News briefs for March 3, 2003

Monday, March 3, 2003 | 11:32 a.m.

Body found in LV alley

The body of a man was found about 5:30 a.m. today in an alley at California Street and Casino Center Boulevard, and Metro Police were investigating the death this morning as an apparent homicide.

The victim was a man in his 50s, but his identity was not available this morning.

Man killed in one-car accident

A Henderson man was killed about 1 a.m. Saturday when he was thrown from a car at Gibson and Stufflebeam roads, Henderson Police said.

The car went off the road and the driver over-corrected, causing it to roll into the desert, police said. A man, identified this morning by the Clark County coroner's office as Roque Barela, 52, was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.

Two killed as two cars collide

Two Las Vegas residents were killed and another was listed in critical condition after an traffic accident at Hollywood Boulevard and Washington Avenue late Saturday night, Metro Police said.

Metro traffic officers are investigating the collision that killed Veronica Wilburn, 28, and James Crockett, 18, and left Bernard Jones, 29, in critical condition at University Medical Center.

Police said a 2000 Oldsmobile Alero driven by Wilburn, heading heading north on Hollywood, collided with a 1999 Honda that ran a stop sign while traveling east on Washington.

The driver of the Honda, Mackida Ferrell, 24, was in moderate condition at UMC.

Other passengers taken to UMC were Benjamin Jones, 19, and Tenaya Stewart, 7, both with minor injuries, police said.

CAP not looking for shuttle debris

The Civil Air Patrol has not been called back to search an area near Panaca, about 170 miles north of Las Vegas, to look for pieces from the space shuttle Columbia.

The search, which was conducted Feb. 20-23, stalled last week because of winter storms.

Doris North of the CAP in Clark County said that the unit did not receive a call to resume searching.

Trench records closed to public

In a 5-1 decision, the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that records involving the appraisal of property in Reno to be acquired for a $280 million railroad project are not open to the public.

The court Friday reversed District Judge Jerome Polaha, who ruled the Reno Gazette-Journal should have access to the appraisal values of the 32 parcels to be acquired for building a trench through the downtown area for trains. The newspaper also sought the records on the amount of money offered for the property.

The Supreme Court said this is a federally funded program and the federal regulations provide these records are confidential. It rejected the argument of the newspaper that the Nevada Public Records Act provides these records should be open for inspection.

The court said the Nevada Legislature has adopted the federal act and its regulations make the records confidential.

Rainfall climbs to 2.22 inches

National Weather Service forecasters measured 0.07 of an inch of rain on Saturday, the first day of March.

Saturday's rainfall brought the year's total to 2.22 inches, 0.88 of an inch above the normal average of 1.34 inches, National Weather Service records said.

Highs Saturday and Sunday struggled to reach the mid-50s.

For the next day or two, temperatures will rise into the 60s again until another Pacific Northwest storm system moves down the California coast starting in the middle of the week, forecasters said.