Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 9:40 a.m.
Reid discusses role of state bases
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., met today with four Nevada military leaders to discuss the role of the state's bases in the war on terrorism.
Reid met with Nellis Air Force Base Col. Del Eulberg, Fallon Naval Air Station Capt. Brad Goetsch, Hawthorne Army Depot Lt. Col. Anne Davis, and Nevada National Guard Maj. Gen. Giles Vanderhoof.
Reid is on the money-spending Appropriations Committee and sits on the military construction and defense appropriations subcommittees, which gives him a position to help funnel federal money to Nevada bases.
Most of the half-hour meeting was spent thanking the military leaders and discussing the bases, not discussing budget matters, Reid said.
After the meeting the four officers said they were overwhelmed by civilian support from a flag-waving public, despite worries in Washington that domestic and foreign support for the war is beginning to wane. Nellis' Eulberg said Nellis was fully "engaged" in war preparations, but offered no details.
More than 200 soldiers and airmen from the Nevada National Guard have been activated since Sept. 11, Reid said.
Bush to nominate Chu to post
President Bush on Thursday said he intends to nominate Margaret S.Y. Chu as director of the Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste, where she will lead the DOE's Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project. The Senate must approve the nomination.
The office was created in 1982 to find a suitable place to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste, and Yucca Mountian, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was selected by Congress in 1987.
DOE scientists and contractors have been studying the site ever since and are preparing a recommendation for the president about the site's suitability. That report is likely due in the next few months.
Chu is director of the Nuclear Waste Management Program Center at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, where she has worked since 1980.
Group criticizes tax breaks
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group on Thursday released a report that slams an energy reform plan passed by the House in August and backed by the Bush administration.
The report is called "Polluter Payday: How the House Energy Plan Benefits Big Oil and Other Polluters At Taxpayers' Expense."
The bill's future is uncertain this year because Congress is focused on terrorism-related bills and budget matters.
The report takes aim at the bill because it offers numerous tax breaks and subsidies to large energy corporations that reported $1.6 trillion in revenues last year.
The energy plan, much of which was recommended in a national energy strategy developed by Vice President Dick Cheney and released in May is "dirty, dangerous and does not deliver for consumers," USPIRG officials said.
The report said the bill offers $2.6 billion in tax breaks and subsidies to revive the nuclear power industry by making it easier to keep old plants open and build new plants.
The group advocates more investment in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal sources.
Woman beaten by intruder
Henderson Police are looking for the man who beat a woman in a home invasion robbery about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday near Windmill Lane and Eastern Avenue.
A man wearing a ski mask and wielding a large stick entered the victim's bedroom and demanded her purse and car keys, police said.
The 56-year-old woman refused, and the man hit her in the face and head with the stick, police said. He then threatened to kill the victim, and she gave him the purse and keys, police said.
The man then locked the woman in a bathroom and left, police said.
The intruder is believed to be white, in his early 20s, about 6 feet tall and 160 pounds. The victim's stolen car is a white 1999 Ford Explorer with license plate 500-ENJ.
Help offered for emergency shelter
North Las Vegas will give up to $10,000 to help open an emergency shelter for the homeless a month early this year.
Las Vegas City Council members on Wednesday voted to give $51,000 to MASH Village, which usually provides 250 beds to the homeless between December and April. It costs about $50,000 each month to run the shelter.
North Las Vegas City Manager Kurt Fritsch said the city has spent $91,550 in federal grants to help the homeless since 1995.
Program expanded to help transition
A $300,000 state program to help imprisoned women prepare for the outside world will be expanded over the next few weeks.
Called REACH -- Responsibility, Education, Accountability, Children, Home -- the program began last month as a pilot program and involved 14 women.
REACH includes a variety of classes and also teaches women how to communicate in a work environment and how to dress for an interview.
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