Nevada AP News Digest

Sunday, May 12, 2002 | 8:03 a.m.

Here are the top Nevada stories in sight at this hour for AMs of Monday May 13. If you have questions about stories, call News Editor Tom Tait in Las Vegas at (702) 382-7440. For reruns, contact the AP Service Desk at (212) 621-1595.

HEADLINES:

Female teacher who fled with student to Vegas shows problem

Majority of Nevadans don't car pool, use public transit

State gambling regulators to address Web wagering

First Millennium grad earns degree in two years

Armpit no more, Battle Mountain touted as outback

CRIME AND COURTS:

Female teacher who fled with student to Vegas shows problem

LAS VEGAS - On his first trip to Las Vegas, Richard Pena says his high school science teacher took him to three hotel-casinos for three days of sex. The 15-year-old boy and his 33-year-old teacher at Cajon High School in San Bernardino, Calif., ran away together April 29. Besides the high-profile case of suburban Seattle schoolteacher Mary Kay Letourneau, experts say sexual relationships between female teachers and male students either don't get as much attention or aren't reported. "We don't think it's terrible for a 13-year-old boy to have sex with a 35-year-old teacher," says Stephen Rubin, a psychology professor at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., who co-authored a book on teacher-student sex. "If it's a female teacher, we say, well, lucky kid." For Tyler Crowley, 20, it was more like lucky in love when he had a yearlong sexual relationship with Diane Flanary, his former English teacher at Sparks High School outside Reno. "I don't know how it really happened," he says. "I didn't consider myself being a victim."

BC-NV--Teacher-Student Sex. 940 words.

By Angie Wagner.

Also moved in advance.

AP Photos VG101-102.

CENSUS:

Majority of Nevadans don't car pool, use public transit

LAS VEGAS - In keeping with the spirit of the West, most Nevadans like to go it alone - in their vehicles, that is. "People don't like to feel stranded or dependent on someone else," said Fred Harmon, human resources director for the new Palms hotel-casino just west of the Las Vegas Strip. "And with my job now, I work different hours every day so carpooling wouldn't work." Newly released census figures show that while Harmon is by himself in his car, he is not alone. Nearly three out of four Nevadans reported that they commuted to work solo in 2000.

BC-NV--Census-Commute. 615 words.

By Lisa Snedeker.

With BC-NV--Census-Commute-Glance.

GAMBLING:

State gambling regulators to address Web wagering

LAS VEGAS - With at least one major casino operating company poised to offer the betting options if state regulators allow the practice, the Nevada Gaming Commission is slated Thursday to consider whether to allow Nevadans to bet on casino games from their home computers.

BC-NV--Online Casino. Developing.

EDUCATION:

First Millennium grad earns degree in two years

RENO, Nev. - Nineteen-year-old Dan Coming will make history Saturday when he becomes the state's first Millennium Scholar to graduate after earning his baccalaureate degree in just two years. Coming, who was the Class of 2000's valedictorian at Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, will be among 2,187 students at the University of Nevada, Reno, commencement when he receives his diploma in computer science.

BC-NV--Millennium Grad. 340 words.

AROUND THE STATE:

Armpit no more, Battle Mountain touted as outback

BATTLE MOUNTAIN, Nev. - Battle Mountain survived being called America's armpit by a Washington newspaper. Now, a consultant says branding it America's outback might lure tourists to the remote hamlet. Roger Brooks, a consultant with the state Tourism compares the desert around Battle Mountain to the Australian Outback.

BC-NV--Nevada Outback. 290 words.

The AP