Zero. That’s the number that hopped off the page at me when I first edited Chris Bowling’s story we published this morning.
An Omaha civilian review board meant to oversee the police department — a board that is literally named the Citizen Complaint Review Board — reviewed zero complaints against police in 2022.
Also zero in 2021.
Lincoln’s oversight board, by contrast, reviewed 34 complaints against police in 2022. Kansas City’s: 111. Chicago’s … well, you get the idea.
So, who if anyone is watching out for citizens when they have a complaint against the police department?
Even more simply: Who’s policing the police?
Bowling asked that question to experts, to state senators, to the mayor’s office, to the board’s current chair and the two most recent past board chairs, and to community activists. And he tells the story of one such complaint against police that, if history is a guide, won’t be reviewed by the review board.
An underappreciated pioneer: When Nebraskans think of the people who made this state the epicenter of the women’s volleyball world, they think, understandably, of Pettit. Cook. Various Husker All-Americans.
But our story today suggests that we should add at least one more name to that list. It’s a woman who learned the game in Ogallala, coached in Seward and York and helped build that Husker dynasty in Lincoln.
Now, she’s going border to border, determined to make pro volleyball popular in Nebraska, too.
Leo Adam Biga with a lovely feature on Diane Mendenhall and the new version of the game in Nebraska.
Documenting local government: Matt Wynn, executive director of the Nebraska Journalism Trust (the dude who first dreamt up this lovely thing we named Flatwater Free Press, and my boss), made an exciting announcement this week.
NJT, the parent nonprofit of Flatwater Free Press, is taking on another journalism child, an organization that will seek to fill another gap in our news landscape.
It’s called Documenters. It’s in cities around the country. And its goal is simple: Make sure a community member with some basic training is sitting in almost every local government board meeting, taking notes. Documenting.
Would I prefer to roll it back to the 20th century when a news reporter, generally someone with a degree in journalism and some experience, was at all these meetings? Yes I would. But that’s simply not the reality of 2024, when many smaller boards — boards that do really important stuff! — don’t always have someone watching them on a regular basis.
This program is a novel attempt to try to change that, while training teenagers and young adults, retirees and people in between to be Documenters.
Feedback time: As much as it pains me to say it, Flatwater Free Press isn’t perfect. (I mean, 99.9999% perfect, but not 100%.) In order to help us improve, we’re doing a readership survey. We want to hear from you about how you think we are doing, and how FFP could be improved. This survey is quick and painless. Thank you for your help!
Thanks to our sponsor: This week it’s Ho-Chunk, Inc, the economic development arm of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Ho-Chunk is Nebraska’s largest minority owned business. From the beginning it’s been a supporter of the mission of nonprofit journalism and Flatwater Free Press as we seek to tell stories from every corner of this state. Thank you, Ho-Chunk.
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:
- For years I (and surely many others) have thought of Omaha’s airport as quaint. Outdated. Weirdly and imperfectly Nebraskan, in an Alexander Payne movie sort of way. It’s best exemplified by Kracky McGee’s, everyone’s favorite weirdo snack shop whose longtime mascot is, inexplicably, a duck who appears to be coming off a 48-hour Vegas bachelor party bender.
But now it appears my old view of the airport is about to become outdated. Announced this week: A $950 million airport makeover, including a new entrance, new gates, a doubling of terminal space and even prep for an international terminal.
The World-Herald’s Steve Liewer with the story. - Gov. Jim Pillen’s State of the State address did happen this week, and included talk of property tax cuts, spending cuts and controversial bills banning trans students from playing K-12 sports designed for females and using bathrooms designated for a gender other than their own at birth. But that speech was delayed for nearly an hour, as Omaha state senators lambasted the governor for the planning, and lack of community input, related to a new business park near the airport.
Stories by the Journal Star’s Andrew Wegley and the Nebraska Examiner’s Cindy Gonzalez and Aaron Sanderford. - Homelessness encampments are becoming more of a problem in Omaha, police and political leaders say. A state senator has introduced a bill that would deal with the encampments in part by giving police the ability to potentially throw people experiencing homelessness into jail.
- Speaking of prison: Vinny Palermo, until recently an Omaha city councilman, was sentenced to hard time this week. The OWH’s Molly Ashford continues to follow that story.
- And, finally, a really cool one out of Lincoln. Nebraska Public Media’s Mike Tobias has the story of a barbershop, on a bus, that’s showing that it can simultaneously cut kids’ hair, and help kids with their problems.
Read or listen to that lovely story here.
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