Let’s start today with a scoop from Flatwater reporter Jeremy Turley.
In the last few weeks, a self-driving car company affiliated with Uber has been rolling around Omaha, collecting data on road conditions and other info in the city as part of a 150-city national tour.
There’s no guarantee that the company, Nuro, is coming to Nebraska, though it does plan to roll out nationally in 2026. Turley writes that a 2018 state law will make it easier for self-driving cars to operate here — the law, mostly written by an industry lobbying group, allows driverless cars to use public roads with few restrictions. It also bars cities like Omaha and Lincoln from imposing their own rules on driverless cars.
I have rolled around Phoenix and Scottsdale in Waymo, another driverless car company and Uber/Lyft competitor. I gotta tell you: After the eye-widening first few minutes, when you are staring at an empty driver’s seat as the car steers itself into traffic, it quickly becomes normal. Bonus: You get to choose your own tunes!
The most ‘Omaha’ steakhouse: A famed whiskey marinade on the bone-in ribeye. A classic salad bar served on cold metal plates. Stiff drinks. Cowboy kitsch. And a restaurant that is at once Nebraska’s past and its present.
In her final steakhouse review for Steak Town USA, Sarah Baker Hansen writes her love letter to the “steakhouse I venture to the most when I’m off the clock, the place that feels most like my steakhouse home.”
It’s The Drover. And it’s a story, about both steak and memory, well worth reading from Sarah.
Sarah will be back in two weeks to pick her favorites from her Steak Town USA tour, which took her (well, us) to a dozen different steakhouses across the state. Check out all the stories, as well as Flatwater’s oh-so-cool Nebraska Steakhouse Map, right here.
Another week, another new Flatwater reporter: This week, I’m delighted to tell you that Andrew Wegley’s first day was Monday. Fans of Nebraska news will know Wegley from his time at the Lincoln Journal Star, where he covered state politics and the Nebraska Legislature with skill and creativity. He also broke a whole bunch of stories, like this one and this one and this one, that made yours truly say, “Damn, I wish that was our story.”
Wegley was named the 2024 Young Nebraska Journalist of the Year by the Nebraska Press Association. He and fellow Journal Star reporter Chris Dunker won serious state awards for the story examining how Gov. Jim Pillen’s proposed property tax changes would affect his own property tax bills. And he already teamed up with Flatwater reporter Sara Gentzler once, on one of our most important stories of 2025.
I’m very excited to have Andrew on the Flatwater team.
Giving Tuesday: You guys came up big again on Giving Tuesday, donating your hard-earned money to help power our nonprofit newsroom into 2026. Your generosity warms my heart — thank you.
If you forgot, or are a procrastinator like myself, our holiday giving campaign goes through the end of this month! Join the nearly 400 donors who have given to Flatwater this year. Help us keep reporting important stories that we give, for free, to any Nebraskan and any Nebraska media outlet who wants them.
Right now, every $1 you donate becomes $3 because of our local and national matching grants! How cool is that?
Mission to New York: She survived a stroke at 21. And then she decided to do something epic. I really enjoyed Leo Adam Biga’s story for us this week, on Nebraskan Karissa Denae Johnson, who visited all seven continents and is now chasing stardom in the Big Apple.
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
Thanks to this week’s sponsor
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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:
- The Nebraska Department of Economic Development is now paying 22 fewer employees than it did two months ago, in the surest sign yet that there are job cuts happening inside Nebraska’s state government. Story by the Nebraska Examiner’s Erin Bamer.
- As the fallout from the closure of the meatpacking plant in Lexington continues, The World-Herald’s Josh Reyes went to town and wrote a smart story about how the city is struggling, and also trying to stay strong. (You may need OWH subscriber access to read this story.) And another company related to Tyson closed this week, costing the city more than 100 additional jobs, reports Nebraska Public Media editor Matt Olberding.
- Federal funding cuts are trickling down all the way to the Valentine library system. An important story on the impact of federal cuts from News Channel Nebraska’s Casey Wonnenberg.
- Axios, which is focused on more and more retirement-age Americans struggling to successfully retire, caught my eye with this story. The headline definitely is attention-grabbing: “The retirement crisis is here.”
- Speaking of seniors: Nebraska Public Media’s Macy Byars, working with NPR’s Midwest Newsroom, has a really important new story out about how Nebraskans on Medicare Advantage may be gambling with their health care.
- The World Herald’s Julie Anderson is a really good reporter, and she has another important one this week, on activity happening as Nebraska business leaders try to grapple with brain drain that’s happening everywhere in the state. (You may need OWH subscriber access to read this story.)
- The new Inland Port Authority is saying that the state is withholding $11 million in funds and making it hard to make progress in northeast Omaha. Story by the Examiner’s Cindy Gonzalez.
- Have you heard about Firehenge, a new competitor for Carhenge? A fun one to end the week from the Nebraska Examiner’s allegedly semi-retired Paul Hammel.
