There’s too much news! There’s not enough time! Let’s swan dive right in.
Banner County has 625 residents. Until recently, it looked like the county may get as many as 300 wind turbines. It was envisioned as the largest wind energy project in Nebraska’s history, and one that would help the state catch up to its neighbors, like Iowa, who have become national leaders in wind.
And then the project was derailed by…nuclear weapons?
Nukes, indeed. FFP reporter Natalia Alamdari has the wild story of a wind energy project derailed by the U.S. Air Force — and an update on how always-gusty Nebraska is now doing as wind energy companies try, sometimes controversially, to make the state a leading player in wind.
Earnest’s day of reckoning: Earnest Jackson has been imprisoned for murder for the past 22 years, even though another man admitted under oath that he had pulled the trigger.
Now, Jackson is trying to convince Gov. Pete Ricketts to let him out of prison — and he has two new fascinating allies.
Flatwater Free Press broke the story Thursday that the loved ones of Larry Perry, the 19-year-old man gunned down in 1999, believe Jackson is innocent of killing Perry and should be let out of prison. It’s the latest twist in a nearly quarter-century long saga that gets its next chapter Monday, when Jackson’s fate will be decided by the Nebraska Board of Pardons.
Personal note: It was nice working on this one. Nice to remind myself that this ol’ editor can still do some reporting in a pinch.
Meet our new reporter: Her name is Sara Gentzler. To be frank, she’s one of the very best reporters in the state of Nebraska and has been since the moment she moved back here from Washington State a few years ago.
I am oh-so-excited to welcome Sara as our new state government watchdog reporter, where she will write important stories about the goings-on in Lincoln and explain how they affect Nebraskans from Omaha to Ord to Ogallala.
Executive director Matt Wynn has more here on the hiring of Gentzler and what it means for FFP.
Sara starts Nov. 1. We’re all thrilled that she’s the newest member of the FFP squad.
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—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:
- Two really important ones from the Omaha World-Herald this week. Reporter Martha Stoddard tells us how and why payday lenders — which used to appear everywhere in Nebraska cities — have now disappeared completely from the state’s landscape.
- And Alia Conley writes about the verdict of a massive discrimination trial, and a jury that awarded $700,000 to a former Omaha police captain who it believes was passed over for promotion and retaliated against by Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer.
- I have known Nebraska public TV legend Ron Hull since I was a child, when he would come down to Red Cloud for the Willa Cather Spring Conference, bring friends like Dick Cavett and regale us small-town kids with incredible stories about his globetrotting adventures. That is why I was extra fascinated to learn that Hull was the deciding vote in the decision to make Malcolm X the newest member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame.
- You have heard that Mickey Joseph is the new interim Nebraska football coach. You may know that he’s the first Black football head coach in Husker history. But did you know that he’s the first Black head coach at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln…in any sport? Ever? KETV with the story.
- An astounding 29 Nebraska counties don’t have a single mental health provider. Nebraska Public Media’s Will Bauer reports on the difficulty of finding mental health care in most Nebraska towns.
