CITIZEN KOCH coming to the Ross July 11

Events

From the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center:

CITIZEN KOCH, OPENING FRIDAY, July 11 through July 17, 2014

In this searing exposé on the state of democracy in America and the fracturing of the Republican Party, Academy Award-nominated directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water; co-producers of Fahrenheit 9/11 & Bowling for Columbine) follow the money behind the rise of the Tea Party. CITIZEN KOCH investigates the impact of unlimited, anonymous spending by corporations and billionaires on the electoral process, featuring stories of life-long Republicans whose loyalty is tested when their families become collateral damage in the GOP fight to take organized labor out at the knees. Alternately terrifying and funny, CITIZEN KOCH is an essential and powerful portrait of our political times.

Check show times at the Ross.

COINTELPRO expert to speak at Malcolm X Center July 21

Events,

From Progressive Omaha:

Please try to attend this important presentation on behalf of 43-years-incarcerated Edward Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice.)  We are continuing to educate the community to the travesty of justice involved with this case. In particular, the role played by the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) that manipulated evidence and enabled numerous law enforcement agencies to frame and prosecute black activists in the 1960s and 1970s for crimes they didn’t commit.

Michael Richardson is a nationally-recognized research expert on the COINTELPRO and he is coming to Omaha:

The Malcolm X Center
3448 Evans Street, Omaha
July 21, 7 to 9 p.m.

We will open with a spoken-word performance by the great With Love, Felicia (Felicia Webster).  We will pass the hat at the end of the program, and any donations will be given to the Nebraskans for Justice organization, the primary group that has been fighting for the release of Poindexter and we Langa.

Don’t forget these brothers. After 43 years in prison, they are still on the clock. Hope you can attend.  Bring somebody with you.

Thank you,

Walter Brooks

Read more about Progressive Omaha.

NSA spying: A handy review

News

From Vox:

Over the last year, through the revelations of Ed Snowden and independent reporting by others, we’ve learned more and more about the National Security Agency’s spying programs. Indeed, there have now been so many revelations that it can be hard to keep them straight. So here’s a handy guide to the most significant ways the NSA spies on people in the United States and around the world.

Read more.

OPPD plans to retire coal-fired units

News,

From the Omaha World-Herald:

Coal-fired power plants in Nebraska and Iowa are adapting to tightened clean-air rules. Some are shutting down. Others are installing pollution controls or refueling with natural gas. Still others are holding off on major decisions until a new rule limiting carbon dioxide emissions is made final.

The Omaha Public Power District, for its part, isn’t waiting. Thursday, the OPPD board approved a 20-year generation plan that will retire three coal-burning units at the North Omaha Station in 2016, offsetting the loss of power generation with new and expanded efficiency programs.

Read more.

Rally: Save the Clarinda-Page Apartments

Action Alerts,

From Restoration Exchange Omaha:

The 2004 Destination Midtown study showed the No. 1 thing people love about Midtown is its historic buildings. This is an opportunity to get involved to save the Clarinda-Page.

The City Council is supposed to vote on whether to remove landmark status at the July 1 meeting. Your attendance is needed! The whole point of declaring a building a landmark is so that it cannot be torn down. Please help save Omaha’s heritage!

Join us as we rally to gather support to save the Clarinda-Page apartments.

Rally: Save the Clarinda-Page Apartments
Thursday, June 26
4:30 to 6 p.m.
Farnam Street and Turner Boulevard

Learn more: Top Ten Reasons to Save the Clarinda and Page Apartments

Sen. Haar: Nebraska utilities should embrace EPA plan

News,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

On June 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, proposed a plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants.

This ambitious plan presents a great opportunity for the state of Nebraska. Under the plan, all states have to reach a goal of reducing carbon pollution, however they are given the flexibility to find the best ways to reach their goal. Nebraska has a unique opportunity because our state is the only state with public power and we have one of the nation’s best-rated wind resources.

Read more.

Community Discussion on Energy in Stanton June 17

Events,

From Ben Gotschall, Energy Director at BOLD Nebraska:

Nebraska has the potential to be a national leader in renewable energy.

With the recent EPA announcement that Nebraska must reduce its carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2030, clean energy is becoming more important to our state’s economy. People all across Nebraska are eager to learn more and share their own ideas about how to build new energy sources that will keep our land, air, and water clean while strengthening our state’s economy.

Come join Bold Nebraska and the Center for Rural Affairs for a community energy discussion:

Tuesday, June 17, 2014, from 6 to 8 p.m.
The Uptown Brewery
801 10th Street, Stanton, Nebraska

Heavy appetizers provided!

Please RSVP and let us know if you plan to come, so we’ll know how much food to order. RSVP to Virginia Meyer at the Center for Rural Affairs, virginiam@cfra.org or 402-687-2103 ext. 1014.

Topics will include energy generation in Nebraska, renewable energy, local and community-owned energy projects, and much more. Bring a friend and your ideas about how to move Nebraska forward on energy.

See you in Stanton,

Ben Gotschall
Energy Director, Bold Nebraska

Cutting carbon: less expensive than we are led to believe

News,

From Paul Krugman at the New York Times:

Next week the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce new rules designed to limit global warming. Although we don’t know the details yet, anti-environmental groups are already predicting vast costs and economic doom. Don’t believe them. Everything we know suggests that we can achieve large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions at little cost to the economy.

Just ask the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Read the full story.

NY Times: Jane Kleeb vs. the Keystone Pipeline

News,

From the New York Times:

Terry Van Housen had a question. What he wanted to know from the 30 or so other Nebraska farmers and ranchers gathered in February at the York Community Center was this: What do you do with 10,000 dead cows?

That was the number of cattle Van Housen figured could be at risk if the Obama administration permitted the proposed 1,700-mile XL leg of the Keystone pipeline to cut across their state. Bulldozers would dig a trench not far from Van Housen’s feedlot, completing the final phase of the Keystone project and streamlining the current flow of oil from the bitumen mines of Northern Alberta toward refineries on the Gulf Coast of Texas. If the pipe were to leak, Van Housen said, his cattle could die.

Read the full story.