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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1996)
WEDNESDAY «_ -g -a—-^ J WEATHER: T : B _ * I _ _ Today - Cloudy with a I ^ I 60% chance of rain. V If—AT lY^ I ^ 1/ # I f | East wind, 10 to 20 mph. \t I W I / J.^|\/| I I Tonight - Colder with -JL Y JL V^VLyX XWX JL. jnow. Low 75 to20. COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 85 " . TTTT _January 17,1996_ Major cuts necessary, senators say By Matthew Waite Senior Editor Not one senator said Tuesday whether he or she opposed property tax relief or advocated raising income and sales taxes in what will most likely be the coolest of property tax debates of the 1996 session. - But agreement Legislature on a resolution, de * J signed by its spon sors to promote broad debate on property taxes, stopped with a gen eral agreement that a tax shift was not the answer and ma jor cuts in govern ment services were coming. The non-binding resolution, intro duced by Sen. Jerome Warner of Waverly, was the only issue on the agenda for the morning. The body adjourned before senators could vote on the matter. Speaker Ron Withem of Papillion said he would not schedule the resolu tion for today. The issue probably will not come back untilafterFeb. I, when the four property tax measures make their way through different commit tees. The resolution was a general state ment of the Legislature’s intent on the property tax issue. Warner said he See TAX on 3 Task force will sponsor violence forums By Julie Sobczyk Senior Reporter A task force created in the wake of the Lawrence Phillips incident has been researching violence and what groups are more likely tobevictims,a co-chairman said Tuesday. “It’s a delicate issue, when you get into violence and what causes it,” said George Tuck, a UNL news-editorial professor. The 12-member Task Force on Conduct Standards and Behavioral Expectations was appointed by In terim Chancellor Joan Leitzel in No vember after Phillips, an NU football player, assaulted his former girlfriend. The task force primarily has been focusing on campus violence, but other issues such as campus robberies and other crimes were being discussed, said Peg Blake, director of the Uni versity Health Center and co-chair woman of the task force. The task force also has been work ing on a survey on violence, gathering statistics and getting ready to sponsor public forums on campus. Blake said four public forums would be held soon to discuss vio lence on campus. She said the dates, times and locations of the forums would be released after the task force meets bn Friday. “We have set tentative dates,” she said. “We dbn’t want to release them until they are confirmed with the rest of the task force.” Tuck said everyone would be wel come at the forums and that no spe ~ See COMMITTEE on 6 Court rejects Nebraska’s protest By Chad Lorenz Senior fteporter The U.S. Supreme Court Tues day upheld a federal law forcing Nebraska to allow Medicaid funds to be used for abortions in pregnan cies resulting from rape or incest. The court rejected Nebraska’s argument that states participating in the federal Medicaid program had to fund abortions only in cases when the mother’s life was endan gered. “We’re not surprised,” said at torney Lawrence I. Batt, who rep resented the doctor bringing the case against the state. “Every court that has seen this case has agreed with us, and now the Supreme Court has finally put it to bed.” Gov. Ben Nelson said in a state ment that he was disappointed by the ruling and that the court misin terpreted the law’s intent. “The bottom line is that we ob ject to the federal government tell ing us, in this matter and in others, what we as a state must do,” Nelson said. “I think most would agree that the federal mandates are not neces sarily in the best interests of the states.” Under the 1976 Hyde Amend ment, Congress has regulated Medicaid funding of abortions for poor women. From 1981 to 1993, Medicaid paid for abortions only when a woman’s life was at risk. In 1994, Congress required all states to allow Medicaid-funded abortions for victims of rape or incest, but Nebraska refused to pay for those abortions. Dr. William G. Orr and his Omaha obstetrics-gynecology prac tice sued the state in 1994 after officials refused to provide Medic aid for an abortion performed on a woman who had been impregnated from rape. Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, said the state shouldn’t be respon sible for abortions. “We don’t think it’s the state’s duty to pay to kill your child,” Schmit-Albin said. The Hyde Amendment should be limited to saving the lives of mothers, she said. President Clinton included aid for rape and incest victims based on his support for abortion rights, Schmit-Albin said. “I think the state taxpayers should not be forced to pay this expanded version of abortion cov erage.” Susan Hale, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of Council Bluffs, Iowa, said the state would be wrong in denying funds under those circumstances. “It is a tragedy to victimize women who have already been vic tims of rape or incest,” Hale said. “It (Medicaid) needs to be there for those horrendous moments.” Hale said Nelson was being un fair to refuse abortion aid to rape and incest victims while promoting welfare reform in which women didn’t get additional aid for having more children. “This is the height of hypoc risy,” Hale said. “It is immoral of a state to place women in a lose-lose situation.” The Associated Press contributed to this report Travis Heying/DN Laura Valenziano, computer services manager for the Legislature, oversees the Unicameral’s new site on the World Wide Web. Cyber Capitol Legislature’s web site helps inform citizens By Ted Taylor Senior Reporter The Nebraska State Capitol is now open 24 hours a day—with the right key. And everyone with access to the World Wide Web now has it: http:// unicam 1 .lcs.state.ne.us/. Since Jan. 2, the Nebraska Legislature’s web site has allowed citi zens to monitor the day-to-day activ ity of state senators. Thanks to Sen. Don Preister of Omaha* web users can access legisla tive bills* check the daily agenda and tlnd general information about the Unicameral. A priority bill for Preister in 1994, “There were no real added expenses for putting up the web site. We were able to do it because of other projects we had going on. ” LAURA VALENZIANO computer services manager LB1359 was initially killed in com mittee, but was amended, passed and signed by Gov. Ben Nelson as LB 1243 in April of that year. When asked why it took two years to finally get up and going, Preister could only speculate. “Nobody openly admitted it wouldn’t be a good idea,” he said. “But it took two years, so there was obvious opposition.” Laura Valenziano, computer ser vices manager for the Legislature and creator of the web site, said the stale mate couldn’t have been over cost. “It didn’t real ly cost anything,” she said. “There were no real added ex penses for putting up the web site. We were able to do it because of other projects we had going on.” Preister said the time had come for the Unicameral to get in line with other states — such as California — and get on-line. “It was my priority bill in ’94 be cause I thought it was extremely im portant,” he said. “We had the capac ity, capability and resources to make all our legislation available to the pub lic.” Valenziano said the web site would help constituent service. “I think the main thing is that it provides access to legislative deci See ON-LINE on 3