News briefs for October 30, 2001

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

Gibbons proposes tax breaks

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., today co-signed a bill aimed at putting more passengers on airplanes by making trips tax deductible.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., would allow individuals a $1,000 tax deduction for money spent on travel, hotels and rental cars within the United States. It would give joint filers a $2,000 deduction.

The bill includes other provisions designed to aid the ailing tourism industry. One measure would allow business meals to be 80 percent tax deductible until Dec. 31, 2002, up from the current 50 percent. Another provision allows people to make an additional $500 tax deduction, $1,000 for joint filers, for entertainment and lodging purchased in New York City.

E-mail, faxes preferred

Nevada's congressional delegation -- Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign and Reps. Shelley Berkley and Jim Gibbons -- have asked Nevadans to use e-mail and fax to communicate with them until the mail system on Capitol Hill returns to normal.

The mail distribution system of the House of Representatives was halted almost two weeks ago, when an anthrax-tainted letter was found in the office of Senate Majority leader Tom Dashle.

Reid website: reid.senate.gov; fax: (202) 224-7362. Ensign website: ensign.senate.gov; fax: (202) 228-2193. Berkley website: www.house.gov/berkley/; fax: (202) 225-5679. Gibbons website: www.house.gov/gibbons/; fax: (202) 225-3119.

All websites have links to the Congress members' e-mail.

All members of the delegation can be reached by calling the Capitol Hill operator at (202) 224-3121.

Meetings scheduled on public housing

Senior citizens living in communities operated by the Las Vegas Housing Authority will have a chance to discuss community issues and concerns during a series of meetings in November.

The breakfast meetings are being sponsored by Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly. Seniors will be able to talk to the councilman and the housing authority about what's important to them, including crime, safety, health issues, and public assistance.

The meetings are: 9 a.m. Nov. 8 at Harry Levy Gardens, 2525 W. Washington Ave.; 9 a.m. Nov. 13 at Archie Grant Community Center, 1720 Searles Ave.; 9 a.m. Nov. 14 at Aida Brents Community Center, 2120 Vegas Drive; 9 a.m. Nov. 15 at Robert Gordon Plaza, 450 N. 11th St.

Soldier who wounded wife ID'd A man who shot himself to death Sunday after wounding his wife at her parents' Las Vegas home has been identified as Anthony Brian Skipper, 25, of Kileen, Texas, the Clark County coroner's office said today.

Skipper, a soldier on leave from Fort Hood, Texas, was found dead in the home near El Capitan Way and Alexander Road about 1 p.m. A medical examiner's autopsy Monday determined the death was a suicide, which Metro Police say ends their investigation into the incident.

Police say the couple were in the process of separating and that the wife had left Skipper in Texas and was staying at her parents' home in the 4000 block of Mansion Hall Court.