omaha getting? And what happened to make this so?
- A powerful yet largely-unknown group helped to get a conservative super-majority onto the Supreme Court, and is now moving to “crush liberal dominance” across American life, its leaders say. This fascinating story by ProPublica mentions that Nebraska’s attorney general has been at least a small part of this effort.
- Later this year we plan to mount a project tied to who actually owns Nebraska’s farmland, and why. (I am very very very excited for this.) This NPR story shows how and why many Midwestern states are moving to try to ban or restrict foreign ownership of farmland. It mentions that Nebraska already has some restrictions on foreign ownership in place.
- The February train derailment in Ohio has understandably focused attention on trains. How often do they derail? And what happens when they do?
The Journal Star had a nice, data-based story this week showing that Nebraska is among the nation’s leaders in train derailments.
