Nebraska Nightly; Flood Road Money; Welfare Reform; Beer Heist; Chadron Wellfields; Thomas Creek Land Sale; Midwifery *; Youth Job Training; Lincoln Orchestra Conductor; AIDS Drug Trial; Falcons Nesting; Budget/Crime Legislation; Health Care Legislation; Oregon Medicaid Commentary; Budget Alternative; Rural Schools I *; Prisons/Handicapped Parking *; Petition Protection; No Btu Tax

The state lows in the 30s to round 40. It's 630 central time. It was like Christmas at the Unicameral today. This is Nebraska Nightly. I'm Nancy Finken. We're not talking about decking the halls, but we are talking about decking a bill where state senators hung amendments like ornaments on the so -called Christmas tree bill. Lawmakers advanced legislation dealing with a number of health care issues, including more authority for licensed practical nurses. We're not forcing this on anyone. If any hospital feels uncomfortable with allowing the LPNs under the supervision of our ins to do this, they certainly don't have to do it. The attorney general says lay midwives aren't legal in Nebraska. Martin Wells explains why some people say certification is necessary. In response to that question, you might say, why do we license physicians, why do we license our hands, why do we license pharmacists, why do we license anybody. And I mean, the intent to license individuals are to make sure that they have minimum standards of competency

and that the public has protected. And Kanagra has given $450 ,000 to a new youth job training program in Omaha, where kids can learn to succeed on the job. Plus, we'll tell you about a unique partnership between Shadron State College and the City of Shadron. But first, this news from Dave Hughes. Governor Ben Nelson is putting together a task force to study how the state can improve its welfare system. Nelson says the panel will focus on keeping the state's welfare roles from growing and search for ways to help people help themselves. The governor says the current system can keep people from being dependent on welfare for generations. Task force will have members from across the state and will include welfare recipients, state officials and community leaders. Department of Social Services Director Mary Dean Harvey will work with the panel, which the governor will appoint in a month or so. Nebraska Prison Warden Frank Hopkins says he will

listen to admit suggestions, but a random drug testing program and an upcoming ban on smoking will remain in place. Hopkins commented after some 70 inmates gathered outside housing units, they told guards that they didn't like the drug testing program and some opposing upcoming ban on smoking throughout the Department of Corrections. They also complained about the overcrowding. Hopkins says he is open to suggestions about the drug testing program and implementation of the smoking ban, but neither will be eliminated. He noted that several hundred more inmate beds will be available within a few months. Current construction projects are completed. Southeast Community College Chancellor Neil Admeyer says the school began an investigation of a cross -burning the day after it happened and he says the Beatrice school made it clear that it condemned the incident on May 9th. Admeyer was responding to criticism that SEC was trying to sweep the incident under the rug. He says that

is not true and that law enforcement officials are working hard to find out who burned the cross. There is still no word on whether Cass County authorities will accept an offer of help in the search for the remains of Mary Cronin, a team of specially trained anthropologists from Colorado State University, is offering to assist in the hunt for remains of the Ralston woman, who disappeared 13 months ago. Her school was recently found in a creek bed in Cass County. Strategic Air Command Museum officials want the legislature to lift a band rather on moving the facility. They say they have no plan to immediately move away from off the air force base, but they do want to have some flexibility. State Senator Paul Hartnett of Bellevue in 1991 sponsored a measure to keep the museum at off it. At the time, one group was pushing to have the museum move to downtown Omaha. Hartnett, a member of the museum's board, is now pushing to have the band lifted.

He says that the board just wants some flexibility. Museum Board Chairman William Doyle says he won't comment on the issue at this time. Republican Jack Camp is sounding more like a presidential candidate. The former Bush administration housing secretary and New York congressman said today in Omaha that President Clinton is pursuing left -wing policies. Camp said the Democratic president has abandoned the political center. He said that if Clinton had campaign against former President Bush on the policies he is pushing today, he would have lost the election. Camp was in Omaha for a speech at first data resources business meeting. He is on a tour for the Washington Speakers Bureau. Camp has been mentioned as a possible GOP presidential candidate for 1996. And Governor Nelson says he knows why many people decided to walk instead of ride wagons along the Oregon Trail. Governor Nelson says his 150th anniversary wagon train ride engaged county this morning was bumpy. Nelson joined hundreds of people

and dedicating a marker along the trail near Odell. Ceremony was held as a Nebraska wagon train. And one from Wyoming began a 42 -day trek across the state. Nelson said the pioneers had the tenacity and willingness to dream of a better life and said Nebraska still have that spirit. Nation is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Oregon Trail, one of the main routes taken by westward migrating Americans in the last century. For Nebraska Knightley, I'm Dave Hughes. Lommakers today advanced a wide -ranging health care bill addressing issues ranging from childhood lead poisoning to standards of professional conduct for doctors. Keith Luddon reports. It's what the legislators call a Christmas tree bill, a bill on which other bills are hung as ornaments. Today's bill drew an angry reaction from Senator Tim Hall of Omaha who objected to do some of the

amendments being placed on the agenda ahead of other priority issues. We're talking about seven different bills that are currently being offered as amendments to this proposal. Four other issues, whether they be technical amendments or issues that were even discussed or had public hearing on them that are pending as well. 11 different amendments to this bill that has no priority status. Hall also objected to the bill because he said there was little advance notice on what would ultimately become a very lengthy piece of legislation. When you're putting a package together with 11 bills on it, call a meeting. You call a meeting to talk about everything else under the sun. Call a group together, at least let the staff know that hey, look, here's what we're going to do. We're going to meet at 8 o 'clock in the morning, so you know what what issues we're going to put in this bill. Don't bring the package on the 10th day with on the 11th day with 10 days left slapping on our desk and say, you know, good morning. Here's your breakfast. Health and human services chairman Don Wesley told Hall that the bill

had not been taken up earlier because one of the measures in the bill involved a court case regarding professional conduct for doctors and some of the dentist buyers of Beatrice at length. Most of these things have been worked on for years and have waited their turn and I think the Health Human Services Committee has tried to be as straightforward with this as we possibly can and I agree with this speaker. I don't think he's given us any particular priority. He's he's been very fair in this issue also. The most controversial item in the package of measures that would have allowed medical laboratories to report the results of an HIV test using the patient's name was withdrawn and the measure that generated the most discussion would allow licensed practical nurses to perform some procedures now limited to doctors and registered nurses. The bill is aimed at lessening the burden for rural nursing homes and small hospitals which have more difficulty attracting a sufficient number of registered nurses. The licensed practical nurses would be able to perform some procedures under the supervision of a doctor or a registered nurse and would have to complete special training for the procedures in

order to be certified. Senator Jesse Rasmussen of Omaha said patients in rural areas would not be getting a lower level of care. There was no effort to dilute the kind of health care that people get. In fact, I was very concerned about that last year and thought there were legitimate issues raised around that and have said to both the registered nurses and LPNs, you are the professionals, you are the experts, you are the ones that should come up with the best health care policy. Because what we are trying to balance here is access to health care along with good safe health care. The extended scope of practice would apply only to rural nursing homes and hospitals with 50 beds or less. Senator Kurt Brahman of Wahoo succeeded in including the small rural hospitals telling the lawmakers that the choice whether or not to use the extended scope of practice would be made by the individual medical facilities. We are not forcing this on anyone. If any hospital feels uncomfortable with allowing the LPNs under the supervision of

RNs to do this, they certainly don't have to do it. Or if they are blessed with enough RNs that they don't have to make use of the LPNs, they don't have to do it. Other provisions in the bill allow for exceptions to the requirements that children receive immunizations before they attend school. The exceptions would be allowed either on a doctor's consent or for religious reasons. The bill also tightens the statutes regarding professional responsibility for doctors. Doctors would be prohibited from prescribing medications for their own family except in emergency. Both sides of the abortion issue are gearing up for a battle sometime within the next few days. The sponsor of a bill that would require a 24 hour waiting period and informed consent before an abortion takes place says he will oppose a new amendment to the bill being sponsored by a Hastings Senator artist Bulky. Senator John Lindsay of Omaha says the amendment would emasculate the bill. It's silly to pass legislation mandating information when there is no provision for making sure that what we've mandated occurs.

I mean it's that kind of legislation. It's just instead of mandating information we're merely suggesting that you might want to think about doing this and that's not worth passing. Bulky's amendment would remove the criminal penalties against doctors who fail to comply with the informed consent provisions. It would also allow a woman to receive information about abortion from the Department of Health as well as their own doctor. The information the way I read it could be rather than being given out by the doctor which is what we're trying to the whole concept is get some information that from at least some sort of relationship with a doctor and the information can be provided by the way I read it by a lot of Planned Parenthood offices. Bulky says the amendments should answer the concerns of those who sincerely want to ensure that a woman receives information before deciding on an abortion. Lindsey says he's attempting to redraft Bulky's amendment in order to make it more acceptable. Lawmakers took up the bill that would temporarily revoke the license of minors driving with more than .02 percent alcohol in their blood. The

zero tolerance bill is sponsored by Senator Connie Day of Norfolk. Senator Ernie Chambers of Omaha offered an amendment to the bill that would have exempted emancipated minors. I've stated from the beginning of this bill's life which predated this session that I see it as a war against our young people because it's punishing them for something for which adults would not be punished. But the amendment was opposed by day. The reason we do not want young people drinking and driving is because they do not have the experience driving and because their bodies are not yet capable of alcohol. They're still in the developmental stage. These two things do not change whether they are married whether they are living away from home or whether they are self -sufficient. It is still illegal for them to buy alcohol. Lawmakers rejected Chambers amendment but did adopt an amendment allowing judges to order ignition interlock devices for minors convicted under the bill.

For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Attorney General Don Sternberg has issued an opinion saying that the practice of lay midwifery is illegal in Nebraska. The opinion means that an estimated 30 lay midwives in the state are prohibited from assisting in home deliveries. Nebraska law does allow the certification of nurse midwives who can provide gynecological services and deliver babies in a licensed health care facility. Martin Wells has more. The main differences between a lay midwife and a certified nurse midwife are the educational requirements and the amount of oversight by the state. Vicki Burback is the nursing practice consultant staff person at the Nebraska Department of Health. She's responsible for the certification of nurse midwives. They have to

have an RN license. They have to have graduated from an approved nurse midwifery program and those programs are approved by the American College of Nurse Midwives and they have to pass a certification exam by that is given by the American College of Nurse Midwives. Though once those credentials are submitted to the state, then they can become certified as a certified nurse midwife. Lay midwives on the other hand are not nurses first. Their education levels are varied and in Nebraska they're not credentialed. According to Vicki Burback, the certification process can take from two to two and a half years and it allows a certified nurse midwife to perform specifically spelled out duties. It entitles you to provide the cares for a pregnant woman and allows you by law to provide gynecological services in between pregnancies. It allows the certified nurse midwife to deliver babies in service in a licensed healthcare facility. The certification does not allow

for home deliveries. The statute specifically does not allow home deliveries by certified nurse midwives. Yes, that's correct. Nebraska has two certified nurse midwives, one in Omaha and one in Lincoln. It's estimated that there are around 30 lay midwives practicing in the state, though that number is nearly impossible to verify. Obviously because the questionableness of their legal status, you know, I'm sure that the communication about who is available for those kinds of services are probably kept kind of under wraps. So I'm not sure how many people practice. I think the records show that there's probably around 100 bursts a year that occur outside of the hospital setting or the birthing center setting, but some of those are accidental they're done in the ambulance, but they're done by the paramedics. They're done by the husband in route to the hospital. I mean, there's some of those that are not planned. There are about 40 that are planned. I'm assuming most of those are attended by lay

midwives, but we don't know that. The recent opinion from the attorney general's office states in part that the practice of lay midwifery is a legal under a statute that prohibits the unauthorized or unlicensed practice of medicine. State Senator Don Wesley of Lincoln, chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, is calling on the state health department to conduct a study on whether or not lay midwives should be allowed by law as they are in other states. Lay midwife supporters argue they are participating in a natural process that has gone on for countless years and the question why certification is necessary. In response to that question, you might say, why do we license physicians? Why do we license anybody? And I mean, the intent to license individuals are to make sure that they have minimum standards of competency and that the public is protected. Vicki Burback says she's aware of the support for lay midwives in Nebraska and says it comes from people who want to have the option of home births. She points out that other states do allow certified nurse midwives to do

home births, but says such a law would not have much impact on Nebraska since the state has only two certified nurse midwives. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Martin Wells. A $450 ,000 gift from Kan Agra will help Omaha youth gather the job skills they need to succeed in the work world. A new program called Success Prep will be administered through the Boys Clubs of Omaha and Girls Inc. When the program is up and running in about six months, the goal is to have 10 to 15 youth ages 16 to 22 enrolled in job skills classes each month. Executive Director Ron Roth. We're going to use what we think is a very unique job placement concept that will utilize transition

to work counselors who will work directly with young people and with the businesses who are providing entry level positions to our program. They'll work to define out all the aspects of the job and its responsibilities, the work with the employer and learning that, and then they will prepare on a one -to -one basis with kids who go through our curriculum. They will prepare them for that job and closely monitor the work that the kids are doing on the job and making sure that things are being done satisfactorily. You know, one of the things that employers tell us that you, young workers, frequently lose your jobs most frequently because of things like carelessness, unwillingness to follow rules, laziness, absence, tiredness, lack of initiative, lack of responsibility, too much attention to personal matters and so on. You know, many kids, you know, when they're starting out young in

the world of work, they're not as aware as they probably should be, your need to be about how important these particular work values are. So what we want to do is we're going to have a curriculum that really takes some of these key areas and really work kids that provide some motivational experiences for them that's going to key in and focus on some of these job survival skills that all, you know, not just help them to get a job. I mean, we want to help them get jobs and keep their first job, but we hope that this will be a lifetime kind of skill program that, you know, if you or I or anybody who are younger would really benefit from participating in. So you think these survival skills can be taught that it's not just instinct? Oh, absolutely. In fact, there's enough work in this area to indicate that they absolutely can be taught. You know, last summer, we instituted sort of a mini version of this program through the Boys Clubs of Omaha, and this was a very modest program in just the two or three day sort of

training program. And we got into some real issues, communication skills, getting along with others, and was our experience from that program in terms of the follow through that a very high percentage of the kids in that program got the message and really enjoyed the process of, like, well, what should I do when I shake my hand, when I shake and just basic even office politics tips, you know, that will help them survive in, you know, a competitive world. The program as I understand it will focus on young people ages 16 to 22. So that's the post high school years as well. These students are probably not going then to higher education. Yes, I'm certain that many of the people youth that will participate in the program are going to be kids who are not in school, have either graduated from high school, or may not have graduated from high school, and are basically looking for work. Of course, we're going to encourage people to continue with their schooling. But we, on the same token, there are many kids in various kinds of situations that want a need to get

full or part -time jobs, whether they're in school or out of school. We're going to have a broad based referral system throughout the area that we're very excited about. Of course, we'll get many kids through the boys, clubs, and girls, ink programs here in Omaha. And we also want to be sure that we're servicing kids and populations that need this program the most. So we'll have a high percentage of kids from the lower economic echelons. We will have some at -risk kids, for instance, who are in the judicial system, or who may be in the drug rehabilitation program. At the same time, we're very careful to offer a program that's going to be a great program for anybody from any walk of life who really wants to get ready for the world of work. We're also going to provide

kids with a suit of work clothes. In other words, if they do the right thing, if they graduate from the program successfully, we're going to give them a suit, a tie, a cotton shirt, shoes that is in line with the kind of business image that is expected of kids. And this is something, too, that's going to give them something as they're out looking for work and going to job interviews. They'll, we're going to train them how to groom. We're going to make sure that all their hygiene and grooming habits are in line with what's going to work in terms of a job interview. We're going to pay kids to the generosity of the con egg or grant, which is a very generous grant over a three -year period. We're going to be able to pay kids a stipend. We know with the kinds of kids that we're targeting that immediate gratification is very important. And we want to have, give them a stipend so that if they come to class in time and do the things they're supposed to do, they will get an hourly wage for them. And as I say, a real good looking set of clothes that will help them in their job search. What about the

employment climate in the Omaha area? Overall, Nebraska has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. And Omaha is keeping in line with our state average. I wonder if there's a really big need in the business community to train more workers between the ages of 16 and 22, so that when they're ready for full -time employment, that they can take some of these jobs that are intended for people who maybe don't have a college education. Is that a pushing force, a driving force behind businesses getting behind this project? Our experience has been, as I said last the year we had sort of an initial program. And we were very gratified that we had 40 businesses participating in that program. And many of them were anxious to participate because they knew we would do a good job of preparing kids and monitoring them. And I think, you know, my feeling in terms of what I'm hearing from the business community is, yes, granted we do have a low unemployment rate, but all good businesses that were

brought, were profit and quality services the bottom line are looking for good, reliable people. The job partnership training and the job service office also can do classes, some sort of job survival skills as you're kind of calling them, but you're not overlapping, you think. There's definitely a lot of kids out there. Let me tell you this morning, I got a call from a parent who has, she's a classic situation. She's a single single person parent. She has a 15 -year -old boy, good kid. He's been out looking for a job, he's very frustrated. He hasn't had a whole lot of luck finding something. She cares a lot about her kid and she wants to really do everything she humanly can to help him get a job and to keep a job. And I think there's a lot of people like that out there. And I think that there's probably more than we could possibly handle, even with all the resources. You know, the issue is going to be getting the word out and letting people know that these kinds

of resources are available. Ron Roth is the executive director of Success Prep, a new job readiness education program administered by the Boys Clubs of Omaha and Girls Inc. It's made possible by a $450 ,000 donation from Khan Agra. The technical expertise of Shadron State College is being called upon by the City of Shadron. The joint project will ultimately benefit Shadron residents. John Ex -Tal from KQSKN Shadron has the story. Shadron State College in the City of Shadron are teaming up on a project to improve the city's water system. City manager Carl Dirks says the telemetering system for the city well field, some 15 miles south of Shadron is 25 years old and in need of replacement. Industrial technology professor Jim Stokey says his interfacing and controls instrumentation class regularly deals with such systems. Stokey says an outside interest with

Shadron City Utilities Director Larry Tionn led the discovery of the mutual needs and the decision to have the class start to design a new system for the city. I started talking about it one day at BVN practice on some stuff that maybe needed to be done in a well field and I indicated that we do this in my class and some of my students they were interested in it so that's how we pursued it. We pursued it through Larry and Carl. SUNY and college are applying for what Dirks calls a tailor -made federal grant under a program called Innovative Programs for Community Service. He says it's designed to unite cities and schools and projects. A proposed Shadron, Shadron State project would have the students drop the plans and specifications while the city would put up the funding preferably with a federal matching grant of up to $70 ,000. I don't know if if the students are willing to do the actual installation but I suspect we're out to have an electrician interface in there some too. And then it's the matter of using city funds and these grant

funds if we get it to buy the equipment and do all those things to get it operational. Dirks says the project will go forward with or without a federal grant because the city needs to replace and upgrade the well field telemetry system. The grant would simply make this process move more quickly. We're almost forced to do it because the equipment we got is outmoded out of date. We can't get parts for it so we're going to have to make changes but this will hasten the long. Stokey says the project is exciting for his students, both current students and future students. He says the current plan that class would be the most involved since it is doing the designing but he says future classes will also benefit by being able to see and work with the new system. It's going to be a long term, it'll be ongoing and it could end up being really nice that way where you know even five, six years down the road every semester students in that class could actually go out and take a look at it and even work on. Stokey says the design phase is about 20 percent complete. The application deadline for the innovative program

grant is June 15th. The city in college will learn by August 15th if the application was successful. From Shadron, I'm John AXdale. Nebraska Nightly is a production of the Nebraska public radio network. Keith Lutton and Martin Wells are associate producers, Dave Hughes directs Nebraska Nightly. Jeff Smith is our audio engineer tonight. Laurie Holy is our news intern and I'm Nancy Finken producer. We had help this evening from KQSK Shadron. The views and opinions expressed on the preceding program are those of the commentators, interviewees and guests and not necessarily those of the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission or the staff and management of the Nebraska public radio network. Chicago Symphony up next. The atmosphere at 905 South 27th Street in Lincoln. It's now 630 central time. Attorney

General Don Stenberg is raising some eyebrows in the legislature with his recent opinion on the constitutionality of a bill. This is Nebraska Nightly. I'm Nancy Finken. Speaker Dennis Box says he's not listening to Stenberg, who says a bill requiring fiscal impact statements to accompany prison legislation is unconstitutional. I think it's a case of the attorney general knowing what his own political agenda is and trying to insert himself into our process. A citizen advocacy group spoke against the Clinton proposed BTU tax, while Senator Exan says he supports an alternative budget plan unveiled in Washington today that acts as the energy tax. Social Services director Mary Dean Harvey says it's time Nebraska reformed the welfare system. One change she supports is capping ADC benefits and increasing job support. The Nebraska is going to take an approach that looks at development of human being, the human potential and not just punishment. We'll have more on these stories after this news from

Laura Black. A bill to prevent children from becoming the victims of divorce is headed for the governor's desk. Lawmakers passed the bill 37 to 1 Chief Sponsor, sponsor Brad Ashford of Omaha says the bill creates a parenting act which sets up a mediation process for parents to work out things involving their children. Ashford says the plan would stipulate the way to handle such things as education, religion and medical care. Omaha Senator Ernie Chambers cast the loan descent. He says the plan would give the courts too much power in an area where it shouldn't be involved. State authorities are investigating allegations of misuse of federal money at the Eastern Nebraska Human Services Agency. The agency's board has fired the official who made the allegations. Bill Ray was ousted as executive director of the Eastern Nebraska Community Office of Mental Health. Ray says the agency put federal money intended to be spent only on the mentally ill into the organization's general fund. The executive director of the agency Ray

Christensen denies the allegation. A judge will review a series of motions filed by a Lincoln man defending himself against a murder charge. Lancaster County District Court Judge Donald Indicott listened today to four motions by accused killer Roger Borkland. Borkland is charged with first degree murder in the death of Candace Harms and 18 -year -old University of Nebraska Lincoln student. The motions focus on Borkland's ability to prepare his case while he awaits in October trial in the Lancaster County jail. He wants the court to allow him more time in the jail's law library and to have his handcuffs off in the library. Borkland also wants the court to provide him a variety of items he says he needs to prepare his case. Among the items he wants are word processor, access to long -distance telephone operators and a variety of specialists including a criminal investigator and someone to run legal errands. Indicott will hear two more motions by Borkland tomorrow. The president of the University of Nebraska

says three finalists for the position of chancellor at the Carnegie campus have been invited for another visit. Martin Massingales says the three candidates and their wives will return for a second interview to meet with members of the Board of Regents and community leaders. Returning will be Harold L. Allen acting vice president for academic affairs at the University of Toledo. Philip Boquima vice president of academic affairs at Northern Michigan University and Gladys Stiles Johnston provost of DePaul University in Chicago. Massingales says no definite date has been set for the visits. Governor Ben Nelson wants the U .S. Army Corps of Engineers to take reconnaissance photos of river basins hit by the spring's flooding. Nelson hopes the photos can determine whether more flood control efforts can be made to lessen the impact of future flooding. Nelson said he is particularly concerned with the erosion potential in the loop river from Fullerton to the confluence with the lower plat. The plat from west of Columbus to the Missouri River, the Elkhorn from Winslow to the confluence with the plat and Salt Creek from north of Lincoln to the plat near Ashland. The Brasca's Oregon

trail wagon train will travel about 20 miles today to Rock Creek Station State Historical Park. Once a regular stop along the old trail, the wagon train got underway near O'Dell yesterday accompanied by Governor Ben Nelson. The 42 day 430 mile in the Brasca route is part of a state wide celebration of the Old West Trail. To Beatrice's second graders are taking the day off school for a real -life history lesson, eight -year -old Victoria Hadiman and her seven -and -a -half -year -old classmate Lindsay Setser are riding on the state's wagon along the Oregon Trail. The two girls are keeping journals of their trip along part of the trail to share with their classmates later this week. The two girls and Victoria's five -year -old sister Christine were shouting, howdy dudes to passing cars as a wagon made its way from O'Dell to a stop near Diller, where the riders took a lemonade and cookie break. For Nebraska Nightly, I'm Laura Black. Attorney General Don Stenberg says a bill up for final consideration is unconstitutional, but legislative speaker Dennis Bach says he'll ignore the opinion. Keith Lutton reports on that

and other legislative activities. LB507 requires that any legislation that has an impact on prison populations in Nebraska must be accompanied by a cost estimate. If the estimate indicates an increased prison population and therefore more cost, an appropriations bill is also required. Otherwise, the legislation is invalid. It's been called a pay -as -you -go plan for crime legislation. Attorney General Stenberg says the bill is unconstitutional because one legislator cannot bind a future legislator and requiring the cost estimates would restrict the kind of legislation a future legislator might pass. But speaker Dennis Bach of Kimball disagrees. I think that that's one of the most ridiculous opinions that I've seen in a long time come down from the attorney general's office. I think it's a I think it's a case of the attorney general knowing what his own political agenda is and trying to insert himself into our process. Bach says he'll ignore the opinion because it's full of holes. I think this probably would put into question whether we can do two -year budgets. Are we not binding ourselves for two years? Can we

do that as a legislator? I think it puts into question whether or not we can do managed care. A number of things would come under question as to whether they'd be constitutional under under this kind of a scenario. Stenberg did not return phone calls requiring about the opinion but Senator Kate Whitick of Omaha who requested the opinion defended it. It is the attorney general's opinion and I accept that. Therefore I'm not comfortable legislating from this body something that has been found unconstitutional by the attorney general. Whitick says her main concern is the provision in the bill that voids any legislation that affects prison populations but does not have a cost estimate. I don't necessarily want to stop eventual progress but I would definitely like to look at my concerns on the bill. Bach says future legislatures are free to change the provisions of LB 507 if it's passed and he agrees with the idea of requiring fiscal notes for legislation that affects prison populations. I think it's just an effort to finally come to grips with the fact that if

you're going to introduce legislation that's going to increase the inmate population in our prisons that you've got to come to the grips with the fact that it costs lots of money to do that and the legislature's saying if you're going to do that then you got to be fiscally responsible and show where the funding is going to come from and tell how much it's going to cost. He says some of the estimates on crime legislation proposed this session ranged as high as 100 million dollars. Currently the legislature's fiscal office prepares cost estimates on bills that require appropriations but those estimates are required under the rules of the legislature not by statute. Longmakers adopted a measure that would reduce the contribution factor for teacher retirement plans by 40 percent and that means both teachers and school districts will have to contribute more to teacher retirement plans. It prompted Senator Cap Dirk's reviewing to ask that school districts be required to renegotiate contracts with teachers and that is a strong opposition from retirement committee chairman Tom Horgan. I think it's unconstitutional, I think it's illegal. I don't think you can do it. I think it says a very bad precedent and I think if anybody wanted to

have a contract what we're saying is at any time you want to come to the legislature will mandate that you open it up again and renegotiate it regardless of what the what the questions are. Dirk's argued that the teacher retirement bill created a greater financial burden for the local school districts but allocated no funds to meet those requirements. Senator Kurt Holenstein and Homer said the lower contribution factor is unfair to teachers in his district. The Homer school district began negotiations with their teachers and the teachers and anticipation of us passing 292 in its original form with the higher rate settled their contract negotiations assuming that they would receive more money from the retirement side of this and therefore took less than salaries. Now we're lowering the retirement rate so they're in a position because of trying to negotiate through what they normally would do and us changing our mind in the middle of the game of taking less money than they probably would have taken. Senator Dirk's amendment was rejected but the lawmakers did

adopt the lower contribution rate for teachers. Some legislators tried to leave their own mark on a bill sponsored by Senator Ernie Chambers. Chambers bill initially gives the Omaha police chief the ability to assign officers to specific geographic areas. Chambers says the bill solves the problem of too many rookie officers in his district. This power of the chief to properly assign was negotiated away by earlier administrations in the city of Omaha. The fact that it has been done shows that a problem does exist. The issue revolves around the matter of public safety and as such it should not even be subject to negotiation. Senator Dan Lynch of Omaha introduced an amendment that would require Omaha officers to monitor handicapped parking stalls. Amendment called for 50 % of the officers time to be spent watching handicapped stalls but only applied toward officers with less than four years of experience. Chambers said the amendment went too far. Senator Lynch's amendment purports to

mandate what portion of an officer's time is spent doing specific things. My bill does not mandate anything. But Senator Lynch maintained the seriousness of his amendment. If we're going to get into the business and interfering with contracts and if anybody has a problem to make sure that when we do interfere with that contract that the police chief and everybody gets the message is that we have certain priorities in my case handicapped parking that we want those things met. We want to meet those responsibilities. Lynch's amendment was defeated on a 4 -12 vote. Longmakers did not reach a vote on the bill itself. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Ludden. Governor Nelson says Nebraska needs to reform its welfare system

so that the less fortunate can help themselves with government providing a safety net, not a spider web. Nelson says he's keeping his pledge to reform welfare by appointing a statewide task force to explore options for overhauling the system. Task force members will represent the private and public sectors, welfare recipients, community leaders and state officials. Department of Social Services Director Mary Dean Harvey will work with the group. She agrees that changes in Nebraska's welfare system are needed. So rather than having the federal government say and here's how your program is going to look, we're going to use Nebraska ideas to say and here's what we think should occur in Nebraska. In fiscal year 1992, the state spent over $65 million on the aid to dependent children program. In April of 1993, more than 17 ,400 families received ADC. That's almost a 2 % increase over the same period last year. These Nebraska increases are consistent with the national trends. President Clinton has encouraged states to develop welfare reform

and Mary Dean Harvey says ADC is one program that should change. In Nebraska, there are no time limits regarding ADC and she thinks that should be different. That's difficult to say. I know that the Clinton administration is looking at a two -year cap. I'm not sure that that is totally and thoroughly realistic. I think you set a cap at that point in time where you know that an individual can receive appropriate training and you know that there is a job available for that individual that pays a living wage. I think when all of the forces are together, at that point in time you can say it's appropriate for it to be two years, three years or four years and right now I don't have an answer for that. Harvey says many Nebraska's received support for a short period of time with the average length of stay on ADC being 18 months. But she also says many people make welfare a way of life. So what Harvey supports is limiting the amount of time a family can receive ADC and then beefing up the job training and job support programs that are already in place in the state by adding one missing piece of the puzzle employers. That is the missing link. If you'd ask me

what is Nebraska missing? That is one of the things that we chiefly miss. You know, we don't have that linkage. We've taken the general job preparation and generally speaking year on your own, although the companies with whom we contract to do the job training and those kinds of things generally are offered incentives for placement. But my objective is to get the potential employer in into the ball game into designing the system. That way they have some ownership. Many families receiving state support are working families, but often it's difficult to fully provide for a family on part -time wages with no benefits. But Mary Dean Harvey says she thinks Nebraska businesses are seeing the need to provide options for workers who need to make a living wage and who need child care. I think that they are right at that crossroads and I think more and more businesses are looking at that. You know, if we remember workforce 2000 and what we were told about what the workforce would look

like, there was going to be already an increasing number of women in the labor force. We already know what has happened to the numbers of single heads of households who, whether they're male or female, anytime you have one parent in the house, then you have all parental responsibilities being assumed by one person. So I think employers have been cognizant of that information and for many of them, whenever approached, they're willing to entertain those discussions and some have taken initiatives on their own. While some states are considering welfare reform that not only limits the amount of time benefits can be received, but also includes a disincentive for increasing the number of dependent children in the family. Mary Dean Harvey says that's not a concept she'll be taking to the task force. I think there are much more progressive ways of addressing this issue than to strictly be punitive. It doesn't require a great degree of intelligence to think of

creating punitive measures for people. But what it does, if you wish to create constructive ways to help people be able to live decently, raise their families, provide a strong support to your tax base. There are very constructive things that you can do and it requires creativity. It requires working with the cross -section of people. It requires bringing employers in and saying, what will be your needs since these large numbers of people are going to be coming into your labor force? What needs and issues will these people bring? How must you position yourself to be able to do that? The question of, and who's going to take care of the kids? Nebraska is going to take an approach that looks at development of human beings, the human potential and not

just punishment. Mary Dean Harvey is the director of social services. She's on the governor's newly announced welfare reform task force. Harvey says she supports capping the amount of time a family can receive ADC and providing the family with more job support to help them help themselves. A citizen action group based in Washington, D .C. says the proposed B .T .U. energy tax could put over 2 ,800 Nebraska's out of work. Citizens for a sound economy held a press conference at the Capitol Rotunda in Lincoln this morning to present their views on why the tax should not be put into effect. Martin Wells has more. Besides costing the state over 2 ,800 jobs, citizens for a sound economy

claim the Clinton administration's proposed B .T .U. tax would increase unemployment in Nebraska by about 10%, as well as cost consumers 8 cents per gallon more at the gas pump. The average family will pay about $500 in additional energy costs if the B .T .U. tax goes into effect, trying about higher cost to heat your homes, in the winter, higher cost to cool them off in the summer and higher fuel prices every time we drive to and from work or anywhere else we need to go. By the time our winter electricity bills start rolling in we're all going to think B .T .U. stands for by thermal underwear. Michelle Davis is an economist for citizens for a sound economy. She says the group is using figures derived from an economic model used by the USDA to evaluate the consequences of U .S. tax policies as well as another national model. Davis says the worst thing about the tax is that it's so indirect. Energy is used to produce every single thing in the economy from paper clips to automobiles. Prices will go up to pay for the higher energy costs of buying these goods

and producing these goods and to pay for the higher energy costs of transporting everything from the farms and the factories to the markets. Davis also says the proposed B .T .U. tax would be what she called a hidden tax. When you go to buy gasoline they don't bring up the price of the gasoline and then ring up the tax as a separate line item. You don't see that price as you don't pay a separate bill for gas taxes. It's all built in. So when prices go up you don't know whether to blame the federal government or just think that costs that costs have gone up and that's what makes this such a so dangerous is that Congress can turn around and raise this tax down the road and without consumers even being aware of how much extra it's costing them. The press conference was also attended by Gene Spence, a director of the Omaha Public Power District. Spence says he was speaking as a private citizen but his remarks all pertain to how the B .T .U. tax would affect the utility. I want you to know that the B .T .U. tax costs more on coal than the coal itself costs. The tax is more than the coal. This is an outrage.

We can't have it. I am also told but the figures aren't in that the nuclear plant when we get through with the B .T .U. tax on uranium that the plant may not be viable to run. Spence says these are scary times for people in the energy business and says it should be scary for consumers as well because the proposed B .T .U. tax would cause rates to go up substantially. He also says conservation benefits from such attacks would be limited. There's a conservation benefit in having a higher cost of a car and having the higher cost of food people buy less. There is no question that when it costs more people buy less. The question is whether or not they get the commodity when they need it. One of the things you better remember is there or should I will remind you is that we have some very energy intensive customers that may find themselves eliminating their older plants in our area and going to their newer plants where they're more energy efficient in other parts of the country and we have disturbing discussions with some of our

large consumers to that effect. Spence declined to name those large consumers saying the management of OPPD would have to answer that question. OPPD media spokesman Gary Williams said later he was unable to confirm or deny that OPPD might lose some of its large consumers if the B .T .U. tax went into effect. Nebraska Farm Bureau President Bryce Nightig says the B .T .U. tax would have a devastating impact on farmers. Nightig says the Bureau estimates the proposed tax would cost farmers anywhere from 500 to $700 in direct costs during the first year of the tax. When you'll extend that out over the three year time period and then add the indirect costs it has the potential of literally without question putting people out of business, farmers out of business. We take the approach that we don't need that tax if we would simply and our people say stop spending first and without reducing spending just simply stop increases in spending. We can control

the budget deficit and get level in three or four years or five years at the most. Certainly we do not need an anti -business anti -agriculture, anti -economy, anti -growth policy that review the B .T .U. tax to be. Nightig says the tax would be especially tough on farmers because they would have no way to pass the cost on to consumers. Citizens for a sound economy is urging people to write their congressmen about how they feel about the proposed B .T .U. tax. The group says it has its own ideas on how to reduce the deficit and handed out three different lists of how this could be done without any new taxes at all. Nebraska's may not find the group's suggestions any more palatable than a B .T .U. tax. One plan calls for collecting a 10 % co -payment on Medicare home benefits. Another plan calls for ending the small business administration loans and loan guarantees as well as requiring students to pay interest accrued on federal Stafford loans while still in school. The third option calls for reducing irrigation

subsidies, raising acreage ineligible for farmed efficiency payments to 25 % and reducing farmed efficiency payments. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Martin Wells. There's no doubt President Clinton's proposed B .T .U. tax is among the most controversial elements in the Clinton tax proposal. Today, Republican Senator John Danforth of Missouri and Democratic Senator David Borin of Oklahoma unveiled their budget plan that could spell trouble for Clinton. Senators pushing the plan say they don't have the votes to pass it yet, but Senator Borin says he expects support to grow for the proposal to add more spending cuts and dump the energy tax. While Nebraska's Washington delegation has clearly been opposed to the B .T .U. tax, in large part because they worry it will adversely affect farmers, they're holding back endorsement of this alternative budget plan until they have time to assess the entire package. But one of the most vocal supporters of the alternative so far is Democratic Senator Jim Ekson.

We have two tax in doing that if we're interested in reducing the deficit and the skyrocketing national debt. We have to understand that we're going to have to swallow some better pills here. But I think what the people of Nebraska and the people of the United States want today is some kind of an assured program that when we get through with all of these changes that we have something that does reduce the deficit. But House and Senate leaders predict President Clinton's deficit reduction package will pass intact despite this new wrinkle. Critics of the Danforth Borin plan, including President Clinton, say the extra spending cuts at a greater burden for the poor and the elderly. Senator Ekson acknowledges replacing the $70 billion B .T .U. tax with cuts in spending will cause division.

As we can every member of the House and Senate reviews these proposals as to how they affect the views of the members of the House and the members of the Senate. But certainly I think that there is widespread belief here that we have got to do more to cut spending. There is some support here for some tax increases in certain areas. The problem is that as I indicated a few moments ago there seems to be considerable widespread belief here that as well intentioned as the President's programs might be they do not go far enough and probably in the end will not be workable as far as deficit reduction and reduction in the national debt is involved. Therein lies the dilemmas that we're trying to correct. Some members of the House support putting a lid on Medicare and Medicaid. But when asked about specifics, Senator Ekson declined

to say which issues he could support saying everything is on the table. One thing Senator Ekson will predict is that the B .T .U. tax will not pass Congress as Clinton has envisioned. I think there is a possibility that the B .T .U. tax could be not gone altogether or substantially changed from the formulas around that that were advanced to us by the President. I think within the next couple of weeks we're going to have a clear picture of just what might come out of that to answer your question directly. I think there is a chance that the B .T .U. tax might be eliminated at one possibility or there could be a substantial revisions in the tax both as to its size and to how it applies. Senator Ekson says he's not worried that his support for this alternative budget package instead of supporting the President's plan will affect his relationship with the President and the administration. Well, I hope not, but once again I'm assembly say that

one of the criticisms that I have had of the approach of the current administration from the very beginning is the fact that I think there's too much of this proposition of quote support your local sheriff and quite quote or support your local president. I feel that as an elected representative of the people of Nebraska I have not only an obligation but a determination to speak up for what they think their views are. Senator Ekson says he hopes Congress can reach a compromise on the budget before the August recess. Nebraska Knightley is a production of the Nebraska Public Radio Network, Keith Lutton and Martin Wells are associate producers. Laurie Holy is our news intern, our directors Dave Hughes, Jeff Smith is the audio engineer tonight, and I'm Nancy Finken producer. The views and opinions

expressed on the preceding program are those of the commentators, interviewees and guests and not necessarily those of the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission or the staff and management of the Nebraska Public Radio Network. Time. Protecting petitioned amendments to the Constitution is the subject of a new petition. This is Nebraska Knightley, I'm Nancy Finken. It sounds confusing, petitioning to protect citizen petitions, but it's not, but is it necessary? One state senator says no. And if there has to be a general election in order to change statute, it's going to become and a very many of these things are done, it's going to become a very cumbersome. It's going to become a government even more cumbersome than it is now. UNMC gets involved in a new AIDS drug research program, and the feds are giving Nebraska $1 .7 million to pay for repairs to ferrodes and bridges damaged by flooding. Also a plan by the

Audubon Society to sell shares in a Niagara Valley piece of land hits a snag. Dave San says Nebraska's have been taking them up on the offer, but the owner is now considering another rire. We're close to 200 responses and a number of those responses that indicated multiple interests for children and grandchildren and spouses and friends. Commentator Ann Nation gives two thumbs down to the Oregon Medicaid waiver policy. Keith Lutton gets to the heart of a beer heist in Lincoln, but first this news from Dave Hughes. Lancaster County District Court Judge Donald Indicott heard six motions today and yesterday concerning 31 -year -old Roger Borklin's ability to prepare for his upcoming murder trial. Borklin is a waiting trial in the Lancaster County jail for the murder of Candace harms in 18 -year -old University of Nebraska -Lincoln student. Indicott listened today to a motion to forbid the jail staff from using an intercom system to monitor Borklin's conversations with other inmates

in a study room and another motion that asks the court to require prosecutors to name any jailhouse informants who might testify against Borklin in his trial, which is scheduled to begin October 18th. Indicott will review most of the motions again in a hearing next Friday, but he took the jailhouse informants motion under advisement. A rural garing woman who conspired to kill her husband has been sentenced to five to 15 years in prison. 31 -year -old Gail Kaufman pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to commit first degree murder. She was accused of hiring an undercover officer to kill her husband, Tim Kaufman, in order to collect his insurance policy. Mrs. Kaufman was in tears for much of today's hearing, saying she was very sorry for the people that she hurt. 16 -member grand jury has been selected to look into the way authorities investigated four deaths in Scotts Bluff County. Kevin Mooney of KNEB in Scotts Bluff has the story. Well, Cook District Judge John Battershell says the grand jury was sworn in during his visit to gearing on

Wednesday. Battershell selected a foreman and a request was made to Governor Nelson for the appointment of a special prosecutor. Battershell is hoping that appointment can be made quickly so the grand jury can begin their work on June 1st. What depends on what the special prosecutor thinks he needs to do before he comes out and how quick the governor moves. There's no doubt that this has been coming for a couple of weeks, so I think they probably thought about it, but I don't know what he has those things yet. Battershell says they'll conduct the grand jury hearings at the Scotts Bluff County Courthouse. Grand jury will look into authority handling of the 1988 shooting deaths of Richard Baubas and Sharon Condon, the 1988 deaths of Steve Slaughtower and a trailer fire at Lake Minitaire, and the 1989 deaths of Joseph Richter, whose pickup truck overturned on a rural road. I'm Kevin Mooney in Scotts Bluff. One person is dead after a plane crashed about 20 miles south of Crawford in Nebraska's Panhandle. Shattern Police Chief Ted Vestine says his office got a call on the crash at about 415 mountain time this afternoon. Vestine says further details are not immediately

available. Southwest Iowa authorities say an Nebraska pilot was killed this morning in the fiery crash of his crop -dusting plane while he was dusting some crops. Page County Sheriff's Office identified the lone victim of the crash as 61 -year -old Jesse Lee Purcell of Omaha. Sheriff's Office says the single engine Piper Pony crashed on the Curtis Wrightberg farm about three miles north of Essex at about 10 .45 a .m. where the plane burst into flames on impact and was completely destroyed. Crash is being investigated by the Sheriff and the Federal Aviation Administration. 30s have identified a man killed early today in a pickup train accident. Deputy Platt County Attorney John Cole says 48 -year -old Gasper Gonzalez died in the accident at a downtown crossing. Cole says the train's engineers saw two other vehicles go around the crossing arms before Gonzalez attempted to cross the tracks in Columbus. And a 45 -year -old transient who allegedly had a heart surgery and skipped

out on paying the bill faces a rainment in federal court next week. Leonard Grace appeared before U .S. magistrate David Pester and Lincoln today, where federal authorities charged him with caching forged navy money orders at three Lincoln businesses last month. Grace, who has no permanent address, was arrested by federal secret service agents on May 3rd in Boise, Idaho. When Lincoln Grace had a heart bypass surgery at Bryan Memorial Hospital, then left town. For Nebraska Nightly, I'm Dave Hughes. A citizens group is attempting to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, which would protect all future petitions from repeal or reversal by the state legislature. Martin Wells reports. Ken Burnback of the Committee of Concerned Citizens says a good example of why such a petition is needed is the seatbelt law enacted by the state legislature. In 1986, the people voted that we did not want a mandatory seatbelt law in the state. And six years later, the legislature without consenting with the people enacted their own law. The committee

will be circulating a petition to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, which if approved by voters, would prohibit the legislature from taking any action on a measure other than putting it back on the ballot for reconsideration by the voters. The legislature by three -fifths vote would be able to put it in front of the people on the next general election, or by a four -fifths vote they could call a special election to have the people vote on it. Bottom line, we just don't want the legislature reversing what the people do through the petition process. Burnback says 59 ,000 signatures will be needed to put the issue before the voters, and adds he is confident that goal can be reached by the July 1994 deadline. He says so far, response from the legislature has been less than enthusiastic. They feel it's too restrictive and that they were, in fact, one of them said that they were sent down here by the people to make laws for the people. And that's kind of their stance on it. They feel that if they make a law, then the people should live with it. But Lincoln State Senator Chris Butler says

historically, the legislature has been very respectful of what the people have decided to do through initiative or referendum. He says the current petition drive is being pushed by people who are just unhappy about the enactment of the seatbelt law. I personally felt that that's what the majority of the people wanted the legislature to do. And I think that there is majority support for the seatbelt law now, so I don't think that the people currently feel. And that's one of the problems with their particular proposition. It requires the expense of going back to another general election in situations where over time, people's minds clearly change on different matters. Butler also says that initiatives can be very complicated, sometimes containing hundreds of details. Well, it may well turn out as it does with the legislature that once something is put into

effect, we find out that several of the details don't work as well as they should. And when we're in the legislative process, then we just go back and change it the next year and improve it. But if we're talking about an initiative and if this amendment to the Constitution goes into effect, then in order to change any little detail, at least in so far as I read the petition, we'd have to go back to the people and have an election. Butler says people need to keep in mind that circumstances surrounding a law can change, and sometimes they change very rapidly. And if there has to be a general election in order to change statute, it's going to become, and if very many of these things are done, it's going to become a very cumbersome. It's going to become a government even more cumbersome than it is now. Omaha State Senator Tom Horgan echoes those sentiments, but says the idea does have some valid points. So people

do change their minds, so I guess that would bother me a little bit. It restricts the legislature when circumstances change from enacting possible legislation that needs it necessary. But the argument on the other side is once the people have spoken on an issue, should the legislature go back and re -address those issues without consulting the people? And certainly on the surface of it, I guess I don't have a problem with it, and I'd be happy to think about it. I'm not saying that I endorse the idea, but it doesn't bother me right off the top of my head. Horgan says he doubts the issue of the legislature overturning initiatives or referendums is something that happens very often, but says issues like this or why Nebraska has a relatively easy referendum and initiative process. I think they ought to go out and see if the people in Nebraska want to put that on the ballot, let the people in Nebraska decide. As to the question of how often the state legislature actually does overturn measures, according to Brian Mikkelson, an aide to Senator Butler, since 1956, there have only been

four referendums that have been successful, or in other words, in which a law has been successfully repealed. The only case in which a law repealed by referendum was enacted again by the legislature was the seatbelt law of 1986. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Martin Wells. The AIDS virus has now infected about 14 million people worldwide. That's the latest figure from the World Health Organization, up by 1 million from the previous estimate. The UN Agency says Sub -Saharan Africa remains the worst hit area, but the virus is now spreading at the highest rate in some parts of Asia. In Nebraska, the number of AIDS cases registered with the state health department since 1983 is 408, representing a slow, steady increase in the last 10 years. In June, the University of Nebraska

Medical Center in Omaha will begin a new drug study of a combination drug that could stop the HIV virus from reproducing in the cells of people who are HIV -positive. Dr. Sue Swindells is the medical director of the HIV clinic. This is a clinical trial comparing two drugs that slow down the virus to three drugs, but hopefully will slow down the virus. So what it is, is a comparison of two drugs against three drugs, asking are three drugs better than two. Dr. Swindells says it's possible the three drug combination will have ability to stop the cells from reproducing. It certainly looks from the preliminary data that two drugs is better than one, and that's certainly being the case in other infected diseases that are parallel to this, in terms of tuberculosis, and other diseases were familiar with, and that's how cancer treatment is gone. They've gone from using one drug to many drugs that work better in combination. So it's certainly possible that combinations will work better. I'm not sure it's going to be this particular combination,

but I think in general that one of them will be successful eventually. This study, like many others, is an attempt to slow down the virus to prolong a patient's life, not to come up with a cure. Dr. Swindells says sometimes it's frustrating to know it's not a cure. Yes, sometimes it's hard to watch patients that you've broken to know and unlike and so forth, and to see them, you know, gradually get sicker and sicker, but there's so much more we can do today than we could do when I first started with this, you know, several years ago when we really had nothing to offer people and they died very quickly, and we've come so long way that that is encouraging, and I see a lot of optimism with all the work that's going on, so essentially I'm pretty optimistic about the way things are going, and better than it was and we'll get better yet. Medical breakthroughs in the treatment of AIDS have changed the quality and the length of life for people infected. The medicine now that we can use to treat people who actually to slow down their viral diseases and also to prevent them from getting other kinds of infections that people

used to get to the game with, we've got very good at that now, so even though we can't necessarily stop the virus from attacking their immune system, we can give them things to help protect them against infections that may come along. So people are living much longer now and having a better quality of life. They're able to function and work and, you know, have regular lives for much longer. One of the difficult parts of the problem for researchers is to stay ahead of the virus, which builds up an immunity and then resist certain treatments. And that is a problem, yes, you know, we have drugs now that we've used for several years and we do think that the virus sort of gets used to them and it's able to grow even though the patient is taking the medicine that it becomes resistant to them. And again, this is something we've seen in a lot of other diseases. If you use one medicine for long enough, then whatever germ you'll be treating will eventually become resistant to it and get used to it. And it's a problem when we have a limited number of options, there's not that many other medicines we can turn to if one of them doesn't work. So there's a lot of work going on now to see how to overcome this problem. Swindell says the drug

study will involve 400 patients throughout the United States, including about six people at UNMC. They're enthusiastic about trying something new. Many people are anxious to be part of these trials. We have many people call us wanting access to them. Particularly in this area where there's not a lot of places you can go if you want to be on some experimental medicine, you know, there's sites that are somewhat thin on the ground. But a lot of people feel that they don't have a lot to lose by trying something new and they're also willing to contribute to everyone's knowledge, you know, to sort of do something for the people that come behind them as it were. A lot of that kind of attitude too, which encourages people to involve in clinical trial. Dr. Sue Swindell is the medical director of the HIV clinic at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. In March, we reported on an Audubon Society plan to sell

shares in a parcel of land along Thomas Creek in North Central Nebraska. The Audubon Society hopes to preserve the land for public use. Keith Lutton talks to Dave Sands about the twist in the plan. When the initial plan was announced, Sands and the Audubon Society got an enthusiastic response from a wide range of people interested in preserving the land. There was an ecology club at an Omaha high school who wanted to participate. A couple on a fixed income who said that they thought they could scrape together enough for one acre. And if I just tell him to who to write the check to, they would have it in the mail. There was an 85 -year -old man who said he just wanted a place to hike along the Nair Berra. The plan was to sell shares in a nonprofit corporation that would buy and manage the 630 acres now owned by Omaha Insuranceman Bob Marcotte. Marcotte had offered to sell the land to the Nebraska Gaming Parks Commission but was turned down because of pressure from county officials who feared the land would be taken off the tax rolls. Now Marcotte says

he's considering another very generous offer from an interested buyer. Sands says the decision is disappointing because the proposal for the nonprofit corporation had gotten such an enthusiastic response. We were close to 200 responses and a number of those responses that indicated multiple interests for children and grandchildren and spouses and friends. And I would guess if we had really pursued this we would have been very short -order had our 600ers so contributors that we needed. And it wasn't just the numbers that impressed both Sands and Marcotte. Some of the letters and notes I received were very heartwarming and very encouraging on what we were doing and so for me the most disappointing aspect of this whole thing is letting these people down. Marcotte won't say who the buyer is because the buyer demanded anonymity but he does say it someone very sympathetic to the environment who has indicated an interest in carrying out Marcotte's original plan

to preserve the land as a public trust. The land may be donated to the State Gaming Parks Commission or similar organization at some time in the future. Marcotte says he wouldn't consider selling the land to anyone who didn't intend to preserve it. Sands says he's encouraged by that. Certainly that would be a good end to this whole thing if the land does eventually end up in the public domain with Gaming Parks after all that was our first choice. Sands says he'll be contacting those people who expressed interest in buying shares to let them know about Marcotte's plans soon. When we contact them you know one thing we want to make clear we do not harbor any ill will toward Mr. Marcotte nor should these people Mr. Marcotte has done some great things for the State and the area of conservation. After all he donated a good chunk of this land to Gaming Parks years ago. He gave Gaming Parks two opportunities to buy the land at a very attractive price. Mr. Marcotte has done some great things for the environment in this state and the fact that he did not choose to sell our group

certainly in no way to appreciate all the good things that he's done. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Loven. Nebraska is getting almost $1 .7 million from the federal government to repair flood -damaged roads and bridges. The money will be given to the Nebraska Department of Roads to fix highways affected by the March ice jams and flooding in Colfax coming Dodge Douglas Hall, Knox Merrick, Nance, Platt, Sarpy and Seward counties. Don Swing is the Deputy Director of Special Projects for the DOT. The major damage occurred on Highway 6 north of Aisland where there were two bridges which were wiped out. The contract for those bridges has been awarded and construction is underway on both of those. We would hope to complete those by late summer or early fall. We also sustained major damage on US 81,

immediately south of Columbus between the Loop and Plant Rivers. We have been meeting with area people on that in regard to some of the flood problems. We hope to be able to let contracts on a portion of the damage within the next two months in that area. We also sustained damage at Fullerton on Highway 14. This was a washout on the road that road has been put back in the service. There was also damage in the Niagara area and once again that has been put back in the service. Swing says many repairs are already in progress because in an emergency situation much of the money can be contracted before the actual money has been awarded. Swing says the federal 1 .7 million dollars will probably cover the roads and bridges

damage. Some particular repairs will probably require a maximum 20 percent match from the state. What in essence what your funding is allowed on anything that is necessary to get a road back into a central service that in other words maintaining traffic on it. That's eligible for 100 percent federal funds. Anything that is replacement of damage is eligible for 80 percent federal funds and then 20 percent is a state or county fund depending on the entity. Swing says whatever portion the state has to pay is in the state's emergency fund. We always carry a certain amount for emergencies and of course this will eat into our emergency fund but there is in our maintenance area we do have a certain amount that we budgetate here for emergencies and I think we're covered within that area. Don Swing is the deputy director of special projects with the state Department of Transportation. Nebraska will be receiving 1 .7 million dollars in federal funds to repair roads and bridges damaged by March flooding.

He did it. President Clinton approved the Oregon Medicaid waiver, commentator and nation. I'm sure you've heard about it. This is the program that ranks an individual's value to society based upon medical condition. If you have a disease where treatment is deemed cost effective, you live otherwise well. The Oregon plan purports to bring the issue of rationing into the open. In reality it raises dumping to a new level. When it comes to denying medical care to individuals with pre -existing conditions, Oregon makes the insurance industry look like amateurs. With private insurance carriers you have a theoretical amount of money to spend on medical care. Sure they try and dump you if you attempt to use the coverage but between the time you get sick and the company

realizes it you can actually receive treatment. Not so in Oregon. There the disease alone regardless of your prognosis is enough to prevent treatment and this sounds like a good idea. Yes according to Oregon at least for the poor. You see these are the only people who will be affected. We're not talking only hardcore low -income those ebonyzer scrooge implored to die and decrease the surplus population. Also included are the working poor and families who spend themselves into poverty trying to keep up with medical bills that insurance if they have any won't cover. Many of those affected will be individuals who have worked all their lives, paid their taxes and now need help. Too bad. I noticed the governor who requested the waiver and the state bureaucrats who pushed through the paperwork didn't mandate a similar system of healthcare for themselves. Neither did the Oregon Medical Association whose members are among the biggest proponents of the plan. If this list is such a good deal why didn't they sign up for it? Meanwhile 600

miles to our southwest New Mexico is quietly forging its own healthcare revolution. Like Oregon they have received a Robert Woods Johnson Foundation grant. Like Oregon they will also be requiring a Medicaid waiver. Unlike Oregon the state of New Mexico has decided tax payers should not have a standard of healthcare different from public employees. Under the New Mexico experiment the minimum benefit package will be at least as good as that available to state employees and at least as inexpensive. True everyone in the state will be required to buy coverage but if the cost exceed 7 % of federal taxable income the state would subsidize the individual or family. Sound ambitious? Yes. Sound impossible? Many would have me believe so but I'm tired of being told I must resign myself to a two -tier system of healthcare. One for the rich, one for the poor, one for those who pay taxes, one for those who are paid by taxes. So while

everyone is watching Oregon I intend to keep my sights turned to New Mexico. I wish them the best and I hope they succeed because Oregon has already failed. Commentator and nation. Burglers have been known to grab a beer out of an ice box here and there but Lincoln police last night encountered someone who may have been just a little bit thirstier than that. A 20 -year -old transient allegedly tried to drive away from a Lincoln beer distributor with an entire beer truck. Keith Leiden talked with John Fordham of the state distributing company about the incident. Mr. Fordham, tell me what happened. Well, when the evening we were in the process of loading our vehicles for the next day to service our customers and I guess about seven o 'clock, seven thirty. We received a call inquiring if we had any Hispanic beer drivers and we responded no and obviously that alerted us to something unusual was happening and we looked outside and

noticed that our beer truck was going down the street without anybody we recognized driving driving it. So he pulled over at a neighbor of ours who does business across the street which is a chip and candy vendor and got out of the truck. At that point John Ritz he was close on his heels and the guy saw him, took off and John sprinted down through the field, tackled him, brought him back and about five minutes later Lincoln police department showed up, took him into custody. Okay, I understand he wasn't doing a very good job of driving the truck. No, he was having a little bit of a problem managing it apparently or obviously he didn't have a CDL which is the commercial driver's license and presumably he was a bit intoxicated which I guess was good for us because I think it

distorted his ability to manage the equipment. So we were fortunate that he stopped to take a rest. What do you think he was after? Well, I suspect he was interested in the 1200 cases of beer that were attached to the cab he was driving. Did he take any of the beer? No, well he took the whole truck but he did not get away with any of the beer off the trailer although he tried and that's when Mr. Ritz followed him in hot pursuit. I heard a little bit about having come back after he initially run off. Oh yes, he came back. I guess he was ready to tangle and John Ritz he was standing there and I guess they were about to get into a little fist of custom and John pretty much just grabbed him and put him on the ground until the police department came. John Fordham is the president of the state distributing company

in Lincoln. Nebraska Nightly is a production of the Nebraska Public Radio Network. Network manager Steve Robinson, Keith Leiden and Martin Wells are associate producers Dave Hughes directs Nebraska Nightly. Jeff Smith is our audio engineer tonight. I'm Nancy Finken producer. We had helped this evening from KNEB Scots Bluff. The views and opinions expressed on the preceding program are those of the commentators, interviewees and guests and not necessarily those of the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission or the staff and management of the Nebraska Public Radio Network. It's the last state in the Midwest to reorganize its school districts. This is Nebraska Nightly. I'm Nancy Finken. Gone are the days when children had

to walk to school. Here are the days when state policymakers are encouraging consolidation and affiliation of districts in the name of tax equity and efficiency. We have 220 horsepower tractors that weigh tons, many tons pulling equipment across fields with a school that's still equated with a mule pulling a one -bottom file. Tonight we begin our three -part series on small schools. From the Capitol, Keith Leiden reports on the latest budget discussions. I think it's important that you hold firm and say no, the bill 541, you can rearrange the priorities all you want in there and I'll fight with you on that too. But as long as you're rearing the bottom line, how much money there has to spend? Falkens are nesting in Omaha and could possibly nest in Lincoln. We'll have the details. Plus the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra names its new conductor. We'll have details after this news from Dave Hughes. State officials will be checking to see if you're wearing your seatbelt. Officials from the Office of Highway Safety will be conducting the visual survey from street corners and highway

shoulders. In a survey before Nebraska's mandatory seatbelt law took effect, only 33 % of front seat passengers used their seatbelts. Much to the dismay of farmers along the plant river in Sarpie County, there's nearly four feet of sand in their fields after flooding this spring. Farmers say the river sand reduces crop potential and should drop the value of their farmland. Officials from the county assessor's office say they'll probably recommend much of the flood region be designated wasteland for next year. An apparent sightseeing plane trip ended in tragedy this weekend and aviation experts want to know why John X Del from KQSK and Shadron has a story. Federal investigators have completed their on -site look into Friday's private plane crash south of Crawford that killed Rapid City Attorney Ronald Brottoitz. Spokesman Bill Newby of Lincoln says the wreckage was removed to the Shadron Airport yesterday after investigators spent about six hours at the crash site. A state

patrol dispatcher had reported Friday that Brottoitz had struck a hill about 10 miles south of Crawford and crashed. Newby says he found no evidence of any such incident but won't see if he found anything else of interest. At this point it would be very premature for me to be you know stating anything like that you know what I mean. It's just you know we have to gather the information up and present them as facts and the anticipation is then responsible so at this point time it would be pretty premature for me to say that you know there was anything that really caught my eye. Newby's report now goes to the National Transportation Safety Board Office in Chicago which is expected to issue a probable cause finding in about six months but it was crashed within an hour of leaving the Shadron Airport Friday afternoon and what Newby says was apparently a sightseeing trip starting and ending in Rapid City. From Shadron I'm John Federal inspectors are keeping a close eye on an Omaha slaughterhouse. US Department of Agriculture spokeswoman says the inspectors are working with officials from the Cornersker packing company on when the plant may reopen.

The plant was closed after an inspector found fecal contamination and evidence of rat infestation. A Valentine man faces a July sentencing after pleading no contest a manslaughter in the beating death of his grandmother. Prosecutors accepted the no contest plea from Randy Drinkwater shortly after jury selection began. The Nebraska Supreme Court ordered the retrial for Drinkwater who had been sentenced to death on our first degree murder charge. Drinkwater also pleaded no contest to use of a weapon to commit a felony charge. Each count carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 years. A group concerned with the environmental social and economic impact of overpopulation ranks the City of Lincoln as the third best city in the nation for children. Zero population growth ranked the nation's cities by using population growth, crowding, economic conditions, health, crime, and environmental factors. And the name lead is already familiar to most Nebraska's as evidenced by the lead jungle at the Henry Dorley Zoo in Omaha, the lead center for performing arts in Lincoln, and

the lead conference center at Arbor Lodge. Now you can add another lead to the list, Dwayne Norris from KICS Radio and Hastings has a story. Since the startup of its capital drive in April of 1991, the Hastings Museum has raised two and one half million dollars for their new IMAX theater. Today that theater has a name, the lead IMAX theater. Hastings Museum Foundation President Bill Welton says the half million dollar naming gift from the lead foundation makes the 200 seat IMAX with its 70 foot wide five story high screen a reality. We are presently on a schedule that calls for a construction bid opening on June 2nd of this year and a groundbreaking ceremony on June 15th. We are planning to be open to the public on May 1, 1994. Museum Director Ed Basilian says there's money yet to raise equipment and construction will cost about 2 .9 million dollars, but he says the lead foundation gift shows the

museum can go beyond the local area to raise the remaining $400 ,000. For Nebraska Public Radio in Hastings, I'm Dwayne Norris. For Nebraska Nightly, I'm Dave Hughes. Lawmakers today beat back attempts to add spending to the mainline budget bill, rejecting amendment to add money for AIDS education, teacher salary enhancement, and restoration of the medically needy caretaker program. Keith Lutton reports. One of the first efforts at adding spending to the mainline budget bill came from Senator Cap Dirks of viewing. Dirks asked that $60 ,000 be added to the mainline budget for AIDS education. He told his fellow lawmakers that in two years time the demand for information about AIDS had doubled and that money would be saved in the long run. Dirks reminded the lawmakers that the lifetime cost of caring for an AIDS patient is $102 ,000. If the program were to have had just one person each year from contracting the HIV

virus, the savings would not weigh the $60 ,000 added by this amendment. I see as a pay me now or pay me later choice. We can either pay a little bit now before people contract the disease or pay a lot more after they're infected. But appropriations, Chairman Scott Moore of Suord, was determined to keep the mainline budget bill intact and negotiate any changes on an alternative bill that contains some optional spending. That optional spending is contingent on increases in revenue. Moore was backed up by appropriations vice chairman David Bernard Stevens of North Platt. Bernard Stevens said those who want to increase spending will have to be willing to raise the revenue to pay for the increased spending. No longer are we able to simply say, gee, we've got three and a half percent on a reserve, we can afford to go down to 3 .1 or whatever and we can go ahead and spend this will be okay. We're not at that point this year on LB541. The state constitution requires a 3 percent reserve in state funds. One person who says he's willing to raise the revenue

to pay for AIDS education is Senator Tim Hall of Omaha. He says it could save the state millions of dollars later. Health and human services chairman Don Wesley argued that even with the $60 ,000 the program would still be underfunded. The $60 ,000 asked for by Senator Dirks is 60 ,000 more than now is in the budget, but significantly less than what is needed. And so in a way, there's still far less funding than is needed for this program, but at least it's a little bit better than it was. A minimal step forward to try and recognize that HIV AIDS is still a problem in our state that we still need to be concerned about it and we still need to work with people to educate and assist them so that we can try and stop the spread of this deadly disease. But the lawmakers voted down the $60 ,000 on a 20 to 24 vote. They next took up an amendment from Senator Dan Lynch of Omaha. His amendment would earmark $5 million from a proposed pop tax for teacher salary enhancement. That prompted a frustrated Senator Moore to once more explain his position. I don't know. I mean, I don't know how much more simple you can make it. I'll be

541 is the bill, the balances without raising taxes. I'll be 330 is the bill. If you want to raise taxes, you can spend money on. I mean, that's I think that's pretty elementary and that's I don't know how difficult that maze is to get through, but that's the way it is. Moore also pointed out what he says are the dangers of sending an unbalanced budget to the governor's desk. He said that would allow the governor to make spending decisions, not the legislature. I think it's important that you hold firm and say, no, the bill, 541, you can rearrange the priorities all you want in there and I'll fight with you on that too. But as long as you agree on the bottom line, how much money there is to spend? This amendment changes that bottom line figure and that's what I have a real problem with. Supporters of the amendment were willing to make adjustments in that bottom line. Senator Janice McKenzie have Harvard. I've listened to many days as we talked about what the legislature has decided in the past and whether or not they're going to honor those commitments and it seems to me that if a commitment was made two years ago to work to bring teacher salaries up to a level that makes our state

competitive with those around us that indeed then we are bound by that same kind of argument that we've heard before. We may not have to do that legally, but we probably need to do that morally. The lawmakers rejected the Lynch amendment and a later amendment that would have restored the medically needy caretaker program. That program allowed those taking care of medically needy dependents to receive Medicaid assistance. The lawmakers passed a controversial bill that requires budget estimates and formal appropriations for legislation affecting prison populations. That, despite an opinion from Attorney General Don Stenberg that the bill is unconstitutional. Senator Doug Christensen of Minden rejected Stenberg's assertion that the legislation illegally binds future legislatures. Can you repeal this statute in a minute? You could do it in a minute. There's nothing in this legislation that prevents its repeal or the amending of LB507. Stenberg has written Governor Ben Nelson asking him to veto the bill. Christensen, one of the co -sponsors, says it would be more appropriate for Stenberg to challenge the law in court if passed. For

Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Keith Ludden. You won't see many of them if you drive only on Nebraska's major highways, but on Country Road, Jill find Nebraska's Class 1 schools. Standing between fields of irrigated corn on the edges of the Pine Ridge, deep in the sand hills and in the River valleys, Nebraska's Class 1 kindergarten through eighth grade schools survive, resisting the state's perpetual efforts to consolidate them. Carolyn Johnson reports. Sonny Brook School, Holt County School District 46 south of Ewing is typical of Nebraska's Class 1 schools. It's a country school and its 22 students come from farmed families.

There are two classrooms and two teachers. Good morning. I'm fine. How are you? Connie Cronin teaches kindergarten through third grade. And as a rural school teacher, our days are numbered. For our years are numbered. I'm afraid so they're going to come up with something. They want us closed. The State Department does not want to have the small school. Joe Lutjeharns is Nebraska's Commissioner of Education. It isn't bigger is better, but I use this statement, for instance. It's hard to speak, speak French if you've never taken it. Simple as that. If the program isn't there, it isn't there, darn it. There isn't any way to justify that it's equal to something else if you aren't doing it. The State's efforts to reorganize Class 1 school districts have focused on equalizing financial support for public elementary and secondary schools. Class 1 districts resist. Jack Ruark is president of Long Pine Elementary School, a Class 1 school with 58 students and nine teachers between Ainsworth and Bassett. I

think that probably it's a matter of feeling of independence, resistance to government, which I think is probably healthy. I don't think we're really hurting the kids. Out of this school, I can cite you aeronautical engineers, telephone supervisors, professionals of all types have come out of this school. I would say that the kids out here probably get as well rounded in education as they do in Norfolk or in Lincoln. We may not be exposed to the fine arts and that sort of thing, but they're exposed to other things that are just as important. The State Reorganization Committee has recently ordered the Long Pine School to merge with the Ainsworth Public Schools because the board and patrons of the school were unable to agree about which high school to affiliate with. Ainsworth or Bassett. All Class 1 schools in the

state were required to affiliate with a high school district by July 1st of this year. For decades, Nebraska had more total school districts than any other state. Only California, Texas and Illinois now have more school districts than Nebraska, but they also have more people. There are reasons for the large number of Nebraska's school districts. Under the Homestead Act, land was set aside for a school in every four square miles. Homesteads were established and schools built to accommodate the children. In addition, every town wanted its own school. The numbers of schools kept growing and by the 1920s, Nebraska had over 7 ,000 separate school districts. Many Class 1 districts have consolidated, but Nebraska still has 433 Class 1 districts, most of them in the country. Commissioner of Education Joe Lucha -Harm's points out that the locations of the surviving Class 1 school districts make no sense when you consider modern transportation. Certainly you have to think about whether you still need something that you put there because you had to walk there.

Or in rural vernacular, it's, I guess, something I like to use. We have 220 horsepower tractors that weigh tons, many tons, pulling equipment across fields with a school that's still equated with a mule, pulling a one -bottom plow. By the early 1970s, most great plains states had passed laws to reorganize their hundreds of small districts into larger ones, reasoning that education dollars could be spent more efficiently. But Nebraska's Class 1 districts continue to hold out. Nebraska's Constitution assigns the state the responsibility of educating all its children. 45 % of the cost of elementary and secondary education is paid by the state. Jack Rorck. When you accept the king's gold you play by the king's rules is that the way it goes. Commissioner Lucha -Harm's. But my task throughout my adult life has been to try to make things better for kids through education.

And I simply believe that things would be better for kids if Nebraska would take a look at making educational experiences broader for all kids and making sure that there's tax equity and equity among those schools. So all kids have an adequate opportunity. I don't believe we've arrived there. The arguments about quality of education and equitable taxation are complex. And their resolution is often hampered by Nebraska's long tradition of local control over their schools. For Nebraska Public Radio, I'm Carolyn Johnson. And our series on small schools continues Wednesday night with a visit to Sunnybrook School in Holt County. The Lincoln Orchestra Association, the result of the recent

merger of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra, opens its doors July 1st, hoping to establish a stronger orchestral program in Lincoln. Over the weekend, the L .O .A. announced that its first music director and principal conductor will be China -Native, Yang Yang Hu. Carolyn Rometto is a member of the search committee. After 18 months of sifting through resumes and countless long meetings discussing the candidates, she told Chris Coates the committee happily recommended Hu to the association board. The Lincoln Orchestra Association, the result of the recent merger of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra, opens its doors July 1st, hoping to establish a stronger orchestral program in Lincoln. Over the weekend, the L .O .A. announced that its first music director and principal conductor will be China -Native, Yang Yang Hu. Carolyn Rometto is a member of the search committee. After 18 months of sifting through resumes and countless long meetings discussing the candidates, she says the committee happily recommended Yang Yang Hu to the association board. Mr. Hu, I think we'll bring a fresh

approach to everyone connected with the orchestra and hopefully his enthusiasm will carry over into the community at large so that more people will become enthused about the orchestra and supported by attending concerts, by their financial support, or by their serving on boards or guilds. We're looking for, you know, we were looking for, and I think Mr. Hu will give us this fresh outlook, new ideas, new ways to market ourselves, new concepts on what we play and how we play it. So those things in and of itself are things that will bring a new life to the orchestra. Romino adds that hiring a music director of Hu's caliber will help the Lincoln Orchestra Association move forward as an Nebraska Cultural Institution. The orchestra, as it is, is in the city of Lincoln is a very valuable

community asset. And I can't stress the value of it to the community at large and to everyone who's connected with the orchestra and even people who aren't indirectly connected, they may not know they're connected, but they are by the contributions the musicians make to the community. Mr. Hu's position here and forward looking board that we have in place will help the community to realize what an asset we have and enable us to have more outreach programs and to grow and to become a real cultural asset to the state. Young Yan Hu is currently the associate conductor of the Savannah Symphony in Georgia, a post he will leave for the job in Lincoln. The move will allow him to retain his other position, however, that of principal conductor of the central

Philharmonic Beijing, China's most prestigious orchestra. As a matter of fact, you know, the Lincoln schedule is not as busy as in Savannah, so I have a more free time to do the orchestra in Beijing, and in other words, I'm more flexible now than when I was in Savannah. And that's important in this point in your career? Yeah, I think it's as far as I take these dual duties, you know, the class over the Pacific, I think it's really important to me to, because I'm a Chinese, I have to give it as much as possible to my own country too, but however, I'm really happy and I want to develop my career in this country, especially now I have a music director job with Lincoln Simpson, I think I have to really 100 percent commit, you know. Every arts

organization depends on patronage for its survival. Yang Yang, who recognizes that, on average, over the last few years, the orchestra concerts in Lincoln remained about one -third unsolved. Many programs across the nation are attempting to attract and retain new concert goers through a variety of new ventures, and this is foremost in whose mind. Besides the domestic works concert, we have a timber series, pop series, educational series, and outreach, even tour, that kind of thing. And particularly for Lincoln, I have to really do research and start it. So, last few things, as I said before, by living in Lincoln will be much more beneficial than, you know, just only flying fly out. Living in Lincoln was not a requirement in the search for the L .O .A.'s music director and conductor, but the benefits of having the orchestra leader as a member of the community are many. Who and his wife will move to Lincoln this August, who also says he plans to continue to build on the strong tradition of both

orchestras to present widely varied repertoire, especially the Chamber Orchestra's reputation for supporting new music. Yang Yang, who appeared last January as guest conductor with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra, has been selected as the first music director and principal conductor of the new Lincoln Orchestra Association. Their 93 -94 concert season begins this September at their home in the lead center for performing arts. I'm Chris Coates. Peregrine Falcons are on the U .S. and the Nebraska Endangered Species lists. An effort to lure Falcons to Eastern Nebraska appears to be paying off. Greg Wingfield is an endangered species specialist with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Well, the last I heard there is a pair of birds on three eggs at the Woodman Tower in Omaha, and they nested there successfully last year when they raised three young.

This is a result of some efforts starting in about 1988 to reestablish nesting paragons in the state by releasing or reintroducing these birds into the state. And are there also some in Lincoln? We do not have an nesting pair in Lincoln right now, but we've had a mail bird defending a territory around the Capitol Building for the last two years. And presently, there's at least one female that's been attracted to spring for a short period of time, but we don't think they're nesting yet. Do Falcons mate for life? They'll maintain a long -term pair bond once they do successfully attract a mate and have a successful nesting season, then those same two birds will return to the same site for several years anyway to nest. The pair that is at the Woodman Tower in Omaha is at the same birds that were nesting there last year? Yes, those are the same birds, and the mail bird

was a bird that was released, or we use the term hacking, was released at the Woodman a few years before, and he returned to set up a territory there, and then he attracted a female bird a year ago that was released at a similar site in Des Moines, Iowa as part of a Midwestern restoration effort. What attracts the Falcons to places like the Woodman Tower and the Capitol in Lincoln? Well, their natural nesting sites in the wild are they typically will nest high up on the cliff side, and the presence of good foraging areas, feeding areas are very important to them. Typically, they'll feed a lot around wetlands. They will actually, they will chase and capture about any small migratory bird, and usually you see good populations of these around wetlands or other forested areas. It still seems kind of strange maybe to see them in a city in Lincoln or in Omaha if they're used to being

in the Pine Ridge area of Western Nebraska. Right, the tall buildings provide that kind of a resembling their cliff side natural nesting areas, and surprisingly or not, there are plenty of food for the birds, even in urban areas. They will travel several miles out from the nest site to forage, and particularly in Omaha there, you know, sitting right there in Missouri Valley. The birds probably go along some of the timbered areas along the river there, and especially this time of the year in April, May and June when some of the shore bird migrations are coming through, there's an abundance of birds that they can find. You mentioned that there are three eggs you believe they're sitting on. How do you know that? It's up so high. How do you observe them? Well, the birds at Woodman are nesting on an art nesting platform, one of a couple nesting platforms that the Woodman people put out a couple years ago, and these just have a small gravel in these nesting platforms, and everybody monitored with a video

camera, and there's a monitor down in the lobby of the Woodman building, and so it's very easy to monitor the status of those birds. The birds at the Capitol, we also have a nesting platform there that they haven't used as of yet, but we just monitor those using the spotting scope from around the Capitol grounds. How long will it take for the eggs to hatch? It believes about 30 -32 days for paragrants once they began incubating them, I think, at the Woodman they began about a week ago. Any idea what the Falcon population used to be in Nebraska, and what realistically it could be in the future? In Nebraska, the historic record are fairly vague. In fact, about the turn of the century, there's only one nest site of paragrants that was actually considered a documented site, and it was up in the Pine Ridge, but in other upper Midwestern states, there were more birds, so actually the paragrants,

as far as we know, was a real numerous in Nebraska, and there's a closely related species of paragraphal. It is a lot more abundant out in the Pine Ridge area, not in the Panhandle area, but I would say if we're just dealing with a few pairs, you know, in the next 10 years in the state, that would be all we would be talking about. Greg Wingfield is an endangered species specialist for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Nebraska Nightly is a production of the Nebraska Public Radio Network, Keith Ludden and Martin Wells are associate producers, Dave Hughes directs Nebraska Nightly, Ralph Sanchez is our audio engineer tonight, Nancy Finken producer. We had helped this evening from KHAS Hastings and KQSK Shadron, the views and opinions expressed on the preceding program are those of the commentators, interviewees and guests, and not necessarily those of the Nebraska Educational

Telecommunications Commission or the staff and management of the Nebraska Public Radio Network. Soundstage up next here on Nebraska Public Radio. First the weather tonight, considerable cloudiness, chance of showers in the Panhandle and the Southwest, partly cloudy in the northeast, cool, flows 35 to 40 in the north, central portion to the 40s in the west and the south. Tuesday, a slight chance of early morning showers in the south and late afternoon thunderstorms in the Panhandle, otherwise partly to mostly sunny, highs in the lower to mid -70s. At last report, Shadron, mostly cloudy 62, Scottsville, mostly cloudy 59, Valentine, mostly cloudy 61, North Plenty,