It is hard to even fathom how much American land Ted Turner owned, so mind boggling that Turner himself tried to help when he spoke to a gaggle of reporters in Omaha back in 2008.
“You know what 2 million acres is?” Turner said during the opening of his bison-focused restaurant, Ted’s Nebraska Grill, according to the Omaha World-Herald. “If my land was all connected, in one long straight line, a mile deep, it would stretch from New York to San Francisco.”
That’s … a lot of land. And, for three decades now, a huge chunk of Turner’s land has been located right here in Nebraska.
Today, our series “Who’s Buying Nebraska?” continues with an update from FFP’s UNL rural fellow Evelyn Mejia.
Where does Ted Turner still own it? What are he and his representatives doing with it? Will a nonprofit ag research nonprofit institute bearing Turner’s name soon become the largest private landowner in Nebraska?
Basically: What will happen to it when Turner, now 85 and living with Lewy body dementia, is gone?
Also: Here’s a one-stop spot where you can read a quick summary of our, “Who’s Buying Nebraska” stories, and see more info on the top land buyers in Nebraska.
Omahans booted: We had an important one from our biggest city this week — important to the people it affects, and also important if we want to understand one of the factors that fuels homelessness.
Omaha’s public housing residents are facing eviction at far higher rates than than they have since well before the pandemic. FFP Omaha reporter Jeremy Turley does a good job of explaining why, talking to the Omaha Housing Authority about the various reasons they file to evict people — sometimes for unpaid rent that’s less than I pay when I pick up the tab at M’s Pub.
And where do public housing residents go in Omaha when they get evicted? As the story says: One in seven OHA residents evicted in recent years has then spent some time at an Omaha homeless shelter.
A ball fit for princes and princesses: Want to feel a little better about the world? Read the story we published today, from freelancer Brady Oltmans, on the family behind something called the Sugarplum Ball. This Gretna family, the Reinerts, has faced a grab bag of the worst things that a family can face, including sexual violence and childhood cancer.
What they have done is create a safe place for kids with cancer, an important fundraiser where having a port doesn’t make you weird — and a party where the kids can dance, like kids should.
Barreling into the 2023 home stretch: By my count, we have four or so stories coming at you next week. One is focused on why the company famously started by Mark Zuckerberg is buying up pricey Omaha-area land. Another is about a horrifically banal error that may have shortened the life of a Nebraska Vietnam vet — and he may not be alone.
So much for slowing down before the holidays, I guess.
A quick, and dumb, correction: In a story last week about what foreign companies are buying land in Nebraska, we included a sentence about a Chinese company purchasing land near an Air Force base in South Dakota.
That Air Force base is in North Dakota. We repeated the mistake in this newsletter last week, so I thought it best to correct it here too.
Definitely the first time anyone has confused North Dakota and South Dakota. I hereby suggest that we rename North Dakota, “Slightly Warmer Canada.”
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:
- A brief story of the power of local journalism. Henry Cordes, the World-Herald’s longtime investigative reporter, approached the Nebraska Humane Society recently with his reporting showing massive employee turnover and other issues with the nonprofit known for saving dogs and cats.
The nonprofit’s board turned around and fired — ahem, accepted the resignation of — the Humane Society’s executive director so quickly that she exited before Cordes’ story could even be published.
Here is Cordes’ story on that resignation. I look forward to reading the whole story when it runs. - Norfolk gets a shoutout in this story about how, in some places in America, small towns are now growing. Really interesting one from Harvest Public Media, running here in Nebraska Public Media.
- Author, FFP freelancer and all-around fantastic writer Carson Vaughan is in the New York Times this week, writing about how the Nebraska prairie is disappearing — and why that matters.
- As a Red Cloud native I am contractually obligated to share this story, from the OWH’s Emily Nitcher, that announces Willa Cather’s childhood home in Red Cloud has reopened following an extensive restoration effort.
I’m actually taking a tour when I head home for Christmas. I will also gander at the progress being made on the new downtown hotel, and have a drink at the one-of-a-kind small-town wine bar and … oh wait, this isn’t a Red Cloud hype email newsletter? Fine, fine. - A new report says that Nebraska’s recent tax cutting spree is gonna cost us in the future, though others say the cuts were needed to stay competitive, reports the Nebraska Examiner’s Paul Hammel.
- I was fascinated by this story by the OWH’s Joe Dejka, which shows how — and where — Nebraskans are crossing into Iowa to make online sports bets on their phones.
- Longtime inmate Ed Poindexter, a man considered a killer by some and a political prisoner by others, has died. The Lincoln Journal Star’s Lori Pilger with the story.
