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Articles written by Tim Trudell


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  • Nebraska unveiled a 'Founders' exhibit to start US 250 celebrations. Tribal members and historians see it as a missed opportunity.

    Tim Trudell, Flatwater Free Press|Feb 25, 2026

    State officials said Nebraska-specific plans to mark the nation's semiquincentennial will highlight history and contributions from many, including Indigenous people. The Spanish soldiers did not stand a chance. As they hastily broke camp to continue their southward retreat, arrows began raining down from the sky. When it was done, 45 Spaniards and allied Native Americans lay dead in the grass near present-day Columbus. The slaughter, carried out by Pawnee and Otoe warriors, became known as the...

  • Nebraskan started selling 'grief cards' after a string of crushing tragedies. They're resonating with grievers.

    Tim Trudell, Flatwater Free Press|Dec 3, 2025

    Angie Hanson started the morning the same as every other work day. She took her 1-year-old son, Garret, to day care, gave him a kiss and a hug, told him she'd see him later that day, then headed to work. Hours later came a phone call delivering every parent's worst nightmare. Garret wouldn't wake up from his nap. Garret's death on June 27, 2006, was the first of a trio of tragedies that would upend life for Hanson and her family. Her son died, then her husband, then her brother. The small...

  • Nebraska author's childhood inspired Christmas movie that became a '70s holiday tradition

    Tim Trudell, Flatwater Free Press|Dec 25, 2024

    Gail Rock credits an unusual collaborator that inspired a 1970s holiday season staple and launched her career as an author: a mouse. The mouse, which scurried atop the stove in a friend's home, triggered a series of events that birthed "The House Without a Christmas Tree," a television movie that aired each Christmas season on CBS from 1972 to 1977. It eventually became a novel, written by Rock, and led to several TV movie spinoffs. The story centers on a young girl who longs for a Christmas...

  • A Nebraska chef transformed his life by eating an indigenous diet. Now he's spreading the word.

    Tim Trudell, Flatwater Free Press|Oct 2, 2024

    Pricking his finger with a small needle, Anthony Warrior squeezed a drop of blood onto the test strip. As he saw the number illuminate, the then-40-year-old Absentee Shawnee citizen and Muskogee descendant knew his days of bad eating had caught up with him. With his weight nearing 500 pounds and his blood sugar dangerously high, Warrior was facing a future of possible blindness, kidney failure and limb amputation – all complications of unchecked diabetes. If he didn't address his eating h...

  • Santee graduation rate increase, leaders credit culture curriculum

    Tim Trudell, Flatwater Free Press|Dec 8, 2022

    Student pride – and the graduation rate – are on the upswing at the public school on the Santee Native Reservation. School leaders trace that success to a new effort to teach students the tribe’s culture. For the first time, students are learning Santee Dakota history, language and customs – subjects long ago banned. The new cultural program has boosted attendance and helped the iSanti Community School in Niobrara hit a 100% graduation rate two years running, school leaders say. It hasn’t...

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