Las Vegas news briefs

Friday, Nov. 27, 1998 | 11:32 a.m.

At about 1 p.m. Hector Cruz, 19, and Chadwick Villamor, 19, left the camp.

Cruz is described as a 5-foot-7 Hispanic man about 130 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. Villamor is a 5-foot-7 Asian man about 180 pounds with black hair, brown eyes and a gang symbol on his right hand.

If anyone has any information on the two inmates, they are urged to call Metro police.

STANDOFF -- Metro Police have identified the man who killed himself after a nearly five-hour stand-off Tuesday as 44-year-old Alex Montano.

Montano shot himself in the head after negotiations with police broke down on Tuesday night and tear gas was used to try to end the situation in the 7800 block of Summer Harvest Ave. in northwest Las Vegas, police said.

Montano had broken into his former girlfriend's home with a gun, and police arrived at the home at about 1:45 p.m. A stand-off situation resulted when Monatno put the gun to his head and threatened to kill himself, Lt. Rick Alba said.

STRIP FIRE -- A fire in the kitchen of the Steak House Restaurant in the Circus Circus hotel-casino Wednesday night forced the evacuation of hundreds of guests.

The fire started about 7:15 p.m. and was out by 8 p.m., Clark County Fire Department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

A flare-up on a grill shot flame into a ventilation shaft igniting flames on the roof of the restaurant on the west side of the casino at 2880 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

No injuries were reported in the fire that forced the evacuation of the casino's 800-room west tower, west lobby, casino and midway. Damage from smoke, water and fire is estimated at $55,000, Leinbach said.

DONATION -- The man who recently pledged more than $28.5 million to UNLV's new Boyd School of Law continues to pledge money to Western law schools, with a $50 million pledge to his alma mater at the University of Arizona.

James Rogers, a longtime Las Vegan and the owner of nine Western television stations including Las Vegas' KVBC Channel 3, made the pledge to Arizona this week, bringing his total pledge to the school to $100 million.

The Arizona Board of Regents had agreed to rename the law school in Roger's honor before he doubled his donation to the school.

APPOINTMENT -- Richard Holmes, director of the Clark County Department of Comprehensive Planning, recently was appointed to the National Association of Counties' Environment, Energy and Land Use Steering Committee.

The committee focuses on air, water and noise pollution as well as solid and hazardous waste management and disposal. It also studies the preservation and proper utilization of water resources, energy and the use of land resources.

The association's president, Betty Lou Ward, also selected Holmes to sit on the 38-member Sustainability Leadership Team, whose mission is to help counties work to achieve a livable future.

UNLV -- Two UNLV administrators have received promotions, President Carol Harter announced Tuesday.

Juanita Fain, enrollment management dean, will become vice president of administration, and George Scaduto, assistant vice president for budgets and sponsored programs, will become interim vice president for finance.

The changes were the result of Norval Pohl, the university's current vice president for finance and administration, accepting a position of provost and vice president at the University of North Texas.

Pohl's two assignments here have been divided between Fain and Scaduto, whose former positions will not immediately be filled because of a state hiring freeze.