I’m gonna limit the witty banter today because we have some serious work going down at the Flatwater Free Press this week. I want to put the focus there this week instead of my usual mediocre jokes. (Don’t worry, everyone, they will return soon enough.)
Let’s not bury the lede: The Flatwater Free Press is suing the state of Nebraska. More specifically, we’re suing the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy. More specifically still, we’re suing because, in the opinion of both our executive director and our legal counsel, they’re using money as a weapon to shield public records from us, a news organization, and you, the public.
FFP head honcho Matt Wynn explains in a column here, in which he helpfully points out that we could have bought a Cadillac with the amount of money the department was quoting us for a straightforward public records request.
I guess that means we aren’t getting a Cadillac.
Where art thou, nitrate police? The lawsuit ties directly to information we didn’t receive for Yanqi Xu’s latest story on Nebraska’s increasingly dirty water…the water that many Nebraskans, especially those living in small towns and rural areas, drink with, shower in, cook with.
There are local and state regulators in place whose ostensible task is to keep our water clean. But Yanqi uncovered a shocking amount of evidence that these regulators simply can’t, or simply won’t, halt farming and feedlot practices known to leach nitrate into our water supply.
Here’s my personal favorite: A monitoring well on a feedlot near West Point showed nitrate levels 41 times higher than the safe drinking water standard. 41 times!
But it took 15 years for the NDEE to specifically inspect the feedlot for these astronomical nitrate levels, which are likely leaching into our water.
When they did inspect, here is the action they took.
They said the feedlot needed to do better bookkeeping.
If you care about the quality of the water Nebraskans drink, and if you want insight into how we got to a place where it’s getting worse, year after year, read Yanqi’s story. I think it’s an exceptional piece of journalism from an exceptional journalist.
One other thing: People who don’t like with this story says are gonna say, and are already in fact saying, that it’s “anti-farmer.”
As a son, grandson, great-grandson and great-great-grandson of Nebraska farmers, that burns my country britches. Because there’s nothing more anti-farmer than failing to protect farm families like mine from nitrate-laced water linked to childhood cancer. Nothing a single damn thing.
Fundraising Gone Wild: We set a ridiculous goal for our year-end fundraising campaign. We decided we were gonna try to get 250 new donors in the last six weeks of 2022. Seriously. Ridiculous.
Except we have 46 new donors in the past five days. And we also had two-dozen people who had previously given re-up those gifts for this year.
Swear on the Good Book, we aren’t gonna use your hard-earned dollars to buy a Cadillac. What we are gonna do is expand in 2023 and do even more important, well-told Nebraska journalism. Right now, if you donate, every $1 you give becomes $3. Help us reach our audacious goal.
By the way: I’m an FFP monthly donor. Because I would be even if I didn’t work here. And, looking at this list, Sarah and I are two of the people who agreed to give a matching pledge during this year-end drive, a small part of the match allowing us to turn your $1 into $3.
I believe in what we’re doing here, so we’re putting our money where my big mouth is.
A surprising small-town abortion story:
All the way back on *checks calendar* Monday, we published a shocking little story from Curtis. The Frontier County town, pop. 806, went to the polls on Election Day to decide an ordinance meant to ban abortion within city limits.
Intrepid FFP reporter Natalia Alamdari covered the larger story a few months ago, detailing how and why abortion is on the ballot in a bunch of small Nebraska towns.
But the Curtis story this week was interesting because…well, because an abortion ban failed there. It failed by 40 points, inside a county that Donald Trump won by 71 points. Natalia explains.
Journalism on stage, talkin’ hard time:
One of the ways we’re gonna continue to expand in 2023 is to do more journalism on stage…essentially, convene groups of people to talk through big issues related to our reporting.
With the help of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications, we did exactly that on Tuesday. And I gotta say…it made me very, very excited to do more of this next year.
Watch the video of moderator Natalia Alamdari questioning a brilliant panel of experts, advocates and ex-prisoners on the present and future of Nebraska’s prison system.
Or read a story that the Nebraska News Service’s Owen Reimer did on the event.
Honestly, Natalia may have done too good a job. I have a feeling she’s gonna serve as moderator for a few more of these in the year ahead.
Thanks to our sponsor: This week it’s American National Bank! Hey, that’s the bank used and love by the Flatwater Free Press. We like ‘em for their friendly assistance, and we love that they support Nebraska nonprofit journalism. Also I can tell you that their gigantic Christmas tree is up, and it looks great.
Last but not least: My gosh, this really was a busy week. We ALSO published Mike’l Severe’s latest Flatwater Free Conversation, where he does an extended interview with a notable Nebraskan. This month’s guest: Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert. They talked about how she thinks Omaha has succeeded during her three terms as mayor. They also talked about the demise of the downtown library and the controversy related to her trips out of town.
Ok, I’m gonna go take a nap or something. Thank you for reading us, for supporting us, for making us what we are today. See you next week.
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:
- Child labor in Nebraska meatpacking plants…that’s probably something we should be paying attention to. Fred Knapp of Nebraska Public Media with the radio story. And here’s the World-Herald version, too.
- Big news on affordable housing in Omaha: The city and a nonprofit are pouring in millions to help address the issue. The Omaha Reader’s Chris Bowling has that story.
- Will the serious influx of cash rolling into the State of Nebraska’s coffers be used for tax cuts? To fund programs that would help kids or early childhood education? Both? The Nebraska Examiner’s Paul Hammel is on the case.
