In the Nation

NEW MEXICO

U.S. nuclear-waste

repository to reopen

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said Wednesday that his department is committed to reopening the federal government's underground nuclear-waste repository in southern New Mexico.

Moniz made assurances to members of a Senate subcommittee during a hearing Wednesday in Washington that resuming operations at the troubled facility would be done with worker safety in mind.

"We're doing all that we can," Moniz said. "At the very beginning, I insisted that we not set schedules before we understood what the issues were. Otherwise, safety could be comprised."

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is the government's only permanent repository for radioactive waste such as contaminated gloves, tools, and clothing from decades of building nuclear bombs. - AP
FLORIDA

Man held in killing

A South Carolina man fatally shot another man in the head, stole his car, then drove to Florida for spring break, Daytona Beach police said. Police arrested Donald Harper Jr., 24, on Tuesday after he led officers on a 20-mile high-speed chase on Interstate 95. The chase ended when Harper crashed. Harper confessed to killing Ronald Brown, 34, Police Chief Mike Chitwood said. - AP
FLORIDA

Termites on steroids

Their love crossed the barrier between species, and now a new kind of termite may be chewing its way through South Florida's houses. Scientists at the University of Florida have confirmed that Asian and Formosan subterranean termites are mating in South Florida. They say the offspring thrive by combining the strongest qualities of their parents. The two species are considered particularly damaging and difficult to control, since they travel underground and burrow up through buildings. - Fort Lauderdale
(Fla.) Sun Sentinel