This email newsletter is chock full of journalistic red meat. Grab your steak knives. Let’s get to it. First up: A brand-new story we posted mere minutes ago on our website. Hundreds of workers in Nebraska’s prison system are making 1.5 times, or double or even triple their base salary. How? They are working incredible amounts of overtime. We fought for months to get this information. In the end, the state (correctly and lawfully) provided it and the director of the prison system spoke to reporters Natalia Alamdari and Yanqi Xu for our story. After reading the story, check out our updated public salary database, which now includes information about overtime pay.
Tire pile? More like tire fire: An absolutely bananas story out of a tiny town, Alvo, which is located between Omaha and Lincoln. It seemed to be a story about a gigantic pile of tires at the edge of town, when Yanqi Xu first began traveling there to report in November. It became a story about missing money, alleged death threats, and a village board that at one point simply decided not to let the town’s residents vote. Yanqi reported the heck out of this story, which has quickly become one of the most-read FFP stories since we launched. For me, a small-town Nebraska native, it’s a cautionary tale about how bad things can get in a small town, if everyone from the state on down allows it.
Tell us how we’re doing: We’ve launched our first reader survey! Please take a couple minutes to reflect on the stories you’ve read in FFP. We have just three questions, and your responses will be anonymous. Thank you for reading and for helping strengthen our journalism in 2022.
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:
- The Omicron wave is seriously messing with school districts across Nebraska. Here’s fantastic NTV news reporter Steve White on the situation in Grand Island.
- We don’t run opinion…except we cheat when it’s about us. An incredibly kind column from Andy Raun, Hastings Tribune editor, who explains why the Flatwater Free Press is good for Hastings and Nebraska journalism.
- Huge political news from Lincoln this morning, as Nebraska’s last two governors — who, you may have heard, do not love each other — lined up in support of the Republican Mike Flood, who is challenging embattled Republican congressman Jeff Fortenberry. The DonFather, Don Walton, with the story.
- The Omaha World-Herald continues their impressive prison series, Paying the Price, with a look at a different way to deal with gun crime. We highly encourage you to follow reporter Henry Cordes’ entire series. It’s important, and well-told.
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