News briefs for July 8, 2004

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Work continues on collapsed road

Crews continued to work today to repair the roadway where a water main failure Wednesday caused a sink hole to stop traffic on Paradise Road between Flamingo Road and Sands Avenue.

A portion of the road remained closed today, though one lane of traffic is open in each direction on the northbound side of Paradise.

The failure happened early Wednesday morning after a device adding extra support to a pipe joint broke, crew members told Jesse Davis, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Valley Water District.

It caused a 4-by-20-foot sink hole in the southbound lanes of Paradise, prompting officials to close one whole block of the road for several hours Wednesday, Davis said.

For a few hours Wednesday three area businesses were without water as the repairmen worked, but water was restored by mid-afternoon.

Davis said the Water District does not have a definitive time for when the crews would finish the repairs, including rebuilding part of the road from scratch.

Haartz named health chief

Alex Haartz, deputy administrator of the state Health Division for four years, Wednesday was named the division's administrator, succeeding Yvonne Sylva, who retired.

The appointment was announced by Mike Willden, director of the state Department of Human Resources, who said a nationwide search was conducted and there were 42 applicants.

Haartz will earn $90,224 a year.

The division has a budget for this biennium of $280 million and Haartz will oversee six divisions that deal with immunization, sexually transmitted disease control, licensing of hospitals and health care facilities, family planning, special children's clinics, alcohol and drug abuse programs and nutritional health for women, infants and children.

Three cats die in apartment fire

An electrical fire in a Las Vegas apartment complex Wednesday left two families homeless and killed three cats.

The accidental fire at a Pinewood Crossing Apartments complex on Swenson Street and Royal Crest Circle began in the storage room of a first-floor apartment and spread to an upstairs apartment, fire department spokesman Bob Leinbach said.

Erin Mendoza, 25, and her two children were eating lunch with Mendoza's boyfriend, Ramiro Rosas, 27, in one of the downstairs bedrooms when their smoke alarms went off, Mendoza said. They were able to escape the apartment unscathed.

Jeff LeBleu, 44, was sleeping in the upstairs apartment when the smoke detectors went off, and he rushed downstairs to see if he could help put out the fire. LeBleu said he was unable to save his girlfriend's three cats, Gizmo, Spaz and Midnight.

Red Cross will be helping the displaced families with shelter and food.

County relaxes water restrictions

Clark County has changed its land-use rules to allow car washing at home, misting-coolers at businesses and homes and water fountains on commercial properties.

The Clark County Commission, without public protest, voted 6-0 to approve the rule changes Wednesday.

The rule changes follow the direction of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which in February relaxed water conservation measures to allow the uses.

The stricter rules are no longer being enforced by the Las Vegas Valley Water District and other agencies that deliver water to homes and businesses, but the county needed a parallel change for its land-use policies.

Chinatown tower OK'd by county

Chinatown, the retail area on Spring Mountain Road and Valley View Boulevard, could soon have a very tall neighbor.

The Clark County Commission on Wednesday approved a 140-foot hotel-condominium at Desert Inn Road and Valley View as an extension of the shopping center. The plans include 650 rooms, a 77,000-square-foot shopping area and a 77,000-square-foot convention center.

Representatives of KTNV Channel 13 expressed concerns that lights and noise from the television station's broadcasting facilities next door to the site might bother the future residents of the hotel-condominium. The facilities include a helicopter landing pad.

Attorney Jennifer Lazovich, representing applicant Andrew Lane, agreed to notify the residents of potential noise and light issues before they purchased condominiums at the planned tower. The proposal, which needed commission approval for a zone change from manufacturing to commercial, passed 5-0.

Man killed in crash is ID'd

A man killed Tuesday in a crash on State Route 160 has been identified as 46-year-old Richard Rupnick of Pahrump.

Rupnick's pickup truck collided head-on with a vehicle on the highway, about 16 miles west of Interstate 15, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. The other driver was taken to University Medical Center with non life-threatening injuries.