Washington briefs for March 16, 2001

Friday, March 16, 2001 | 11:53 a.m.

State may add bankruptcy judge

Nevada will get a fourth U.S. bankruptcy judge if President Bush signs a sweeping bankruptcy reform bill passed by the Senate Thursday. The creation of a new opening on the federal bench will help the state cope with an increasing backlog of cases handled in Las Vegas and Reno. Bankruptcy cases grew 226 percent between 1990 and 1999, according Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Nevada's bankruptcy judges had a case filing rate of 1,602 per judge last year. The national average is 1,315.

"The current bankruptcy judges came to us and asked for our assistance, and we recognized an opportunity to immediately help ease the court's burden by attaching this legislation to the bankruptcy bill," Reid said in a statement.

Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., persuaded the bankruptcy bill's managers to include the new Nevada judge in the bill, which the House already approved and Bush is expected to sign.

Gibbons seeks funds for Raptors

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., this week called on Congress to increase spending on the controversial F-22 Raptors, the next generation fighter. Gibbons, a former Air Force combat pilot, is urging his colleagues to increase an order of 339 of the planes to 750, which the Department of Defense had initially requested. Gibbons also called for an upgrade in the target location technology of the aircraft, creating a new F-22X. He said buying 750 of the planes would lower the cost of each fighter to about $75 million. Critics have said the cost of each F-22 could be as much as $200 million. Some of the jets eventually would be tested at Nellis Air Force Base.

The jet has been the subject of much debate among defense officials and some members in Congress. Critics say the plane is not necessary because the United States already has air superiority. They questioned the viability of the jet's technology.