Local news briefs for September 5, 2000

Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2000 | 10:54 a.m.

Man critical after beating

A 31-year-old man was in critical condition after he suffered severe beating outside a northwest Las Vegas apartment complex.

The Las Vegas man was found beaten unconscious outside of the complex in the 800 block of West Monroe Avenue about 2:15 a.m. today. He was taken to University Medical Center and listed in critical condition this morning, Metro Police said.

Complex residents reported hearing an argument and then a fight before the man was found. Investigators do not know what started the fight, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Metro's homicide unit at 229-3521 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.

Telethon raises $54.6 million

The Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon raised a record $54,610,289 in pledges and contributions to help people with neuromuscular diseases.

Southern Nevadans pledged $506,233 over the 21 1/2-hour telethon.

The national total broke last year's record of $53.1 million.

The Labor Day weekend telethon was seen by 75 million viewers in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association held its annual telethon in Las Vegas every year except one between 1973 and 1994, but moved the event to Los Angeles in 1995.

Jailed man charged in death

Metro Police have charged a man already in custody at the Clark County Detention Center for the April homicide of 38-year-old Daniel L. Nichols.

Robert Lloyd Mello, 26, was already at the detention center on a sexual assault charge and has now been booked on a murder charge in connection with the homicide, police said.

Nichols was found dead on April 22 in a trash bin in the area of 2575 Westwind Road, near Lindell and Desert Inn roads, police said.

Quarantine lifted on BC arena

An investigation to determine the origin of an outbreak of swamp fever in a mule in the Boulder City Horseman's Arena is continuing, but the Nevada Department of Agriculture has lifted the quarantine over the building.

In early July a mule at the arena tested positive for equine infectious anemia, or swamp fever, but after an investigation by the state veterinarian it was determined that no other animals in the area had the sickness.

The preliminary investigation indicates the mule came from Oklahoma, and state veterinary officials are tracking its origin, a Department of Agriculture spokesman said.