Every person has a story. You learn this lesson your first week of journalism school. Every person is a story. It’s true then, now, forever.
And, in the case of the remarkable tale we’re sharing with you this week: Every hotel room has a story, too.
FFP reporter Natalia Alamdari recently spent 16 days near the Ukrainian border. She spent much of it knocking on doors inside a single hotel. This hotel, the Best Western Hotel Felix in Warsaw, Poland, has transformed into the de facto headquarters of an incredible Nebraska-founded and Nebraska-run project aiding Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.
Behind each door, in Room 702 and Room 118 and Room 908, Natalia found stories of loss and love, heartbreak and comfort, war and hope. She found Ukrainian stories. She found the stories of a Nebraska company who decided to start this relief effort and the volunteers flying halfway ‘round the world to support it.
I know the war in Ukraine can start to feel very distant after months of fighting and endless coverage.
I can promise you Natalia makes it very, very close. Very human. And oh-so-Nebraskan.
She landed back in Omaha on Tuesday night after traveling 21 hours — that’s Warsaw to Munich to Chicago to Omaha. Back in the office and (almost) recovered from jetlag, she will have two more stories for you in the weeks to come.
En route to eat the O.G. Runza: I write you today from a Grand Island McDonald’s. We’re halfway between Omaha and our destination, McCook, where food writer extraordinaire Sarah Baker Hansen and I are giving a Humanities Nebraska talk this evening. But I’m not eating a Big Mac. Heck no.
I’m saving room for a bierock at Sehnert’s, a place where the Flatwater Free Press crew dined when we road-tripped to McCook during one of our listening tours. A bierock is the thing that Nebrakans now commonly know as a Runza, because Runza is very good at what they do.
The Sehnert’s bierock is a must-have if you wanna keep your Nebraska card.
This is the second week in a row I have mentioned a Nebraska restaurant in this newsletter. I like this trend.
Story tips: Know of a great Nebraska story, food-related or not, that needs to be told? Complete this form or e-mail our newsroom at [email protected].
Sincerely,
—Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Here’s some great Nebraska journalism that caught our eye this week. Be forewarned, this week’s roundup isn’t exactly sparkles and rainbows:
- Sometimes a number alone can be heartbreaking. Such it is with World-Herald reporter Lauren Wagner’s story this week, where she reports that nearly 700 teachers are expected to leave the Omaha Public Schools system by July 1. If it wasn’t clear before, it should be crystal clear now that, after two pandemic-decimated school years, we have work to do all across the state to rebuild our public school systems. FFP will be tracking this story in the school year to come. Nice work from Wagner, a new World-Herald reporter covering education in our largest city.
- Maybe you heard we had a gubernatorial primary on Tuesday? The reaction seems to be the same no matter where you look: Hey, a Trump-endorsed candidate lost! It’s the first time that’s happened in 2022, FiveThirtyEight writes. Meanwhile, Nebraska Public Media provides us with an insightful geographic breakdown of the Republican primary results.
- Finally, a House subcommittee released a report Thursday about the meatpacking industry’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. It found that some industry officials were intimately involved in crafting the rules that would guide the industry through those early pandemic days, even going so far as to mark up proposed guidelines. The result? “Watered down” guidance from the CDC, the Des Moines Register reports.
