Read today's news from around the state and country. Each day in the Roundup we cover politics, always with a side of bold humor. We think politics should be fun, informative and encourage us all to take action.

Now that election season is in full swing across our country and Americans are being inundated with sound-bite slogans, campaign promises, attack ads and "approved messages," something else is becoming very obvious: Americans are frustrated by "the system."  Whether far-left, far-right, or centrist, Democrat, Republican, Green or Independent, citizens everywhere no longer support business as usual.  We are tired of gridlock in Washington.  We are fed up with our state elected officials for valuing campaign contributions over common-sense solutions.  We wonder if our voices really matter or if money truly does talk.

While Nebraskans have witnessed state senators bending over backwards to accommodate a foreign oil pipeline company's every desire, we have demanded action from our leaders.  We have taken matters into our own capable hands a time or two, and we got things done, with the help of a few brave elected officials stepping up to the task.  We launched a New Energy Voter project complete with a Voter Guide and ad pushing on Kerrey and Fischer to do what is right on the pipeline. We got Gov. Heineman to call a special session last year, and we got laws passed in that special session to deal with pipeline routing and siting in our state.  Sometimes we faced tough challenges from TransCanada and their well-funded campaign, sometimes even from those elected to represent us.  

With 6 weeks until the Nov. 6th election, Bold Nebraska--and partner groups including the Nebraska Farmers Union--is excited to launch the New Energy Voter project.

From ads, to billboards, to an online voter guide, Nebraskans will show our power and bring new energy to the voting booth. It all starts at www.nevoter.org:

Climate change. Those two words mean something different to just about everybody. For some, those words mean a threat to their crops and cattle. For some, those words mean a threat to their kid's asthma. For some, those words mean a threat to clean water. The pipeline fights has changed my mind about climate change. Those two words mean Randy, Suz, Bruce, Laura, Tom, Kathy, Calvin...I get it now.

Five bold UNL climate scientists made a clear, scientific-based argument this week on why climate change is real.

Since deciding to run for the unicameral last November, Vern Barrett has held to a daily routine. Each evening he sets out with his wife Nancy for one of the hundreds of communities in his district—which spans Butler, Colfax, and Saunders counties. He walks the streets greeting residents and goes door to door. He sometimes rises early to meet with farmers for breakfast at the Brainard Café, or catches lunch in Schuyler at the Burrito House. In more than nine months of crisscrossing the district, Vern estimates he has met thousands of people. It’s the kind of methodical approach one might expect from the principle founder of UNL’s masters program in Agricultural Leadership Education in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, and an interdepartmental doctoral program in Leadership Studies—but it was one of Vern’s students who convinced him that it wasn’t enough to train others to lead.

Photo by Mary Anne Andrei: Vern Barrett in front of his farmhouse on the old Joe Erickson Farm in Ceresco, Nebraska, where he and his wife Nancy raised their six children.

Read today's news from around the state and country. Each day in the Roundup we cover politics, always with a side of bold humor. We think politics should be fun, informative and encourage us all to take action.

Neal O is back and we could not be happier.

Editor's Note: Neal Obermeyer cartoons reflect the opinions of the cartoonist and not necessarily those of BoldNebraska.org

TransCanada issued a press release (Sept. 5, 9:30am) stating they have submitted a new route to the NE DEQ. The route still crosses vulnerable sandy soil and Ogallala Aquifer.

Background on next steps for pipeline state and federal process, click here.

A large color print of Franklin Delano Roosevelt hangs in the parlor of Fred Christensen’s farmhouse outside Oakland, Nebraska. It’s only a reproduction—a lithograph of the famous painting completed by Frank O. Salisbury in 1935, the one that eventually became the official presidential portrait. But the picture holds special meaning for Fred, because that was the year that the Burt County Public Power District was created. His great uncle, Dudley Beck, was named the first district manager, and a year later his grandfather helped string the power lines. By then Roosevelt had signed the Rural Electrification Act—authored by our own George W. Norris—but Fred’s grandfather and his neighbors couldn’t wait for government work crews to arrive. “They were so excited,” he told me, “that they were out with their horses and their spades and their post diggers. They actually built the line to try and help the linemen get the power to them as soon as they possibly could.”

Photo of Fred Christensen by: Mary Anne Andrei