Sign in

Matthew Hansen

@matthewhansen.bsky.social
570 followers 256 following 128 posts

Editor of the Flatwater Free Press. Scribe from Red Cloud. Champion eater of ice cream.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Gov. Jim Pillen has aligned himself with President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda. But for more than a decade, his hog business has employed undocumented laborers, The @nytimes.com and Flatwater Free Press found. Read more 🔗 buff.ly/rOH1O9Q
Title card that reads "As Gov. Pillen backs ICE crackdown, his family business employs undocumented workers"
12415
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The Flatwater Free Press is throwing another barn party, and you're invited. On September 23rd, we're celebrating our fifth anniversary at Roca Berry Farm with food, drinks, and a Q&A with legendary journalist George Packer from The Atlantic. Get tickets now 🔗 buff.ly/lD1kyxB
031
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
If you needed a reminder about the flawed but undeniable powerhouse that is American govt funding, top US research universities and cutting-edge private companies. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/h...
nytimes.com
How an ‘Impossible’ Idea Led to a Pancreatic Cancer Breakthrough
010
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
On the origins of, and Nebraska’s undying love for, pairing chili with a cinnamon roll.
062
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
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.
080
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
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
11912
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
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
propublica.org
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.
19502258
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
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.
020
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
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...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Prepares Tariff Exemptions in Bid to Lower Food Prices
030
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
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
271
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Our little baby is getting so grown up
060
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
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
174
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
“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.”
021
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
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.
141
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Important, heartbreaking story. www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
washingtonpost.com
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...
010
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
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...
nytimes.com
He Fled Putin’s War. The U.S. Deported Him to a Russian Jail.
031
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
A tale of two media ecosystems.
130
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
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...
flatwaterfreepress.org
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
042
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
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...
flatwaterfreepress.org
Flatwater Festival 2025 - Flatwater Free Press
September 17, 2025 Kiewit Luminarium and Creighton University We’re thrilled to present the third annual Flatwater Free Press Festival, an afternoon and
000
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
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.
010
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
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.
021
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
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
021
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
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
095
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Flatwater Free Press @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
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
061
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
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.
141
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
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.
000
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Attention everyone: I think Carhenge, the weirdest tourism site in Nebraska, might be actually cool now? journalstar.com/life-enterta...
350
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Sure sign of middle age: I have watched CBS Sunday Morning AND 60 Minutes today. It’s the 20th Century Daily Double!
120
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
In Nebraska, you can usually transfer your kid to a nearby public school. Unless your kid has a disability. Then the school’s answer is often no. Important story from @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social and @the74.bsky.social, as reporters Jeremy Turley and Lauren Wagner team up.
020
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Proud of Natalia. Proud of her hard, skilled work. Proud we have built a little nonprofit newsroom where skilled, hardworking journalists can tell these stories.
010
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Fewer Nebraska kids are vaccinated and protected against measles than at any point in many years on the day that the first measles case since 2017 was reported in Nebraska. Why? Story by @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social’s newest reporter, Emily Wolf.
021
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Pondering Brooklyn.
020
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
At least 8 Nebraska school districts are hiring teachers from the Philippines. Fascinating story by @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social Greater Nebraska reporter Natalia Alamdari.
012
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Tracy Ensor @sciencetracy.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
This sounds super shady, Nebraskans. But also another example of the excellent investigative reporting from FFP this year.
042
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
The Nebraska Public Power District just bought land for $5 million, double the appraisal. They bought it from two of their own executives, including one whose job title is chief ethics officer. Important one from @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social Destiny Herbers. flatwaterfreepress.org/nebraska-pub...
flatwaterfreepress.org
Nebraska Public Power District bought land for $5 million — from NPPD executives - Flatwater Free Press
The February purchase, which came after little public discussion and no public input, dismayed a legal expert, who said he's never seen anything like it. NPPD leaders defended the land buy, saying it ...
021
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
John Ewing was badly outspent and hit with attack ads while challenging 3-term incumbent Jean Stothert, who had absolutely wiped the floor with her most recent opponent. Tonight he’s the mayor of Omaha, and he’s winning by a whole bunch of votes. www.ketv.com/article/omah...
ketv.com
John Ewing Jr. makes history by winning Omaha’s mayoral election
At her Election Night event, Stothert said she called Ewing and conceded in the race.
1175
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
The president of the United States is taking a $400 million plane from the ruling family of Qatar — one he will likely use personally for the rest of his life — and there’s nothing to worry about because there are for sure, 100% no strings attached.
100
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
We are at the Kentucky Derby and just bet all the money on the horse named JOURNALISM. Because…yeah.
2101
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Some of the Americans most at risk to severe Covid cases aren’t gonna love this. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/01/u...
nytimes.com
Kennedy Issues Demands for Vaccine Approvals That Could Affect Fall Covid Boosters
The plans amount to an extraordinary flex of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s power as health secretary to make decisions ordinarily left to career scientists at the Food and Drug Administration.
000
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
@saragentzler.bsky.social with the scoop. Planned Parenthood in Nebraska is in disarray, employees say, has lost all its nurses and is now rarely performing surgical abortions. It’s the last place in Nebraska where surgical abortions are performed.
000
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
It’s the @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social annual spring donor campaign! You digging what we do? Wann support it with $5 or $10 or $20 a month? Good news! It’s easy as pie! And you get a fresh new piece of FFP merch as a thank you!
000
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
The Speakeasy remains our fave small town steakhouse. SBH with her latest steak story for @flatwaterfreep.bsky.social
010
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
You aren’t & can’t be allowed to take away nonprofit status from a university because you don’t like them. It’s unlawful. And it would open a terrifying chapter for every university, church, nonprofit, which could have their tax status revoked at a president’s whim. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/u...
nytimes.com
Why Does Harvard Have Tax-Exempt Status and Can the IRS Revoke It? What to Know.
The university, like many colleges and charities, is exempt from federal income and property taxes, saving it billions of dollars. President Trump has questioned whether it should enjoy that status.
010
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Our story published Friday. The police chief who had allegedly terrorized a 24-year-old woman was gone by Tuesday.
070
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
“The World Food Program estimates that the loss of U.S. funding in Afghanistan will end food assistance that about two million people rely on — including approximately 400,000 malnourished children and mothers.” www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/u...
nytimes.com
Trump Administration Cuts Aid Programs It Had Promised to Keep
The U.N. food program said the new cuts “could amount to a death sentence” for millions of desperate people.
000
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Important observation: At 10 AM every resort pool in America is solely middle aged dudes drinking coffee
030
Reposted by Matthew Hansen
Sam Thielmonster @samthielman.com · 31/03/2025
incredibly depressing to read the replies here. "this is what they voted for" is just the stupidest, meanest response and if you start writing it please do yourself and me a favor and log off and pet the cat or something
1722026
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
So much talk of the importance of child care in Nebraska. Its importance to our state economy, our workforce, parents, kids, our future. So little action by lawmakers and state leaders. @saragentzler.bsky.social with the important story.
021
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Omaha-area congressman, former commanding officer at Offutt Air Force Base, emerging as top Republican critic on this.
000
Matthew Hansen @matthewhansen.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Definitely no secret stuff here, just the minute-by-minute breakdown of a surprise attack on a foreign adversary, sent from and to cell phones that could be under surveillance from foreign adversaries, and oh also the editor of The Atlantic.
001