“Falletta Conducts ‘Pines of Rome'”
Omaha, NE—Omaha Symphony welcomes guest conductor Maestra JoAnn Falletta, and guest violinist, Blake Pouliot, for a performance this weekend in homage to Rome. Maestra Falletta, the only female conductor of a top 40 orchestra, will lead the orchestra in the works of Berlioz and Respighi.
Road to Omaha – Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
Omaha, NE – On today’s episode of “Road to Omaha,” KVNO’s Brandon McDermott spoke with Oral Roberts head coach Ryan Folmar.
Water conservation and climate change on the agenda
April 24th, 2013
Lincoln, NE – The bill is sponsored by Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial. It says if the Department of Natural Resources prohibits farmers from using surface water for irrigation, it should provide them reasonable compensation.
[audio:https://kvnonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Legislature-0423-KVNO01.mp3]Christensen said the department is limiting irrigation this year in order to keep enough water in the Republican River not to violate an interstate compact with Kansas. Irrigation adds about $600 an acre to the value of crops that can be produced, Christensen said, but his proposal limits payments to farmers to $300 an acre:
“Its about half of what it should be,†said Christensen. “I’ve got a lot of very unhappy farmers that I’ve been that aggressive on limiting the amount, but at the same time I’m working with them to say, y’know, we’ve got to work with the state we’ve got to keep the state in compliance, and we also have to meet our obligations,†said Christensen.
Sen. Tom Carlson of Holdrege, chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, said the bill tries to address a question of fairness between surface water irrigators, who use water from rivers and streams, and ground water irrigators, who use wells:
“If an individual that’s used to using surface water for irrigation and has no well, and doesn’t get any water, the neighbor has a well and will be able to pump a full allocation,†said Carlson. “So there’s water available. That’s pretty tough to take when you look across the fence and you can’t irrigate, and your neighbor can,†said Carlson
Carlson also noted that surface-water irrigators in the area are suing the state, and said he might not continue to support the bill if that continues. Omaha Sen. Steve Lathrop said he sympathizes with farmers’ need to irrigate. But he said there needs to be a better plan for managing water in the Republican River Basin:
“Until we address the problem, we will have every year somebody coming back to the Legislature to say ‘I didn’t get to use water,†said Lathrop. “Somebody needs to pay me because I didn’t get to use water. My water, the water I would have irrigated with, has to go down to Kansas. So somebody needs to pay me,†said Lathrop.
Lathrop said he hopes to amend another bill later to allow the state to determine if water in the Republican basin is over-appropriated, which would give it more management authority. Senators then gave the bill first round approval on a vote of 27-0. On another matter, senators gave first round approval to a proposal to study the effect of climate change on the state and make recommendations. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm.
“My bill deals with climate change,†said Haar. “It’s here, it’s happening, and we will have to adapt. What LB 583 comes down to is what does science tells us long term so we can plan and we can adapt?†said Haar.
Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha disputed the bill’s premise:
Nebraska Senator Beau McCoy of the 39th district (photo courtesy of Nebraska Legislature)
“I for one – this is a philosophical position – don’t subscribe to global warming – that theory. I think there are normal, cyclical, rhythmic climate changes that are not caused by man-made attempts,†said McCoy.
McCoy succeeded with an amendment inserting the word “cyclical†before climate change. The bill calls for the state’s existing Climate Assessment Response Committee, which studies drought, to report by Dec. 1 of next year. It advanced on a vote of 35-0.
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