Monday, Sept. 27, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.
Ballot paper trail matches results
An audit of electronic voting and the paper trail of those votes in Nevada's primary election showed no variation in the results, Secretary of State Dean Heller said.
Clerks and voter registrars sampled 116 of the new touch-screen voting machines that had been used to cast 5,981 ballots. The electronic results compared exactly with the printout material on each unit.
Heller said Friday the audit was not required but he "wanted to assure all Nevadans that, in fact, voting results in the Silver State are the most accurate, most secure and most valid in the nation."
Heller will be in Washington, D.C., for three days beginning today along with other secretaries of state and election officials to talk to the national news media about voting.
Heller was invited by U.S. Election Assistance Commission Chairman DeForest Soaries Jr., and he said he will talk about the experience om Nevada, the only state that has a paper audit trail printer attached to the voting machine.
Pedestrian hit, killed by car
A Las Vegas man was killed Sunday night when he was struck by a car while he walked on Rancho Drive near Jones Boulevard, Metro Police said.
The man, whose name and age were not available this morning, was wearing dark clothes while walking north on Rancho about 10:20 Sunday night in the right lane, officers said. He was struck by a 1997 Ford driven by 53-year-old Julio Rodriguez. The pedestrian appeared to have been at fault, police said.
The man died at the scene, officers said. Neither Rodriguez nor his passenger, 47-year-old Ofelia Mora, was injured.
It was the 95th traffic death in Metro's jurisdiction this year.
Woman slain in front of police
A man killed his estranged wife in front of their 11-year-old daughter and two police officers Saturday morning, Metro Police allege.
Carlos Ortiz, 44, was arrested and charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of kidnapping, police said.
According to police, two officers were giving a traffic ticket to another driver in the 400 block of North Eastern Avenue about 1:40 a.m. when a small sedan pulled alongside their squad car and honked.
The officers heard a woman scream, and then saw Ortiz grab the woman and shoot her in the head, they allege.
Ortiz then threw the pistol out of the window and was immediately arrested, police said. The woman died at the scene of the shooting. Their daughter was in the back seat of the car.
Police said Ortiz had been arrested in the past for alleged domestic violence. Earlier that morning he was in a fight with his wife, then allegedly kidnapped her and their daughter at gunpoint and made his wife drive around, police said.
Body found in desert north of LV
Authorities this morning were trying to identify a dead man whose remains were found Friday in the desert north of Las Vegas.
The body, described only as that of a black man, was found about 8 a.m. Friday near Interstate 15 at the U.S. 93 exit by a passerby traveling near the exit, Sgt. Rocky Alby of Metro's Homicide Bureau said.
The body appeared to coroner's investigators to have been in the desert for several weeks before it was found, Alby said, and detectives were unable to determine the man's age.
Detectives are investigating the case as a possible homicide, Alby said. He would not comment on the ongoing investigation.
Winnemucca statue goes on display
Artist Benjamin Victor will be in Carson City next week to put the finishing touches on the sculpture of Indian crusader Sarah Winnemucca, which will hang in the U.S. Capitol's Natural Statuary Hall.
A group led by first lady Dema Guinn raised more than $150,000 to pay for the sculpture that will be on exhibit in the state Library and Archives starting Monday.
The public is being invited to watch Victor work on the statue from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until the Nevada Day weekend Oct. 30.
When completed, the clay sculpture will be transported to a foundry where it will be bronzed before heading to Washington.
Installment in the Capitol should take place in the spring of 2005.
The statue is 6 feet tall and depicts the Indian advocate holding a book in her left hand while offering with her right her namesake shellflower as a token of peace. Her hair and dress are windswept.
Land for Pahrump college is targeted
A Senate bill introduced Friday would give 280 acres of federal land to the state's university system for a new community college in Pahrump.
The bill by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., would convey the land to the University and Community College System of Nevada at no cost to speed the process setting up the site in time for 2006 classes, an aide to Reid said.
The state Board of Regents has listed the new Pahrump education site as one of its funding priorities for next year.
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