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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Former Sen. Bob Kerrey said Tuesday he will not run for the Nebraska Senate seat he gave up more than a decade ago, shutting down hopes for a bid both parties called Democrats' best chance to hold the seat but that Kerrey himself described as a longshot. The 1992 presidential candidate and former Nebraska governor had considered seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed Sen. Ben Nelson, who replaced Kerrey in the Senate in 2001. Nelson's decision not to run for a third term this year came as a boon to Republicans, who must net four seats...

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of LincolnLincoln, Neb., Jan 30, 2012 / 06:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics may have to suffer for the integrity of their institutions, Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska announced in his response to the Obama administration's contraception mandate. “We cannot and will not comply with this unjust decree. Like the martyrs of old, we must be prepared to accept suffering which could include heavy fines and imprisonment,” Bishop Bruskewitz wrote in a letter he ordered to be read at every Sunday Mass in his diocese on Jan. 29. “Our American religious liberty is in grave jeopardy,”...

Republicans in the House of Representatives said on Wednesday they plan to introduce a bill to advance TransCanada's Keystone XL oil pipeline to try to override President Barack Obama's rejection of the $7 billion project. House Speaker John Boehner told reporters "all options are on the table" to craft a bill to fight for the pipeline, which Republicans say would create thousands of jobs and bolster the economic recovery. "There are legislative vehicles that will be moving in the weeks and months ahead," Boehner said. House Republicans have not yet decided what kind of legislation they will push, said Lee...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

LINCOLN — Californian Therese Ebert dreamed of being a modern-day homesteader, pulling up stakes from her rented room in Poway, Calif., to build a home of her own in Beatrice, Neb. Chasing the promise of free land, she packed her two dogs and her belongings into the back of an SUV and set off for Nebraska. She had signed up last January for a free lot in Beatrice on condition that she build a home on the property within five years. "Everything I owned was with me," Ebert said. "The car was packed, I wasn't looking back." But, alas, homesteading...

Is it the return of Bob Kerrey? The former Nebraska governor says he is coming “home” to Nebraska next week to talk with friends and others about another possible run for the U.S. Senate. Kerrey says he will make his decision quickly, after determining whether he has the “skills” and “experience” needed to help Nebraska and the nation address some of its problems, including the nation's debt woes. “I don't presume for a moment I would automatically win. But, I have to persuade myself, if I did win, I could do something others couldn't,” Kerrey said Friday. He previously served...

usa today http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/12/ben-nelson-retirement/1

Dem Keystone support creates tougher fight for Reid, ObamaBy Alexander Bolton - 12/16/11 04:08 PM ET Republicans want to jam Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Keystone oil sands pipeline and the Democratic leader will have a tough time resisting, given support within his caucus for the project. GOP leaders have made clear to Reid that they will not approve an extension of the payroll tax holiday unless it includes language to speed up construction of the pipeline. Senate Republicans estimate as many as 14 Senate Democrats support the project. Labor unions have also voiced strong backing, complicating...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman criticized the Humane Society of the United States on Monday, saying he would fight any efforts by its lobbyists to push legislation that could hinder Nebraska's agricultural industry. The Humane Society of the United States opened an office in Omaha last year. A group spokesman has said the new office and state issues director in Nebraska were intended to help small farmers gain access to markets traditionally dominated by larger operations. But Heineman, a Republican, said he did not trust the group's intentions.

The face of a homesick soldier was sure to brighten when the troop train pulled into a Nebraska station. Volunteers came out in force to make Americans in uniform feel appreciated during World War II. United Service Organizations centers were set up across the Omaha area, including Union Station, north Omaha, South Omaha and Bellevue, to boost morale. And another network of 21 community groups took turns staffing the railroad station's Service Men's Center and greeting, feeding and entertaining the troops.

The fight for control of the United States Senate will intensify next year, with Republicans trying to capture a majority by seizing upon the political headwinds facing Democrats. The pieces to the puzzle are nearly all in place, with one exception: Nebraska. There, Senator Ben Nelson, a Democrat, has yet to decide whether he will run for a third term or join several of his Democratic colleagues and retire. He has a campaign organization in place, but intends to make a final decision over the holidays. ...This explains why the phone keeps ringing in the office of the state’s Republican...

Another Republican senator has opened the door to tax increases on high earners as a way to pay for a payroll tax cut, showing more movement in the party ranks after resistance all year to tax increases. “I sense a change in mood,” Senator Mike Johanns, Republican of Nebraska, said Wednesday. “It’s a little more bipartisan. My position has always been, ‘Let’s not raise taxes,’ but on the other hand, I don’t want our country to collapses under a mountain of debt. If that means compromise, I am going to do everything to get that done.”

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) would start his 2012 reelection race in a weak position if Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning wins the primary, according to a new poll. The survey by Republican firm Magellan Strategies put Nelson 6 points behind Bruning in a general election. But pitted against Don Stenberg, another Republican in the race, Nelson is in a statistical tie. He bests Nebraska state Sen. Deb Fischer (R) by 6 points. Another cause for concern for Nelson, who has not yet announced whether he will seek reelection, is his 36 percent approval rating, which dwarfs the 51 percent who...

H.L. Mencken, I think it was, who uttered the immortal phrase "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public." No one is a greater admirer of the dynamic and generous society that is America, and when I consider all the nations we could have had living next door I often think we won the neighbourhood lotto. But for some reason Mencken's phrase kept echoing in my head when I heard the news about Washington's plan to delay their decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. Folly is too kind a word for this decision. It is the crassest...

Energy Policy: Killing the Keystone XL pipeline may help one of the world's richest men get richer. North Dakota's booming oil fields will now grow more dependent on a railroad the president's economic guru just bought. Stop us if you see a pattern here. About the time George Soros — Hungarian billionaire and key donor to leftist groups and the Democratic Party — invested heavily in the stock of the state-run Brazilian oil company Petrobras, President Obama was curbing U.S. offshore oil production and the U.S. Export-Import Bank announced a $2 billion loan to Petrobras to finance deep-water drilling off...

<p>LINCOLN, Neb. – Days after the Obama administration threatened to delay approval of a planned oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico -- angering unions while appeasing environmentalists -- the company seeking to build the pipeline says it's willing to reroute the project to get it back on track.</p>

<p>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- A University of Nebraska regent says he fears for the safety of the Cornhuskers' football traveling party and fans at Saturday's game at Penn State. He wants assurances a security plan is in place to protect them.</p>

Nelson Opposes Jobs ActReporter: WOWT Posted: 11:32 PM Nov 3, 2011 Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson released this statement after opposing the $58 billion Rebuild America Jobs Act. “While I agree infrastructure is a priority, the most important step Congress can take to create jobs is to get Washington’s fiscal house in order. Given that, the Rebuild America bill goes in the wrong direction because it raises taxes for billions of dollars in new spending,” said Senator Nelson.

<p>A new report claims that Republican presidential contender Herman Cain voted for Democrat Bill Clinton for president in his first run, as well as for two Nebraska Democratic candidates in the past.</p> <p>In a story on the Nebraska Watchdog website, Joe Jordan writes that Mr. Cain supported Mr.Clinton during his 1992 presidential bid, 17 months before he squared off with Mr. Clinton over his push to overhaul the national health care system.</p>

The time is almost here: Interstate 680 between Interstate 29 and the Missouri River is scheduled to reopen at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The roughly three-mile stretch was reduced to rubble this summer by the power of Missouri River floodwaters. Thanks to agreeable weather and 14-hour workdays, contractors beat deadlines for completing the project, which began in late September. A reopening ceremony is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Crescent, Iowa, fire station, at 102 W. Florence St. Those expected to attend include Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Federal Highway Administration Administrator Victor M. Mendez and Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle. Iowa companies...

WASHINGTON — One year ago, during a rally that included AARP Nebraska and others, U.S. Rep. Lee Terry abandoned his support of a proposal President George W. Bush once made to overhaul Social Security, and signed a pledge to back no efforts to privatize Social Security “in whole or in part.”

1. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. 2. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. 3. Jon Tester, D-Mont. 4. Scott Brown, R-Mass. 5. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah 6. Dick Lugar, R-Ind. 7. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio 8. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. 9. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine 10. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

Assuming you aren’t Obama himself, one of the first politicians to come to mind when one thinks of the disaster known as Obamacare is Ben Nelson (D-NE). This job-killing and regulation-creating piece of legislation crap would not be today but for Ben Nelson’s crucial 60th vote to pass it. Going against all of the campaign rhetoric about transparency, not only did Obama not hold the health care negotiations on C-SPAN, it took a few backroom deals among the politicians from the permanent political class to get it done. As such, Ben Nelson became the recipient of a certain “Cornhusker Kickback.”...

COUNCIL BLUFFS — Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle wants Iowa to consider raising the elevation of Interstate 680 just east of Omaha to avoid the type of flood damage that struck the roadway this year. He also asked the Iowa Transportation Commission to consider doing the same for parts of flood-affected Interstate 29. The mayor addressed a commission meeting Tuesday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Council Bluffs. Suttle said western Iowa relies on Eppley Airfield in Omaha, just as Omaha relies on the Interstate system in Iowa.

Nebraska's governor urged U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday to block TransCanada's planned Keystone oil pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, saying it could hurt a regional water source. The State Department could issue a presidential permit for the $7 billion project, which would boost U.S. dependence on Canada's controversial oil sands. Momentum for Keystone picked up last week after the department said the project would have only limited impact on the environment. The State Department should deny the permit on the grounds that the line could put the Ogallala Aquifer at risk, the Midwestern state's governor, Dave Heineman,...

I recently heard an ad on the radio from Let's Move, Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign. It stated that nearly one in three children in American are overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African-American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40 percent of the children are overweight or obese. Then, within the same hour, I heard an ad for the Food Bank of Lincoln stating that one in four children in America are hungry. Looking at their website, this could mean they do not have enough food or are food insecure. The website further noted that the word "hunger"...

Geologist Matt Joeckel displays a core sample of carbonatite rock containing niobium and rare-earth elements, which was taken from a deposit near Elk Creek, Neb., in early February. (Associated Press) Elk Creek, Neb. (population 112), may not be so tiny much longer. Reports suggest that the southeastern Nebraska hamlet may be sitting on the world’s largest untapped deposit of “rare earth” minerals, which have proved to be indispensable to a slew of high-tech and military applications such as laser pointers, stadium lighting, electric car batteries and sophisticated missile-guidance systems.Canada-based Quantum Rare Earths Developments Corp. last week received preliminary results...

In response to Dan Timm's letter published (July 26), Senator Ben Nelson supports a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would require Washington to balance its budget and force cuts in spending. In fact, earlier this year, Senator Nelson voted for a resolution that said, "Congress should pass, and the States should agree to, an amendment to the Constitution requiring a Federal balanced budget." Senator Nelson has said that what he will not do, however, is vote for a plan to balance the budget on the backs of seniors. That is precisely what the balanced budget amendment in...

A conservative group is trying to put pressure on Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson to oppose raising the debt ceiling without significant spending cuts. The national group, Concerned Women for America, have purchased television time in Nebraska and three other states, where they will run an advertisement criticizing Congress' "spending addiction." The ad is a parody of a typical drug commercial. In it, a so-called miracle drug called "Spenditol" has been invented in Washington, D.C., to cure the nation's debt problem. The ad then lists the side effects of the drug, including "a mountain of debt." Penny Nance, president of...

If I told you that your tax dollars (130,000 of them) went to buying a "diversity" manual that asserts the government and other institutions create advantages that "channel wealth and power to white people" and calls on educators to "take action for social justice," what would you do? And if I told you that such a manual was required staff reading in Omaha, NE schools, what would you say? Don’t believe me? Read on to learn about "The Cultural Proficiency Journey: Moving Beyond Ethical Barriers Toward Profound School Change." The book is a manifesto on cultural awareness. But what it...

OMAHA, Neb. — A berm holding the flooded Missouri River back from a Nebraska nuclear power station collapsed early Sunday, but federal regulators said they were monitoring the situation and there was no danger. The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station shut down in early April for refueling, and there is no water inside the plant, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Also, the river is not expected to rise higher than the level the plant was designed to handle. NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said the plant remains safe. The federal commission had inspectors at the plant 20 miles (32 kilometers) north...

A shocking report prepared by Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency (FAAE) on information provided to them by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that the Obama regime has ordered a “total and complete” news blackout relating to any information regarding the near catastrophic meltdown of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant located in Nebraska. According to this report, the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant suffered a “catastrophic loss of cooling” to one of its idle spent fuel rod pools on 7 June after this plant was deluged with water caused by the historic flooding of the Missouri River which resulted...

OPPD Dispels Nuclear Meltdown Rumors In Ft. CalhounOfficials: Fukushima Event Will Not Happen In Ft. Calhoun UPDATED: 10:37 am CDT June 18, 2011 OMAHA, Neb. -- Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman toured the flooded Missouri River this week and saw the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant, seemingly inundated by water. The same image that the governor saw reached the Internet and had led to a wave of rumors. But Omaha Public Power District officials said the images don't tell the whole story. They said the flood water pumped into a giant donut around the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant was put there...

No Fly Zone Over Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant Due to “Hazards” Posted on June 14, 2011 by admin The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction over the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant until further notice due to “Hazards”. This would normally be a precautionary measure after an electrical fire disabled cooling for the spent fuel rod pool as outlined below. The question is why is this still in effect? As reported previously, this facility is surrounded by sand bags as the Missouri River rises. David DeGerolamo Electrical Fire Knocks Out Spent Fuel Cooling at Nebraska Nuclear Plant A...

Persistent Northern Plains rainfall and heavy mountain snowpack is setting the stage for the worst flooding on the Missouri River since 1993, reports Allen Motew, QT Weather meteorologist. These extreme levels of flooding are predicted to last for at least the next month. “The entire Missouri River Basin is flooding – only to get worse over the next several weeks,” Motew reports. “Abnormal rainfall is now expected to continue (or increase for many) across 1000’s of miles and millions of acres over the next eight days, from Alberta to Ohio.” Motew says recent reports show that the Missouri River is...

Please Pray for my as I start my new Short-Term Job Tuesday and I need prayer to be able to pick it up. My Turn-Over wasn't that great.

The "bumbling" President Ford apparently knew that the toast is supposed to end with the words, "the Queen." It is interesting to watch the Queen's reaction in this video and compare it with the one she had yesterday. (Video at link) ML/NJ

Betting on the Wrong Horse to Beat the Old Gray Nag In the pivotal race for Nebraska’s seat in the U.S. Senate, the Tea Party Express bet the store on Jon Bruning, and he responded as if the TPE “endorsement” closed the deal for all TEA Party groups in Nebraska. Wrong. Tea Party Express operatives believe they represent our voice—they do not. TPE has no affiliation in this state. They may have hubris to speak for us, but theirs is a losing strategy. We reject both the tactics and the choice. The TEA Party Express is the fifth wheel on...

...paint, sand, glitter leave $20K in damage to classroomsHOLDREGE — It’s a sad and unexpected ending to the school year for kindergarten students at Franklin Elementary School in Holdrege. Because of vandalism to both kindergarten classrooms at Franklin during the weekend, kindergarten students will not be able to return to their classrooms for the last week of school. Instead, Franklin kindergartners and their parents were informed by a recorded phone call from Franklin Elementary Principal Amber Porter late Sunday night that they will not have school this week. “The damage was severe enough that we cannot have class in the...

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln took a hard blow to its academic reputation when it was kicked out of an organization of the nation’s top research universities this week. It was the first time ever that the now 62-member Association of American Universities had voted to remove a member.

Tim Pawlenty, after being asked yesterday about his support for ethanol subsidies, which is a key issue in Iowa. "We can't just pull the rug out from under the industry," he said. "There are going to have to be some changes, but we have to be fair-minded about it." Earlier this year, the National Review's Katrina Trinko detailed the ethanol records of Mitch Daniels and T-Paw, among others. She found that both were good friends to the industry -- an uncomfortable, ideological brotherhood, but politically-helpful in both Iowa and their own states. When Mitch Daniels was sworn in as governor...

Planned Parenthood to Expand Abortion Biz in Nebraska, Iowa Lincoln, NE -- Fresh from a victory in the Senate to preserve its massive taxpayer funding, a local affiliate of the Planned Parenthood abortion business announced today it plans to expand in Nebraska and Iowa. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/15/planned-parenthood-to-expand-abortion-biz-in-nebraska-iowa/

One of the more intriguing parts of the budget deal announced late last night was a commitment from Harry Reid to allow two floor votes on Republican legislative priorities, both of which would never have otherwise seen in the Senate chamber before 2013. The first is the effort to defund Planned Parenthood, a rider that got stripped out of last night’s final compromise, which would have an uncertain future in the Senate anyway. The second, though, holds a great deal more promise, and a great deal of political risk for Democrats: House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, agreed to remove the...

Down in Austin, Texas, the legislature has in its hopper, a law to keep Islam’s sharia law from being used in Texas. Such laws have cropped up in Alabama, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida and possibly three other states but I have not been able to identify which ones. Oklahoma passed a constitutional amendment against sharia law. It was approved by the citizens with a seventy percent majority. A good firm majority. Unfortunately, one Islamic gentleman filed a federal lawsuit against it. Federal judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange placed an injunction then later ruled it unconstitutional. It...

LINCOLN — Nebraska will keep its split electoral vote system for at least another year, thanks to a split vote in a legislative committee. The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee was divided 4-4 in a straw vote on changing the system, State Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln, the committee chairman, said Thursday. The informal vote marked the latest defeat for Republican efforts to return Nebraska to a winner-take-all system of awarding electoral votes. Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha introduced the latest proposal, Legislative Bill 21. Since 1991, three of Nebraska's five votes have been decided by congressional district. The...

If Sen. Mark Christensen had been making the rules in 1801, Thomas Jefferson would never have been allowed to become president of the United States. Christensen's version of a so-called "birther" bill (LB654), which was discussed Thursday by the Legislature's Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, is one of several across the nation stemming from claims that President Barack Obama failed to meet the constitutional requirement that the president be a "natural born citizen." Christensen's bill not only would require presidential and vice presidential candidates to provide a certified long-form copy of their birth certificates to Nebraska's secretary of state,...

'No person except a natural-born citizen and hellip; shall be eligible for the Office of the President.' This one sentence in the second article of the U.S. Constitution is easily overlooked. It's a constitutional provision that may seem unlikely to e... posted using frpa

LINCOLN — The Atkinson and Arnold State Recreation Areas no longer exist, but one year later, residents and visitors still have places to camp, fish and picnic. The communities assumed control of the former state recreation areas in 2010, a transaction that saved the Game and Parks Commission between $11,000 and $13,000 while generating income for nearby towns and ensuring continued public access......

A district judge in Otoe County, Nebraska has refused to divorce a couple — citing that he was never given that authority. http://considerandhearme.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/judge-declares-divorce-illegal-in-nebraska/

Christensen introduces 'birther bill'Emily Nohr Nebraska News Service Thursday, February 3, 2011 Nebraska has joined several other states in introducing a "birther" bill, a piece of legislation that would require proof of U.S. citizenship from candidates for the nation's highest political offices. The 14-page bill, sponsored by District 44 State Sen. Mark Christensen of Holdrege, would prohibit placing presidential and vice presidential candidates on the state's ballot unless they provide a certified, long-form version of their birth certificate to Nebraska's secretary of state. Christensen's bill would also require candidates to provide their parents' certified long-form birth certificates. If a person's...