Robert Crawford wasn’t about to write a run-of-the-mill will.

Not this guy — a man who started a creative thinking course at the University of Nebraska, wrote a book called “Think for Yourself” and worked 30 years as a journalism professor.

His creativity would wind up providing a bright spot in the city’s budget 40 years later, and enable the mayor of Lincoln to do a little creative thinking of his own about what to do with an unexpected gift from a professor who died in 1970.

In 1969, when Crawford set his hand to his last will and testament, he doled out thousands of dollars, a collection of Japanese prints, rare books, two rare Oriental vases, postage stamps, Chinese paintings and a rare African rug.

He directed that Cedars Home of Lincoln receive $1,000 to celebrate holidays and birthdays, the YMCA get $2,000 to furnish its men’s lounge, that four Lincoln churches get $2,000 apiece to hold public organ recitals once annually for the four years after his death and that a Texas woman receive $1,000 every year to take a mountain vacation “in recognition of her splendid services in the teaching profession.”

But his boldest idea was in the final directive: that the remainder of his money be used to create the Robert P. Crawford Trust and be left untouched and allowed to accumulate earnings for 99 years following his death.

Then, and only then, the money could be cashed out and used to purchase land and build a large city park and playground called Crawford Park.

He stipulated that the park be built on “scenic land, near the then-city limits of Lincoln in the direction of its major growth.”

And so when Crawford died in 1970, an estimated $100,000 was deposited into the trust. Through the miracle of compounding interest, the principal had grown to nearly $3 million before the current recession knocked it down to about $2 million.

In the 1970s, city officials figured the fund would grow to about $4 million when it matured in 2069, but it could be worth hundreds of millions by then.

The head of Lincoln’s parks department, Lynn Johnson, said when he would receive the fund’s quarterly reports, he’d think, “Somebody is going to have a great time in 2069 making this happen.”

Johnson didn’t think he’d be around for that.

But recently, U.S. Bank trust officers informed city officials that federal law now dictates that a portion of the trust fund be distributed annually. So this year the city will begin receiving 5 percent of the value of the trust annually. That should amount to nearly $100,000 this year.

The trust officers believe the money can be spent any way the city wants, but Mayor Chris Beutler wants to stick to the spirit of Crawford’s vision.

He proposes the annual payments be used to gradually create an arts corridor —with green spaces, sculptures, recreational areas, playgrounds, museums —along Cornhusker Highway from the airport onto I-180 and into Lincoln.

Similar to what Omaha did with the route to its airport, only grander.

Beutler said such a corridor would improve one of the main entryways into Lincoln — he calls the drive in from the airport “really rather mundane, even dreary” — and build on the private sculptures along the route and the planned Sheldon Gallery branch at the entrance to downtown.

The mayor thinks it would help give Lincoln a better identity.

“We need to have a community discussion,” Beutler said. “Maybe people don’t like the idea.”

The first step will be to create a fund for the money in his municipal budget, which will be released to the public this weekend.

Beutler hopes Crawford’s gift — even if it’s just a small piece of a bigger pie to be served up in 60 years — will help “give people the sense that we’re turning this thing around.”

The story of the curious trust fund was passed down by city officials over the years, and it evolved to the point where legend had it that some math professor wanted to teach the city the value of saving and compounding interest.

But old Lincoln Star clippings make no mention of such lore.

They say Crawford was an Iowa native who worked at the Lincoln Evening Journal for a few years, established a course in agricultural journalism at the University of Nebraska, helped found the University of Nebraska Foundation and served as assistant to the chancellor for two years.

Do you agree with how the city plans to use the money from the Crawford Trust?

Al Franken ascended Tuesday from the ranks of former “Saturday Night Live” comedians to an even more exclusive club, outlasting Republican Norm Coleman in an eight-month recount and courtroom saga to win a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Franken’s victory gives Democrats control of 60 seats in the Senate — the critical number needed to overcome Republican filibusters. When Franken is seated, which could come as early as next week, his party will have a majority not reached on either side of the aisle in some three decades.

“When you win an election this close, you know not one bit of effort went to waste,” Franken said. “The way I see it, I’m not going to Washington to be the 60th Democratic senator, I’m going to Washington to be the second senator from Minnesota.”

Coleman conceded the election hours after a unanimous state Supreme Court ruled that Franken — who moved into politics with books poking fun at conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh — should be certified the winner. In doing so, he pulled the plug on a bitter election that was ultimately decided by 312 votes out of nearly 2.9 million cast.

“Franni and I are so thrilled that we can finally celebrate this victory,” Franken told reporters outside his downtown Minneapolis town house, where he was accompanied by his wife. He added: “I can’t wait to get started.”

Coleman could have carried his fight into federal court, but it was unlikely to overturn the state Supreme Court’s decision. The prospect created months of intrigue over whether Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty would sign an election certificate for Franken if Coleman was still pursing appeals, a possibility that became moot with Coleman’s concession.

“The Supreme Court has made its decision and I will abide by the results,” Coleman said outside his St. Paul home. Appearing relaxed and upbeat, Coleman said he had congratulated Franken, was at peace with the decision and had no regrets about the fight.

“Sure I wanted to win,” said Coleman, who declined to talk about his future and brushed aside a question about whether he would run for governor in 2010. “I thought we had a better case. But the court has spoken.”

After Coleman ended election night ahead by several hundred votes, he called on Franken to concede. The Democrat refused, and the thin margin triggered an automatic recount that ultimately put him ahead by 225 votes. Coleman challenged those results in January, but a review by a three-judge panel expanded Franken’s lead to 312 votes by the time it ended in April.

Coleman appealed to the state’s high court later that month, arguing election officials across Minnesota were inconsistent with rules on absentee ballots, unfairly robbing thousands of people of their votes. But the state’s high court soundly rejected that reasoning, voting 5-0 that there was no reason to apply a more lenient standard in judging absentees, as Coleman wanted, than the law required.

“I think what you had was 12 judges look at this through the canvassing process, through the recount and throughout the trial, and all agreeing unanimously that I won more votes than anybody else in the election,” Franken said. “I think that is conclusive, and I think that this has been as thorough, as painstaking, as transparent as possible.”

Franken has come a long way from the goofy 1980s “SNL” skits where he mocked politicians, portrayed the self-affirming Stuart Smalley and pranced around in little more than a Speedo. His career evolved in the 1990s with books harpooning Limbaugh and he later gained a liberal following as a radio show host on the “Air America” network.

Minnesota has elevated an entertainer to political office before, most notably when it elected ex-pro wrestler Jesse Ventura governor in 1998.

What do you think of the Democrats having a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate?

WASHINGTON — Facing a rare defeat, President Barack Obama put a big dose of political capital on the line and scored a major victory just when he needed one.

In private telephone conversations and last-minute public appeals, Obama leaned heavily on House Democratic holdouts to support the first energy legislation ever designed to curb global warming. The measure ended up passing in dramatic fashion.

In the end, the president’s furious lobbying — coupled with a final push by allies including former Vice President Al Gore — carried much weight. To a certain extent, the victory validated Obama’s governing style — and that could bode well for his other top domestic priority, health care. He faces an even more difficult test in shepherding the energy and climate legislation through the Senate.

“Now my call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this: We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past,” Obama said in his weekend Internet and radio address. He scrapped his talk on his original topic, health care, and recorded the climate bill speech shortly after the Democratic-controlled House backed the measure on a 219-212 vote late Friday.

It was a win Obama certainly needed. Congress was getting ready for a weeklong holiday break and already health care was hanging in the balance. While his popularity remains strong, Obama’s overall ratings have slipped a bit. This restive nation also is wary of some of his proposals, including deficit spending as Obama pumps an enormous amount of money into the economy and elsewhere.

The narrow House vote suggests potential trouble ahead with the Democratic rank-and-file as the White House seeks to tackle more big-ticket issues in Obama’s first year in office; health care tops the list.

As Congress tackles that contentious issue, Obama’s left flank is beating up him and his allies over the effort to overhaul the costly and complex U.S. medical system. Moderate Democrats are looking to forge compromises to pass a measure; liberal critics are dug in over elements they want to see in any legislation. Liberal groups are running ads against senators who won’t publicly support a government program to compete against private insurers.

Democrats have a comfortable House majority. But the climate legislation pitted Democrats who represent East Coast states that have been cleaning up their act against Democrats in the Midwest and other places that rely heavily on coal and industry. They have a longer, more expensive path to meet requirements in the measure.

Senate passage is far from certain, given that Democrats lack the 60 votes needed to cut off a likely filibuster.

Obama’s personal touch — and another dose of his political capital — will be required again.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he didn’t expect Senate action until the fall. “We’re trying to solve a problem that has languished for a decade,” he said.

“I hope it won’t pass the Senate,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on “Fox News Sunday,” claiming the measure would lead to “significant increases in electricity across America.”

On Monday, Obama’s top energy adviser, Carol Browner, told a small group of reporters: “I am confident that comprehensive energy legislation will pass the Senate.” But she refused to speculate on whether Obama would have legislation sent to his desk by year’s end.

In the House, Obama was vindicated — at least for now — with his hands-off approach to accomplishing his legislative goals. He prefers to provide broad policy principles on his priorities, leaving the details to Congress.

Obama acknowledged Sunday that he had reservations about a provision that would penalize trade partners that don’t work to curb pollution. “At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we’ve seen a significant drop in global trade, I think we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there,” he told a group of reporters.

Still, he called the bill “an extraordinary first step.”

He temporarily may have put to rest concerns — expressed publicly by Republicans and privately by Democrats — that he’s trying to do too much: so many policy changes in the midst of a recession and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama has had a string of early successes, the $787 billion economic stimulus among them.

The climate bill victory was different. It was grander. It had international consequences. It perhaps meant more to Obama than the others.

After ignoring global warming for decades, most leading nations now agree it’s an urgent danger. The U.S. public, too, has come to same conclusion in recent years.

Should the Senate pass the climate change bill?

Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop” who once moonwalked above the music world, died Thursday as he prepared for a comeback bid to vanquish nightmare years of sexual scandal and financial calamity. He was 50.

Jackson died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him at his home for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him.

“It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death is unknown until results of the autopsy are known,” his brother Jermaine said. Police said they were investigating, standard procedure in high-profile cases.

Jackson’s death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music’s premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.

His 1982 album “Thriller” — which included the blockbuster hits “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” — is the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.

At the time of his death, Jackson was rehearsing hard for what was to be his greatest comeback: He was scheduled for an unprecedented 50 shows at a London arena, with the first set for July 13.

How does Michael Jackson fit in with the greats of music history?

Also check out the informal GZO blog poll: What's your favorite Michael Jackson song?

Most Nebraska communities will not be able to use their federal stimulus money for roads until next year because of federal regulations that many are calling picky and unnecessary.

Around $78 million in stimulus funding for 23 city and 18 county road projects are affected.

In fact, only one stimulus funding project, in McCook, has been approved for the bidding process.

Construction on many of the other local projects, including Lincoln’s $9.4 million upgrade of arterial streets, will not begin until 2010.

Nebraska won’t lose any roads stimulus funding and all the projects will move forward, said Monty Fredrickson, interim director of the Nebraska Department of Roads.

But the “greater portion of the money is going to pay out next year,” he said.

The projects are being delayed because of two issues: tougher rules for monitoring local projects and for environmental impact documentation.

The state had to develop new regulations and training for local communities after a federal audit in October 2007 indicated weaknesses with the local monitoring of federally funded projects.

The roads department rewrote the rules manual and received federal approval for the 540 pages of rules last week.

Roads department staff, in conjunction with Federal Highway Administration staff, also developed a three-week required course for local employees.

The new process requires every community to have an employee who has taken the class be responsible for monitoring projects.

The first week of training was held last week.

Most local communities also have to redo environmental impact documents for federally funded projects because of federal changes, Fredrickson said.

The two issues held up almost all recent federal funding for local projects, not just stimulus funding. In Lincoln, that amounts to an addition $4.5 million.

But the stimulus funding is the most conspicuous problem because most communities hoped to spend it this year.

The delay in projects and the mountain of rules are frustrating officials across the state.

“We are spending so much time and energy making sure guidelines are in place that we are not repairing any roads. We are just pushing a pencil,” said Larry Dix, executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Officials.

Small-population counties are also frustrated by the new rules requiring all projects to have a local project manager who has finished the three weeks of training, he said.

Only public employees can qualify to be that monitoring person, called a Responsible Charge.

Small counties and towns don’t have full-time employees who can be trained. So they will have to contract with someone who has the training or with a larger community.

And that adds costs to the project and doesn’t get projects done any faster, Dix said.

Local and state officials who work directly with the Federal Highway Administration are loath to criticize the federal hand that feeds them.

The state roads department questioned a number of new requirements, but had to accept those that had a foundation in law, Fredrickson said.

“I hate to beat up on the feds because they hold the purse strings.

“We have to have a partnership, a relationship, because we have a common goal of getting projects done,” he said.

Do federal regulations for stimulus road projects go too far, or are they appropriate?