New at FFP: Regulars at the Nebraska high school state volleyball tournament will see a familiar face on the sideline. Kim Kwapnioski has refereed for more than 30 years. She’s 1 of 4 generations of refs in the family. 🔗 buff.ly/Tji8XTS

New at FFP: Union Pacific is the lone Nebraska-based business listed as a donor for the new White House ballroom. It’s also a company that needs federal approval for a massive merger that would cement U.P. as the biggest railroad in the United States. 🔗 buff.ly/LtM6j04

Ever wonder why Omahans are taxed extra at restaurants? 15 years ago, controversy over the city’s levy on dining out garnered front-page headlines and nearly ousted a mayor. Flatwater explains how the once-contentious debate faded into oblivion. 🔗 buff.ly/HKb3CRc

New at Flatwater: Money seized along I-80 has brought millions into Seward County. But that funding is frozen now, after a federal review found the sheriff’s office had impermissibly spent nearly $800,000 of that money. 🔗 buff.ly/jOAdLC4

Some western Nebraska counties haven’t reported a single drug death in decades. It’s fueling a perception that rural Nebraska doesn’t have a drug problem. 🔗 buff.ly/yDrsYWB

Now revered as one of the great documentaries, the Omaha-set film “A Time for Burning” was nearly extinguished before it saw the light of day. 🔗 buff.ly/rD9Hzvr

A little-known program that allowed Nebraska Corrections to release hundreds of inmates early raised the ire of judges, prosecutors and lawmakers a decade ago. Now, corrections wants to start a similar program. 🔗 buff.ly/sfHcU3E

New at FFP: Rampant undercounting of drug deaths & budget cuts fueled by flawed data have led Nebraska to build a detox “desert” where it’s tough to get help. One Hastings center – the state’s westernmost residential detox program – is working to help. 🔗 buff.ly/yDrsYWB

Japanese barbecue is a lot of fun, reviewer Sarah Baker Hansen says, and the servers at Koen in Omaha's Blackstone District do a good job of making sure guests understand the menu and know what to do. 🔗 buff.ly/2vUSvCS

New at FFP: 60 years ago, a filmmaker captured an Omaha pastor’s failed attempts to get his white church members to connect with nearby Black churches. The resulting film set off a firestorm. 🔗 buff.ly/rD9Hzvr

New at FFP: Nebraska Corrections wants the ability to let some inmates leave prison early. A state lawmaker sees a link with the conversion of a state prison into an immigration detention center. 🔗 buff.ly/sfHcU3E

Flatwater reporters and editors went on an Ogallala listening tour last week, speaking to leaders and residents about Keith County’s important stories. (Bonus: A Lake Mac sunset.)

In 2025, its first full year after reopening with the 42,000-square-foot addition, The Joslyn is almost certain to break recent attendance records. It’s landing on lists of the best American art museums. It’s also bringing in crowds. 🔗 buff.ly/4r2tQzw

UNL used complex — and controversial — statistical calculations to help decide which programs to close under a proposed $27.5 million budget cut. Now, administrators claim the full data analysis is proprietary information. 🔗 buff.ly/sleNMfY

In 25 years, the University of Nebraska’s spending on jobs like vice chancellors, housing coordinators, and research compliance directors has tripled. This year, those roles cost more money than faculty. 🔗 buff.ly/5iwboMF

After the sport’s arrival in Omaha a century ago, pigeon racing faced decades of falling interest. The arrival of bird-loving immigrants has added fresh blood to the local circuit. 🔗 buff.ly/oEvY07s

New at FFP: The state’s watchdog for child welfare has launched an investigation into the sex abuse allegations involving staff at the state-run youth rehabilitation center in Kearney. 🔗 buff.ly/EwM9ZUY

Every time the university faces cuts, the question comes up: Why can’t the university spend more of its $1.9 billion endowment? How does the endowment work? Find out in the newest Flatwater Explains by Natalia Alamdari. 🔗 buff.ly/9baV5Cl

New at FFP: One of the city's first Japanese barbecue-it-yourself spots is open in the Blackstone District and -- maybe not surprisingly -- it's focused on lots of beef. Read the latest restaurant review from Sarah Baker Hansen: 🔗 buff.ly/2vUSvCS

New at FFP: In its first full year since reopening with a massive addition, The Joslyn is on pace to break recent attendance records, marking yet another milestone for the Omaha museum that’s receiving international accolades. 🔗 buff.ly/4r2tQzw

New at FFP: In 25 years, state funding to the University of Nebraska has grown, but NU leaders say it hasn’t kept up with inflation. The money that used to make up a third of the university’s budget now covers one fifth. 🔗 buff.ly/Krb5llR

Of all the poets who have served as Nebraska’s top literary advocate since the position was first established in the early 1980s, Jewel Rodgers might have the most unorthodox background. 🔗 buff.ly/n59S6BZ

New at FFP from Investigate Midwest: Walmart is now poised to become a significant player in the beef industry, owning cattle from slaughter to sale. This comes at a time when ranchers have fewer buyers for their cattle and declining inventory. 🔗 flatwaterfreepress.org/walmart-look...

Paul Gausman announced his surprise retirement as superintendent of Lincoln Public Schools in December 2024. The district said he’d be staying on in an as-needed advising capacity through June. It doesn’t appear he did any work. 🔗 buff.ly/CEbleOu

New at FFP: UNL’s Statistics Department is 1 of 6 programs set to close under proposed budget cuts. But stats professors say there’s a glaring problem: UNL used flawed data to determine which departments to slash. 🔗 buff.ly/o6onFrl

New at FFP: The University of Nebraska spends more on administrators, managers and professional staff than it does on faculty. In 25 years, that spending has more than tripled. 🔗 flatwaterfreepress.org/university-o... By Natalia Alamdari. Photo by Dylan Widger for the Flatwater Free Press.

New at FFP: A small group of Omaha-area men gathered last weekend to answer an important question: Who has the fastest pigeon? On the line — a $20,000 top prize and a shot at pigeon racing glory. 🔗 buff.ly/FRYdA2T

New at FFP: By late September, Gov. Jim Pillen's office had denied at least nine public records requests about state negotiations with the federal government regarding the McCook Work Ethic Camp, according to records obtained by the Nebraska Examiner. 🔗 buff.ly/qyiUtDV

Although the premiere of the “My Omaha” documentary is sold out, tickets are available for showings later this week. Check out this account of how the film came about and how the documentary is generating buzz. 🔗 buff.ly/QgZgC2Q

A judge reviewing allegations of inappropriate staff sexual contact with teens being held at a Kearney youth center wrote that she was “disgusted and disturbed as to the lack of transparency in this matter.” 🔗 buff.ly/MYjkh5X

Hey, Colorado: We were here first. The Nebraska Territory once stretched for 375,000 square miles and covered most of five other current states. So, what happened? JJ Harder hunts for answers and a cool map. 🔗 buff.ly/Q4onyys

New at FFP: Two staff members at a state-run center for troubled kids have resigned following allegations that they had sexual contact with teens in their custody. Another is on leave, and one woman has been criminally charged. 🔗 buff.ly/MYjkh5X

New at FFP: When Lincoln Public Schools’ superintendent stepped aside in December, the district kept paying him through June to act as an on-call adviser. But records indicate he wasn’t asked to do any work. 🔗 buff.ly/yHovZnp

New from FFP: Jewel Rodgers symbolized many milestones when she became Nebraska’s state poet earlier this year. The first Black state poet. The state’s youngest poet. The daughter of Husker royalty. 🔗 buff.ly/JO4Ywd9

The few payphones that remain tend to owe their continued existence to a six-decades-old state law meant to ensure access to once-essential technology. Today, they’re more a curiosity than a line of communication. 🔗 buff.ly/wcY2sbg

New at FFP: Believe it or not, Nebraska was once bigger than Texas. But it didn’t last. Why did the Nebraska Territory exist? And why was it destined to die? New Flatwater correspondent JJ Harder searches for answers, and a very outdated map, too. 🔗 buff.ly/Q4onyys

Blair has a major flaw: Its main street is a truck-laden highway. But a group of local activists isn’t waiting for a long-desired reroute to push for pedestrian safety improvements. Their approach is already changing intersections. 🔗 buff.ly/ZOS5JIw

Phil Ruhlman had a hunch: It sure seemed like Ashland, smack in between Lincoln and Omaha, could support a steakhouse. It took him a year of research, partnership, data and land purchases to get there. A year later, it looks like he was right. 🔗 buff.ly/5twUyj8

Despite long odds, former Husker pitcher Thad Weber made it to the majors as a player. But for the past 8 years, he’s filled a different role to help the Chicago Cubs — all while living in Friend, Nebraska. 🔗 buff.ly/sMBO6yw

What’s the value of a college degree in the corner of the Panhandle? It depends on what you want to do with your life, Kimball students and teachers say. Kids here do go to college. They just don’t always come back. 🔗 buff.ly/rROWVqo

New from FFP: Only 81 pay phones remain in Nebraska. They’re tucked into dark corners of hospitals, airport terminals, small-town gas stations. Flatwater’s Kevin Warneke goes on a hunt for the Disappearing Dial Tone. 🔗 buff.ly/wcY2sbg

New at FFP: We've spent a year eating at some of Omaha’s oldest-school steakhouses, and some of its newest, like Ruhlman’s, in the heart of Ashland. It's drawing people in from Ashland, plus steak lovers from Omaha and Lincoln. 🔗 buff.ly/5twUyj8

New at FFP: Omaha’s car-centered layout makes traversing the city on foot difficult and sometimes dangerous. Members of a group called Strong Towns want to change that — one intersection at a time. 🔗 buff.ly/ZOS5JIw

New at FFP: Thad Weber’s job is straightforward: Help the Chicago Cubs win. But the former big leaguer doesn’t live in Chicago or either coast. Home base for Weber is a quiet Nebraska town with fewer than 1,000 residents. 🔗 buff.ly/sMBO6yw

Inspired by the Civil Rights-era documentary “A Time for Burning,” Omaha filmmaker Nick Beaulieu set out to document his own burning times. It led him home, to a relationship fractured by politics. 🔗 buff.ly/1f1CTb4

The move by Nebraska’s Department of Correctional Services to block an inmate from communicating with his then-girlfriend raises questions, says the department’s watchdog. 🔗 buff.ly/qA50wsh

New at FFP: Nebraskans are more educated than they were 50 years ago. But in places like Kimball, the number of adults with a college degree is on the decline. 🔗 buff.ly/ZxuQy8R Story by Natalia Alamdari in partnership with Open Campus Media.

Paul Weishapl has been counting deaths he suspects are drug-related for years and then comparing what he knows to what’s listed on the death certificate. It often fails to mention an overdose. The first story in Dying Blind: 🔗 buff.ly/WFcUih3

New at FFP: A new documentary set in Omaha is generating buzz. At the heart of the story: A son, his dying father and an attempt to bridge America’s widening political divide. 🔗 buff.ly/1f1CTb4

New at FFP: A Nebraska inmate serving a life sentence appeared on his then-girlfriend’s podcast to talk about their relationship. Then prison staff blocked the two from communicating. Now he is suing. 🔗 buff.ly/qA50wsh