Howdy, Omaha — it’s Jeremy.
While covering government over the last five years, I’ve noticed something about the budgeting process: Whenever money is tight, the arts folks get real nervous.
Public funding for theaters, festivals and arts education usually represents thousands of dollars in a billion-dollar pie, but cost-cutting officials often deem the programs expendable.
Conversations about cutting from the arts typically take place on a state or local level, but the Trump administration’s recent efforts to defund the National Endowment for the Arts have created shortfalls for organizations across the country.
The groups that run First Friday art walks in Benson, the Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival and Omaha’s Circle Theatre were among those left scrambling after their NEA grants landed on the chopping block, reports correspondent Tynan Stewart in this week’s feature story.
Some jilted arts orgs found workarounds. Others are struggling to tread water. All are worried about their future.
You can read Ty’s thorough reporting here (or click the photo above).
— Jeremy Turley, Flatwater Free Press
Nebraska has one of the worst infant mortality rates in the country for Black babies, as our colleague Sara Gentzler recently reported. She‘ll host a public discussion about maternal health – what got us here and what could come next – at the Benson Theatre on Aug. 21. Panelists include three sources from that story: Dr. Ann Anderson Berry, medical director of a state group that has long worked to improve care, as well as State Sen. Ashlei Spivey and Kelly Nielsen, who head two efforts to address disparities locally.
RSVP for the free event on our website.
We’re thrilled to present the third annual Flatwater Free Press Festival, an afternoon and evening where we come together to put Nebraska news center stage. And for the first time, it’ll all happen in Omaha!
We’re convening local leaders, policymakers, famed journalists, your favorite FFP reporters – and, most crucially, you – for a series of “journalism on stage” conversations and a kickin’ party.
RSVP for the free afternoon event, and buy tickets for the evening portion, on our website.
The Westside Community Schools Board of Education approved new safety protocols, science standards and facility upgrades at Loveland Elementary and Westside High. The district also welcomed 53 new teachers and reviewed a wellness report showing high staff demand for mental health services. Superintendent goals were set for the year, and leaders plan to meet with Gov. Jim Pillen to discuss school funding. Read the full summary here and the full meeting notes on the Documenters website.
Want to help inform your community and create better journalism while getting paid? Become a Documenter today.
— Leah Wambui Keinama, Nebraska Journalism Trust
Film Streams has planned an absolute knockout of a month.
This Saturday, I’m seeing Heartworn Highways. As a Townes Van Zandt fan, I’ve seen clips but never the whole documentary, which follows hard-living outlaw country music artists. That day also starts a weeklong showing of three legendary Akira Kurosawa movies — “Stray Dog,” “Ikiru” and “High and Low.”
Then next week, one of my favorites: “All that Jazz,” followed by “Raising Arizona” for Film Streams’ “On the Green” series.
If you didn’t know, it’s also the Dundee Theater’s centennial. Film Streams is celebrating with classics from each decade throughout the year, including “Harold and Maude” this month.
At the end of August, you can see Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon” or one of my favorite kids movies, “Because of Winn-Dixie.” And to top it off, Film Streams just announced THE Spike Lee is coming for an event in November. You can prepare by seeing “Do the Right Thing” next month.
See you at the movies.
— Chris Bowling, Flatwater Free Press
Nebraska might host the next “Alligator Alcatraz,” Trump’s nickname for a state-run, federally funded migrant detention center in Florida, according to a CBS interview with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Likely locations could include space near Eppley Airfield and the Omaha Correctional Center, writes Cindy Gonzalez at the Nebraska Examiner.
Nebraska is eyeing redrawing Omaha’s congressional district, Rep. Don Bacon told Juan Salinas at the Nebraska Examiner. A fight is underway in Texas over redrawn boundaries that would boost Republican power in Congress.
Elizabeth O’Connor, a University of Nebraska regent and Douglas County prosecutor, is facing felony charges after crashing head-on into another car while allegedly driving drunk, WOWT reported. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said Tuesday she was no longer employed by his office, KETV reported.
Another deputy county attorney says Kleine fired her after she said she would run for his seat in 2026. Amy Jacobsen, a Democrat, said she would “reform the office’s culture” after it has slipped into controversy under Kleine. Kleine declined to explain Jacobsen’s separation, Cindy Gonzalez at the Nebraska Examiner writes.
The ACLU has taken on the case of a woman detained in June’s Glenn Valley ICE raid who is still locked up despite an immigration judge ruling that she could be bailed out, the Nebraska Examiner’s Cindy Gonzalez reported.
Mayor John Ewing announced the city would spend $40 million on affordable housing along the streetcar corridor. Ewing fast-tracked the investment, which would be paid off with tax increment financing proceeds, because of the city’s need for affordable housing, writes Henry Cordes at The World-Herald. (You may need a World-Herald subscription to read the story.)
Family and friends are mourning two girls, ages 8 and 12, who died, along with their father, in a Fremont wood pellet manufacturing plant explosion last week, according to the World Herald. The girls were remembered for their energy, sassiness, strength and spirit.
A late-night fight at the site of Native Omaha Days led to gunfire that killed a 22-year-old man and left two others critically injured, KETV reported. Another shooting near 30th and Pinkney streets left seven people injured.
In a Facebook post, the Omaha Police Officers Association accused a North Omaha senator of flipping off officers and inciting violence. State Sen. Terrell McKinney denied the accusation. The Omaha Police Department told KETV it looked into the matter and found no criminal conduct.
A correction from last week’s newsletter: The exhibit “Suspended in Time: Still Lives and Magic Realism” will run at the Samuel Bak Museum until Dec. 21, not Dec. 5.
The Flatwater Free Press is published by the Nebraska Journalism Trust, a 501(c)(3) public charity