Final speech stresses Nebraska’s positives
NELSON from page 1
extended by an additional 2 percent,
Nelson said.
Some senators have said proposals
for deeper tax cuts overconfidently
assume the economy and revenue col
lections will remain strong.
But Nelson said he was suspicious
such arguments were a front for sena
tors who want to hold on to the revenue
for further spending.
“If we can't give (the surplus) back
in the way of tax cuts, then it shouldn't
be spent.” Nelson said at a press brief
ing Monday morning.
In his speech. Nelson reiterated his
support for returning the surplus to fam
ilies.
“The right course for the state of
Nebraska is to resist the urge to increase
spending, and allow more dollars to stav
with Nebraska families.” he said.
Nelson also emphasized propertv
tax relief, outlining three steps to
achieve tins goal.
The first, setting levy limits on
property tax collections, was enacted
last legislative session.
Nelson's second step was a call to
limit increases in local government
spending to 2.5 percent per year.
“The only wav to achieve true, long
term propertv tax relief is to lower
spending,” he said. "It's time we got the
job done.”
Final lv. Nelson said, the state snould
control the growth in propertv valua
tions. He proposed that a limit of 15 per
cent be placed on the amount that a
property's value could rise m one year.
Assessors should also draw upon five
years of sales data, he said.
Nelson touched on a number of
other proposals in areas such as educa
tion and economic development, health
and human services, law enforcement,
and safety and infrastructure
Foremost among Nelson's educa
tion and economic development pro
posals are a number of initiatives
designed to retain the state’s brightest
students in its work force.
Dubbed the “brain gain” legislation,
the proposal calls for government sup
port of internships, loan forgiveness for
students who work in Nebraska after
graduation and improved marketing of
Nebraska's graduate programs and
career opportunities.
“We can keep our most promising
students in Nebraska by giving them an
incentiv e to study here and stay here,”
he said.
Heading into the home stretch of his
gubernatorial tenure. Nelson vowed to
remain focused and energetically pur
sue his goals - much as Nebraska
Football Coach Tom Osborne
approached his final game in this year's
Orange Bowl.
Nelson also commended University
of Nebraska at Omaha sophomore
Rasheen Coleman, who was recently
named National Youth of the Year for the
Boys and Girls Clubs of.America.
Sen. Doug Kristensen of Minden,
the newly elected speaker of the
Legislature, called Monday's State of
the State speech Nelson's best in eight
years.
He noted, however, that Nelson
avoided discussing contentious social
issues, as well as petition regulations
and a proposed sports arena in Omaha.
Kristensen also took issue with
Nelson's proposal to suppress property
valuations.
He said the state's constitution
requires that these be based on actual
market value and said valuations could
raise a number of problems.
"I'd much rather cap expenditures
than property v aluations," Kristensen
said.
TUP In his recent State of State address.
I IK W I Governor Nelson outlined these 5 goals.
7..
1 MaKina permanent the ten oa'a-v state ,ncome-;a> cut that lawmaxers passed
S* as: vea
2 passing along state ouoge: su'Dius to taxpayer
5 Limiting spending increases for cities, counties and other iocai governments
^ Cont-oliing growtn in property valuations.
5 Passing "brain gam" legislation
•Jon FrankDN
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Matt Miller/Daily Nebraskan
GOV. BEN NELSON gives his eighth and final State of the State speech. He addressed issues such as “brain gain”
legislation and budget surplus.
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Observatory to open
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln Physics and Astronomy
Department will officially open and
dedicate its new UNL Student
Observatory today at 4 p.m. in 211
Brace Laboratory.
The ribbon cutting w ill occur at
4:45 p.m. at the observatory' on the roof
of the Stadium Parking Garage west of
Memorial Stadium
Physics and Astronomy
Department Chairman Roger Kirby.
Professor Eugene Rudd and Associate
Professor Martin Gaskell will speak at
the ceremony, as will Chancellor James
Moeser and Brian Foster, dean of the
College of Art> and Sciences.
The observ atory , paid for by a grant
from the National Science Foundation
and matching university funds, includes
a new telescope and a heated viewing
room.
Undergraduates began using the
telescope last fail for astronomy
research and stargazing. The telescope
is among die most powerful in Lincoln
New directors named
iohn Witkowski vvili become the
new director of the L Diversity of
Nebraska Northeast Research and
Extension Center in Norfolk March 1.
Witkowski now serves as the cen
ter's assistant director.
Witkowski, an Institute of
Agriculture and Natural Resources
entomology specialist and scientist for
more than 20 years, has been cited for
his work in pest management and is a
nationally known expert on the
European com borer.
He also has garnered several state
and national honors, including a U.S.
Department of Agriculture Honors
award in 1995 and a citation as IANR
Distinguished Cooperative Extension
Specialist in 1994.
Witkowski replaces Robert
Fritschen. who is retiring after 35 years
with NU. including five years as the
northeast center director at Concord
The research and extension offices
recently relocated from Concord to the
new Northeast Lifelong Learning
Center at Norfolk.
Alan Baquet will become the new
director of the University of Nebraska's
South Central Research and Extension
Center in Clay Center March 1
Baquet. who specializes in risk
management, now sen es as a professor
and assistant department head in the
Department of Agricultural Economics
and Economics at Montana State
University in Bozeman. Mont.
Baquet joined Montana State
University's Department of
Agricultural Economics in 1985. He
since has received the Rhone-Poulenc,
National Association of Wheat
Growers' Excellence in Extension
Award.
