OK, kids. It’s the final few hours before a long Labor Day weekend. It’s almost time for Nebraska’s very best month, September, when the heat melts away and the mornings turn cool and the promise of another football season hasn’t yet fully crashed into reality. (See you at Memorial Stadium soon to warmly greet Mr. Sanders and his sons.)
Deep, cleansing exhale. Let’s start today’s newsletter with a nice one.
Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they wear grocery store aprons. In Cody, Nebraska, a group of teachers and students built a gosh darn grocery store made out straw bales. And that isn’t even the best part of the story.
The best part is that teachers and students in Cody saved the town’s grocery store and keep it running to this day, making sure their hometown has meat, produce, milk — ensuring their hometown doesn’t become a food desert.
A lovely story from our Sandhills correspondent Heidi Beguin.
Lincoln’s Millions: The City of Lincoln has spent close to $4 million in recent years settling with city employees — all from the police department and fire department — who sued the city for discrimination, harassment and retaliation.
Our intrepid fellow Naomi Delkamiller requested the records and did the math, and that’s nearly double what the City of Omaha has paid out for similar settlements in that time frame, this despite the fact that Omaha has nearly 1,000 more city employees.
And it’s definitely not over in Lincoln. There are at least six more lawsuits pending in the courts.
Experts told Naomi it raises a key question: Is the city dealing with the underlying, possibly systemic issues causing these lawsuits in the first place — and also costing city taxpayers some serious money?
Farming the future: I want to highlight the story we republished Wednesday for two reasons.
First, it’s worth reading. More than 2/3 of the country’s ag workers are immigrants, predominately Latino. But there are only 700 Latino farm operators — people making the farming decisions — in Nebraska. The story, by Isa Luzarraga for the Midwest Newsroom, focuses on an immigrant farm family in David City trying to make its way.
The second reason is Isa herself. Back in 2021, right when we were starting Flatwater, I issued an open call for freelancers. I did not expect to get a resume from a teenager. And I sure didn’t expect to agree to assign a story to said teenager. But, slightly terrified, I did. That teenager was Isa, who wrote a fine story for us about a masking debate in Millard. (You can tell it was 2021, but I bet you can’t tell that the reporter had just graduated high school.)
Isa is now an honors student studying journalism at Emerson College. She’s had a couple cool internships, including her current one at NPR’s Midwest Newsroom, which originally published this farm story.
Part of the promise of Flatwater is that, by hiring fellows like Naomi, and publishing young writers like Isa, we can help nurture the next generation of Nebraska journalism talent. We’re trying our best. And my god, wildly talented and hardworking kids like Naomi and Isa make it so easy.
FlatFest TickTickTick: You want to come to Nebraska’s pre-eminent journalism party, also known as the Flatwater Free Press Festival, codename FlatFest. You want to join myself, our staff and a panel of American journalism rock stars at Lincoln’s historic train station. I know you do. Don’t deny it!
Maybe you haven’t acted on these thoughts because FlatFest isn’t until Oct. 23. Plenty of time to decide, you say to yourself. I like to keep things loose. Don’t like to get locked in.
Well, listen up, Mr. Leisure. Tickets are moving fast. Capacity is 365 or so, and we have fewer than 100 tickets left!
Because I care about you, dear newsletter subscriber, I don’t want you to be sad in your pajamas on Oct. 23. I want your smiling face, journalism-themed cocktail in hand if you so choose, mingling and questioning and celebrating three years of Nebraska nonprofit news with us.
Which is a very long way to say: Learn more and buy your tickets now.
Oh, one other thing: Need a place to stay on FlatFest night? We have an official hotel, The Graduate, which is offering rooms at a special discounted rate.
Thanks to our sponsor: This week, it’s the Nebraska Community Foundation, which helps this state’s smaller communities learn how to grow and thrive and reinvest in themselves in 2024. Our exec director Matt Wynn went to talk to NCF when Flatwater was a mere idea … I am so proud to say that they were enthusiastic about the idea of nonprofit news and small-town Nebraska stories then, and they remain enthusiastic to this day. Thanks to NCF for supporting the mission of the Flatwater Free Press.
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].
Have a fantastic Labor Day weekend,
—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:
- Liz Merrill, one-time OWH sportswriter, has for years been a writing star at ESPN. Her latest story, on Husker volleyball star Harper Murray, is a must-read for anyone who cares about Husker sports or the young human beings who grace those fields and courts.
- Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen is working to ban lab-grown meat, joining a list of states that are moving to outlaw it even though it’s not on any American store shelves.
- Who is to blame for Nebraska leaders’ inability to provide property tax relief during a special session of the Nebraska Legislature? Gov. Jim Pillen is pointing the finger at lobbyists and special interests. Others are pointing back at him, reports The World-Herald’s Martha Stoddard.
- Higher driving speeds, slower emergency response times and lower seatbelt usage adds up to grim fact: Rural counties have more traffic-related deaths per capita than anywhere else, reports Sarah Melotte for the Daily Yonder, a news source focused on rural America.
- By a vote of 38-6, Nebraska lawmakers passed a law enabling felons to vote after completing their sentences. But those voting rights are now up in the air. The New York Times’ Mitch Smith, a UNL grad, dives into the Nebraska story.
- Easing into Labor Day here. Three fun ones to end on. Crazy clouds in O’Neill. Tall buildings going up in Omaha. And speaking of meat: The hamburgers is America, and America is the hamburger.
