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Flatwater Free Press

@flatwaterfreep.bsky.social

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Nebraska's important stories. Well told. 🗞️ https://flatwaterfreepress.org/subscribe/

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · Jan 6

Our New Year’s gift to you: adding Bluesky to our social lineup. Follow us at flatwaterfreep.bsky.social for Nebraska's important stories, not on X

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 4h

Story by Sara Gentzler. Photo by Lori Potter for the Flatwater Free Press.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 4h

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 1d

Story by Emily Wolf. Photo by Justin Wan, courtesy of the Lincoln Journal Star.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 1d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 2d

Story by Tynan Stewart. Photo by Kenneth Ferriera for the Flatwater Free Press.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 2d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 2d

By Kevin Warneke. Photo by Darin Epperly for the Flatwater Free Press.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 2d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 3d

Map courtesy of the Nebraska State Historical Society.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 3d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 3d

Story and photo by Jeremy Turley.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 3d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 4d

By Sarah Baker Hansen. Photo by Ryan Soderlin for the Flatwater Free Press.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 4d

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

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 7d

Story by Greg Echlin. Photo by Liz McCue for the Flatwater Free Press.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 7d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 7d

Story by Natalia Alamdari in partnership with Open Campus Media. Photo by Irene North for the Flatwater Free Press.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 7d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 8d

Story by Kevin Warneke. Photos by Darin Epperly.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 8d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 9d

Story by Sarah Baker Hansen. Photo by Ryan Soderlin for the Flatwater Free Press.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 9d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 9d

Story by Jeremy Turley. Photo by Jeremy Turley/Flatwater Free Press.

Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 9d

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

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Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 10d

Story by Greg Echlin. Photo by Liz McCue for the Flatwater Free Press.