Las Vegas news briefs for June 25, 1999

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 11:41 a.m.

Funds to pay for LV Wash probe

The U.S. Geological Survey may get $150,000 to complete studies of chemicals in the Las Vegas Wash that might disrupt the breeding of sport fish.

The funding came in a Senate Appropriations bill that passed from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The full bill must still pass the Senate, Minority Whip Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

Reid said the study was important because the Las Vegas Wash leads to Lake Mead, Southern Nevada's major drinking water source. It is also a popular fishing spot.

The USGS is spending $500,000 to study largemouth bass and other sport fish to see if there is endocrine disruption. An earlier USGS study discovered high levels of female egg-yolk protein in bottom-feeding male carp, prompting further studies. Normal male carp have no female protein in their blood.

2-year-old girl found in Dumpster

North Las Vegas Police found a 2-year-old girl abandoned but not seriously hurt in a Dumpster Thursday afternoon.

The girl was found naked in the Dumpster near the 1000 block of East Carey Avenue, police said.

Originally police thought the child was bleeding, but a closer look revealed that a red substance had rubbed off the Dumpster.

The girl was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center where she was treated and released to her parents.

A man had been seen carrying the girl and is believed to live in the area.

He is described as a man between the ages of 19 and 23 with a brown ponytail. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call police at 633-9111 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

No evidence of foul play discovered

The Clark County coroner's office has found no evidence of foul play in the death of a man found not far from Colorado Avenue near the railroad tracks Tuesday night.

Toxicology reports are expected to show the cause of death for the man, who is believed to have been in his 50s, Metro Police said.

The man's body was found by two people at about 9:45 p.m. near a railroad right-of-way fence line.

Investigators are withholding the man's name as they attempt to notify his relatives.

Homes evacuated as explosive removed

A mobile home park near Cheyenne Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard had to be evacuated Thursday night while the Las Vegas Fire Department bomb squad removed a small amount of dynamite from a mobile home, a Metro Police spokesman said.

Police officers found the explosive while conducting an unrelated search of another mobile home at the Desert Moon Trailer Park, 3310 Las Vegas Blvd. North, police spokesman Steve Meriwether said.

The officers suspended their search and called the bomb squad, Meriwether said.

The park was evacuated for two hours while the dynamite was removed, Meriwether said.

Bryan seeks end to nonprofits' break

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., introduced legislation today to eliminate the current exemption that allows nonprofit organizations running nuclear weapons facilities to escape paying fines for health and safety violations.

Under current law for-profit organizations or contractors such as Bechtel Nevada, which manages the Nevada Test Site, are liable for all health and safety violation fines.

However, nonprofit organizations such as the University of California that administers Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories have been assessed hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last three years for health and safety violations but have not paid the fines because of the exemption.

Bryan's legislation would end that arrangement and force nonprofit managers to pay the fines. The senator intends to offer this legislation as an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2000.

Breslow named to transportation post

Former Sparks Mayor Bruce Breslow today was appointed to the state Transportation Services Authority by Gov. Kenny Guinn.

Breslow, who served two terms as mayor before retiring last month, will take over the $80,000-a-year job Monday. The post has been vacant for nearly six months since Don Soderberg was named to the state Public Utilities Commission.

The authority, composed of three members, regulates the limousine and the household moving industries, plus the taxicab business in Northern Nevada.

Breslow, a former television sportscaster, has been sales and marketing director for D'Andrea, a master-planned golf community in Sparks.

The governor said some of Breslow's key accomplishments were luring more than $100 million in new investment into downtown Sparks and obtaining a $12 million settlement from railroad and oil companies for cleanup of a gravel pit which was converted into a marina park.

Dedication planned on Saturday

A host of political figures and other dignitaries are expected to attend Saturday's ribbon-cutting ceremony for West Las Vegas' new post office at Martin Luther King Boulevard and Wheeler Peak Avenue.

Among those expected to attend the 10 a.m. dedication of the King Station Post Office are Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, both D-Nev., Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Las Vegas City Councilman Gary Reese, Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson-Gates and acting Postmaster Kathrine Nash.

The 28,590-square-foot facility was built on a 4.6-acre parcel in Las Vegas Enterprise Park.