Tuesday, July 27, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.
Air Force testing new technology
Nellis Air Force Base is hosting the military's Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2004 through Aug. 6.
The exercise, which takes place once every two years, is designed to test new technology in simulated war operations and to allow for better cooperation between the Air Force and the other military services.
The technology being used in the exercise is classified, Nellis officials said.
Among the aircraft taking part will be the Rc-135 Rivet Joint, which can serve as a flying command headquarters.
Odor reported on McCarran flight
Clark County Fire Department emergency crews responded about 11 p.m. Monday to a report of an unusual smell in the cabin of an American Airlines flight arriving at McCarran International Airport.
The Boeing 757 plane, carrying 159 people, landed safely and the incident was being investigated, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Aviation Department said.
The flight had departed from San Francisco and was diverted to Las Vegas, a spokeswoman for McCarran said this morning.
No one was injured in the incident.
Reno expects arsenic compliance
It will cost about $15 million to bring the water that flows into homes and businesses in the Reno-Sparks in compliance with new federal standards for arsenic, and officials say that's a bargain -- thanks to the Truckee River.
Arsenic is common in many places that rely on wells for their drinking water, but the river provides most of the water used by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority. About 15 percent to 25 percent comes from ground water -- usually in the summer when the river is low.
Without the river, the cost of arsenic compliance would be in the $75 million range, according to Lori Williams, the authority's general manager.
She added that when the January 2006 deadline to meet the new arsenic standards arrives, the authority will be in compliance with the water it distributes to about 81,000 homes and businesses.
Court hears plea on execution
A federal appeals court was urged Monday to let a Reno lawyer intervene on a next-friend basis in an effort to block the scheduled Aug. 12 execution of Terry Jess Dennis for strangling a woman in Reno in March 1999.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in an hourlong telephone conference call, listened to the plea and to opposing arguments from the state attorney general's office.
Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender, argued the execution would amount to state assisted suicide given Dennis' previous failed attempts -- as many as a dozen -- to take his own life.
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