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Tuesday, March 29, 2011 – Daily News – 7B More radioactive water spills from Japan TOKYO (AP) — Work- ers have discovered new pools of radioactive water leaking from Japan's crip- pled nuclear complex that officials believe are behind soaring levels of radiation spreading to soil and seawa- ter. Crews also detected plu- tonium — a key ingredient in nuclear weapons — in the soil outside the complex, though officials insisted Monday the finding posed no threat to public health. Plutonium is present in the fuel at the complex, which has been leaking radi- ation for more than two weeks, so experts had expected to find traces once crews began searching for evidence of it this week. The Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant was crippled March 11 when a tsunami spawned by a powerful earthquake slammed into Japan's northeastern coast. The huge wave destroyed the power systems needed to cool the nuclear fuel rods in the complex, 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Since then, three of the complex's six reactors are believed to have partially melted down, and emer- gency crews have struggled with everything from mal- functioning pumps to dan- gerous spikes in radiation that have forced temporary evacuations. Time short and tempers flaring in budget showdown WASHINGTON (AP) — With the clock ticking toward a possible govern- ment shutdown, spend- ing-cut talks between Senate Democrats and the Republicans controlling the House have broken off in a whom-do-you-trust battle over legislation to keep operations running for another six months. Democrats have read- ied a proposal to cut $20 billion more from this year's budget, a party offi- cial said, but they haven't yet sent it to House Republicans. That's because they say it's unclear whether the majority Republicans would accept a split-the- difference bargain they'd earlier hinted at or will yield to demands of tea party-backed GOP fresh- men for a tougher mea- sure. The official spoke only on condition of anonymi- ty to discuss internal deliberations. "Republicans refuse to negotiate," Senate Major- ity Leader Harry Reid declared on Monday. "The infighting between the tea party and the rest Auto Recycling Inc. *WILL PAY CASH FOR JUNK CARS* Quality Used Parts for Less 824-2880 10 ACRES OF INVENTORY Highway 99W & Capay Road (Halfway between Corning & Orland) 22521 Capay Road, Corning CA. 96021 Mon-Fri 8am-5pm • Sat. 9am-2pm All Star • DOMESTIC • FOREIGN • PICK-UPS of the Republican Party — including the Republi- can leadership in Con- gress — is keeping our negotiating partner from the negotiating table. And it's pretty hard to negoti- ate without someone else on the other side of the table," the Nevada Demo- crat said. WORLD BRIEFING High gas positions in eastern Libya until the international intervention forced gov- ernment troops to with- draw. Rebels acknowledged Republicans countered that it's the Democrats who have yet to offer a serious plan to wrestle spending under control and that a Democratic offer from last week to cut $11 billion from the bud- get was laced with gim- mickry. Indiana Democrats resume work after weeks- long boycott INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana House Democ- rats who fled the state nearly six weeks ago to protest a Republican agenda they considered an assault on labor unions and public education returned to the Statehouse on Monday after nearly six weeks in Illinois. Minority Leader Patrick Bauer said he and his fellow Democrats ended one of the longest legislative walkouts in recent U.S. history after winning concessions from Republicans over recent weeks on several issues. "We're coming back after softening the radical agenda," said Bauer, D- South Bend, whose return was greeted by cheering union workers. "We won a battle, but we recognize the war goes on." Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma gaveled in the chamber shortly after 5 p.m. EDT, giving the House its first quorum since Democrats fled. "It's refreshing and pleasant to see a full chamber," he said. Libya rebels race for Gadhafi hometown BIN JAWWAD, Libya (AP) — Rebel forces bore down Monday on Moam- mar Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, a key govern- ment stronghold where a brigade headed by one of the Libyan leader's sons was digging in to defend the city and setting the stage for a bloody and possibly decisive battle. The opposition made new headway in its rapid advance westward through oil towns and along stretches of empty desert highway toward Sirte and beyond to the big prize — the capital, Tripoli. But the rebels remain woefully outgunned by Gadhafi's forces, who swept the insurgents from M-F 6am-2pm they could not have held their ground without international air and cruise missile strikes. Libya state television reported new NATO airstrikes after nightfall, targeting "military and civilian targets" in the cities of Garyan and Mizda about 40 miles and 90 miles respectively from Tripoli. NATO insisted that it was seeking only to pro- tect civilians and not to give air cover to an oppo- sition march. But that line looked set to become even more blurred. The airstrikes now are clearly enabling rebels bent on overthrowing Gadhafi to push toward the final line of defense on the road to the capital. Sensitive detectors track radiation; scientists see no danger WASHINGTON (AP) — Traces of radioactive material from the endangered Japanese nuclear plant are being detected from coast to coast in the United States and in Iceland, but amounts continue to be far below levels that would cause health problems. The development of super-sensitive equip- ment to detect radiation is both a blessing and a curse, allowing scien- tists to monitor materi- als released in nuclear accidents, but also caus- ing unnecessary worry, said Kathryn Higley, director of the nuclear engineering and radia- tion health physics at Oregon State Universi- ty. Traces of radioactive cesium and iodine are being reported from Nevada to Vermont, South Carolina to Mass- achusetts, thanks to equipment that Higley says can detect material "many orders of magni- tude below what would be hazardous." The traces of radia- tion outside of Japan are "absolutely of no concern," added Ahmed Hassanein, head of nuclear engineering at the Purdue School of Nuclear Engineering. Curiously, one spot where extremely small amounts of the radioac- tive isotopes were detected was Las Vegas' Atomic Testing Muse- um, about 65 miles from the desert site where the United States tested atomic bombs in the 1950s. THE Call us. And get back to work. 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"When food and gaso- line prices are rising, it causes people to hunker down," said Chris G. Christopher Jr., senior economist at IHS Global Insight. Consumer spending jumped 0.7 percent last month, and personal incomes rose 0.3 percent, the Commerce Depart- ment said Monday. Both gains reflected the cut of two percentage points in the Social Security tax, raising take-home pay. They also illustrated how higher gas prices are stressing household bud- gets. After adjusting for inflation, spending rose just 0.3 percent. After-tax incomes actually fell 0.1 percent. Being rejected is a real pain WASHINGTON (AP) — The pain of rejection is more than just a figure of speech. The regions of the brain that respond to physical pain overlap with those that react to social rejection, accord- ing to a new study that used brain imaging on people involved in roman- tic breakups. "These results give new meaning to the idea that rejection 'hurts,'" wrote psychology profes- sor Ethan Kross of the University of Michigan and his colleagues. Their findings are reported in Tuesday's edition of Pro- ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-author Edward Smith of Columbia Uni- versity explained that the research shows that psy- chological or social events can affect regions of the brain that scientists thought were dedicated to physical pain. In a way, we're saying "it's not a metaphor," Smith said in a telephone interview. Respecting People. Impacting Business YOUR PET FOOD SOURCE 3 1/2 or 4.4 lb Dry Dog Food Avoderm $ Any 699 good thru 3/31/11 345 So. 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