In 2023, FFP reporter Natalia Alamdari spent months poking and prodding into the situation in Seward County, where law enforcement had earned a reputation for stopping motorists and seizing cash along I-80 without charging them with or convicting them of a crime.
Her reporting revealed that this practice, commonly called “civil asset forfeiture” in the antiseptic language of our justice system, was used way more often in Seward County than any other place in Nebraska. In fact, 1/3 of all state civil asset forfeitures are being done on this one 24-mile stretch of I-80 inside a county of roughly 17,000 residents.
Some people think this is great, a valuable tool to stop the drug trade. Others think it’s a money grab, and an end run around the “innocent ‘til proven guilty” mantra embedded in our criminal code and rights as Americans.
And now, the Nebraska Legislature is paying attention. As Alamdari reports today, State Sen. Tom Brewer, a Republican from Gordon, is sponsoring a bill that would ban the controversial practice in Nebraska.
I don’t know what will happen, and I’m not smart enough to say what should. But it’s damn gratifying to do quality, in-depth, impactful journalism and then watch as it has impact.
Looking for the helpers in Omaha: Speaking of impact, an FFP reporter had an awful thing happen to her in Nebraska a few years ago. This week she turned it into something valuable and good.
In June 2022, Yanqi Xu (that’s pronounced “Yen-chee Shoe”) was the victim of a carjacking attempt. This happened in midtown Omaha just months after she had moved here to start working for FFP. I won’t ever forget the day I got a call from her and sped to the gas station where it happened, where I found her surrounded by flashing sirens, well-meaning witnesses, rubbernecking onlookers and a news camera.
But victim … I doubt that’s the right word. It certainly doesn’t capture how Yanqi’s mind was working even as she was starting her own healing process. That day, she wondered about mental health services, was given a card by the police officer on the scene, and after returning from the doctor called the number on the card.
The woman on the other end was an Omaha Police Department employee called a “co-responder” — a person whose job it is to handle the deluge of mental health-related calls police handle every day. A person who, amongst many other duties, tries to help crime victims process traumatic events. Who helps people like Yanqi.
Yanqi, as she was speaking on the phone to a co-responder named Natalya Flaten, was also thinking, “hmmm, this may be an interesting story.”
I’m proud that Yanqi told the story so skillfully, and proud she chose to include her own important and searing experience inside the story so readers can learn something from it. That’s Natalya Flaten’s photo at the top of this email.
There is a word for this work from Yanqi, I think.
Courage.
Our day in court: Next week, the Flatwater Free Press and our parent organization, the Nebraska Journalism Trust, are putting on our Sunday finest and appearing before the Nebraska Supreme Court.
The issue will be familiar to longtime readers of this newsletter, since it became an issue almost as soon as we started Flatwater. The aforementioned Yanqi, while reporting on Nebraska’s nitrate-in-drinking water-trouble, requested some public emails written by public employees of the taxpayer-funded Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. The state attempted to charge us $44,000 to see these emails that are pretty plainly public under the state’s public records law. That ain’t cool, bub. That ain’t right. That’s a good way to keep public information from … the public.
The ensuing fight has been long, annoying and surely costly to taxpayers. Fun! Our executive director Matt Wynn, who I’m certain owns at least two neckties, is planning to be in the courtroom. Read his column on the case, which also includes info on how you can watch it yourself.
Thanks to our sponsor: This week, it’s the Platte Institute. The Platte and FFP teamed up to build a public payroll database, an important tool for government transparency. We’re actually working to expand and improve it this year! Thank you to Platte for supporting the important mission of Nebraska nonprofit journalism.
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:
- University of Nebraska law students are gonna get the chance to prove that some imprisoned Nebraskans are innocent and should be released. A cool little story from KLIN in Lincoln. By the way, I appear on that radio station with Dan Parsons nearly every Monday at 5:08 p.m. And I am never, ever late, right Dan?
- The superintendent at Plainview had some, ahem, interesting things to say about girls’ wrestling. It didn’t go over super well. News Channel Nebraska’s Eric McKay with that story.
- The rent is too damn high! Especially if you are renting in central Nebraska. Nebraska Public Media’s Aaron Bonderson with the story.
- Mental health gaps exist all over our state. Here’s a heartbreaking one from Lincoln, courtesy of 10/11 News.
- Nebraska hospitals are struggling, and many are now hemorrhaging money, reports the Omaha World-Herald’s medical reporter extraordinaire Julie Anderson.
- Of all the stories Nebraskans and Nebraska leaders need to keep an eye on, I gotta think the story about neighboring states running out of groundwater should be at the top of the list. Story from the Nebraska Examiner, originally published by its sister publication, the Kansas Reflector.
- Speaking of agriculture…an important one this week about the looming and continuing transfer of Nebraska farmland from parents to kids. Story from the Kearney Hub.
- And speaking of water…NTV’s Steve White with continuing coverage of the water quality in central Nebraska, where, as Steve writes: “Millions of gallons of sludge was released from a packing plant and county commissioners say they learned about it watching NTV News.”
- Are we going to change the way we execute Death Row prisoners in Nebraska? WOWT’s Marlo Lundak reports.
- And finally, the most important debate of the week. Should we quit springing forward and falling back and, IF SO, should we ensure it’s light earlier in the day, or later? Story from 10/11 News.
Today’s newsletter is sponsored by:
Planning + Outcome Perfected
