Nuclear-waste dump off the back burner

After years of delay, the Bush administration will submit a formal license application today to build a nuclear-waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will have three years to review the application, although it could extend that an additional year if needed. The agency's primary responsibility is to determine if the design as proposed will protect public health, safety and the environment.

The Energy Department informed key members of Congress and the NRC of its plans on Monday.

President Bush gave the go-ahead for the Yucca waste repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, six years ago. It is being designed to hold 77,000 tons of waste, mostly used reactor fuel from nuclear power plants.

Washington

Military patients' data compromised

Sensitive information on about 1,000 patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals was exposed in a security breach, sparking identity theft concerns and an investigation by the Army.

Names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and other information were released, hospital officials said Monday. The computer file that was breached did not include information such as medical records, or the diagnosis or prognosis for patients, they said.

The disclosure marked the latest in a series of breaches of government computer records.

Walter Reed officials declined to explain how the information was compromised, pending an ongoing investigation. They would only say that the computer file was found on a "nongovernment, nonsecure computer network."

Tallahassee, Fla.

Law mandates daily exercise

Gov. Charlie Crist has signed a bill requiring Florida elementary schools to provide 30 minutes of continuous exercise daily for their students.

The bill signed into law Monday also requires middle schools offer a daily physical-education class to students in the sixth through eighth grades beginning in fall 2009.

Modesto, Calif.

Report: Latinas' birthrates highest

While Latinas tend to have less education and earn less money than most women, they have the highest birthrates, according to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center.

The fertility rate of Latinas is one-third higher than that of non-Latinas. Immigrant Latinas tend to have the most children, while U.S.-born Latinas have the highest rate of single motherhood.

The report released last month is based on U.S. census data that also show 35 percent of immigrant Latinas who gave birth from 2006 to 2007 were unwed. About 34 percent of non-Latina women in the United States gave birth out of wedlock.

Also

A Los Angeles County fire official said the fire that destroyed sets and attractions at Universal Studios has been ruled an accident.

Seattle Times news services