Etc., etc., etc. …...

Coming in future issues…..

Progress Report on Fontenelle Trees

Nebraska Byways:
Stories about
Nebraskans

WESTERN ARCTIC
GETS REPRIEVE

NRDC and our partners have scored a major courtroom victory for Arctic wildlife. In late September, a federal judge blocked the Bush administration from proceeding with oil and gas development in more than 1 million acres in the Western Arctic Reserve, including a pristine nesting area for migratory birds and the calving grounds for the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd.

The court ruled that the Interior Department failed to consider the cumulative environmental impacts of oil and gas drilling on this sensitive ecosystem. In tandem with our courtroom campaign, BioGems Defenders have sent more than 100,000 messages urging the Bush administration and Congress to uphold protections for important habitat areas within the reserve.

COURT UPHOLDS STRICT LIMITS ON DEADLY SONAR

A federal appeals court has rejected the Bush administration's attempt to turn back a landmark NRDC courtroom win that limits the peacetime deployment of a powerful low-frequency active sonar system. According to the Navy's own studies, the LFA sonar system generates noise so intense that dangerous levels of sound travel more than 300 miles -- posing a deadly threat to whole populations of whales and other marine mammals that depend on their hearing to survive.

Three years ago, a lower federal court sided with NRDC and our partners and ruled that the Navy's plan to deploy this powerful new sonar system across 75 percent of the world's oceans violated a host of federal laws. In the wake of the appeal court's decision, the Navy must continue to adhere to an agreement with NRDC, which limits LFA testing and training to an area in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

More WPA stories about Nebraska by Nebraskans

Georgia has apparently decided to seek the Libertarian Party's Presidential nomination. Despite reports to the contrary that Barr plans to run as an Independent, he will announce his plans this weekend in a keynote address at a regional Libertarian Party convention. "I am planning to address the delegates and I will say I am not planning on wasting their time. I am planning to have something fairly significant to say," Barr told CNN. "Sure, it will hurt [McCain]. We'll just have to see how much," South Carolina GOP Chair Katon Dawson told the Washington Times…….The AP reports former pro wrestler and former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (Independent) claims he has no future plans of returning to politics but -- then again -- he admits he's giving some thought to the race against US Senator Norm Coleman (R). "I've learned after 56 years you never say never. I have no intention at this point in time [of running], but who knows, that could change ... [I'm watching the Senate race with interest, and] I'm not very pleased with either [Coleman or challenger Al Franken (D)] …...

U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson: Phone: (202) 224-6551  Fax: (202) 228-001240, Suite 5 Dirksen Basement (Temp)
Washington, DC 20510
senator@bennelson.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel: Phone: (202) 224-4224  Fax: (202) 224-5213
346 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
chuck_hagel@hagel.senate.gov
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry: Phone: (202) 225-4806, Fax (202) 225-5686   1517 Longworth House Office Bldg. Washington,DC 20515
Rep. Lee Terry:Phone: (202) 225-4155  Fax: (202) 226-5452  1513 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
talk2lee@mail.house.gov
Rep. Adrian Smith 503 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515
Phone:(202) 225-6435
Fax:(202) 225-0207

SEC. B, p2
Senate Moments

SEC. B, p3
HISTORY
SCRAMBLE