Nevada

NEVADA VIEWS: Justice for downwinders

Published

7 months ago

June 23, 2024

Between 1951 and 1963, when an international treaty banning above-ground nuclear tests was signed, 100 atmospheric nuclear tests were conducted at the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. While the United States declared its testing program successful in preventing World War III, the people living in the path of the fallout from those tests paid a terrible price.

My family moved to Las Vegas in 1955 and enjoyed an unobstructed view of the atomic blasts from our front yard. A brilliant flash lit up the predawn sky, followed by a mushroom cloud rising up from the desert floor. Like most Southern Nevadans, we were proud to be on the front lines of the Cold War, testing ever-more potent nuclear weapons to deter Soviet aggression. The U.S. government assured us again and again that fallout from the tests was minimal and posed no health risk. We believed what we were told, we drank the Kool-Aid. We also drank the milk from nearby dairies whose cows grazed on irradiated land and produced contaminated milk.

Then people started getting sick. Cancer rates in Southern Nevada and nearby St. George, Utah, were on the rise, as were other health conditions. At age 9, I developed an autoimmune disorder that affected my kidneys throughout adolescence and early adulthood, nearly taking my life on two occasions. It never occurred to the doctors that the exposure to radiation might have played a role. Years later, my father found blood in his urine; six months later, he was dead of bladder cancer.

By then, the federal government had adopted the position that it could not be held responsible for people getting sick and dying, claiming that you couldn’t prove that this case of leukemia or that autoimmune disease was caused by radiation exposure. This argument was successfully employed by the government in a lawsuit filed by the families of four test workers who were exposed to a radiation leak and within two years had all died of leukemia.

In the face of this miscarriage of justice — and to prevent future lawsuits — Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in 1990. Under this statute, the “downwinders” — people exposed to fallout during the above-ground testing — could apply for compensation if they became ill with certain types of cancers or lost family members to those conditions.

Having learned about the legislation only a few years ago, I filed an application. It was not easy, tracking down original documents from 50 years ago. But I persevered, checking every box save one: We had lived in Clark County, most of which was not covered by the act. The Justice Department rejected my application.

The notion that radiation reached the Clark County border and went around the outskirts seems utterly absurd. On a map of counties covered by the legislation, Clark County is a white rectangle surrounded by covered areas, marked by swaths of yellow and green. In retrospect, this seems like a callous attempt by the government to reduce costs by excluding the majority of Las Vegas residents from eligibility.

Nearly all the African American population, who then lived on the Westside and lacked access to quality health care, undoubtedly suffered a disproportionate rate of illness and deaths because of radiation exposure. But if they sought redress under the act, most would have been denied — the map excluded them.

In March, the Senate passed an amendment to extend coverage to Clark County, with the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and other affected populations across the country. This bill, which had widespread bipartisan support, was sent to the House, where it languished for three months. Its opponents, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, are concerned about the cost. They think it’s too broad, and they claim there is insufficient data to justify compensating all the potential claimants.

The National Cancer Institute begs to differ, having linked as many as 212,000 cases of thyroid cancer across the country to exposure to radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests in Nevada. If you want statistics but with a human face, talk to Dr. Laura Shaw, principal investigator for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program and the Nevada Test Site Screening Program. “Many of the patients we see are very ill and have personal and extensive family histories of cancer,” Dr. Shaw said. “Just last week, we screened a mom, daughter and aunt, all with cancer. It’s heartbreaking to hear these stories, and we want to help in any way we can.”

Surely Congress would demonstrate similar concerns for the welfare of the citizens who elected it. Yet the Republican leadership in the House let the clock run out, and the original RECA bill expired June 7.

But there is still time to do the right thing. On behalf of my fellow Nevada downwinders, members of Navajo Nation and all the other individuals and groups who suffered illness and loss as a direct result of the nuclear testing program, I implore Speaker Johnson to bring the Senate’s expansion bill to the floor before Congress adjourns for the summer. Give the people’s representatives a chance to bring a measure of justice to the downwinders and others who even today are fighting desperate battles for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Linda Chase grew up in Las Vegas and currently lives in California.

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Nevada

Missing Southfield girl might be in Nevada with man who just found out he’s her father, police say

Published

3 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Missing Southfield girl might be in Nevada with man who just found out he’s her father, police say

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – A 4-year-old Southfield girl who has been missing for two months might be in Nevada with a man who just found out he’s her father, police said.

Bali Packer was picked up by her biological father, Juwon Madison, on Nov. 10, 2024, and has not been returned to her mother, Timeah Wright-Smith.

Packer was last seen wearing a blue PJ mask shirt, pink hat, pink leggings, and pink boots.

Madison is not listed on Packer’s birth certificate, and no court order in place states he has any parenting time.

He recently discovered that he may have been the father of Packer prior to picking her up with her mother’s permission, who is the sole guardian of the 4-year-old girl.

Madison is believed to have left Michigan and went down to Nevada.

Wright-Smith does not believe Packer is in any danger.

Bali Packer	Details
Eyes	Brown
Age	4
Height	3′3″
Hair	Brown
Weight	3 pounds

Anyone with information should contact the Southfield Police Department at 248-796-550 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Speak Up.

All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous. Click here to submit a tip online.

READ: More Missing in Michigan coverage

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Nevada

Southern Nevada’s desert tortoises getting help to cross the road

Published

11 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Southern Nevada’s desert tortoises getting help to cross the road

Long before Southern Nevada built its winding highways, desert tortoises roamed freely without consequence. For these federally protected animals, crossing the street without a dedicated path could mean a death sentence.

Along a 34-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 93 near Coyote Springs, fencing and underground tortoise crossings will allow for more safe passage.

“We see substantial road mortality and near-misses in this area,” said Kristi Holcomb, Southern Nevada biological supervisor at the Nevada Department of Transportation. “By adding the fencing, we’ll be able to stop the bleed.”

The federal Department of Transportation awarded Nevada’s transportation agency a $16.8 million grant to build 61 wildlife crossings and 68 miles of fencing along the highway. Clark and Lincoln counties, as well as private companies such as the Coyote Springs Investment group, will fund the project in total.

Under the Endangered Species Act, the federal government listed Mojave desert tortoises as threatened in 1990. The project area includes the last unfenced portion of what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers to be the desert tortoise’s “critical habitat.”

In Clark County, some keep desert tortoises as pets, adoptions for which are only authorized through one Nevada nonprofit, the Tortoise Group. Environmentalists in the area have long worried that sprawling solar projects may have an adverse effect on tortoise populations. As many as 1,000 tortoises per square mile inhabited the Mojave Desert before urban development, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

Crossings prevent inbreeding

One major reason that connecting critical habitat across a highway is paramount is to prevent inbreeding, Holcomb said.

“When you build a highway down the middle of a desert tortoise population, they become shy about crossing the highway,” Holcomb said. “By installing tortoise fences, we’ll give the tortoise population a chance to recover.”

Desert tortoises tend to walk parallel to the fences, which will lead them to the crossings they need to go to the other side. Promoting genetic diversity is one way different tortoise populations can be stabilized, Holcomb said.

The Nevada Department of Transportation doesn’t have a set timeline, and the project will need to go through an expedited federal review process to ensure full consideration of environmental effects.

“Be mindful, not only of tortoises that might be on the roadway, but also of our impacts on tortoises,” Holcomb added.

Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.

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Nevada

Nevada women's basketball falls to San Diego State at home 81-62

Published

19 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Nevada women's basketball falls to San Diego State at home 81-62

RENO, Nev. (Nevada Athletics – Nevada women’s basketball returned home Wednesday night, hosting San Diego State and dropping the game to the Aztecs with a final score of 81-62.The Pack struck first with a driving layup by Audrey Roden. Defensively, they held off the Aztecs and didn’t allow them to score until three minutes into the game. It was their only basket through the first four and a half minutes of the opening quarter.

Imbie Jones, Lexie Givens and Izzy Sullivan contributed to a seven-point run that put Nevada up, 9-2, halfway through the first.

San Diego State came back to tie it up before Nevada found itself playing from behind for the first time. With just under two and a half remaining and the Pack down by six, Roden splashed a three to cut into the lead. 30 seconds later, Sullivan hit one of her own.

Heading into the second quarter, the Pack was trailing, 20-18.The Aztecs opened up the second attempting to pull away, going up by six, before the Pack cut it back to two with layups by Olivia Poulivaati and Dymonique Maxie.

Momentum didn’t favor Nevada as San Diego State extended the lead. At halftime, the Pack was down, 43-29.

Into the third quarter, each time Nevada began to cut into the lead, San Diego State extended it again. Both Givens and Roden hit major baskets for the Pack, but they still trailed, 61-48.

Nevada began the final 10 with threes by Givens and Sullivan, followed by a jumper by Roden to cut the lead to 10. Despite the good start to the fourth quarter, the Pack wasn’t able to continue with it, ultimately coming up short.

Givens ended the night leading the Pack in scoring with 17, followed by Roden with 15. Jones led both teams in rebounding with seven.

Nevada will remain at home to host Utah State on Saturday at 1 PM.

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