Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
Reliable, Trustworthy Reporting, Capturing The Heartbeat Of Our Community
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John Heaston opens the door to a brick warehouse next to Johnny's Cafe in South Omaha and walks through rooms holding his life's work. "It's kind of a hot mess," says the 52-year-old longtime publisher of Omaha's alternative newspaper, "The Reader." Here's a garage bay holding empty green newspaper boxes emblazoned with the word, "FREE." Here are floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked with yellowing copies of "The Reader" and "El Perico," a separate publication that Heaston owns. Sticky notes...
There are more than 900,000 child care workers across the United States. Think of the impact they have on the millions of young children and families they serve. Trusted early educators allow parents to work. They help businesses run at full speed. As small business owners, they invest their dollars right back into their communities. And, Buffett Early Childhood Institute Executive Director Walter Gilliam argues, the early childhood workforce just might be the linchpin to our country’s economic...
Cycling along the Cowboy Trail in the 105-degree heat requires faith for safe travels. It also requires hope for a successful mission. It's definitely a labor of love and a means to do the Lord's work. For a group of Ohio cyclists, who spent Aug. 21 in Ewing, it's all in a day's pedaling. "Our group started in the late 1980s," said Dr. Ken Gifford, a retired pastor from Youngstown, Ohio. Originally known as the Pedaling Parsons, the group was comprised of Methodist church pastors "who shared a...
Before he took office, Gov. Jim Pillen joked about phone conversations being exempt from public disclosure. Now, his administration has taken what seems to be an unprecedented step to shield the governor’s communications. Pillen’s staff denied the “Flatwater Free Press” access to four emails the governor sent, in part citing “executive privilege” – a phrase absent from Nebraska’s public records laws. A half-dozen former and current officials and advocates who spoke to the “Flatwater Free Press” couldn’t recall any other Nebraska governors who i...
KEARNEY – The University of Nebraska at Kearney Pride of the Plains Marching Band has announced its season schedule, which begins with the Sept. 9 home football game against Northeastern State. Adrienne Parker, a 2023 Summerland Public School graduate, from Ewing, is a member of the band. In addition to performing at all Loper home football games, the Pride of the Plains will perform Sept. 23 in the annual UNK Band Day Parade. The parade begins at 10 a.m. in downtown Kearney. Other scheduled per...
The dining room table, it's not my style. But it was my parents' style, and we ate every holiday meal there at the house they built after we all grew up and left home. A bigger house. A house with the dining room my mom always wanted. What my dad wanted was to die in that house. Now a dark-haired stranger was carting that table away from the retirement home my mom and dad had landed and where Dad would spend his last months. His journey was a fill-in-the-blank primer on aging, as predictable as...
Not many students can say that their parents are attending college at the same time they are, and even fewer can say all three are attending the same college. My unique journey started when my father, mother, and I all decided to attend Wayne State College this fall. Three Wildcats is much better than only one. Our Wayne State journey started when my father, Brian, decided to go back to college in August 2019 after his company went through a merger. Job insecurity was a risk and he wanted to...
Editor’s note: The Nebraska Community Foundation is a Flatwater Free Press sponsor. It has been edited by Flatwater Free Press staff. The roughly 370 miles between North Omaha and the heart of southwest Nebraska aren’t slowing a group of Nebraskans from forging relationships that they hope will serve as a model for bridging the gulf between rural and urban communities. In less than a year, residents from either end of that span have crossed the state to experience how the other side lives – from mock cattle auctions in Ogallala to a Junet...
If you thought that the mostly one-sided filibuster-driven debate on transgender issues and abortion was the thing that dragged the 2023 Nebraska Legislature to a near standstill, steel yourself for what could lie ahead. State Senator Dave Murman of Glenvil, the chair of the Legislature's Education Committee, says he wants to study the use of critical race theory and other controversial subjects in the classroom. Innocently enough, the studies stem from a request to investigate the Nebraska...
SAM reporter Sonia Rittscher talked with Dave Mlnarik, executive director of the Nebraska Sports Council and the organization's connection to the Cornhusker State Games. Mlnarik attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, majoring in journalism and advertising. SAM: You've been with CSG since the beginning, right? Talk to me about the conception of the idea, the vision of it. How has its mission changed over the years. Mlnarik:The Cornhusker State Games began in 1985 and I joined the staff in...
In a rare move, seven months into the Jim Pillen reign, I'm going to suggest we cut the new guy some slack. Seems that a social media tweet raised concerns about First Amendment rights and dredged up the decades-long discussion on brain drain. Pillen tweeted from the governor's official account that he hoped the 31 Nebraska high school graduates who had perfect scores on the ACT would "return and utilize your talents here" after college. Remember, it was Twitter and other social media that...
SUBMITTED ARTICLE Biologists are continuing to tag and track walleye and sauger in the Missouri River and Lewis and Clark Lake between Fort Randall and Gavins Point dams as part of an effort to understand declines in the fishery following historic flooding in 2011. Since 2021, 201 fish have been tagged in the river and reservoir as part of a study of fish movement. The fish sport metal jaw tags, but also have acoustic transmitters implanted in their abdomens. Fifteen receivers spaced every 5...
Family Dentistry and Dental Hygiene of O’Neill and Spencer announces Dr. McKenzie Brown has joined Jessen’s Family Dentistry & Dental Hygiene, effective July 10. She will be serving in both the O’Neill and Spencer clinics. Brown recently graduated, with distinction, from the UNMC College of Dentistry, near the top in her class. Brown was raised in Fremont, where she attended Fremont Senior High School. She furthered her education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, earning a degree in Business Administration while also focusing on denti...
Each year, dozens of American farmers are injured or killed after they climb into a grain bin. A father-son duo from Aurora founded their one-of-a-kind company with one mission: No more boots in that grain. Chad Johnson and son Ben Johnson have created a robot, the Grain Weevil, meant to do most of the necessary – and oft-dangerous – tasks that farmers do inside their bins. The pair started developing their robot in 2020, after a farmer friend asked them to build a robot so the farmer would nev...
Agriculture, broadband connectivity and tax savings were key topics addressed during Gov. Jim Pillen's town hall meeting, June 28, in O'Neill. Pillen opened by telling the crowd of approximately 80 that his team strives to work for "all Nebraskans. "I can't stand politics. I can't stand politicians," the governor said. "The privilege I had in the first six months, it is unbelievable how many incredible public servants we have serving the state of Nebraska." One of Pillen's goals has been to...
Northeast Nebraska teachers visiting the Haskell Agricultural Laboratory this month learned that the 550-acre site is full of learning opportunities for students. Teachers from Summerland Public School participated in the event. The arboretum at the Haskell site, part of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s network of ag research centers around the state, can help children learn identification and biology for trees and plants. The beehives and pollinator gardens illustrate the interactions of insects and plants. The sweeping fields of corn and...
In early July, I will begin my new role as director of the department of economic development for the State of Nebraska. It is an extraordinary honor to serve my home state in this capacity and I will bring with me experiences from my past career. As chief operating officer of Nebraska Community Foundation, I like to think I learned a thing or two about community economic development. Lessons I will undoubtedly carry with me to my new appointment. I don’t have any illusions or preconceived n...
Seward County routinely seizes money from motorists on Interstate 80, keeps the cash – and never convicts the drivers of a crime. The county's sheriff's department and county attorney use this practice, known as civil asset forfeiture, so often that a third of all cases of this kind in Nebraska state courts come from Seward County, population 17,962, a Flatwater Free Press analysis of court records shows. The county has hauled in $7.5 million in forfeited cash in the past five years, some of i...
With the official start of summer quickly approaching, The 402 Theater Group offers more opportunities for people of all ages to get involved by providing entertainment for the community. Jillian Henn, of Orchard, is one of the creators of The 402 Theatre Group. "The 402 Theater Group is a community inspired to bring the performing arts to rural communities," she said. The group started in 2022, when Orchard resident Don Lallier posted an ad around town to gather interest in starting a theater...
Brad Anderson still remembers the night his wife forgot hail. He was sitting on the front porch of their Lincoln home as a storm rolled in. "...I hear LuAnne running down the stairs hollering 'there's something hitting the house!'" She poked her head out the front door. "I said 'it's hailing,' and she looked at me like 'What?'" Brad grabbed a stone and showed it to his wife. It's frozen rain, he explained. "She said, 'That's amazing. I've never seen that before. What's it called again?'" That's...
It's graduation eve for Summerland senior Ashley Pischel. Instead of hanging out with classmates before they go their separate ways, Pischel sits in her sewing room, designing a dress to wear to the May 6 commencement activities. Pischel visualizes the dress, sketching a few ideas for her one-of-a-kind designer attire. Without the aid of a pattern, Pischel carefully cuts into a pink graduation gown originally worn by her mother, Maureen, in 1986, when she graduated from Spencer High School. "I...
Amid nasty debate about social issues, filibustering and theater playing out in the legislative chamber, lawmakers did manage to meet their constitutional obligation and pass a balanced budget on day 80 of the 90-day session. The two-year budget calls for about $5.3 billion a year in spending, with an average increase of 2.2%. It sets aside a generous amount for cuts in state income taxes and increases in tax credits for property taxes, as well as allocating the final funds for a $366 million...
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln conferred a record 3,748 degrees during commencement exercises May 19 and 20. The 3,664 graduates are from 59 countries; 47 states, the District of Columbia and Guam; and more than 240 Nebraska communities. The Bob Devaney Sports Center hosted a ceremony for students earning graduate and professional degrees May 19; Memorial Stadium hosted a ceremony for undergraduates May 20; and the Lied Center for Performing Arts hosted a ceremony for law graduates May 20. Chancellor Ronnie Green, who plans to retire at t...
For more than 70 years, a stripe through the middle of the United States extending from Texas north to Nebraska was known as Tornado Alley. But meteorologists say that in the last 20 years, the alley has shifted away from the Great Plains and toward the southeast, meaning fewer tornadoes are happening in Nebraska. “Historically, Nebraska is a unique point,” Ross Dixon, an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said. “Where we are in Nebraska, maybe there will be less severe storms, espec...
SUBMITTED ARTICLE Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation will kick off the 2023 WanderNebraska Travel Adventure Program on Memorial weekend. This is the second year NSHSF has offered this program and, based on feedback from 2022, there have been many updates for this year. WanderNebraska was created to promote the work of local museums, historical societies and libraries and increase awareness of what is found in the local sites along Nebraska’s backroads and in communities that are often overlooked by the typical tourist. This y...
