I’m gonna throw you a curveball today and start with the Flatwater Free Press story you maybe haven’t read this week.
You should, because today we published a story by skilled Nebraska storyteller Carson Vaughan and it’s a goshdarned barnburner.
It involves a notorious Nebraska cattle baron, his *ahem* unconventional matrimonial practices and a house he built a long, long ways from home. That house is now for sale, so long as you have $40 million, give or take.
If you just checked your checking account balance and are coming up $39,998,000 short, do the next best thing…read the twisting, turning tale about said cattle baron, Bartlett Richards, and the house his wife named Tranquillo.
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t always tranquil.
I already said this on social but will repeat it here: It’s such a joy to have storytellers like Carson drop in and spin us a tale every so often. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Trev and UNO: Now for the story that you probably have read. Sara Gentzler, our intrepid state government watchdog reporter, got her paws on a memo written at the direction of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s new chancellor. The memo, in conjunction with two financial analyses, raises some heavy questions about the financial management and oversight of UNO Athletics while Trev Alberts led that department.
Case in point: Over a 7-year period, Maverick Athletics needed three unbudgeted cash infusions from the university totaling roughly $15 million. That’s more money than the athletic department’s annual budget.
Case in point II: UNO ended up using 21% of its main chunk of COVID-19 relief money on the athletic department. That is money that could have gone many other places, including to students, at a time when the entire university system is under threat of massive budget cuts.
Now, there may be many valid explanations for this, everything from the move to D-I to COVID-19. I sure wish university leaders would explain more fully, though I also want to commend them for following public records law and giving us — and therefore you — the memo in question.
For about seven different reasons, including the fact that the UNO Athletic Department is now considering layoffs and the elimination of more sports, this is news. I have no hot take here, other than that I believe you should have the right to decide if and how the info contained in the memo matters. That’s why we published the story, the memo and why we publish all our investigative stories.
Information = good. There’s my hot take!
Crucial correction: Last week in the newsletter, while complaining about the weather, I wrote that I “stared longingly at the jacket I haven’t worn once in Nebraska, put it back in the closet and got out my winter coat.”
Sarah Baker Hansen read that sentence and informed me that I did not, in fact, hang my jacket back in the closet.
I threw it on the kitchen counter.
This is true. I deeply regret the error and any mistaken impression that I left with readers of this newsletter that I’m a fully functional human adult. Also, Sarah, this morning I failed to put the ironing board away and also may have forgotten to turn off all the lights.
Got a story idea? 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].
See you next week, FFP Fam,
—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:
- The Washington Post this week had a fascinating, data-driven story on the rapid rise of homeschooling in America. It includes some Nebraska-specific data on its increased popularity here, though the data shows that Nebraska parents aren’t flocking to this as much as in many other states.
It also suggests that students who were first homeschooled during the pandemic, as health fears spiked and fights about masks raged, aren’t returning to schools in near the numbers some experts predicted…at least not yet. - Hollywood is headed to Lewellen, Nebraska, pop. 125-ish. That’s thanks to Lewellen native Van Jensen, who just sold the TV rights to his debut novel, set in a Nebraska town very much like Van’s hometown, to … Ron Howard. The World-Herald’s Emily Nitcher has the wonderful story of Jensen’s rise, which started at UNL’s Daily Nebraskan! A hearty congratulations to Jensen, who I think I made cover men’s tennis while running the DN sports section in 2001. (A questionable decision in retrospect, young Editor Hansen.) I’m looking forward to reading and watching.
- Speaking of the mask wars of 2020 — I really enjoyed this deep dive on Madsen’s Bowling and Billiards a few years after the then-manager chose to make Madsen’s the epicenter of Lincoln resistance to COVID-19 protocols. Now a new member of the family is trying to pull ‘em back from the brink, reminding everyone that Madsen’s is for bowling, and also billiards. (And also beer.)
- Nebraska nursing home operators are very worried about new federal regulations they say could lose more nursing homes, especially those in small towns. Nebraska Public Media with the story.
- High interest rates and few sellers are making it a rough time to buy a house in Omaha, KETV’s Channel 7 reports.
- Rabies? Yup, rabies. The World-Herald’s Julie Anderson has been all over this story, about a newfound Nebraska problem and also a creative potential solution.
- Let’s end on a positive note and get that rabid taste out of our mouths. Nebraska’s Department of Education is trying to end “book deserts” by giving out $2 million worth of books in places where they are needed. Story by the Nebraska Examiner’s Cindy Gonzalez.
