Matthew Hansen

On the origins of, and Nebraska’s undying love for, pairing chili with a cinnamon roll.

Really proud of this work from Yanqi, and thrilled with the @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social collab with the @nytimes.com to tell an important Nebraska story.

New at Flatwater: The investigation of a teen’s death at Pillen Family Farms was marred by missteps, The New York Times and the Flatwater Free Press found. Said Dr. Erin Linde, who did the autopsy: “The type of investigation that really should have been done wasn’t done.” 🔗 buff.ly/oy9OswZ

The EPA Was Considering a Massive Lead Cleanup in Omaha. Then Trump Shifted Guidance. The Trump administration says it will speed cleanups, but residents of the largest residential lead Superfund site worry fewer properties will be remediated.

Did you know: Omaha, Nebraska, has the largest residential lead cleanup site in the U.S. BUT... this year, the Trump admin tripled the amount of lead that had to be in the soil to warrant a potential cleanup, meaning many families may be out of luck. @chrisbowling.bsky.social

Such a crucial and well-written story on how decisions made in DC can greatly affect the lives — and the health of kids — in neighborhoods in faraway Omaha.

My brother coaxed the recipe out of an Indianapolis bartender like 12 years ago!

Trump Administration Prepares Tariff Exemptions in Bid to Lower Food Prices

Interesting story to read minutes after I paid $42 for two pounds of coffee beans. (Up roughly 20% at my local coffeeshop this year.) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/u...

New at FFP It’s 103 years old. It ages its steaks, stirs strong cocktails, makes its carrot cake from scratch and serves maybe the best onion rings in Omaha. It’s Johnny’s. And it’s surviving and thriving, reports Sarah Baker Hansen 🔗 buff.ly/3QHCslI

Our little baby is getting so grown up

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

“In both cases, YRTC leaders learned of the alleged misconduct months earlier, but the state didn’t disclose it to probation officials, the boys’ attorneys or the judge.”

He could be the most inept human who ever lived.
I’m not sure how that changes my point: All media should say no to this kind of government control and censorship, no matter what.

Left, right, middle, up, down, sideways…there’s only one thing for actual honest to goodness media to do here, and I don’t give a good goddamn who the president is.
The answer, always: No.

Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting. USAID antimalarial and HIV supplies valued at nearly $140 million were delayed in the first half of the year or not delivered at all due to the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause, The Post found...

Important, heartbreaking story.
www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

He Fled Putin’s War. The U.S. Deported Him to a Russian Jail.

We deported a Russian who stood against Putin and his invasion in Ukraine back to Russia, where he’s now imprisoned. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/w...

I can’t find a single word about Putin, Poland and NATO on the Fox News homepage. The third story is about Joe Biden’s mental acuity.
The NYT’s top 3 stories are about the Russian incursion into Polish airspace. First non-Poland item: RFK Jr.

A tale of two media ecosystems.

He aided a human trafficking investigation in Omaha. Now, he’s facing deportation. - Flatwater Free Press Two weeks before police and federal agents streamed into the New Victorian Inn and Suites to bust an alleged human trafficking ring, Eudis Cuéllar

A Venezuelan man in Nebraska awaiting an asylum case helped the U.S. government bust up a giant human trafficking ring.
They arrested him anyway. Now he’s likely to be deported.
@flatwaterfreep.bsky.social story from Jeremy Turkey and Emily Wolf.
flatwaterfreepress.org/he-aided-a-h...

I’m interviewing Dean Baquet onstage on Sept 27 during FlatFest, the best journalism party in the Great Plains. We are 3/4 sold out…grab your tickets today, support the mission of nonprofit news and join the fun. flatwaterfreepress.org/events/flatw...

Arts organizations across Nebraska are feeling the DOGE cuts. New one from our newest correspondent Tynan Stewart, who did really nice work on this one.

Valley is using public tax $ to build new neighborhoods with multi-million dollar homes & private lakes off limit to the city’s other residents.
It may have fueled growth in one of Nebraska’s fastest growing cities. But state leaders and experts think this use of tax increment financing looks fishy.

It’s time for Nebraska’s best journalism party. It’s the 3rd annual FlatFest, a Sept. 17 afternoon and evening where we put journalism on stage – and give you the mic. Learn more, buy tickets and register here. 🔗 buff.ly/gtCb0nV

We’re hiring! The Flatwater Free Press, in partnership with Grist, is seeking a reporter to cover climate change in Nebraska. Learn more: buff.ly/g8va2D3

What’s a Runza? Why do Nebraskans call it that? The answer goes back a few hundred years and thousands of miles from the first Lincoln restaurant. FFP reporter Natalia Alamdari explains our beloved pocket o’ meat. 🔗 buff.ly/oV5boL3

In the year 2000, there were exactly zero Dollar Generals in small town Nebraska. (Or really in any small town anywhere, I suspect.)
Today: There are 115 in small-town Nebraska alone.

Bananas story out of Sarpy County, where the county attorney has filed a lawsuit against the county board — the board thar controls the county attorney’s purse strings.

I’m definitely going back to see the artwork!

The first time I went to Carhenge I got there and stood there for 45 seconds and said “this is it?”

Not cool: My screen cap and photo editing skills

Attention everyone: I think Carhenge, the weirdest tourism site in Nebraska, might be actually cool now? journalstar.com/life-enterta...