New Mexico courts U.S. nuclear waste

SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico is touting a rural area of the state as an interim storage site for the country’s high-level nuclear waste, according to a letter issued by Gov. Susana Martinez earlier this month.

The governor reached out to the Obama administration in a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. In the April 10 letter, which was obtained by the Santa Fe New Mexican, Martinez urged officials to consider a 1,000-acre parcel as a place for storing spent radioactive fuel rods from power plants. Martinez also praised southeastern New Mexico residents for being able to “carve out a niche in the nuclear industry.”

The site is about a mile north of US 62/180, halfway between Carlsbad and Hobbs. A consortium of city and county governments says the potential disposal ground could bring jobs and economic growth.

School invites back girl with leukemia

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — The mother of a Michigan girl dismissed from a Catholic school for not meeting academic and attendance standards during leukemia treatments says she’s been invited back but will attend a public school for now.

Barbara McGrath said Sunday that St. Joseph Middle School officials told her that Rose McGrath could return to the Battle Creek school but postponed a meeting to discuss concerns until later this week. Barbara McGrath says her daughter is attending Lakeview Middle School.

The school wrote in a letter addressed to Rose’s father that officials worked with her but absences “hampered her academic performance.” It adds the 12-year-old attended 32 full days this year.

Barbara McGrath says that doesn’t include partial days.