Category Archives: News

County decision fails Whiteclay

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From the Lincoln Journal Star Editorial Board:

Last week, Sheridan County Commissioners could have done the right thing and denied the reissue of liquor licenses to the four beer stores of Whiteclay.

Instead, after just 10 minutes of discussion, the commission voted 3-0 to recommend reissuing licenses to the stores in the remote village with a population of 12 that, year after year, have been allowed to sell the equivalent of 3.5 million cans of beer. Most of the sales are to residents of the legally dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation just across the South Dakota border.

The reservation, home to the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is plagued with alcoholism, crime, poverty and fetal alcohol syndrome — all exacerbated by the easy availability of alcohol in Whiteclay. Shutting the stores down by denying the liquor licenses wouldn’t end those problems, but it would likely reduce them.

Read the full editorial.

Jill Stein: In 2017, Occupy, Resist, Build Power

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From Jill2016.com:

The 2016 Presidential election has left our nation reeling.

Donald Trump’s shock victory is the result of the massive failure of the corporate two-party system, which imposed a whiteout on progressive and independent campaigns while producing the most disliked and untrusted major-party candidates in history.

This toxic election has delivered a uniquely toxic result: right wing extremists, bigots and blowhards will take control of government starting in January, casting a distressing shadow over our future.

As the two-party system hits rock bottom, momentous grassroots struggles are being waged outside the political establishment: at Standing Rock, in the Black Lives Matter movement, the Fight for 15,and more. In these emerging political spaces, we can make this breaking point for the establishment a tipping point towards a new politics for people, planet, and peace over profit.

Greens are uniquely positioned to help lead the way.

Read more.

Join fellow Greens at Occupy Inauguration.

Unicameral cautiously approaches subject of potentially studying effects of climate change

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

In carefully crafted language, a legislative study committee on Wednesday sounded an alert, rather than an alarm, about climate change and set the stage for continuing engagement by the Legislature.

The study committee recommended that the 2017 Legislature establish a climate planning committee to “create an evidence-based, data-driven climate action plan” for the state.

Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm suggested there are “a lot opportunities ahead for Nebraska in wind, solar and biofuels.”

And Sen. Tyson Larson of O’Neill said the Legislature should be able to develop “policies that work for both sides” of the political debate with a focus on the potential for economic growth.

Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha said senators decided to address this “very contentious subject in the Legislature” by approving the initial study by an interim committee co-chaired by a conservative Republican (Larson) and a progressive Democrat (Haar).

And at Wednesday’s news conference in the Capitol Rotunda, Larson said he will introduce a resolution during the 2017 legislative session to authorize creation of the proposed climate planning committee with establishment of guidelines.

That, Mello said, will “continue the process and continue to use an evidence-based approach.”

“We compromised,” Haar said, in reaching the agreement to move forward. “We focused on opportunities for Nebraska.”

Read the full story.

Nebraskans renew vow to fight Keystone XL, if needed

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From InsideClimate News:

President-elect Donald Trump has signaled his plan to move quickly to re-start the Keystone XL pipeline as part of his goal to revive a fossil-fueled future. But his administration would be heading quickly into the same legal and political thicket where the Canada-to-Texas tar sands oil pipeline project was stuck for seven years.

If anything, Keystone’s path forward may be more difficult, because economic pressure for Canadian producers to get the pipeline built has eased. While TransCanada’s Keystone was stuck in limbo, producers found other routes to get oil to the U.S. Gulf coast and Midwest, and on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved two pipelines to export tar sands oil to global markets.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the resolve of about 100 Nebraska landowners who have refused to agree to TransCanada’s right-of-way across their properties. “For us and for a good number of the resisters, this is a fourth- and fifth- generation land holding,” said Jeanne Crumly, whose family owns a ranch and farm in Page, 40 miles south of the South Dakota border. “It’s not a possession. It’s an inheritance. And it comes with responsibilities.”

Read the full story.

Berkshire shareholder resolution: Dump holdings in fossil fuels

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From Nebraskans for Peace:

In the wake of the international publicity the Nebraska Peace Foundation — the 501(c)(3) arm of Nebraskans for Peace — generated with its shareholder resolution at the 2016 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting on April 30th, the foundation has submitted a follow-up resolution for consideration at the forthcoming May 6, 2017 meeting in Omaha.

Earlier this year, in both the 2015 Annual Shareholder Letter and his remarks at the 2016 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting of Shareholders itself, Warren Buffett did the world and the financial community a great service by acknowledging both the reality and the threat of climate change. In fact, he did so not just once, or in passing — he made this message an explicit focus.

In follow-up, a shareholder proposal has been formally submitted for a vote at the 2017 Annual Shareholders Meeting. In it, the Nebraska Peace Foundation asks Mr. Buffett to extend his public and corporate leadership by committing to divest Berkshire Hathaway of its fossil fuel holdings over a 12-year period.

Such a commitment would not endanger Berkshire Hathaway’s near-term profitability; instead, it would send a timely and urgently needed message to the international community that — to avoid the worst effects of climate disruption — the world must earnestly undertake a shift toward renewable energy sources.

Read more from Nebraskans for Peace, including the full proposal.

Nebraskans demand that their State Troopers come home from North Dakota

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Nebraskans who don’t want this state’s troopers responding to anti-pipeline protests in North Dakota slid a wad of petition signatures through the Governor’s Mansion gates Monday.

The two petitions contained names of more than 29,000 people calling for Gov. Pete Ricketts to bring the troopers home, said organizer Joseph Hams, a 21-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student.

“At the very least, I hope he recycles them,” Hams said of the petitions, joking. He added, “I hope that he’s moved by how many people were offended by his actions.”

Thousands of Nebraskans along with people from other states and countries signed the online petitions, one started by Hams and the other by Bold Nebraska.

Read the full story.

Check out Election Central from the Green Party US

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From the Green Party US:

Check out Election Central from the national Green Party all day on election day and into the evening. You can:

Go to Election Central.

Mother Jones on Gov. Ricketts vs. the Retain campaign

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From Mother Jones:

On May 20, 2015, the Nebraska state Legislature voted to repeal the state’s death penalty. When the Republican governor, Pete Ricketts, vetoed the legislation six days later, the Legislature overrode his veto. It was an extraordinary move, making Nebraska the first solidly conservative state in more than 40 years to end the death penalty.

But the victory for death penalty opponents was short-lived. Having failed in his role as governor to protect the death penalty, Ricketts worked to reinstate it in a different capacity: As a man of deep pockets. Ricketts and his billionaire father, Republican megadonor Joe Ricketts, spent $300,000 on an effort to collect enough signatures to put the death penalty question to voters, in the form of a referendum on November 8. The governor donated another $100,000 this fall to fund a campaign to sway voters to reinstate the death penalty.

Read the full story at Mother Jones.

Nebraskans stand with those at Standing Rock

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Flashing signs that read “We Stand with Standing Rock, #NoDAPL” and “Can’t Drink Oil,” about 200 Nebraskans rallied Saturday afternoon at the state Capitol to oppose a controversial pipeline being constructed more than 400 miles away.

Should it be completed, the Dakota Access oil pipeline will run underground in close proximity to the Missouri River, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s main water source. It also would require tearing apart land the tribe considers sacred burial grounds.

Protests escalated last weekend when demonstrators set up camp on private land along the pipeline’s path, and more than 140 people were arrested Thursday.

Quieter protests continued Friday and Saturday.

Lincoln’s rally and march were organized by a 17-year-old high school student.

Read the full story.

What if Jill joined the debate stage?

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From Democracy Now!:

With the presidential election just over four weeks away, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off Sunday night at Washington University in St. Louis in what Politico described as “the ugliest debate in American history.” We play excerpts and expand the debate by giving Green Party nominee Jill Stein a chance to respond to the same questions posed to Trump and Clinton. Stein and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson were excluded from the debate under stringent rules set by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties. We invited both Stein and Johnson to join us on the program; only Stein took us up on the offer.

Watch Jill’s responses or read the transcript.