News briefs for June 21, 2002

Friday, June 21, 2002 | 11:41 a.m.

Temperature to drop below normal

Summer officially arrived at 6:40 a.m. today, but instead of scorching temperatures the Las Vegas daytime high will be below normal, the National Weather Service forecast says.

While it has been running four or five degrees above the normal high of 100 degrees all this week, a breeze today will hold the temperature to 99 degrees, weather service meteorologist John Adair said.

It will warm up again Saturday with above average temperatures around 105 degrees forecast for the rest of the week.

Today also boasts the most number of daylight hours of the year, as the earth is tilted toward the sun.

Students score with invention

Three Hyde Park Middle School students have earned third place in a national competition for their "Baby Beeper" invention, designed to remind parents when children are left behind in a car seat.

Kelsey Hand, Rachelle Taylor and Anthena Pisanello, all seventh graders at the Clark County School District's magnet program for math and sciences, competed against 10 other national finalists this week at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla. The girls came up with their invention after last summer had three infant deaths and hundreds others rescued by paramedics.

This is the fifth time a team from Hyde Park has made it to the finals of the Bayer/National Science Foundation competition but the first time the Las Vegas students finished in the top three.

A patent is pending for the girls' invention, which uses an infrared beam to transmit a signal to a beeper on a parent's keychain if the engine is turned off and the child is not lifted up off a weight plate under the car seat.

No injuries in duplex fire

A fire that swept through a duplex in West Las Vegas displaced eight people and caused an estimated $80,000 in damage Thursday, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said.

No one was injured.

Firefighters responded to the 1300 block of West Monroe Avenue at 3 p.m. to find the rear of a two-story duplex on fire. The fire started in a storage room attached to the rear of the building and spread up the outside wall, Szymanski said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. Fire investigators believe it started in the storage room.

The American Red Cross is assisting four adults and four children with housing.

GOP gains ground on Democrats

CARSON CITY -- Republicans have extended their lead over Democrats to 10,658 registered voters in Nevada as of the end of May.

Secretary of State Dean Heller said Thursday there were 342,659 GOPers as opposed to 332,001 Democrats. At the end of April, Republicans held a 7,290 voter edge.

Total registration fell to 807,501 voters at the end of May, down 38,821 from April.

Heller said counties are required to remove the names of inactive voters no later than 90 days before the next election.

He said an active voter is determined to be inactive if mail sent from the county voter registrar or county clerk is returned.

Theft of city funds alleged

Las Vegas City Marshals are investigating allegations of theft of city funds within the Leisure Services Department, city officials said today.

An accounting technician within the department, whose name was not released, was fired on Tuesday, said David Riggleman, the city's director of communications.

"From a personnel and administrative standpoint, there was enough information that we felt it was appropriate to terminate her employment," Riggleman said.

Riggleman said there is an ongoing investigation which involves the theft of city funds. No criminal charges have been filed against the employee.