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Episode 68: What Policy Solutions Should We be Focused On in the Year Ahead?
Free to Offend Episode 68 | Guest: Geoff Lawrence, Director of Research, Nevada Policy At first glance, it seems like divided government should make it harder to get meaningful reforms passed into law … but the truth is, there are still plenty of opportunities. Geoffrey Lawrence, director of research for… Read More
Recent News
Radiation to the Rescue
Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, with the support of so-called consumer activists and some in Congress, has requested greater recall power over meat and poultry products. Glickman and his allies have seized upon recent outbreaks of E. coli bacteria in beef as justifications for greater federal authority over the nation’s food industry. But the current food safety debate all but ignores two critical facts: America already has a safer food supply than any other country, and a measure to make beef even safer—irradiation—is being blocked by the federal government.
Too Cool for School
As Nevada children return to school over the next few weeks, over 3,000 of their fellow students will not be joining them. Nevada’s home-school movement has grown considerably in recent years, from 365 students in 1987 to over 3,000 in 1996. As the public education system continues to perform poorly, many parents are taking it upon themselves to educate their children at home. Nationally, there are now an estimated 1.23 million home-school children. That figure is greater than the combined enrollments of public schools in Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.
The Future is Now for High-Level Nuclear Waste
Nevadans did not plan to deal with high-level nuclear waste shipments until (or if) Yucca Mountain gets approved. But high-level waste is entering the state earlier than expected. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will ship spent nuclear fuel rods from foreign research reactors from Concord through northern Nevada to Idaho Falls starting in 1998. This is not the first time high-level nuclear waste will come through the state, but it is the first time for northern Nevada. All Nevada congressional representatives, along with Governor Miller, have voiced concerns the DOE has yet to tackle. Californians are taking a more active approach—environmentalists and conservative politicians—have joined together to protest the shipments. Nothing can be done to stop the shipments, but politicians are attempting to influence the route the DOE chooses.