Mineta will leave Cabinet post

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the only Democrat in President Bush’s Cabinet and one of its three remaining original members, will step down July 7.

Mineta, 74, who oversaw the huge transportation security buildup after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, had been plagued at times by back problems and spent months working from home and the hospital. But he has since recovered.

He is “moving on to pursue other challenges,” his spokesman, Robert Johnson, said Friday.

Raleigh, N.C.

Americans’ circle of friends smaller

Nearly one in every four Americans has no close confidant, according to a study that found that the average person’s circle of close friends has shrunk considerably in the last two decades.

The study, published Friday in the American Sociological Review, found that Americans’ social contacts are focusing less on neighbors and more “on the very strong bonds of the nuclear family.”

Possible causes of the shrinking circle of close contacts include an increase in work hours and the influence of Internet communication, the authors said.

The study is based on face-to-face interviews of 1,467 people conducted in 2004, compared with a similar number of interviews conducted in 1985.

Those interviewed in 1985 had an average of almost three confidants they felt they could share important matters with. By 2004 the average was barely two.

The number of people who say they have no one with whom to discuss important matters more than doubled to nearly 25 percent in 2004, up from 10 percent of those surveyed in 1985.

Albuquerque, N.M.

NRC issues license for nuclear facility

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its first license for a major commercial nuclear facility in 30 years Friday, allowing an international consortium to build what would be the nation’s first private fuel source for commercial nuclear power plants.

Construction of the $1.5 billion National Enrichment Facility, under review for the past 2 1/2 years, could begin in August, and the plant could be ready to sell enriched uranium by early 2009, said Jim Ferland, president of the consortium of nuclear companies, Louisiana Energy Services.

The southeastern New Mexico plant would be near the community of Eunice, where support for the project is strong. Critics say it would pollute the environment, guzzle scarce water and leave the town with tons of radioactive waste and nowhere to put it.

Gov. Bill Richardson said Friday that although the state was largely excluded from the licensing process, he expects that an agreement state officials reached with LES will protect New Mexicans and their environment.