Nebraska News; Good Life Tax Forum; Abortion Case at Supreme Court; Term Limits; Union Pacific Earnings; Stenberg Profile; Desmond Tutu; Third District Congressional Race; Red Cloud Opera House; Legislative Distr 18 Primary; Supreme Court to Hear Abortion Case; Scott Moore Profile; Northwest Says No To Prison; Legislature Dist 33 Primary; District 35 Race; District 41 Race

Morning edition, news feature 4, 420 -00, Thursday 420 -00, piece entitled District 41, producer Carolyn Johnson. Its four minutes past the hour, I'm Carolyn Johnson. The most crowded races for the Nebraska Legislature in this election year are those where no incumbent is running. In the 41st Legislative District, four people are vying for the seat of Ord Senator Jerry Schmidt, who is retiring. If this campaign is typical of other legislative races in Nebraska, the next Legislature will deal with some familiar topics, the rural economy, education, and property taxes. Dr. Richard Hanish has operated a family medical practice in St. Paul for 35 years. His idea of how to help the rural economy centers on reduced property taxes. I would actually like to see a liberalization of the gambling laws as a new form of taxation

and be able to get some property tax relief through that means. Candidate Don Smith also wants to see outside money channeled to the countryside, but his focus is not on farming. We need to find the next best alternative sector to establish an economic base which basically attracts money from outside of rural Nebraska, outside of the state and Nebraska preferably, that we clearly are not going to be able to do an agriculture. Smith wants more state money to open the sand hills to tourism and recreation. With 18 years on the Elba School Board, Errol Wells, who farms near Elba, is the only candidate who has held elective office. He is also active in friends of rural education, a statewide group advocating for small schools. Wells is concerned about the newly mandated statewide standards and testing. I'm afraid that if they follow the example of some states like South Dakota, they'll rank them all

in one test and they will end up saying, well, you're no good, you will be having your state aid cut. And I don't believe that is proper. I think if you're having problems, you probably need some help. But for Richard McDonald, who farms near Rockville, the future of rural schools is connected to economic development. There are those among us who say we need to say the small school. And if we keep a present course, we will save the buildings. But if we don't have children, we will not save the small school. We need jobs at pay. We need families to support the communities. And I'm very concerned that we're not getting that job done now. The candidates campaign strategies involve low cost methods like speaking to rotary clubs, social gatherings, and friends homes, and some flyers and roadside signs. In this public office, must establish why they're most qualified to serve Richard Handich. Well, it's something that I've always had an interest in. And I've been a doctor of the day, which is a

family practice doctor that spends the day at the legislature, or maybe two or three every session. And I've done that for about 20 years. So I feel like I have a little experience down there, but not in the legislative field. Don Smith is unique among the candidates. And that although he has a residence in the 41st district, he lives most of the time in Lincoln, where he serves as a fiscal analyst for the state health and human services system. He says that experience gives him some useful insight. I have all the years that I've been a state government. I've been very outspoken about all the levels of management that they have in state government, the fleet of consultants and attorneys. And that would be no secret. No secret within state government and beyond. Under state law, Smith would have to resign that job if he's elected to the legislature. Arrow Wells also says his experiences qualify him for office. Been an agriculture very long time. I've been in the banking business. I know the

banking end of it. I know education. I've been in education a long, long time. I just happen to have that leadership that I've served on not only the school board and the Fred organization, also on the fair board, and just lots of different boards that served on the vice president of our church council. I will be the president next year. I just happen to have that diversity, and along with that diversity and knowledge, I have a feel for what people need. Richard McDonald taught high school English for 10 years before he became a farmer. I think the fact that I am a practicing environmentalist, that I am a farmer, a day -to -day farmer who does chores, takes calves, raises corn, drives the tractor, that kind of hands -on approach, tied to the fact that I am a cabinet -cative skills major. I have been in English for 10 years. I've taught that subject, and it gives me the unique ability to get up on my feet, express a point, and do so with a purpose. I think that that's the mark of an effective legislator. In the May 9th primary, voters in the 41st district will

narrow the four candidates down to two for the general election in November. Although the legislative race is nonpartisan, all four are registered Republicans. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Carolyn Johnson. There's the morning edition feature for 421 -0 -0 Friday 421 -0 -0. Peace entitled Legislative District 18 Primary, producer Nancy Finken. It's four minutes past the hour, I'm Nancy Finken. Nebraska voters in the legislator's 18th district in Northeast Nebraska will choose two of the three candidates in the primary to face off in the general election. Farmer Bob Dickie of Laurel was appointed to the legislature after the death of state senator Stan Schelpepper. He faces challengers Chuck Meyer, an attorney from

Stanton, and Doug Cunningham, a grocer from Warsaw. All three candidates say rural economic development and education are top priorities. Bob Dickie says his experience as an appointed member of the Unicameral left him wanting more. It's like farming, it gets in your blood, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I made a contribution to this district and to the state of Nebraska, and I'm looking forward to going back to the next section. Dickie points to a rural economic development bill and his priority bill as big accomplishments this session. My priority bill was Nebraska Senior Companions Volunteer Program Act. That bill is a very proactive bill, it's a proactive program that helps senior citizens live in their own homes that are provided some assistance so that they can stay there and at the same time reduces costs to the taxpayers of the state in Nebraska. Warsaw attorney Chuck Meyer says he wants the state to become more deeply involved in small town survival strategies. Specifically, he says small towns lack the expertise

that the state has in areas like electronic commerce. For example, we did an e -commerce initiative with the small or the rural development commission about a year ago that I was deeply involved with. We now have over 200 people on the internet here in Stanton, and I think we could do a lot to develop some e -commerce businesses that would thrive and prosper and that would provide an alternative kind of pace for our local economy. Meyer also sees technology as a way to help rural schools. He says school districts are facing financial crisis and cuts in programs and teachers are the future, but distance learning is one tool that needs to be used with the state's help. We have that system up here at our school in Stanton. We've had it for about four years and been unable to make very good use of it because we don't have the programs in place to do that. I think the state should be obligated to do that to help us through this tough financial crisis. Doug Cunningham says agriculture is his number one

issue. Though not a farmer himself, Cunningham says he can represent farmers well. He is opposed to school consolidation, but he's for anything that keeps rural schools open. Number one, I would try to change the state aid formula. First place, it's very, very complicated. I've been told that there's possibly four people in the state in Nebraska that truly understand the state aid formula inside and out. So it just needs to be simplified somewhat, but the other thing, it seems like there's such a push in the legislature to consolidate schools that it seems like the urban areas, the state aid formulas, more tilted towards the urban areas. We just need to fight the at least our fair share of dollars out here in the rural areas. There were a few highly controversial pieces of legislation this session. One was the bill to ban fetal cell research from elective abortions at state institutions. Senator Dickie supported that bill.

Doug Cunningham says he would have voted against the bill as long as there was a commitment from UNMC to find alternate sources of tissue. Chuck Meyer says his first -hand experience with people who have Alzheimer's disease would have influenced his opposition to the bill. Another hot topic this session was a bill to allow Nebraska's to vote on changing the state constitution to allow casino style gambling on Indian reservations. Dickie voted against pulling that bill from the General Affairs Committee, where it was deadlocked. I'm against expanded gambling. It's bad for the individuals, because many of them become addictive to that habit and that affects knowledge themselves, but their families, it affects their communities, in cases of bankruptcies and crime, additional crime, with so forth. Chuck Meyer says he has clients on the Santee Sue Reservation, and he believes Nebraska needs to recognize their sovereignty. I know how desperate their need is, and yes, had I been on legislature, I would have voted for that. Doug Cunningham says he would have

voted to let Nebraska's decide the issue. In talking to the people of the district, the vast majority that I have talked to have been in favor of expanding gambling, at least on the Indian land, in that form. So as the bill was this year, what I would have done is that it come out of committee, that it go to the full debate of the legislature, and then let it be put on the ballot for a vote of the people. Doug Cunningham, Chuck Meyer and Bob Dickie are the choices in the 18th legislative district in Northeast Nebraska. The top two finishers in the May 9th primary faceoff in the general election. For more campaign information, visit our website. The address is net .unl .edu. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Nancy Finken. There's Fridays, ATC Feature

421 -0 -0 Friday 421 -0 -0. Peace entitled legislative district 18 primary. It's a slightly modified version of the Friday morning edition piece, and the producer is Nancy Finken. Farmer Bob Dickie of Laurel was appointed to the legislature after the death of state senator Stan Schellpepper. He faces challengers Chuck Meyer and attorney from Stanton, and Doug Cunningham, a grocer from Warsaw. All three candidates say rural economic development and education are top priorities. Bob Dickie says his experience as an appointed member of the Unicameral left him wanting more. It's like farming. It gets in your blood, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I made a contribution to this district and to the state of Nebraska, and I'm looking forward to going back to the next section. Dickie points to a rural economic development bill and his priority bill as big accomplishments this session. My priority bill was Nebraska Senior Companions Volunteer Program Act. That bill

is a very proactive bill. It's a proactive program that helps senior citizens live in their own homes that are provided some assistance so that they can stay there and at the same time reduces cost to the taxpayers of the state of Nebraska. Warsaw attorney Chuck Meyer says he wants the state to become more deeply involved in small town survival strategies. Specifically, he says small towns lack the expertise that the state has in areas like electronic commerce. For example, we did an e -commerce initiative with the small rural development commission about a year ago that I was deeply involved with. We now have over 200 people on the internet here in Stanton. I think we could do a lot to develop some e -commerce businesses that would thrive and prosper and provide an alternative kind of base for our local economy. Meyer also sees technology as a way to help rural schools. He says school districts are facing financial crisis and cuts in programs and teachers are the future, but distance learning is one tool that needs to be used with

the state's help. We have that system up here at our school in Stanton. We've had it for about four years and I've been unable to make very good use of it because we don't have the programs in place to do that. I think the state should be obligated to do that to help us through this tough financial crisis. Doug Cunningham says agriculture is his number one issue, though not a farmer himself. Cunningham says he can represent farmers well. He is opposed to school consolidation, but he's for anything that keeps rural schools open. Number one, I would try to change the state aid formula. First place, it's very, very complicated. I've been told that there's possibly four people in the state and Nebraska that truly understand the state aid formula inside and out. So it just needs to be simplified somewhat, but the other thing, it seems like there's such a push in the legislature to consolidate schools that it seems like the urban areas, the state aid formula is more tilted towards the urban

areas. We just need to fight to at least keep our fair share of dollars out here in the rural areas. There were a few highly controversial pieces of legislation this session. One was the bill to ban fetal cell research from elective abortions at state institutions. Senator Dickie supported that bill. Doug Cunningham says he would have voted against the bill, as long as there was a commitment from UNMC to find alternate sources of tissue. Chuck Meyer says his first -hand experience with people who have Alzheimer's disease would have influenced his opposition to the bill. Another hot topic this session was a bill to allow Nebraska to vote on changing the state constitution to allow casino style gambling on Indian reservations. Dickie voted against pulling that bill from the general affairs committee where it was deadlocked. I'm against expanded gambling. It's bad for the individuals, because many of them become addictive to that habit and that affects knowledge themselves, but their families, it affects their communities

in cases of bankruptcies and crime, additional crime, but so forth. Chuck Meyer says he has clients on the Santhesoo reservation and he believes Nebraska needs to recognize their sovereignty. I know how desperate their need is, and yes, had I been on a legislature, I would have voted for that. Doug Cunningham says he would have voted to let Nebraska's decide the issue. I'm talking to the people of the district, the vast majority that I have talked to have been in favor of expanding gambling, at least on the Indian land, in that form. So as the bill was this year, what I would have done is let it come out of committee, let it go to the full debate of the legislature and then let it be put on the ballot for a vote of the people. Doug Cunningham Chuck Meyer and Bob Dickie are the choices in the 18th legislative district in Northeast Nebraska. The top two finishers in the May 9th primary face off in the general election. For more campaign information, visit our website. The address is net

.unl .edu. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Nancy Finken. There's the ATC feature for 420 -0 -0 Thursday 420 -0 -0. Peace entitled District 41 Race, producer Carolyn Johnson. Dr. Richard Hannes, who has operated a family medical practice in St. Paul for 35 years, is a newcomer to politics. His idea of how to help the rural economy centers on reduced property taxes. I would actually like to see a liberalization of the gambling laws as a new form of taxation and be able to get some property tax relief through that means. Candidate Don Smith also wants to see outside money channeled to the countryside, but his

focus is not on farming. We need to find the next best alternative sector to establish an economic base which basically attracts money from outside of rural Nebraska, outside of the state and Nebraska preferably, that we clearly are not going to be able to do an agriculture. Smith wants more state money to open the sandtills to tourism and recreation. With 18 years on the Elba School Board, Errol Wells, who farms near Elba, is the only candidate who has held elective office. He is also active in Friends of Rural Education, a statewide group advocating for small schools. Wells is concerned about the newly mandated statewide standards and testing. I'm afraid that if they follow the example of some states like South Dakota, they'll rank them all in one test and they will end up saying, well, you're no good, you will be having your state aid cut and I don't believe that is proper. I think if you're having problems, you probably need some help. But for Richard McDonald, who farms near Rockville, the future of rural schools is connected to

economic development. There are those among us who say we need to save the small school and if we keep a present course, we will save the buildings, but if we don't have children, we will not save the small school. We need jobs at pay, we need families to support the communities and I'm very concerned that we're not getting that job done now. In the May 9th primary, voters in the 41st district will narrow the four candidates down to two for the general election in November. Although the legislative race is nonpartisan, all four are registered Republicans. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Carolyn Johnson. There's the second of two ATC features for 420 -0 -0 Thursday 420 -0 -0. Peace entitled Union Pacific Earnings, producer Keith Lutton. Union Pacific

spokesman Mark Davis attributed the increase to improved rail operations and the increased speed of traffic on the Union Pacific system. A lot of that improvement said Davis is because of the investment the railroad made in improving its corridor in central Nebraska, which now includes a substantial segment of triple track traffic. A year ago said Davis, the railroad was still recovering from congestion problems that gained national attention in 1998 when grain elevators were finding it difficult to move grain to markets on time. The company also experienced a series of rail accidents in 1997 that resulted in federal monitoring of the railroad. Davis said the only sector of the Union Pacific's business that did not show an increase in the first quarter of 2000 was the transportation of coal. That he attributed to a mild winter. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Lutton. There's a ATC feature for 421 -0 -0 Friday 421 -0

-0. Peace entitled legislative district 18 primary. It is the same or only slightly modified version of the morning edition feature for this very same morning for 21 and here it comes producer Nancy Fingen. Farmer Bob Dickie of Laurel was appointed to the legislature after the death of state senator Stan Schelpepper. He faces challengers Chuck Meyer and attorney from Stanton and Doug Cunningham, a grocer from Warsaw. All three candidates say rural economic development and education are top priorities. Bob Dickie says his experience as an appointed member of the Unicameral left him wanting more. It's like farming it gets in your blood and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I made a contribution to this district and to the state of Nebraska and I'm looking forward to going back to the next section. Dickie points to a rural economic development bill and his priority bill as big accomplishments this session. My priority bill was

Nebraska Senior Companions Volunteer Program Act. That bill is a very proactive bill. It's a proactive program that helps senior citizens live in their own homes that are provided some assistance so that they can stay there and at the same time reduces costs to the taxpayers of the state of Nebraska. Warsaw attorney Chuck Meyer says he wants the state to become more deeply involved in small town survival strategies. Specifically he says small towns lack the expertise that the state has in areas like electronic commerce. For example we did an e -commerce initiative with the small rural development commission about a year ago that I was deeply involved with and we now have over 200 people on the internet here in Stanton and I think we could do a lot to develop some e -commerce businesses that would thrive and prosper and that would provide an alternative kind of base for our local economy. Meyer also sees technology as a

way to help rural schools. He says school districts are facing financial crisis and cuts in programs and teachers are the future but distance learning is one tool that needs to be used with the state's help. We have that system up here at our school in Stanton. We've had it for about four years and I've been unable to make very good use of it because we don't have the programs in place to do that. I think the state should be obligated to do that to help us through this tough financial crisis. Doug Cunningham says agriculture is his number one issue. Though not a farmer himself, Cunningham says he can represent farmers well. He is opposed to school consolidation but he's for anything that keeps rural schools open. Number one, I would try to change the state aid formula. First place it's very, very complicated. I've been told that there's possibly four people in the state in Nebraska that truly understand the state aid formula inside and out. So it just needs to be simplified somewhat. But the other thing, it seems like there's such a push in the

legislature to consolidate schools that it seems like the urban areas, the state aid formulas, more tilted towards the urban areas. We just need to fight at least our fair share of dollars out here in the rural areas. There were a few highly controversial pieces of legislation this session. One was the bill to ban fetal cell research from elective abortions at state institutions. Senator Dickie supported that bill. Doug Cunningham says he would have voted against the bill as long as there was a commitment from UNMC to find alternate sources of tissue. Chuck Meyer says his first -hand experience with people who have Alzheimer's disease would have influenced his opposition to the bill. Another hot topic this session was a bill to allow Nebraska to vote on changing the state constitution to allow casino -style gambling on Indian reservations. Dickie voted against pulling that bill from the general affairs committee where it was deadlocked. I'm against expanded gambling. It's bad for the individuals

because many of them become addictive to that habit and that affects knowledge themselves, but their families, bankruptcies and crime, additional crime. Chuck Meyer says he has clients on the TSU reservation and he believes Nebraska needs to recognize their sovereignty. Doug Cunningham says he would have voted to let Nebraska's decide the issue. In talking to the people of the district, the vast majority that I have talked to have been in favor of expanding gambling at least on the Indian land in that form. So as the bill was this year, what I would have done is let it come out of committee, let it go to the full debate of the legislature and then let it be put on the ballot for a vote of the people. Doug Cunningham Chuck Meyer and Bob Dickie are the choices in the 18th legislative district in northeast Nebraska. The top two finishers in the May 9th primary face -off in the general

election. For more campaign information, visit our website. The address is net .unl .edu. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Nancy Finken. Here's the more edition feature for 424 -0 -0. Monday 424 -0 -0. The Supreme Court to hear abortion case producer Nancy Finken. It's four minutes past the hour. I'm Nancy Finken. It's a typical day in the South Omaha neighborhood. The gas station on the corner is busy. Cars and trucks zoom by and pro -life advocates pray outside Dr. Lee Roy Carr Hart's office where abortions are performed. Pat Jones says the rosary every Friday. He says this week's US Supreme Court case, Carr Hart versus Stenberg,

which challenges Nebraska's ban on a certain abortion procedure is a long shot. Well, I'm very hopeful, but it's a long shot because some of the judges, I don't think will ever change their opinion. I think we possibly can have three to support the ban, but I believe that the other six won't. That's what Dr. Carr Hart is counting on. He's challenging the Nebraska statute that bans what abortion opponents call partial birth abortions because Dr. Carr Hart says it would criminalize 98 percent of the abortions in Nebraska. I certainly didn't choose it, but I'm willing to go ahead and fight it. The women of Nebraska deserve no less than someone standing up for them to keep abortion safe and legal for them. If 98 percent of the women cannot get abortions in the state, legally, that doesn't mean that they're going to not have abortions. It means they're going to find them in an unsafe or dangerous place and it means that we could go back to the days before row where women died from the

complications of illegal abortions. But Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg says Nebraska statute, which is similar to statutes passed in 29 other states, does not make 98 percent of the abortions illegal. Stenberg says it bans a specific procedure commonly called DNX. To answer this question, the court will need to consider two basic issues. The first is whether Nebraska's law bans only DNX abortions or whether it prohibits other more commonly used abortion procedures. It was clearly the intent of the Nebraska legislature to only prohibit DNX or partial birth abortions. The seventh circuit court of appeals interpreted similarly worded statutes in Illinois and Wisconsin to ban only the DNX procedure. Stenberg says the statute prohibits delivering into the vagina a living unborn child or substantial portion and then carrying out a procedure to kill that child. The question we ultimately want the US Supreme Court to answer in

this case is whether the constitution of the United States guarantees a right to pull an unborn child from her mother's womb up to her neck and suck out the child's brains. To me, it is inconceivable that the constitution of any civilized nation could guarantee a right to such a barbaric act. Stenberg says the only procedure the statute covers is the DNX procedure, not true, says Dr. Carrhart. It's made to criminalize abortion. It's made, no matter what, if you do the very, very, very earliest abortion at three, four, and five weeks not after conception, but after menstrual dating like is one week after pregnancy. If you remove the entire structure at one time, that's certainly a significant part. I cannot defend myself against this law. If any attorney general and we certainly have no reason to trust that the attorney general's decision today will be the attorney general's decision tomorrow or even the county attorneys can enforce a law that the attorney general may say he's not. This makes it impossible for any practitioner to perform an

abortion and not feel that with each one they do, they could end up losing their medical license having a fine of $25 ,000 and going to jail for 20 years. Dr. Lee Roy Carrhart of Bellevue. Tomorrow, the U .S. Supreme Court hears Carrhart versus Stenberg, a challenge of Nebraska's ban on an abortion procedure. The statute has been ruled unconstitutional by Nebraska's U .S. District Court, and that decision was upheld by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. However, similar laws in Illinois and Wisconsin were upheld by a different circuit court. That split in the circuit opinions gave the U .S. Supreme Court a reason to take the Nebraska case. The first time the high court has taken up an abortion case since the early 1990s. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Nancy Finken. This is a campaign connection profile of Scott Moore. It will be inserted in Morning Edition on 425 -0 -0. That's a Tuesday 425 -0 -0. Campaign connection

profile of Scott Moore, political events by telling them that even though he's now Secretary of State and a constitutional officer, his phone calls got returned more quickly when he was chairman of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee and in charge of the money. In fact, it's on the subject of money, the national debt, and a projected federal budget surplus that more differs from some of his Republican colleagues who are pushing for tax breaks. You can give a tax break, which is always politically popular and easier. But do you really have a surplus when you have that sort of a debt? I mean, that's the same discussion many people have in their same household accounts, I bet. Do you really have money to burn when you have a large credit card bill? And I mean, first and foremost, that projected surplus. And people have to understand that projected surplus is based upon some fairly tough spending decisions, not the least of which, is an ag line in the budget that gets back into single digits when it was $22 billion this year. And so that projected surplus ought to be careful about

spending it and saying we're going to decrease taxes. My preference is to, you know, first off, address the national debt with that surplus, address the interest payments, which is, you know, a double -digit faction in our national budget, decrease the interest payments, and so we get to long -term tax cuts. And on at least one occasion before a Republican women's group in Millard, Moore has had to defend that position. If you can't pay down your national debt and good times, when you're going to pay it down, now. So why are you still concerned about it now? Because you have the money to address it now. When are you going to address it? If you don't address it now, it's my own. And that's my money that you're addressing it with. Well, it's my, it's your, it's our debt. It's our debt that I'm addressing it with. And I think you and I disagree the way it's said. Moore qualifies his position, saying if the economy softens, he might be convinced to use a tax cut to stimulate the economy. At campaign appearances, Moore highlights his experience growing up on a farm in New York County, and attending his school so small, he says, well, he

was second in his class. He was not in the top 10 percent. Moore appears willing to revisit the Freedom to Farm Act, intend to end price supports. We made a decision in this country. Instead of the government artificially setting the price as we had for a number of years, the mid -90s, the Freedom to Farm Act said, we're going to unleash our producers on the world. And we think we are the best producers they are. We're going to let them produce grain. And we knew at that point in time that was going to, that was a big change and it's going to be a painful transition. So I don't think everybody was totally honest on how painful that transition was going to be. And we knew that. Then, though, they also didn't know the bot was going to collapse and the Asian market wouldn't be as strong as it is. Having said that, I do think our producers need to produce for a global market. But when the global market prices don't make a farming profitable here in Nebraska and in America, you have to have a safety net program. And in recent years, at least, as we try and transition out of the old farm bill into the new era, those, that safety nets, been a series of government payments that come about, you know, mid -year.

And the problem with that is, is that my dad and brother, when they start planting corn and soybeans in the spring, they don't work. The cash price doesn't work. They don't predictability in the business. Moore advocates a new approach that takes into account agricultural markets. And we're living in a global world right now. And you have to understand that the old system subsidized farmers by not producing the new system is still going to subsidize farmers, but for producing. And I think that makes sense. Now, certainly, there's the issues of telling marginal land and things like that, that I think there's still a government policy that you would don't want people out there doing that. And that's why some sort of set aside acreage for those sort of things makes sense. But as a whole, you know, that's the policy, that's the new world, that's the 21st century. Moore would like to see more access to overseas markets for Nebraska agricultural products. To that end, he'd like to fight European bans on genetically modified organisms or GMOs. I would happen to be over in Europe last fall. And it's very clear that Greenpeace and the European farmers are using that as a club to stop our imports

into their country. Obviously, you can go back in time. We should have done more about education. Maybe the companies that developed these products should have done more to prepare us on the global marketplace. But the fact is, those products do work. Genetically modified crops, he says, are nothing new. Our competitors see that as a direct threat to them because it'll increase our productivity and ultimately lower our cost of production. And the fact is, through organizations like WTO and others, we have to go to the table and say, this is how it's going to be. And another global marketplace, Moore, is keeping an eye on, is the internet. He urged his caution saying the issues raised by the internet should be allowed to play themselves out. Now, as far as regulating content, I guess I don't know what role the federal government can plan internet. And that's one of the very keys to the future of the 21st century because the way we've governed in the 20th century can't always apply to the 21st century. How we can control it, I don't know. Probably the key thing the

federal government can do is through privacy acts and encryption to make sure that electronic commerce can reach its full potential here in our country. And let global markets have access to rural Nebraska for all those entrepreneurs. I mean, the fact is, that is a key to the renaissance of rural Nebraska in the 21st century. But for the most part, Moore says he'll be content to work on domestic issues, while Republican Senator Chuck Hegel and Republican Congressman Doug Beerider turn their expertise on foreign trade matters. One of the domestic issues Moore has discussed with members of a Republican women's group in Omaha, many of whom were teachers, was the issue of education. Moore, who has received the endorsement of the Nebraska State Education Association in the Republican primary, says school funding and the answers to education issues should not be coming from the federal government. I've always been the one that believes that you generate money on the local level. That's why back in the legislature, we tried to do

things to broaden local, local school districts ability to generate money and lead the decisions there. According to Moore, approximately seven percent of school funding in Nebraska comes from the federal government. If that's what it's going to be, leave it open to block grants and let local school districts, local people make those decisions. And on another occasion, he tells a group of associated press broadcasters he differs from some of his Republican colleagues on the issue of federal funding for education. I mean, they say they want more federal money with no strings attached and believe me, I've been there, it don't work like that and you're living in La La land if you think federal money is going to solve property taxes and teacher salaries. I don't want more federal money to come. I want more local control. Now on the question of vouchers, now it's a very tough political stance sit here and say, you know, I'm not all for vouchers because one at eight kids are educated in a private school and that's one eight to the population that would love to have that tax break by saying I'm double cast. I'm not necessarily against vouchers, but the question is who's going to pay for it where's going to come from? How does it impact public schools?

When the reason America is where it is today and this globe is because in 1800s we develop an experiment in public education and it's because of that public education that all people have and the in the level of education that all people have is why America is what it is today. More announced his candidacy the first week in February shortly after Democrat Bob Kerry announced he would not run for re -election. More tells his campaign audiences he didn't think he could beat Kerry, but he likes his chances against former governor Ben Nelson better. Since February, more has raised $129 ,000 for his campaign. More says he wasn't expecting to run for the Senate this year, but life, like politics, he says, is all about timing. If you'd like to see more of our campaign connections coverage, explore our website at net .unl .edu. Click on campaign connections. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Ludden. Okay,

this is the morning edition insert for Tuesday, April 25th, 2000. This is District 33 election, producer Jason Frederick. It's four minutes past the hour. I'm Jason Frederick. Central Nebraska voters will decide May 9th, which of the four people running for the legislature they want to advance to the general election in the 33rd legislative district. It's now an open seat, vacated by nine -year senator artist bulky of Hastings. The candidates are Hastings Mayor Phil Odom, Hastings City Councilman Brian Tessman, Kenisaw Farmer, Carol Burling, and Hastings Elementary Principal Janet Hibbs. Burling says it won't make a difference that he is the only rural candidate. I think that the situation in this district regarding rural urban split idea doesn't exist. I think

that we all worked together very well and I anticipate that continuing. Burling says his experience as an unpaid farm bureau federation lobbyist sparked his interest in wanting to become a state senator. The experience that I've had in the Unicameral the last few years are working with senators and lobbyists and central, etc., just gave me an idea that this is something I'd like to do for the community at this point in my and my life. Phil Odom served on the Hastings City Council and is a two -term mayor. I really decided that it was time for me to move on to either out of the political arena for a while or look at another office. And I chose the legislative arena because I think it is something that is very, very important to central Nebraska. I believe I can have a major effect or a bigger effect on this area by promoting economic development in central Nebraska and talking about all the wonderful things that we

have here. Odom is not the only Hastings City Government office holder on the election ballot. Brian Testman has served on the City Council for the past four years. At age 25, Testman sees his age as a plus. I think it'll be positive because the younger generation can learn something from the older generation and vice versa. I feel that I have an awful lot to offer. I believe that I can bring some new energy and some new ideas to the legislature. For Hastings Principal Janet Hibbs, age is also playing a role in her decision to run. Hibbs says by retiring in June, she will have the time to be a state senator. However, Hibbs says she wasn't thinking about running until someone else approached her with the idea. I had some people approach me that asked if I would be interested in doing it that they thought I would be a good candidate. To be truthful, I really had not thought about it before that time. And at first I thought, oh, golly, I don't know. But then they talked to me again and the more I

thought about it, I am retiring. I do have the time. And I am interested in several of the issues. As may be expected, Hibbs says she will focus a lot of attention on education, but not exclusively. I think you have to be more well -rounded in the legislature than that and have to look at some other things. I think early on, some of the bills for education will be some of the ones that will be important once next year. And down the road, if they can get some things taken care of maybe then that won't be right up on the high threshold right away in a few years. But right now it will be and yes, I will be in there for that. Brian Testman also lists education as a top issue, specifically rural education. I think that it is very important to protect our smaller school districts. Granted, in some cases, I suppose you could say that school consolidation is a very viable option, but that needs to be decided on at the local level. I believe in local control. Hastings Mayor Phil Odom's focus is on central Nebraska's economic development. I've always been interested in economic development and we hear a lot of people talk about property taxes and I believe the way to reduce property taxes

is by bringing in industry that are compatible with or is compatible with this area and our ag economy. Farmer Carol Burling says he doesn't have an issues list. He wants to hear what the people want. I don't have any political agenda. There's nothing that there's no particular issue that I you know the reason I filed. I just want to serve the district in the best way I can. I want to listen to people. I want to determine what their interests are and what they'd like to have done. I living here all my life I think I understand people's values around here and I just want to be a good representative of the people. In the primary election on May 9th district 33 voters will pick two of the four candidates to go on to the general election. For Nebraska Public Radio I'm Jason Frederick. Okay this is the

all things considered insert for April 25th 2000 and also the morning edition. This is all things considered for the 25th and morning edition for the 26th. This is abortion case goes to Supreme Court. Pretty sure Nancy Finken. It's four minutes past the hour. I'm Nancy Finken. Yesterday the US Supreme Court heard Nebraska's abortion case. The justices are being asked to consider whether Nebraska's ban on a certain abortion procedure is constitutional. Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg and attorneys representing Bellevue Dr. Lee Roy Carrhart were each given 30 minutes to make their case and to answer questions before the high court. At issue is Nebraska's law prohibiting an abortion procedure that abortion opponents call partial birth abortion where part of the fetus is delivered into the vagina and the head while in the uterus is cut and the brain is suctioned to allow the head to pass through the cervix. Dr.

Carrhart's challenge of the law has been supported by the US District Court and by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. But Attorney General Don Stenberg wants the US Supreme Court to weigh in. Stenberg says the law is narrow and scope and does not infringe on a woman's right to have an abortion. The Nebraska law he contends bans one specific procedure to which there are safe alternatives. Stenberg says he felt that his arguments went well and that the justices were very interested and very attentive. Other were three main points that I intended to make and that I was able to make during the course of the argument. Number one is that the state has a strong interest in prohibiting partial birth abortion because the state has an interest in drawing a bright line between infanticide on the one hand and abortion on the other. Secondly we wanted to make the point that Nebraska statute as we have interpreted it and as was intended by our state legislature bans only the DNX procedure and not the DN procedure. Stenberg says his third point to the court was that since the DNX procedure

is not used very often and there are safe alternatives Nebraska's band does not create an undue burden on women's rights to have an abortion. Simon Heller litigation director for the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy representing Dr. Carhartt says it's not enough to say there are safe alternatives to DNX. There are safe alternatives to a lot of things but people in general in medicine if you're going to your doctor you expect the safest not just some safe alternatives it's not good enough to have your leg cut off if you have gangrene you want to have antibiotics both will work but you have a right to the safest procedure in any other area of medical care. Dr. Carhartt says that Nebraska law interferes with his relationship with patients. Every patient I sit down with we we achieve a contract where she expects from me the very best medical scare I can give her and if I sit and tell her or I would sit and tell you if you were the patient I have this safer procedure that I could do but the state will not allow me to do that I have to do

something it's a little more risky now it may only be that you know one or two or ten people you're dying from this more risky procedure but I can't do it as a patient you're going to feel that the state is in between you and me making you accept a more dangerous risk to your life than is really available. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Nebraska abortion case by early June before their summer recess. Attorney General Stenberg says it's hard to read the justices but Sandra Day O 'Connor who wrote the court's undue burden test and Anthony Kennedy are the key swing votes on the court which is said to be split on the issue. It seemed to me that justice Kennedy from his comments and questions was particularly interested in the fact the American Medical Association Board of Trustees had supported this legislation in Congress in 1997 and that the American Medical Association was also of the opinion that the

partial birth abortion procedure was never the only safe alternative available for a woman who needed abortion. Simon Heller says the AMA sold women out with that opinion. Attorney General Stenberg says he felt very prepared for the high court's questions he says he didn't get asked anything that he hadn't practiced in Moot Court. I'm certainly not going to make any any predictions because the court is clearly divided on this issue. We think that we have some very good legal arguments and again, it'll be basically to justice Kennedy and O 'Connor as to whether they're going to agree with those arguments or not. Attorney General Don Stenberg, the U .S. Supreme Court is expected to issue its opinion in June. Foreigner Raskha Public Radio, I'm Nancy Finken. Okay, this is the morning edition

piece for Thursday, April 27, 2000. This is Archbishop Tutu, producer Keith Loveon. It's four minutes past the hour, I'm Keith Loveon. For Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the great pleasures he now enjoys is addressing audiences around the world and being able to say thank you for the support that helped end apartheid in South Africa. Tutu was in Lincoln Wednesday to deliver a speech in the UNL Ian Thompson lecture series. Speaking to reporters Tutu said local boycotts of companies invested in South Africa made a difference. It was quite quite crucial because even if you were to have said that in money terms it might not have been particularly impactful psychologically. It was quite quite important. It was important for the victims to

know that they had friends and it was important for the perpetrators to know that there are those who are watching you. The boycotts said Tutu made the supporters of apartheid understand they were pariahs. Tutu serves as chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Committee and effort at healing the wounds caused by the struggle against apartheid. In an interview on Nebraska Public Television's Q &A series Tutu said listening to the stories of the victims of apartheid has been painful but he has been sometimes bold over by the willingness to forgive. He recounted the story of four officers, one white and three black who acknowledged their role in a massacre. The white officer was a spokesperson and he said yes we gave the orders for the soldiers to open fire and they killed all those many people and can imagine what happened to the temperature in the room. The tension was so thick

that it would cut it and then this guy turned to the audience and said sorry please forgive us and will you please receive these my colleagues back into the community and something that no one could have scripted happened as soon as this guy finished that room filled with angry people erupted with deafening up loss. If South Africans had forced court appearances for the perpetrators of violence says Tutu they would have had justice but the country would have been in ashes he was he says looking for a different kind of justice. We don't believe that retributive justice is the only kind of justice there is restorative justice which says the purpose of justice is not punishment the purpose of justice or

justice the judicial process is ultimately healing. Tutu suggests a similar process might be useful in healing race relations in the United States racism is still very much alive and I think people people have begun to understand that there may be something in what we were doing where you were allowing people to tell their story especially victims telling the the story of how they were treated and discovering that in the telling there is a kind of therapy that the people experience a healing that happens and that it may be that in this country you you may very well want to consider having a forum such as that to allow African Americans native Americans and others the opportunity of

talking about the pain that is sitting in the pit of their tummies. Among the historical issues Americans should examine he says is this country's own history of slavery. If you do not take your past seriously it has ways of revinging and I think that this wonderful country or country of remarkably generous people and so forth knows it has a problem and one of the things is that you have not taken seriously yet the legacy of slavery. Healing is a slow process says Tutu that does not happen overnight but in South Africa he says it is happening. For Nebraska Public Radio I'm Keith Ludden. Okay this is the all things considered

for Wednesday April 26th 2000 this is a short one this is this time term limit supporters are targeting state senators after court decisions have said states may not limit the terms of congressional representatives or U .S. senators can I quote us the chairman of Damascus for term limits says elections are not an adequate mechanism for limiting terms and this is because of the power of incumbency I think as most of you know incumbence will win nine out of ten elections even though legislative seats turn over at a fairly rapid rate Curtis says a limit on terms is still needed. Well I would agree that there is a turnover in the state senate but the problem is not with the average turnover the problem is with the

leadership that's where the problem comes in with with the special interests because they have a pretty good investment in the old timers the ones that have been there for a long time and they want to they want to make sure that that they get reelected. Curtis says circulators both paid and volunteer have collected 155 ,000 signatures he estimates about 103 ,000 are needed to qualify for the November ballot the term limits petition campaign began in early 1999 and was funded by americans for sound public policy the signatures were delivered to secretary of states got more today for Nebraska public radio I'm Keith Lutton. Okay this is the morning edition insert for friday april 27th 2000 this is 35th district race producer Keith Lutton. It's four minutes past the hour

I'm Keith Lutton three candidates are vying for two nominations for the legislature in grand highlands 35th legislative district although state senate array aguilar is an incumbent he is new to the legislature having been appointed to fill the unfinished legislative term of former senator chris peterson aguilar now has one legislative session under his belt in which he participated in debates over a fetal cell research ethanol and tobacco taxes in my job at central catholic where I work I was a tobacco cessation facilitator and I had an opportunity to work with kids and I was certified in that so I learned a lot going in about you know what's involved with once the kids are hooked on smoking and how much of a problem it is for them in regard to second hand smoke Lonnie looking a united congregational minister in grand island is also executive director of stewards of the plant he says he's always had an interest in politics and worked for a time in minnesota's house of representatives he says he's more interested in bringing different groups together to reach consensus

than in specific issues but among the issues he'll be watching will be environmental and natural resource issues and the planned study of teacher salaries I probably would have gone further than that the statistics that I'm familiar with put our school teachers here in the state in Nebraska pretty low on the scale among the ways to attract quality teachers says Logan our programs to help young teachers pay off college debts veteran teachers could also help promote the profession he says realtor Larry gibriel meanwhile takes a very different approach to education as I said in a letter to the Nebraska education for the shateman said I don't think that the public education and liberty are compatible one or the other has to go gibriel would abolish public education and provide tax credits for homeschooling or private education he would also dismantle the department of health and human services labeling it an unconstitutional state expenditure at the top of his agenda is rolling back government the government is acting like a baby sitter to everybody and first

frank men just second tired I mean everywhere you go people are complaining about the government intruding into their personal life those those are issues that I'm concerned with over over taxed over regulated and then and treated like a bunch of imbeciles among the issues federal and state authorities are grappling with is the issue of how to respond to the recent wave of immigration from Mexico and Central America each of the three legislative candidates were also has to tackle that issue first Lonnie Logan I think these people are valuable valuable resources to our community they bring a different way of looking at the world and oftentimes that is hard for people to accept we all like to have the world stay pretty constant and look at it in the same way and and changes is seldom welcome in any of our lives but these people bring a tremendous resource and we need to somehow convince each other that there is strength in our diversity illegal immigration he says is a federal issue but officials should work to make sure those who do come are immigrating

legally gibriel says any peaceful people should be allowed to come and go as they please but it's not the government's responsibility to take care of them we should allow anybody that wants to come here to work to come here and work absolutely anybody we don't peaceful people you know what I'm saying Aguilar is the first Latino to serve in the Nebraska legislature he acknowledges the scarcity of resources for responding to large immigration movements the problem is there's not a lot of excess funding out there to to expedite some of the procedures that we think need to happen possibly some of the you know big employers that recruit some of the immigrants need to help in that area for example he says some packing houses might set aside an hour of the day for English language instruction on the issue of business tax incentives for economic development Logan says he supports lb -775 incentives but he adds one caution saying lb -775 is geared to attracting large businesses in

the state in Nebraska especially in communities like the 35th legislative district district in Grand Island and others that are even smaller our chances of attracting large businesses are fairly small and so I think that at the state level we need to we need to increase our economic development help to to medium and small size businesses Logan says he does not believe the state has gone overboard on economic development and neither does Aguilar I'm extremely comfortable with what we're doing right now I don't think there's any such thing as giving away the store because frankly we're fighting for our lives with other cities with other states that are giving away every bit as much as we are and more and if we don't play on the level playing fields we're just going to lose out like like we have in the past Gibriel says the best economic development is to reduce taxes he proposes of abolishing all taxes on business property and farmland of the three candidates two will survive the primary on May 9th to face each other in the general election next fall for Nebraska Public Radio I'm Keith Ludden

okay this is the morning edition piece from Monday May 1st 2000 this is Willockathor Opera House producer Jason Frederick it's four minutes past the hour I'm Jason Frederick the creaky rotting wood floors of the red cloud opera house or author Willockathor once performed will soon have a new finish recently the Willockathor Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation completed a $1 million fund drive to restore the 1885 opera house foundation executive director Stephen Ryan says since it's closing in 1919 the only productions have been Halloween related about the only thing this opera has been used for we used it for a haunted house a few years ago on Halloween and you can you know by the darkness of it and it has kind of a gothic feel to it

so it was real good as a haunted house currently the first floor of the building houses a hardware store and the second floor old apartments and a dusty auditorium where performances were held foundation board member David Garwood says the entire inside of the building will be rebuilt but not necessarily restored we plan to renovate the third or the second floor which is the opera house the first floor where we'll have our offices will be restored to some extent but it's not a historically accurate preservation and right now we really need the space for offices the opera house is a nice add -on but we need the space for the operations of the catheter foundation Garwood says the second floor opera house will be completely restored along with the building's front exterior which is now covered with stucco Stephen Ryan says the renovation of the opera house has been a goal since the pioneer memorial was started in the

1950s by Mildred Bennett Ryan says Bennett knew how important the opera house was to will a catheter who as a young girl always looked forward to the traveling shows that came through red cloud and really it was here at the opera house that she was exposed to the wider world of art and culture so it really had an important formative role in her development as an artist those who performed at the opera house wrote their names on the back walls in the building those walls are some of the memories the restoration project will save we have here for example Douglas Cather's autograph that's Willa Cather's younger brother Willa herself is signed down here on the lower left and this is one of the things we want to preserve this really is a piece of red cloud history people can come and see their great grandfather's name written on the wall the renovation of the opera house means more to red cloud than just preserving history red cloud city administrator Don Theobold says a renovated opera house

might give new life to the downtown hopefully is going to bring more people to town and that's what we like to see people coming and enjoying what red cloud has to offer the retailers like to see the tourists come to town and then go to their stores or their restaurants or whatever and spend money Stephen Ryan says by the summer of 2001 the building will begin playing host to plays and other activities as well as the annual spring conferences on cathars writings we really do believe that we will make this a regional center for the arts all kinds of art exhibits live theater concerts lectures we really are excited about what we can do here foundation board president Betty court says people from all around the world will come to the renovated opera house there's a huge body of people out there who are cather fans they're going to love coming to the opera house actually when we had a fundraiser in a new york city and we had a number

of celebrities who said they'd be glad to come out to red cloud to perform in the opera house which I think is really exciting I don't think we'll have any trouble finding programming it was those cathars fans outside of red cloud that made the fun drive a success people from over 40 states and foreign countries donated money however david garwood says it wasn't easy locally we're not a very rich community and cather isn't international personality so we have cather fans France you know all over europe japan you name it and try to get to those people for fundraising is a little difficult for us in red cloud Nebraska the foundations next goal is to raise another one million dollars over the next three years as an endowment for continuing support of the opera house in red cloud renovation work is scheduled to begin in september fornebrand's republic radio i'm jason fredrick this is the campaign connection for

friday april 28th 2000 this is third district race producer carolin johnson this is the long version first followed by the short version in asking third district voters what's on their minds it's easy to see there's agreement on what they want political candidates to pay attention to i'm floritz dooster i live in st pa to me i think part of the issue the biggest issue is that they need to do something for the ag economy for the saggy ag economy and i think we need to get grants and stuff in our town of st pa because we've lost a lot of businesses here i'm debra mccaslin editor of the custard county chief broken bonabrasca well the issues here is ag you know it's that's the really the center of our economy it won't make the area tick they're concerned that it's really hard to um feel that you've had a nice

year when you've been in the red they say it's hard to see green when you're seeing red my name is bill doree i'm from mccaslin braske and i think the issues are probably taxes and uh probably jobs in agriculture and uh we need to get something going this agriculture and uh um that's about all i have to say about that i suppose i'm jerry davin port i'm from sergeant uh i think out here in the third district there's only really one issue that we have to be concerned about that's the ag economy if congress continues to allow the current policies of the big packers and the and the big outfits to control the hog market we're going to see a situation where uh you force out the competition and eventually the consumer is going to pay for it they don't realize it now they they keep saying well we have cheap hogs that's a good thing we have good cheap pork that that's good but eventually it's they're going to pay for it

the three republican candidates in the third district offered differing approaches to these issues candidate john gale of north platt is concerned about consolidation in agribusiness and the power over prices and markets that it gives to big companies i would definitely be very very aggressive about enforcing the of uh of uh uh resources in just a few companies because the farmers say you know we could all end up simply being employees out on somebody else's land uh and that major companies will control what seed is used they'll control what fertilizer is used they'll control the planting policy and we'll simply be working for uh some super mega corporation um out of new york city and we don't want agriculture to become a surfed them we would like to maintain a degree of independence and and free enterprise amongst our ag economy. Kathy Wilmot of beaver city says the consolidation issue needs

study and she isn't convinced there's a problem i do think we need to look into whether or not there's any kind of uh market manipulation price fixing anything going on with the large groups if that's occurring it needs to be dealt with um otherwise unfortunately this is america and it is the you know it is a uh country thank goodness where we can be all that we can be so i don't think you can necessary penalize people just because they have a good business head and they uh are able to put together a large farm. Wilmot encourages farmers and rangers to form co -ops to get more leverage in buying seeds and other supplies a way she says they could compete with the economic power of big corporations. Wilmot says she believes farmers have become too dependent on the federal government to support them when times are bad. I would rather systematically put a strong stable market foundation in place for them that allows them to work toward the independence from so many of the programs. But Tom

Osborne the third candidate in the race has few answers about the farm economy to find answers if elected he would set up committees of farmers throughout the third district who would work out a consensus among themselves on the best ideas for agriculture. Osborne says such an unprecedented consensus would be a powerful force. If you figure that maybe uh 12 % of the people in congress are somewhat interested in agriculture that leaves you with 88 % who have very little interest. Therefore if you go back to Washington with 10 or 12 different agendas and 10 or 12 different ideas it's going to be hard with that small number to get anything done. So I think we have to have a more unified consistent cohesive approach from the state in Nebraska and then attempt to build some type of consensus across party lines and across state lines. Osborne says a consensus among farmers is especially critical because congress is likely to do some tinkering with the 1995 farm bill in the upcoming session. All three

republican candidates in the third district recognize that what happens on farms and ranches has a big impact on the areas, towns and cities as well. So they have other ideas for economic development to supplement and diversify the rural economy. In a candidate forum earlier this spring John Gale called for tax incentives. Tax incentives are what we need. Economic development grants, loan guarantees, it's a matter of bringing capital to the area. Tax incentives for global sales, for agribusiness, tax incentives for new industries to locate in the third district, value added industries plus the economic loans and grants that are now available. If they were somehow coordinated with the university research I think we could we could we could find a lot of new jobs that would be higher paying jobs. Gale also wants increased development to the ethanol industry, more meat processing plants and more big feed lots. Thomas Barnes ideas for diversification tend to favor technology. If we're going to begin the lower

property taxes we're going to have to have more people in the third district. We're going to have to have some people move back in and have people move back in. You're going to have to have some job opportunities and it's going to have to be some of those would be outside of agriculture. There are some people that are saying that by 2010 there will not be a third district because of the loss of population. That has to be turned around. It has to be addressed very quickly and the best way that I know to do that is through technology and telecommunications and then working very hard to convince some people that this would be a great place to locate a part of their company. Osborne says that as a member of Congress he could use his prominence as a former coach at the University of Nebraska football team to persuade urban companies to take advantage of the labor force available in the third district and he says that as a member of Congress he could help direct money from the Federal Universal Service Fund toward developing the third district's electronic communication abilities. But Kathy Wilmot worries that with federal money commandates. I don't see government as the answer to

everything and I certainly don't see federal government as the answer to everything. The closer you can keep the decision making factors and the legislative factors to home the better off you are as Mr. and Mrs. Citizen. My answers are to try to find ways to gradually decrease our dependence as citizens up on these fix all catch all programs while at the same time putting in place a strong foundation that we can work from to solve our own problems. More on the issues and the third district race and the Republican primary on Tuesday at this same time for Nebraska Public Radio I'm Carolyn Johnson. Okay this is the shorter version of that the April 28th campaign connection and also ATC piece. Here's Carolyn Johnson once

again their district primary. In asking third district voters what's on their minds it's easy to see there's agreement on what they want political candidates to pay attention to. I'm Florence Duster I live in St. Paul to me I think part of the issue the biggest issue is that they need to do something for the ag economy for the saggy ag economy and I think we need to get grants and stuff in our town of St. Paul because we've lost a lot of businesses here. I'm Deborah McCaslin editor of the Custard County Chief Broken Bonobrasca. Well the issues here is ag you know it's that's the really the center of our economy it what makes the area tick they're concerned that it's really hard to feel that you've had a nice year when you've been in the red they say it's hard to see green when you're seeing red. My name is Bill Dordy I'm from a cook Nebraska and I think the issues are probably taxes and probably

jobs and agriculture and we need to get something going this agriculture and that's about all I have to say about that I suppose. I'm Jerry Davenport I'm from Sargent I think out here in the third district there's only really one issue that we have to be concerned about and that's the ag economy. If Congress continues to allow the current policies of the big packers and the big outfits to control the hog market we're going to see a situation where you force out the competition and eventually the consumer is going to pay for it they don't realize it now they keep saying well we have cheap hogs that's a good thing we have cheap pork that's good but eventually they're going to pay for it. The three Republican candidates and the third district offered differing approaches to these issues. Candidate John Gale of North Platt is concerned about consolidation in agribusiness and the power over prices and markets that it gives to big companies. I would definitely be very very aggressive about

enforcing the antitrust and certainly investigating the trend toward this over concentration of resources in just a few companies because the farmers say you know we could all end up simply being employees out on somebody else's land and that major companies will control what seed is used they'll control what fertilizer is used they'll control the planting policy and we'll simply be working for some super mega corporation out of New York City and we don't want agriculture to become a surfdom we would like to maintain a degree of independence and free enterprise amongst our ag economy. Kathy Wilmot of Beaver City says the consolidation issue needs study and she isn't convinced there's a problem. I do think we need to look into whether or not there's any kind of market manipulation price fixing anything going on with the large groups if that's occurring it needs to be dealt with otherwise unfortunately this is

America and it is you know it is a country thank goodness where we can be all that we can be so I don't think you can necessary penalize people just because they have a good business head and they are able to put together a large farm. Wilmot encourages farmers and ranchers to form co -ops to get more leverage in buying seeds and other supplies a way she says they could compete with the economic power of big corporations. Wilmot says she believes farmers have become too dependent on the federal government to support them when times are bad. I would rather systematically put a strong stable market foundation in place for them that allows them to work toward the independence from so many of the programs. But Tom Osborne the third candidate in the race has few answers about the farm economy. To find answers if elected he would set up committees of farmers throughout the third district who would work out a consensus among themselves on the

best ideas for agriculture. Osborne says such an unprecedented consensus would be a powerful force. If you figure that maybe 12 percent of the people in Congress are somewhat interested in agriculture that leaves you with 88 percent who have very little interest. Therefore if you go back to Washington with 10 or 12 different agendas and 10 or 12 different ideas it's going to be hard with that small number to get anything done so I think we have to have a more unified consistent cohesive approach from the state of Nebraska and then attempt to build some type of consensus across party lines and across state lines. Osborne says a consensus among farmers is especially critical because Congress is likely to do some tinkering with the 1995 Farm Bill in the upcoming session. Only one of the three Republican candidates Kathy Wilmot or John Gale or Tom Osborne will advance from the May 9th primary to the general election in

November. The Republican race in the third district is the only contested race in the primary. In the Democratic primary one candidate is running Rollin Reynolds of Grand Island and Jerry Hickman of Loop City is running on the libertarian ticket. For more election news and information visit our website and click on campaign connection. The address is net .unl .edu. For Nebraska Public Radio I'm Carolyn Johnson. Okay this is campaign connection the morning edition version for Thursday or actually for Wednesday April 26th 2000. This is campaign connection producer Carolyn Johnson. Although he hasn't lived in the third district for about 40 years one of the candidates is so well known to voters that he has no need to introduce himself. Few people anywhere in Nebraska need to be reminded that in 36

years with the University of Nebraska corn huskers Tom Osborne was one of the most successful football coaches in history. He says that experience qualifies him to become a member of Congress. Well thank everybody has to draw on their experience if I spent the last 35 years as a farmer. I'm sure that that would have been my frame of reference but I guess if I have anything to bring to the table it is some experience and getting people to adhere to an idea to pull together to be on a common mission and I think I can get that done to some degree in the third district. There are so few people relatively speaking and so few people throughout the country are that interested in the third district in Nebraska that a unified cohesive effort is going to be critical. So I guess I draw my athletic experience in that regard. In the third district Nebraska's most rural congressional district candidates for public office often

harken to their own rural background or to sympathy for agriculture in an effort to get elected. Tom Osborne admits he has a lot to learn about agriculture but does have some experience to call on. Osborne who was born in hastings spent part of his childhood on a small dairy farm. His family has been in the irrigation business and he currently owns three parcels of farm ground. The other two candidates in the Republican primary also point to their familiarity with agriculture as a reason why they should be elected. Kathy Wilmot of Beaver City grew up on a dairy farm near Beaver City and has taught in small country schools worked in an institution for the mentally handicapped and now works as a staff trainer and public relations contact at a prison in Norton, Kansas. We in the third district want someone that we see as part of us, someone that represents us, someone that knows what our daily life is like and I'll be quite honest. I've gone from the milking barn in the tractor to teaching in school, to working with the mentally handicapped, to administration, to working in the prison, to

serving on the state board of education. I think I have a well -rounded background and the other thing that I have is a voting record that none of these individuals can offer up for scrutiny. Wilmot is the only Republican candidate in the third district who has any experience in elected office. As a two -term member of the state board of education, she says her support of local control led her to oppose state mandated education standards. I obviously lost the battle on the statewide tests and on the standards but nevertheless I did fight valiantly and we held it back for almost six years. That was an issue when I first got to the board and it took them six years to finally get that passed and so I have a voting record that speaks loud and clearly for my commitment to local control and my commitment to reducing the state regulations that are placed upon the backs of local districts. Although the third candidate in the third district race has never been elected to office, John Gale and attorney in North Platt has plenty of political experience. As a college

undergraduate, he majored in government and international relations then went to law school. He worked in the campaigns of Barry Goldwater for president and Nebraska's Roman Ruska for the US Senate. He became a member of Ruska's staff in Washington and later served as an assistant US attorney in Omaha and in Lincoln before beginning his law practice in North Platt. Gale has been chairman of both the Lincoln County Republicans and the state Republican Party. Between my political activities and my government experience not only working for Senator Horuska but I was also an assistant US attorney both in Omaha and in Lincoln after I came back from Washington so I feel like I'm acquainted with the entire state. I've lived in Omaha and Lincoln and North Platt and I've been in North Platt for 30 years so I feel very familiar with the state issues and and feel very well prepared through my law practice. I'm a small businessman in the practice of law and North Platt and of course the legal career is an excellent preparation for a legislative public

service and that fascination has always excited me and to be a part of it whether I was an assistant US attorney or a legislative aide to a senator I've always found it to be a great honor to be involved in public service. According to a March poll from the Omaha World Herald Gale's chances don't look too good. Only one Republican will go from the May 9th primary to the general election in November. The poll showed that 73 % of Republicans in the third district would vote for Tom Osborne, 6 % for John Gale and 2 % for Kathy Wilmot who has vowed to hold the course. I entered the race, announced my candidacy in November and I announced my candidacy because of my experience on the state board of education and what I have personally first hand seen with federal government involvement and the negative impacts and how costly it is to we as the taxpayer. As for John Gale he figures his own commitment to the Republican

Party sets him apart from Osborne. Well I certainly always try to set myself apart from him in terms of being a 30 -year resident of the district and and my background in Washington with Senator Horuska and my background in the law and my background in politics because I am a very proud Republican and I think I'll be much more effective in Washington as a team player because the parties do make a big difference in Washington in terms of what committee you get assigned to, what kind of alliances you can build and what kind of network you can build. It's hard to be an independent back there. But Tom Osborne could be considered the consummate team player and he's adopted the customary tactic of declining to be a politician saying he's uncomfortable with a designation. I've been a coach all of my life and so I'm running for office but I guess I still don't feel as though I fit the mold of a politician but I don't really feel that uncomfortable out meeting people and talking to them and trying to explain what I think is important but some of the

trappings of the whole thing you know handing out campaign literature asking for campaign funds those kinds of things don't come easy for me. In fact Tom Osborne is declining any campaign contributions from political action committees and individual contributions over $300. Kathy Wilmot and John Gayle both say they don't expect to receive any big contributions and are relying on personal contacts with voters to get their messages out. The issues in fact will separate the three Republican candidates for Nebraska's third district seat in Congress. They've been listening to third district voters and each have their own ideas about how to help the rural economy. A story on the issues in the third district at this same time on Friday. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Carolyn Johnson. Okay, here's the ATC version of that

same story of third district candidates. This is for Wednesday, April 26th, 2000, producer Carolyn Johnson. Although he hasn't lived in the third district for about 40 years, one candidate is so well -known to voters that he has no need to introduce himself. Few people anywhere in Nebraska need to be reminded that in 36 years with the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, Tom Osborne was one of the most successful football coaches in history. He says that experience qualifies him to become a member of Congress. Well, everybody has to draw on their experience. If I had spent the last 35 years as a farmer, I'm sure that that would have been my frame of reference. But I guess if I have anything to bring to the table, it is some experience and getting people to adhere to an idea, to pull together, to be on a common mission. And I think I can get that done to some degree

in the third district. There are so few people, relatively speaking, and so few people throughout the country are that interested in the third district in Nebraska that a unified cohesive effort is going to be critical. So I guess I draw on my athletic experience in that regard. In the third district, Nebraska's most rural congressional district candidates for public office often harken to their own rural background or their sympathy for agriculture in an effort to get elected. Tom Osborne admits he has a lot to learn about agriculture, but does have some experience to call on. Osborne, who was born in Hastings, spent part of his childhood on a small dairy farm. His family has been in the irrigation business and he currently owns three parcels of farm ground. The other two candidates in the Republican primary also point to their familiarity with agriculture as a reason why they should be elected. Kathy Wilmot of Beaver City grew up on a dairy farm near Beaver City and

has taught in small country schools worked in an institution for the mentally handicapped and now works as a staff trainer and public relations contact at a prison in Norton, Kansas. We in the third district want someone that we see as part of us, someone that represents us, someone that knows what our daily life is like. And I'll be quite honest, I've gone from the milking barn in the tractor to teaching in school to working with the mentally handicapped to administration, to working in the prison, to serving on the state board of education. I think I have a well rounded background and the other thing that I have is a voting record that none of these individuals can offer up for scrutiny. Wilmot is the only Republican candidate in the third district who has any experience in elected office. As a two -term member of the state board of education, she says her support of local control led her to oppose state mandated education standards. I obviously lost the battle on the statewide tests and on the standards, but nevertheless I did fight valiantly and we held it back for

almost six years. That was an issue when I first got to the board and it took them six years to finally get that passed. Although the third candidate in the third district race has never before run for office, John Gale and attorney in North Platt has plenty of political experience. As a college undergraduate, he majored in government and international relations, then went to law school. He worked in the campaigns of very gold water for president and Nebraska's Roman Horoska for the U .S. Senate. He became a member of Horoska staff in Washington and later served as an assistant U .S. attorney. Gale has been chairman of both the Lincoln County Republicans and the state Republican Party. Gale says his commitment to the Republican party sets him apart from Tom Osborne. Well, I certainly always try to set myself apart from him in terms of being a 30 -year resident of the district and my background in Washington with Senator Horoska and my background in the law and my background in politics because I am a very proud Republican and I think I'll be much more effective in Washington as a team player because the parties do make a big difference in Washington in terms of what

committee you get assigned to, what kind of alliances you can build and what kind of network you can build. It's hard to be an independent back there. A March poll by the Omaha World Herald showed Osborne leading among Republican voters by 70 percent with 6 percent voting for John Gale and 2 percent for Kathy Wilmot. Only one will advance from the May 9th primary to the general election in November. Democrat Roland Reynolds of Grand Island is running on a post. Jerry Hickman of Loop City is running on a post on the libertarian ticket for Nebraska Public Radio. I'm Carolyn Johnson. This is the campaign connection originally slated for Tuesday, April 25th, but aired on Thursday, April 27th. This is Scott Moore profile for campaign connection producer Keith Ludden. Scott Moore likes to

break the ice with his audiences at political events by telling them that even though he's now Secretary of State and a constitutional officer, his phone calls got returned more quickly when he was chairman of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee and in charge of the money. In fact, it's on the subject of money, the national debt, and the projected federal budget surplus that more diverse from some of his Republican colleagues who are pushing for tax breaks. You can give a tax break which is always politically popular and easier, but do you really have a surplus when you have that sort of a debt? I mean, that's the same discussion many people have in their same household accounts, I bet. I mean, do you really have money to burn when you have a large credit card bill? And I mean, first and foremost, that projected surplus and people have to understand that projected surplus is based upon some fairly tough spending decisions, not the least of which is an egg line in the budget that gets back into single digits when it was $22 billion this year. And so that projected surplus ought to be careful about spending it and saying, we're going to decrease taxes. My preference is to, you know, first off, address

the national debt with that surplus, address the interest payments, which is, you know, a double -digit faction in our national budget, decrease the interest payments, and so we get to long -term tax cuts. And on at least one occasion before a Republican women's group in Millard, Moore has had to defend that position. If you can't pay down your national debt and good times, when you're going to pay it down now. So why are you still concerned about it now? Because you have the money to address it now. When are you going to address it? If you don't address it now, it's mine. And that's my money that you're addressing it with. Well, it's your, it's our debt, it's our debt that I'm addressing it with. And I think you and I disagree the way it's done. Moore qualifies his position, saying if the economy softens, he might be convinced to use a tax cut to stimulate the economy. At campaign appearances, Moore highlights his experience growing up on a farm in York County, and attending a school so small, he says, well, he was second in his class. He was

not in the top 10 percent. Moore appears willing to revisit the Freedom of the Farm Act intended to end price supports. We made a decision in this country. Instead of the government artificially studying the price as we had for a number of years, the mid -90s, the Freedom of Farm Act said, we're going to unleash our producers on the world. And we think we are the best producers they are. We're going to let them produce grain. And we knew at that point in time that was going to, that was a big change and it's going to be a painful transition. So I don't think everybody was totally honest on how painful that transition was going to be. And we knew that. Then, though, they also didn't know the bot was going to collapse, and the Asian market wouldn't be as strong as it is. Having said that, I do think our producers need to produce for a global market. But when the global market prices don't make a farming profitable here in Nebraska and America, you have to have a safety net program. And in recent years, at least, as we try and transition out of the old farm bill into the new era, those that safety nets been a series of government

payments that come about mid -year. And the problem with that is, is that my dad and brother, when they start planting corn and soybeans in the spring, they don't work. The cash price doesn't work. They don't predictability in the business. Moore advocates a new approach that takes into account agricultural markets. And we're living in a global world right now. And you have to understand that the old system subsidized farmers by not producing the new system is still going to subsidize farmers, but for producing. And I think that makes sense. Now, certainly, there's the issues of tilling marginal land and things like that that I think there's still a government policy that you would don't want people out there doing that. And that's why some sort of set us at acreage for those sort of things makes sense. But as a whole, you know, that's the policy, that's the new world, that's the 21st century. Moore would like to see more access to overseas markets for Nebraska agricultural products to that end. He'd like to fight European bans on genetically modified organisms or GMOs. I would happen to be over in Europe last fall. And it's very clear that green piece and the

European farmers are using that as a club to stop our imports into their country. Obviously, you can go back in time. We should have done more about education. Maybe the companies that developed these products should have done more to prepare us on the global marketplace. But the fact is, those products do work. Genetically modified crops, he says, are nothing new. Our competitors see that as a direct threat to them because it'll increase our productivity and ultimately lower our cost production. And the fact is, we, uh, through organizations like WTO and others, we have to go to the table and say, this is how it's going to be. And another global marketplace, Moore, is keeping an eye on, is the internet. You're just caution saying the issues raised by the internet should be allowed to play themselves out. Now, as far as regulating content, I guess I don't know what role the federal government can play on the internet. And that's one of the very keys to the future of the 21st century, because the way we've

governed in the 20th century can't always apply to the 21st century. How we can control it, I don't know. Probably the key thing the federal government can do is through privacy acts and encryption to make sure that electronic commerce can reach its full potential here in our country and let global markets have access to rural Nebraska for all those entrepreneurs. I mean, the fact is, that is a key to the renaissance of rural Nebraska in the 21st century. But for the most part, Moore says he'll be content to work on domestic issues while Republican Senator Chuck Hegel and Republican Congressman Doug Beerider turn their expertise on foreign trade matters. One of the domestic issues Moore has discussed with members of a Republican women's group in Omaha, many of whom were teachers, was the issue of education. Moore, who has received the endorsement of the Nebraska State Education Association in the Republican primary, says school funding and the answers to education issues should not be coming from the federal government. I've always been the one that believes that you generate

money on the local level. That's why back in the legislature, we tried to do things to broaden local local school districts ability to generate money and leave the decisions there. According to Moore, approximately 7 % of school funding in Nebraska comes from the federal government. If that's what it's going to be, leave it open to block grants and let local school districts local people make those decisions. And on another occasion, he tells a group of associated press broadcasters he differs from some of his Republican colleagues on the issue of federal funding for education. I mean, they say they want more federal money with no strings attached and believe me, I've been there. It don't work like that and you're living in La La land if you think federal money is going to solve property taxes and teacher salaries. I don't want more federal money to come. I want more local control. Now on the question of vouchers, now it's a very tough political stance sit here and say, you know, I'm not all for vouchers because one at eight kids are educated in a private school and that's one eight to the population that would love to have that tax break by saying I'm double cast. I'm not necessarily against vouchers, but the question is who's going to pay for it?

Where's he going to come from? How does it impact public schools? When the reason America is where it is today and this globe is because in 1800s, we developed an experiment in public education and it's because of that public education that all people have and the in the level of education that all people have is why America is what it is today. More announced is candidacy the first week in February shortly after Democrat Bob Kerry announced he would not run for re -election. More tells his campaign audiences he didn't think he could beat Kerry, but he likes his chances against former governor Ben Nelson better. Since February, More has raised $129 ,000 for his campaign. More says he wasn't expecting to run for the Senate this year, but life, like politics, he says, is all about timing. If you'd like to see more of our campaign connections coverage, explore our website at net .unl .edu. Click on campaign connections. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Ludden.

This is the campaign connection for Monday, May 1st, 2000. This is Stenberg Profile Producer Keith Ludden. In mid -April, Stenberg visited Omaha's West Side High School, speaking to a government class. After the class, Stenberg joined in a little give and take with one of the students. See, that's why I think tax cuts are a good policy and actually can help contribute to reducing the debt. So you use some of that money to reduce the debt, some to cut taxes so you continue to build the economy, so you've got more money to future pay down the debt further. And if the economy doesn't bloom from a tax cut, what is that with the government? Well, I mean, you've got to face those issues, depending on all the circumstances at the time. I don't think there's one simple answer to that. One of the first issues Stenberg discusses with the students is a familiar one, a strong central government versus local control. Stenberg tells the students the founding fathers gave federal authorities very limited powers. And those were the only powers the federal

government was supposed to have, but what has happened is the federal government has moved far beyond that by using the spending power of Congress to send money, to take our tax money from us in the first place, and then send it back to the state with all kinds of strings attached that limit and take away local control. And so the Congress in a way has effectively evaded the limitations that were written in the Constitution, but it's been upheld because you have theoretically the option to not take that federal money, which is really your money, in the first place. Stenberg also argues federal spending for education should take the form of block grants that local school districts can use as they please. Should it be spent on computers? Should it be spent on teachers salaries? Should it be, should it be spent on some part of the physical structure of the school? I think local school boards and local administrators are going to do a much better job of understanding their local needs in some bureaucrat in Washington that writes a thousand

pages of regulation that tells you what you got to do to use that money. He also supports the use of either education tax credits or vouchers. And that's because I think that the more choices that we give to parents for their kids' education and the more competition that we can develop, the better quality education we'll have in the long run. Stenberg has labeled agriculture one of his top priorities and at a debate focusing on agricultural and rural issues, Stenberg distanced himself from the Freedom to Farm Act, which he says he did not support in 1996. That was for one reason. And that is because I, on one hand, I favored getting the government out of planning decisions and telling the farmer what they had to plant and so on and so forth. But it simply had no mechanism to make sure that if the market didn't provide an adequate price, that there was no form of price assurance. And I think that is the missing link to deal with the kind of situation that we've experienced here recently. Stenberg supports

either raising farm loan rates or some sort of insurance program to ensure a profit to producers. One of the biggest changes in rural Nebraska over the past 10 years has been a wave of immigration from Mexico and Central America. Stenberg proposes to respond to that immigration with greater enforcement at U .S. borders to prevent illegal immigration. At the same time, I think there's a couple of areas where we need to look at and increasing the number of people that legally come into this country in a couple of areas. One would be people who bring particular skills that would be helpful to our nation, whether it's computer skills or scientific skills and things of that sort. And I think we ought to look at increasing immigration quotas in those areas. And I think when we have situations as we do in meat packing, for example, in Nebraska and perhaps some other industries as well, where you simply don't have an adequate local workforce to fill those jobs, that we need to look at some type of expanded work permit so that we can have people come here legally and fill those jobs. In addition to Ag issues, Stenberg has placed defense issues

prominently on his agenda. It was one of the subjects he discussed with students at Westside High School. And there are some that think that if we just kind of limit our defense capabilities, that that will show the other nations of the world that we're friendly and not harmful and that they'll all be nice. And frankly, I think that is a very, very incorrect view. The way to maintain world peace, the way to avoid war, is to be so strong militarily that other nations would not want to risk challenging our military capabilities. Stenberg heaps criticism on President Bill Clinton's handling of defense issues saying Clinton does not command the respect of military forces. Secondly, we need to make sure that we do have an adequate supply of ammunition spare parts and things of that sort, which seems so basic that you wouldn't think it could possibly be a problem, but it is. And thirdly, I think we need to be sure that we maintain a lead in military research weapons development and technology. And Stenberg takes a dim view of U .S. peacekeeping operations. The U .S.

should not commit troops, he says, unless vital U .S. interests are at stake. My own view is that it's unfortunate that there are civil wars around the world, whether in Africa, Eastern Europe, or elsewhere. In some of those places, there are hostilities and amenities that go back 1 ,000 years or more. These people have been fighting with each other. And I don't think those are, I don't, it's unfortunate. And if we can, if the United States can play a role in mediating and settling those disputes, I think it's good, but I don't think generally speaking that we should commit U .S. forces to those kinds of activities. At a debate sponsored by the Associated Press broadcasters in early April, Stenberg highlighted his record in law enforcement and drug enforcement. My basic philosophy with drug dealers is that we need long mandatory minimum sentences without probation or parole for drug dealers. As a member of the board of partners now for more than nine years, I have never voted to pardon a

drug dealer because I think we need to send the message that drug dealing is simply unacceptable to our state. Stenberg called for a renewal of the Reagan era just, say, no program. On the issue of Social Security, Stenberg told Nebraska Public Television's Q &A he favors allowing individuals to invest a portion of their Social Security tax in individually directed investments. And he takes a targeted approach to prescription drug coverage in Medicare. I think we ought to look at targeting prescription drug coverage in Medicare to people who are financially in need of that help. And number two, at situations where you have a significant annual prescription drug bill. I mean, the smaller amounts, $100 or whatever, $200 or something, most people can handle. But if you're talking $5 ,000, $10 ,000 a year of prescription drug costs, then I think we need to be looking at providing some support and coverage of that under Medicare. But Stenberg does not support means testing for Social Security because he says individuals have paid into the system like a pension

and are entitled to the benefits. Stenberg is currently the front runner in the Republican Senate race. If he wins an nomination, he would likely take on former Governor Ben Nelson in the general election a chance he missed in 1996. If you'd like to see more of our campaign connections coverage, explore our website at net .unl .edu. Click on campaign connections. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Ludden. This ATC feature for 5100 Monday 5100. Peace and title Stenberg Profile, producer Keith Ludden, and it's a shortened version of a previous campaign connections. In mid -April, Stenberg visited Omaha's West Side High School, speaking to a government class. After the class, Stenberg joined in a little give and take with one of the students. See, that's why I think tax cuts are a good policy and actually can help contribute to

reducing the debt. So you use some of that money to reduce the debt, some to cut taxes, so you continue to build the economy, so you've got more money in the future to pay down the debt further. And if the economy doesn't bloom from a tax cut, what is that with the government? Well, I mean, you've got to face those issues, depending on all the circumstances at the front. I don't think there's one simple answer to that. One of the first issues Stenberg discusses with the students is a familiar one, a strong central government versus local control. Stenberg tells the students the founding fathers gave federal authorities very limited powers. And those were the only powers the federal government was supposed to have, but what has happened is the federal government has moved far beyond that by using the spending power of Congress to send money, to take our tax money from us in the first place, and then send it back to the state with all kinds of strings attached that limit and take away local control. And so the Congress in a way has effectively evaded the limitations that were written in the Constitution, but that's been upheld because you have theoretically the option to not take that federal money, which

is really your money in the first place. Stenberg also argues federal spending for education should take the form of block grants that local school districts can use as a please. He also supports the use of either education tax credits or vouchers. Stenberg has labeled agriculture, one of his top priorities, and at a debate focusing on agricultural and rural issues, Stenberg distanced himself from the freedom to farm act, which he says he did not support in 1996. That was for one reason, and that is because I, on one hand, I favored getting the government out of planning decisions and telling the farmer what they had to plant and so on and so forth, but it simply had no mechanism to make sure that if the market didn't provide an adequate price, that there was no form of price assurance. And I think that is the missing link to deal with the kind of situation that we've experienced here recently. Stenberg supports either raising farm loan rates or some sort of insurance program to ensure a profit to producers. One of the biggest changes in rural Nebraska over the

past 10 years has been a wave of immigration from Mexico and Central America. Stenberg proposes to respond to that immigration with greater enforcement at U .S. borders to prevent illegal immigration and an expanded work permit program. On the issue of Social Security, Stenberg told Nebraska Public Television's Q &A he favors allowing individuals to invest a portion of their Social Security tax in individually directed investments. And he takes a targeted approach to prescription drug coverage in Medicare. I think we ought to look at targeting prescription drug coverage in Medicare to people who are financially in need of that help. And number two, at situations where you have a significant annual prescription drug bill. I mean, the smaller amounts, $100 or whatever, $200, are something most people can handle. But if you're talking $5 ,000, $10 ,000 a year of prescription drug costs, then I think we need to be looking at providing some support and coverage of that under Medicare.

But Stenberg does not support means testing for Social Security because he says individuals have paid into the system like a pension and are entitled to the benefits. Stenberg is currently the front runner in the Republican Senate race. If he wins the nomination, he would likely take on former Governor Ben Nelson in the general election, a chance he missed in 1996. If you'd like to see more of our campaign connections coverage, explore our website at net .unl .edu. Click on campaign connection. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Ludden. Here's a news insert for the 430 broadcast on 5100 Monday 5100. Insert is called Good Life Tax Forum, producer Nancy Finken. In January of 1999,

UNL political scientist Lynn Kathleen and some of her colleagues were talking about the failed tax cap initiative 413. Kathleen says that heated debate made them wonder whether there was something that could be done to engage Nebraska voters in a dialogue to talk about issues before they become political hot potatoes. So they began a research project that includes a public forum in the downtown city campus union tonight. At that forum, six people representing six types of Nebraska will invite the audience to talk about their priorities. We want to talk about our common values and then we want to be able to talk in a more comprehensive, more thoughtful, more reflective way about our differences. And that's what Monday night is about. The audience is to be highly engaged. We will have microphones and people walking around to allow people to talk. We will have written feedback. People can become part of a longer term project that we're doing. This is just the first of many forums that we're going to hold and we're going to do these across the state.

Among the six types of Nebraska's revealed in the UNL study are those who tend to want limited government, tax reform and conservation. One of the things that clashes is not just between the types, but people also hold contradictory values. I mean that's part of the human condition. And so even within types who will see just that kind of a dimension where in one hand you would want lower taxes, but on the development, governmental support for economic development. I think the best thing that can come out of this kind of thing is that when we're faced with talking with people who do not hold our are saying perspectives, it provides us with an opportunity to kind of look freshly at where we're coming from again. Lynn Kathleen is associate professor of political science at UNL. She's moderating a public forum tonight at seven o 'clock at UNL City Campus Union. The forum is called

balancing the good life with tax reform. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Nancy Finken.