State News

Associated Press

Nevada senators, energy chief to see plutonium holding site

LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s U.S. senators and Energy Secretary Rick Perry plan to visit a site where the federal government is handling weapons-grade plutonium shipped to the state from South Carolina.

A Nevada National Security Site spokesman said Wednesday the Friday tour of the Device Assembly Facility and briefings involving Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen will be closed to the media and public.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports Nuclear National Security Administration chief Lisa Gordon-Hagerty will also be on the tour.

Cortez Masto announced the visit last week when she said Perry pledged the federal government would begin in 2021 to remove the highly radioactive material from the former national nuclear proving ground 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Las Vegas.

Cortez Masto says Perry also promised no more plutonium from the Savannah River Site would be moved into Nevada.

Assembly panel considers rewrite to Nevada abortion laws

CARSON CITY — A legislative panel on Wednesday heard a Nevada bill that would rewrite the state’s abortion laws and remove a requirement that physicians tell a pregnant woman about the “emotional implications” of an abortion.

Bill sponsor Democratic Sen. Yvanna Cancela told the panel that the Senate-approved legislation would not prevent a physician from having a conversation about any mental health side effects, but it would not mandate that conversation under state law.

The bill would also do away with a criminal penalty for anyone who causes an abortion without the advice of a physician. It also repeals a requirement that a pregnant woman consent to an abortion without being coerced.

Republican Assemblywoman Robin Titus raised concerns over repealing a requirement that physicians “certify in writing” a pregnant woman’s age.

Cancela countered that it doesn’t seem necessary to have a woman disclose her age.

“Especially considering that our laws do not prevent a woman, regardless of her age, from accessing an abortion,” she said.