Aerial view of Yucca Mountain"The State of Nevada faces almost a billion dollar budget shortfall," reports Edward Lawrence. "The Nuclear Energy Institute says there is a solution ... but it comes with one very large string attached" -- that the state end opposition to the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. "In exchange for dropping any objection to shipping the waste here, [NEI's Paul] Seidler says Nevada can get access to the nuclear waste fund." That fund, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Energy, has a balance of "more than $20 billion." An Energy Department spokesperson agreed that "even though a benefit package clause in the original Nuclear Waste Act expired, nothing prevents the state from starting a negotiation that could be worth $1 billion a year." But Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons said he would "not sell away the safety of the state to the Yucca Mountain proponents." In related news, the law firm "awarded a four-year $47.7 million contract to shepherd the licensing for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, has acknowledged conflicts of interest," reports ABC. The firm, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, is "seeking damage payments from the government" for its utility clients, on nuclear waste issues, and has also lobbied for NEI.

U.S. PR firms seem to be doing well despite uncertain economic times, at least for now. The annual Best Practices Benchmarking Survey by StevensGouldPincus showed that while the industry didn't match its 22% growth of 2006, in 2007 they still managed a 19.7% average profit.The survey found "a remarkable average of $221,388 per professional in annual billings and a huge jump in average monthly fee minimums to $14,000 from $10,000 one year earlier. "But other indications in the survey might point to leaner times ahead. Billable hours as well as account managers' salaries and bonuses were flat, and overhead costs were starting to rise. Total labor costs rose 1% over the previous year.

Americans think that doctors are influenced by drug companies and want to know about gifts given to their healthcare provider, according to a national survey by the non-profit Prescription Project. Over two-thirds of those surveyed would support legislation that would require drug companies to disclose gifts to doctors. But only about a third said that they would ask their physician about his or her relationships with the pharmaceutical industry. Two-thirds said that they would rather have experts with no ties to the drug companies give doctors information on drugs, as a hopefully more objective alternative to the current marketing-driven system. As CMD previously reported, the state of Massachusetts is considering legislation to ban perks given by drug companies to physicians.

Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at the type of attacks Barack Obama can expect, PR firms' involvement in the crisis in Zimbabwe, and cross marketing of bottled water and video games. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we look at the client list of global marketing giant Young and Rubicam. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

When the major American tobacco companies signed the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with the 46 states who sued to recover the costs of treating sick smokers, the companies agreed to nominal advertising restrictions and massive yearly payouts to the states. Lawyers who made money on the settlement began donating heavily to the Democratic Party, which opposes the corporate-organized "tort reform movement" that works to block such suits in the future. The massive lawsuit, subsequent settlement and increased donations to the Democratic Party (particularly in the South) sparked a vicious, under-the-radar war between Southern Democrats, the Republican Party and its corporate allies. Raw Story exposes the serious repercussions the tobacco settlement has had on the integrity of U.S. elections, particularly in the Southern U.S., as the Republican Party and corporate interests seek to cut off Democratic donations and exact retribution on lawyers and public officials involved in the original lawsuit.