Alex Milan Tracy for Underscore
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The dozens of independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news organizations that make up the Rural News Network are developing the broadest news alliance reporting on rural America. These newsrooms are pursuing coverage that provides a more complete picture of what it means to live and work in these communities.
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LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Nebraskans throw tons of glass into landfills each year. Some are trying to change that.
May 07, 2025
Nebraska City is one of roughly two dozen towns and cities in the state that now offer glass recycling — a practice that comes with environmental, and sometimes economic benefits. But difficulties transporting it have forced some rural communities to scrap glass recycling, advocates say.
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In rural Nebraska, it’s hard to find an attorney. It’s going to get much harder.
April 25, 2025
About a third of Nebraska’s 93 counties have three or fewer active attorneys residing and practicing in them. Twelve counties don’t have a single one.
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To serve and protect? Police chief fired after allegedly terrorizing woman
April 11, 2025
The protection order, requested by the 24-year-old woman and granted by a judge, came after the Mitchell police chief allegedly sent her many lewd photos on Snapchat, repeatedly drove by her home and let her know that he knew when she was home alone.
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At Nebraska’s Native American boarding school, location of child graves and closure prove elusive
April 04, 2025
State officials remain hopeful in ongoing search as Interior Department reviews Biden-era initiative examining history of U.S. Native American boarding schools.
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Roadblocked: A Nebraska county and its road workers have been stuck bargaining for years. It’s costing thousands.
March 21, 2025
A $5 an hour raise for 14 employees would equal about $145,600 in a year – just shy of what the county has spent on attorney fees since 2022.
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‘This is wild’: Emails show Trump funding freeze sparked concern in Nebraska state agencies
February 28, 2025
Records obtained by Flatwater Free Press reveal Nebraska officials worried about far-reaching fallout from the Trump administration’s directive, from disaster recovery to aid for mothers and infants.
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No raids, many rumors: In Nebraska immigrant communities, fear and lack of ICE info fuel fake news
February 18, 2025
Nebraska immigration detentions appear to be up slightly. But advocates for immigrants and law enforcement officials alike say the rumors are far outpacing the reality.
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Many Nebraskans still under threat of high nitrate in drinking water, report finds
February 14, 2025
In 2022, the Flatwater Free Press spent months examining the scope and history of nitrate contamination, a byproduct of decades of nitrogen fertilizer excessively applied to corn. And rural Nebraska’s nitrate problem doesn’t appear to be getting any better.
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Where’s the beef? Not all Nebraska producers on board with Pillen’s proposed ‘lab-grown meat’ ban
February 07, 2025
The governor, who founded one of the largest hog enterprises in the country, said the state needed to protect its farmers and ranchers, a critical piece of Nebraska’s economy and identity.
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Nebraska companies, strapped for workers, face ‘mild concern to abject terror’ as immigration crackdown begins
January 24, 2025
An unlikely coalition of pro-business groups and activists see a solution to Nebraska’s workforce shortage: More immigration. Now they’re watching the crackdown, wondering how it will impact foreign-born workers and their employers.
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Beef over beef: In North Platte, promises of economic boom smash into fears over immigrants
November 15, 2024
In the years since Sustainable Beef – a rancher-owned meatpacking plant – announced plans to open in the west-central city of 22,523, City Council meetings have been peppered with complaints about the project – worry over the smell, traffic and assumptions about the plant’s future 2,500 employees.
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Now a political liability, Tim Walz’s trip to China left a lasting impression on his fellow Nebraskans
October 04, 2024
Walz’s personal tale has prompted a national media surge of visits and calls to rural Nebraska. But the close inspections of Walz’s biography generally overlook a more local narrative: the ordinary Nebraskans influenced by his ambition.
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‘Quinceañeras every weekend’: Nebraska’s Latinos are increasingly native born – and eager to keep traditions alive
October 03, 2024
Once fueled by immigration, Nebraska’s growing Latino population is now overwhelmingly native born. Like others before them, these younger Nebraskans are eager to hold onto their heritage.
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Who’s Buying Nebraska? Philly organic farm is 2nd-biggest buyer of Nebraska farmland
September 13, 2024
The Flatwater Free Press analysis shows that seven of the top 10 land buyers in Nebraska are headquartered outside the state.
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Nebraska Evolving
September 06, 2024
The perception is that Nebraska’s smaller communities are dying. The reality is that many rural Nebraska counties are now growing for one reason. Immigration.
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