u/flatwaterfreepress

Since 1999, the EPA has spent millions remediating nearly 14,000 yards across east Omaha for widespread lead contamination. It’s the largest residential lead cleanup in the country — one that the agency repeatedly heralded as a success.

But Omaha’s soil might not be as safe as officials have advertised. Together with u/propublica_, we tested soil from more than 600 properties, including 150 the EPA said had already been cleaned up. (Here’s how we did it.) These are some of our findings:

• One in 10 yards we tested that the EPA cleaned up still has enough lead to be over the agency’s original threshold.
• During the EPA’s cleanup, the agency prioritized only the highest-risk areas, skipping yards if they were at even slightly lower levels of lead. But experts told us that failing to clean up neighboring properties can also lead to recontamination over time. 
• Nearly all of the previously remediated homes that our testing found to have excessive levels of lead are within 100 yards of a property that tested for high levels of lead but was never cleaned up.
• Nearly a quarter of the yards we tested in east Omaha surpass a new lead level set by Trump’s EPA, meaning they could qualify for further study or trigger more cleanup.

Here’s the full story: https://www.propublica.org/article/lead-contamination-epa-superfund-omaha-nebraska-analysis

The EPA told us it is committed to cleaning up contaminated sites and that its efforts “have led to a dramatic decrease in elevated blood lead levels” in Omaha. The agency said it cannot assess our results without further investigation, but property owners can reach out to the EPA or the city of Omaha. The city is already responding to our findings.

**We’re now testing soil samples just outside of the Superfund site. If you live in northern Bellevue in Nebraska, or Council Bluffs or Carter Lake in Iowa, sign up for a free soil test.

https://flatwaterfreepress.org/nebraska-corrections-scraps-program-that-would-release-some-prisoners-early/

Famed Omaha investor Warren Buffett cut fellow billionaire Bill Gates out of his charitable giving sooner than expected, CNBC reported. Omaha’s charities may stand to gain from the move. 

Buffett has donated more than $47 billion to the Gates Foundation over the last two decades, but the Berkshire Hathaway chairman announced in 2023 that his three children — not the Gateses — will be in charge of giving away his vast fortune after his death, Flatwater reported in 2024. 

This week, Buffett directed all of his latest donations — more than $5.8 billion in stock — to four family-linked foundations and said he hopes his kids will dispose of his remaining Berkshire shares by 2034.

Nearly $500 million of the latest dispersal will go to daughter Susie Buffett’s Sherwood Foundation, which has centered most of its giving on Omaha charities and initiatives. Susie Buffett previously told Flatwater that the foundation will remain focused on Nebraska as its coffers grow.

https://flatwaterfreepress.org/feds-want-beloved-kearney-businessman-to-testify-in-covid-era-loan-fraud-investigation/