News briefs for Feb. 5, 2003

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003 | 11:12 a.m.

Jury can't decide on murder charge

The trial of a Las Vegas man accused of murder culminated Tuesday in a hung jury.

After deliberating for about two days, jurors could not agree on whether Joseph Wright, who faced multiple charges in the May 2001 shooting death of his girlfriend, Christine Pajak, was guilty of murder.

Jurors found him guilty of one count of robbery, two counts of grand larceny and one count of grand larceny auto. Deputy District Attorney Vicki Monroe said she intends to re-try the case on the murder charge.

Wright, 40, who is being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail, will appear before District Judge Michael Douglas for a status check Feb. 13. A new trial date could be set at that time.

Wright is scheduled to be sentenced on the other charges March 25.

Hunt plans trade trip to China

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt plans to lead a trade mission to China, she said Tuesday.

The trip, planned for September, will include visits to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, she said.

No estimate of the cost of the trip was immediately available.

The budget for the seven employees in the lieutenant governor's office goes from $454,173 this year to $498,117 next fiscal year and then to $514,292 the following year.

Hunt said that 250,000 people from China visit the United States each year and that represents a potential market for Nevada tourism.

WIC program may get new funds

Nevada will receive an estimated $766,000 in additional funds for a program assisting low-income women and their children if Congress approves the Agriculture Department's 2004 budget, officials announced Tuesday.

The money would be part of a nationwide increase of $43 million sought for the Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program in the upcoming budget. This increase would allow nearly 8 million additional women and children to use the program's nutritional education and free milk, cheese and other food.

In the Las Vegas Valley, an additional 2,400 women and children would be helped by the funds at the three local centers that participate in the program.

These centers, run by the Economic Opportunity Board, Sunrise Children's Hospital and Clark County Health District, now serve about 31,000 women and children, said Phillip Ulibarri, spokesman for the Reno-Washoe County District Health Department and a statewide marketing director for the WIC program.

Settlement reached in tour bus crash

Thirty-nine British tourists injured in a bus crash near Tonopah in September 2000 have been awarded more than $23 million, the British Broadcasting Corp. reports.

An out-of-court settlement was reached after California Sun Line Inc. was sued over the accident, during which the bus overturned and traveled 200 feet down the road. All 37 tourists aboard were injured.

An employee of California Sun Line Inc., which was contracted by U.S. Coach Co. to provide transportation, confirmed this morning that a settlement was made, but did not know the amount.

The BBC said Howard and Gaynor Wingfield received the largest amounts of the settlement -- about $1.7 million between them.