IN BRIEF

     Las Vegas hearings
     on bills scheduled
     
      CARSON CITY -- Southern Nevadans will have a chance Friday to testify on bills that propose changing the role of the Las Vegas mayor and increasing penalties for abuse of the elderly.
      The Assembly Government Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing on the mayoral bill at 9:30 a.m. Friday in Room 4401 of the Sawyer Building. The Assembly Judiciary Committee also meets at 9:30 a.m. in Room 4412-A of the same building.
      Government Affairs Chairman Doug Bache, D-Las Vegas, said the mayoral bill provisions are patterned after the role of the mayor in Sparks.
      Under the bill, the Las Vegas mayor would not have a vote in City Council decisions except to break a tie or veto council actions.
      Judiciary Chairman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, said elderly abuse has become a increasing problem in the state. Between 1980 and 1994, Nevada's elderly population was the fastest growing in the country.
      The panel will take public comment on problems the elderly face between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.
     
     Activists protest
     at Nevada Test Site
     
      Fifteen anti-nuclear activists gathered outside the Mercury entrance to the Nevada Test Site on Wednesday, holding signs and banners as workers arrived, a leader of the group that staged the protest said.
      A Department of Energy spokesman in Las Vegas said no arrests were made.
      David Buer, a spokesman for the Nevada Desert Experience, said the 15 activists held a vigil early Wednesday to mark the second month of what he called a "peace encampment."
      Buer said protesters traveled from Las Vegas and several states to attend the event at the test site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
      He said some of the signs urged the Department of Energy to cancel subcritical nuclear experiments that have been planned for below-ground detonation.
      The agency has said it intends to conduct the so-called subcritical or zero-yield experiments, which involve small amounts of nuclear materials but stop short of eruptive, nuclear chain reactions.