Excerpts from recent Nebraska daily newspaper editorials on topics of statewide interest.

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Nov. 12

McCook Daily Gazette on census jobs, census duties

MCCOOK - "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." It's an old joke, but in this case, it's the truth.

Vic Gentry, LCO manager of the North Platte office of the U.S. Census Bureau, hopes western Nebraska's independent streak doesn't keep residents from participating in an important project that has long-term benefits for the region.

Gentry, in town last week looking for 5,000 applicants for the 1,000 jobs needed in this end of the state, said that for every person counted in the 2010 census, $1,114 comes into the state in federal funding.

However, for every 1 percent of the population that doesn't respond, the government spends $90 million trying to follow up.

"That's money that comes right our of our pocket," he said. ...

Considering the impact the census will have on our communities, it's important that we count every person possible during the upcoming tally. ...

As the census site notes, each question helps to determine how more than $400 billion will be allocated to communities across the country.

Plus, an accurate count is essential as the decline in population threatens Nebraska's 3rd District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Even if you can't help take the census, you have an important role to play. Fill out the short, 10-question form as soon as you receive it next spring, accounting for every person living at your residence on April 1, 2010, and mail it back in the prepaid envelope.

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Nov. 16

Lincoln Journal Star on re-enrollments in CRP

LINCOLN - The Obama administration should act quickly to reopen the door to re-enrollment in one of the most valuable land conservation programs in history.

Potential already is high for the most dramatic loss of grasslands in the Midwest since the sodbusters swept across the prairie. The change already is signaled occasionally by smoke from a prescribed burn as landowners prepare to convert the land to crops.

The 2008 farm bill called for a reduction in Conservation Reserve Program land from 40 million acres to 32 million. That goal already has been achieved.

Opening the door to re-enrollment would begin to stem the loss.

In Nebraska, 134,338 CRP acres expire this year. Next year 187,552 are scheduled to expire. In 2011, 151,482 are set to expire. ...

CRP ... pays farmers for taking fragile, easily erodible land out of crop production.

Today some of its staunchest supporters are wildlife and conservation groups. The program gets high marks from conservation groups for protecting land near rivers and streams from erosion and for creating wildlife habitat. ...

To be sure, the program has its critics. Notably, the program is sometimes the culprit when celebrities and millionaires get farm-subsidy checks from the government. ...

Even though some of the CRP funds go to wealthy individuals, the ecological benefit of the program cannot be denied. ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture should open the door to re-enrollment. It took years to establish the deep root system that lies beneath the grasses that ripple in the prairie wind, but it will take only a few days to destroy it.

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Nov. 17

The Grand Island Independent on scenic Nebraska Highway 2

GRAND ISLAND - Highway 2 from Grand Island to Alliance is a beautiful drive that shows the transition from the Platte River Valley to the Sandhills, two of most distinctive geographical features of Nebraska.

For those who think that Nebraska is just a flat land of cornfields, which is the view from Interstate 80, the Sandhills are stunning. Their stark beauty and the variety of formations make for a captivating journey.

That's why it was a great idea for the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byways organization to seek recognition of the 272-mile route as the state's first national scenic byway.

However, the bid was rejected by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Sandhills group is now planning to meet with state and congressional officials to see what they can do to reverse that rejection. That task has been made more difficult since the DOT has failed to give a reason for turning down the bid. ...

While many people know of the route, a designation as a national scenic byway will get it on the map, so to speak, for those who love to drive beautiful areas of the country. This will give a tremendous boost to tourism in the area. ...

Nebraska needs to look for ways to market Sandhills as a scenic area, and getting a national designation as a scenic byway would be a big step toward achieving that goal.

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Nov. 18

Omaha World-Herald on the state's sound policy on stem-cell research`

OMAHA - Since 2001, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents has agreed that NU should follow federal guidelines on stem-cell research. That has been a sensible policy, and it's one the regents should continue.

The current guidelines under the national Institutes of Health have a variety of constraints. ...

Nebraska policymakers, to their credit, have worked to approach the stem-cell issue in a deliberative, levelheaded fashion. In addition to the regents' policy, the Nebraska Legislature voted 49-0 in 2008 to approve consensus legislation, Legislative Bill 606, that was negotiated and sponsored by a Catholic state senator from Omaha and received support from pro-life groups as well as NU. Gov. Dave Heineman signed LB606 into law.

LB606 ... commendably allowed NU to proceed with stem-cell research as long as it was kept within sensible ethical boundaries. Under it, no NU researchers can destroy human embryos or create cloned embryos for research or reproduction. ...

Chancellor Harold Maurer of the University of Nebraska Medical Center has voiced concern about the future of UNMC if researchers are prohibited from using cell lines allowed under current NIH guidelines. Such a prohibition, he notes, would shut off UNMC from applying for any of the $170 million available in federal funds for embryonic stem-cell research. ...

The NU regents would do well to maintain the 2001 policy on stem-cell research. Such an approach would continue the careful, sensible stance that Nebraska has taken on this issue.

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