Book Review
The Franklin Cover-up: Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska, by John W. DeCamp. The shut-down of Omaha, Nebraska's Franklin Community Federal Credit Union, raided by federal agencies in November 1988, sent shock waves all the way to Washington, D.C. $40 million was missing. The credit union's manager: Republican Party activist Lawrence E. "Larry" King, Jr., behind whose rise to fame and riches stood powerful figures in Nebraska politics and business, and in the nation's capital. In the face of opposition from local and state law enforcement, from the FBI, and from the powerful Omaha World-Herald newspaper, a special Franklin committee of the Nebraska Legislature launched its own probe. What looked like a financial swindle, soon exploded into a hideous tale of drugs, Iran-Contra money-laundering, a nationwide child abuse ring, and ritual murder.Nineteen months later, the legislative committee's chief investigator died - suddenly, and violently, like more than a dozen other people linked to the Franklin case.
Author John DeCamp knows the Franklin scandal from the inside. In 1990, his "DeCamp memo" first publicly named the alleged high-ranking abusers. Today, he is attorney for two of the abuse victims. Using documentation never before made public, DeCamp lays bare not only the crimes, but the cover-up - a textbook case of how dangerous the corruption of institutions of government, and the press, can be. In its sweep and in what it portends for the nation, the Franklin cover-up followed the ugly precedent of the Warren Commission.
During 16 years in office, former state Senator John DeCamp was cited, even by his enemies at the World Herald, as one of the most effective legislators in Nebraska history. A highly decorated Vietnam War veteran, in 1975 he initiated Operation Baby Lift, which evacuated 2,800 orphaned Vietnamese children. He practices law in Lincoln, Nebraska, is married, and is the father of four children.
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What in the world is happening in the middle of the United States right now? Thousands of birds are falling dead from the skies, tens of thousands of fish are washing up on shore dead, earthquakes are popping up in weird and unexpected places and people are starting to get really freaked out about all of this. Well, one theory is that the New Madrid fault zone is coming to life. The New Madrid fault zone is six times bigger than the San Andreas fault zone in California and it covers portions of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi. The biggest earthquakes in the history of the United States were caused by the New Madrid fault. Now there are fears that the New Madrid fault zone could be coming to life again, and if a "killer earthquake" does strike it could change all of our lives forever.
In the past year, several mountain lions have been wandering through Kansas.
High Country News - At the end of the 19th century, historian Frederick Jackson Turner famously announced the closing of the American frontier. The Homestead Act had lured settlers with offers of free land and boosted population density in the West to more than two people per square mile, the metric used to gauge frontier status.
Use of the water from the Republican River is governed by a 1943 compact between Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. Colorado was allotted 11 percent of the water, while Kansas was allotted 40 percent and Nebraska 49 percent. Kansas filed a lawsuit against Nebraska with the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998, accusing Nebraska of using more than its share. A settlement was reached in 2003 but Kansas officials are contending that during 2005 and 2006 Nebraska used 25.7 billion gallons more than its share. (That's enough water to supply a city of 100,000 people for ten years.)
Reuters - Sales of everything from compact tractors to combines have jumped at Jim Lichtenberg’s Nebraska store this year as farmers try to make the most of a boom in corn and soybean prices. “Yields were good this year and crop prices are real good right now, so guys have been spending some money,” said Mr. Lichtenberg, who has worked as a salesman for Johnson Farm Equipment in Fremont for 10 years. He estimates sales have risen by as much as 40 per cent this year.