Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

News briefs for April 16, 2004

Horsford to run for Neal's seat

Steven Horsford, Nevada's Democratic national committeeman and the chief executive of Nevada Partners, is scheduled to announce Saturday he will run for the state Senate seat previously held by Joe Neal.

The announcement is expected to be attended by political notables, including: Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, County Commissioner Rory Reid, Las Vegas City Councilman Lawrence Weekly, County Commissioner Myrna Williams and consultant Rose McKinney-James.

Horsford is one of four Democrats running for the seat. Former Station Casinos marketing executive Cedric Crear, state Board of Education member Theresa "Terri" Malone, and Regent Linda Howard all are vying for the seat that Neal held for 32 years.

New museums director named

An Arizona man will take over Monday as the new administrator of the state Division of Museums and History, succeeding Marcia Britton, who resigned to take a job in Wyoming.

Wally Steffan of the West Valley Art Museum in Phoenix has been named to the $76,700-a-year job by Scott Sisco, interim director of the state Department of Cultural Affairs.

Steffan will be over a division that has seven museums statewide that attract more than 230,000 visitors a year.

Britton, who was appointed in August 2001, left to become director of the Wyoming Council for the Humanities.

Banker returned to China from LV

A fugitive Chinese banker accused of helping to embezzle $485 million from his state-owned bank was returned from Las Vegas to China today under a promise that he won't be executed, the U.S. government announced.

The handover was highly unusual for the United States and China, which have no extradition treaty but are trying to improve cooperation between their law enforcement agencies.

The case against Yu Zhendong would be by far the largest embezzlement ever publicly disclosed by Chinese authorities. The Bank of China is one of China's four biggest state-owned commercial banks.

Yu, 41, is accused of embezzling the money in 1992-2001 from the Bank of China with the help of two coworkers, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Yu was returned to China under an agreement in which he pleaded guilty in February to racketeering charges in a U.S. federal court in Las Vegas, the U.S. statement said.

His plea agreement required U.S. authorities to obtain assurances that China wouldn't sentence Yu to more than 12 years in prison and "he will ... not be tortured or put to death," the embassy statement said.

The Las Vegas City Council

likely will take some time to find a replacement for departing Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, whose Ward 2 seat officially becomes vacant April 20, when she fills a vacant slot on the Clark County Commission. Mayor Oscar Goodman said Thursday that council will probably delay a decision until at least May 5, to allow all candidates to be heard. More than a dozen people have applied for the position.

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