Group urges no entreprenuer cuts

LINCOLN -- Supporters of rural programs that help entrepreneurs urged state senators in a letter Thursday to avoid further cuts in the Microenterprise Development Act and the Building Entrepreneurial Communities Act.

Chuck Hassebrook, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons, Neb., said the two programs already experienced fund decreases of two-thirds and one-fourth, respectively, last spring.

Further funding cuts in the current special session of the Legislature, Hassebrook said, would ruin "proven strategies" for economic growth in rural communities.

-- Paul Hammel