Happy Friday and welcome to the 324 of you receiving your very first FFP email newsletter. It’s one of the largest one-week jumps in our history — thank you to all of you longtime readers who shared it with a loved one, a coworker, a friend or even a frenemy in the past week.
To the newly christened, a note: Some of Flatwater’s finest work in our three-plus years of existence has been focused on the water we drink. And the water we drink, particularly in swaths of eastern, northeast and central Nebraska, can be troublingly high in nitrate.
Senior investigative reporter Yanqi Xu (pronounced Yen-chee Shoe) is back at it again this week, following the story of Nebraska’s drinking water — a story she has almost single-handedly pushed into Nebraskans’ consciousness in a way that has already led to some change and should lead to much more.
We fought for several years, to the Nebraska Supreme Court and then to the floor of the Legislature, to get public records showing how state regulators reacted, or didn’t react, to what experts increasingly believe is a serious health risk, particularly for kids.
This week we published two stories from the first batch of those records. The first shows the state’s top drinking water official seemingly downplaying a University of Nebraska Medical Center study showing a link between areas with high levels of nitrate in water and high rates of childhood cancer. It also reveals how the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy leaders interacted with a man whose drinking water came from a well located less than a football field from a hog farm, and how they interacted with a company working to build the largest feedlot in state history.
The second story shows that a report on the state of Nebraska’s drinking water, released to the public in January, left out data showing that the average nitrate level is increasing in wells that supply water to public water systems.
If you’re new to this important work, here’s our Quick Hit summary.
A wondrously weird steakhouse: FFP food critic Sarah Baker Hansen continues her Steak Town USA series this week with what has to be the most singular steakhouse in all of Nebraska. It’s a place where the waiters wear monk robes, Gregorian chants play in the parking lot and the salad bar is so important that it’s contained in its own room.
But don’t get it twisted, Baker Hansen says. Yes, Brother Sebastian’s is odd in the best possible way. It’s also simply, undeniably good.
Here are stories one and two in the series, which will continue all year.
Coming soon: Her first Steak Town tale from small-town Nebraska.
Hidden history: Jessica Wade, as much as any journalist, has worked for years to expose the long-hidden history of the Genoa Indian Industrial Boarding School in Nebraska. It’s not a pretty history … hundreds of Native children were sent there amid a national push to erase Native language and culture. Some died, and their remains have never been found. Today we published her latest story on this tragedy, about the continuing search for the missing, and a lingering question: What does closure look like when the school’s dead remain lost?
Phone a friend/email that buddy: This campaign to ask you to tell a friend, neighbor, relative, Joanie from Accounting, etc., about this newsletter, and show them how to join our crew, is working. So let’s keep it going.
Know someone who would like to see all of FFP’s stories, wrapped into a bow by yours truly each Friday? How about someone who may value the curated “News from Around Nebraska” section below? How about anyone who wants things that are free?
Forward ‘em this newsletter. Or simply click on that link and send it along. Thank you!
The journalism business is a s**t show: I feel comfortable writing those words because they came out of my boss Matt Wynn’s mouth during an episode of the Dan Parsons Show. Wynn is the executive director of Nebraska Journalism Trust, Flatwater’s parent nonprofit. And Parsons is a Lincoln legend.
I haven’t watched the full episode yet — I just received it as I was writing this newsletter — but if the first 10 seconds are any guide, it’s gonna be wildly entertaining. Let’s watch it together!
Or if you don’t want to stare at Matt’s mug, you can listen to the audio.
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].
See you next week,
—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:
- Remember that canal that Nebraska leaders want to build to deliver water from Colorado? I know this is going to shock you, but Colorado continues to not love it. Story by Nebraska Public Media’s Fred Knapp.
- State lawmakers and Gov. Jim Pillen appear open to erasing a proposed budget cut to the University of Nebraska as the university gets pounded by DOGE-related federal cuts.
And NU is getting pounded: “Gold, in a phone interview with the Lincoln Journal Star Tuesday afternoon, said NU is tracking roughly $178 million in lost federal funding as of this week, with that number growing daily.”
But there’s still no agreement on what now may be a slight state increase to NU funding.
Stories by the Journal Star’s Chris Dunker and the OWH’s Erin Bamer. (May need OWH or LJS subscriber info to access.) - Let’s hear it for Wahoo’s volunteer firefighters, who during the March blizzard rescued a man in a dire situation. Story from WOWT’s Erin Hartley.
- Dan Osborn, the political independent who ran a tight race against incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer last year, looks like he might now challenge the other incumbent senator, Pete Ricketts, in 2026. Story by the Nebraska Examiner’s Juan Salinas II.
- Amid budget cuts, staffing shortages are forcing National Weather Service stations in Nebraska to cancel training for storm spotters. Nebraska Public Media’s Dale Johnson with the story.
- U.S. Congressman Don Bacon, a Republican in the Omaha-area House district, penned a guest essay in the New York Times this week headlined, “My Fellow Republicans and President Trump, We Must Stand Up to Putin.”
- Tyler Goodrich, the Lincoln man missing for nearly two years, was laid to rest this week after his body was at last found. Story from the memorial service by Alyssa Johnson of the Journal Star. (May need LJS subscriber info to access.)
- Here’s an incredibly important story from Bamer at The World-Herald. Why does the State of Nebraska have a $289 million budget deficit, anyway? (May need OWH subscriber info to access.)
- Nebraska lawmakers are exploring ways to stop you dirty dogs out there who run red lights. (I’m sure no one reading this has ever once done that. I certainly haven’t! Wait, I just accidentally did last night. I couldn’t see the red arrow!) Joking, obviously, but this is a serious issue … Nebraska had more traffic fatalities last year than in any year since 2007. Story by the Examiner’s Cindy Gonzalez.
