My early Christmas present is that we finished “Who’s Buying Nebraska?” this week — and our reporters finished it on time, right in the Saint Nick of time. God bless us, every one.
We came down the chimney with a clatter this week, too, bearing the gifts of GOOD GOSHDARN JOURNALISM. We finished with a bang, tying a bow on a series about farmland that’s really a story about investment bankers, corporate farms and out-of-state billionaires getting richer while many Nebraskans find coal in their stockings.
Flatwater reporter Destiny Herbers unraveled the tangled web of dummy companies and Nebraska farms with unassuming names that trace back to LLCs in at least three states.
And what she found is that Bill Gates, yes, that Bill Gates, not only owns land in 19 Nebraska counties, but also that he paid $113 million for that land (twice as much as anyone else spent in the past six years) and then took out a shockingly large loan using his Nebraska land as collateral.
Okay then.
Also this week, investigative reporter Yanqi Xu gave us a story about the water beneath our land — and how that water is attracting out-of-state buyers and influencing the value of the land itself.
If you need a strategy to avoid your Half-Cocked Uncle Harold over the holidays, check out our summary of the series and our list of the top buyers of Nebraska ag land.
Unlawful evictions? FFP Omaha reporter Jeremy Turley with an important one that’s affecting some of the city’s poorest residents. In some cases, they’re being evicted from public housing. But are those evictions legal?
This follows on the heels of Turley’s earlier story about the Omaha Housing Authority, which shows that OHA is evicting more tenants in 2023, sometimes for small sums of money. Roughly one of every seven tenants booted from Omaha public housing ends up in a homeless shelter.
The executive director hath spoken: We published a end-of-year column from Matt Wynn today, a column that showcases many of the successes, journalistic and organizational, that FFP and its parent organization, the Nebraska Journalism Trust, had in 2023.
It is stunning to realize where we started the year, and where we are now. It warms this cynical old reporter’s heart when I step back for a second and consider our tremendous growth this year, and how that growth is making Nebraska journalism better.
Check out Matt’s column — and the symbolic and literal importance of adding more and more desks.
Fish story: Normally I’d put this down in the “News from ‘round Nebraska” section, but screw it, let’s break the rules and end with it here.
The Washington Post had a lovely story this week, written by Omaha native Tim Carman, on the incredible-but-true story of how an Omaha punk rocker taught himself how to be a sushi chef and then opened what may be the most singular sushi spot in the entire United States of America.
It’s a great story. Earlier this year, FFP had our own lovely story about Dave Utterback, written by a local food writer that I happen to share joint custody of two cats with.
That’s a wrap (and I still need to wrap presents): The FFP offices are blessedly closed next week, though you will receive a End of Year “Best Of” newsletter from yours truly next Friday. Have a wonderful holiday with your loved ones, and a most magnificent New Year. Thank you so much for supporting our work in 2023.
See you in 2o24,
—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:
- Gov. Jim Pillen’s administration announced this week that the state of Nebraska won’t take federal money meant to help feed hungry kids from low-income families over the summer. Stories on this decision, which will impact an estimated 150,000 Nebraska kids and their families, from 10/11 and the Omaha World-Herald.
- Speaking of the Pillen administration, they are looking for budgetary efficiencies, according to this Nebraska Public Media story from Fred Knapp.
- Young Nebraskans are still leaving Nebraska, and that brain drain is alarming experts, reports the Nebraska Examiner’s Cindy Gonzalez.
- Union membership is creeping up in some parts of the Midwest, reports the Midwest Newsroom’s Holly Edgell, appearing here in NPM.
- Let’s hear it for McCook! The small town — one of my favorite small towns, I may add — just won recognition as one of the nation’s best small towns for food and culture, reports the Examiner’s Paul Hammel.
That story rightly mentions Chad Graff and Joanne Falkenburg, who have done incredible things for the town’s arts scene.
It reminded me that FFP’s Natalia Alamdari did a lovely feature on the couple, and what they are doing to make their hometown a better place.
