News briefs for March 29, 2005

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

Two injured in crash on U.S. 95 exit

A collision on Lake Mead Boulevard over U.S. 95 sent two people to the hospital Monday afternoon.

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Rodger Fickel said the couple had exited east off of U.S. 95, hit a concrete wall, and crossed over the traffic median on Lake Mead Boulevard into oncoming traffic where their Toyota Camry was hit by a minivan shortly before 2 p.m.

The man and woman, whose names were not immediately released, had to be cut out of the Camry and were taken to University Medical Center. The driver of the minivan was treated for minor injuries.

Fickel said that U.S. 95 exit is a common problem area. He pointed to the cracked concrete wall scarred from previous collisions. "When it's wet, people slap that wall all the time," he said.

The Camry was registered in Reno, Fickel said, and the car was packed with boxes and clothes. Fickel said he did not know why the driver lost control or where it was going.

Racketeering trial postponed

The federal racketeering trial for a Crazy Horse Too manager has been postponed to Aug. 1.

Robert D'Apice, 50, and his pregnant wife, Nicole Rubino, 28, who is charged with tax evasion were charged in January.

The case, originally slated to begin this week, has been pushed back because of the need for more time for both sides to complete depositions and other discovery stage activities, and because Rubino's attorney Paola Armeni is scheduled to be in San Diego from May through July representing former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone in a political corruption case there.

D'Apice is charged in two federal indictments with racketeering, making false statements to a grand jury and tax evasion in connection with the FBI's ongoing investigation into violent crimes at the club.

Charge against woman dropped

A woman accused of being an accomplice to a double murder in Ely is no longer charged as a participant in the killings, authorities said.

Anna Marie Maestas, 26, of McGill, had been seen with murder suspect Isaac Asusta following the Jan. 30 shooting deaths of Melody Hawkins and Frankie Coca.

She was arrested in late February in Las Vegas.

Investigators initially were unsure if Maestas was involved with the killings or if she was being held against her will by Asusta.

White Pine County Sheriff Bernie Romero said the accomplice charge against Maestas was dropped last week.

He told the Ely Times she has been cooperating with investigators.

Maestas still faces a charge of forgery. Asusta remains at large.

Aryan Nations leader sentenced

A self-described leader of the Aryan Nations must serve four months in federal prison on his guilty plea to sending threatening e-mails to newspaper employees and government workers.

Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Reed denied a request from Steven J. Holten to be released from jail so he can receive treatment for AIDS.

Holten, 40, pleaded guilty in November to one count of transmitting a threat in interstate commerce.

He was sentenced Monday to a total of 10 months behind bars, and given credit for the six months he's already spent in the Washoe County Jail.

Holten sent the mass e-mail on Sept. 20 to about 100 people working for the Reno Gazette-Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, several state government agencies and others he felt did not support his white supremacist views, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Pugliese said.

"We of Aryan Nations are angry, and we hate and we kill," the message said. "Our violent terrorist actions will be a shock to the citizens of Reno and San Francisco. It will be gruesome, and something that has never been seen ever."

Late-season storms aid snowpack

Late season storms are adding a cushion to the Sierra snowpack that experts say is good news for this year's water supplies and could signal a break in a five-year drought.

More than a foot of snow fell Sunday night into Monday, and another weather system was bringing more snow to the Lake Tahoe region Tuesday.

"Right now we're sitting at well above average," said Dan Greenlee, a hydrologist with the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service. "We're doing a lot better than we were last year."

Cancer Institute gets donation

A Las Vegas-based casino company and its CEO have together donated $1 million to the fledgling Nevada Cancer Institute, the institute announced this morning.

Ameristar Casinos Inc., and the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation each contributed $500,000 to the institute, which is tapping mostly private sources of funding in its quest to become the state's first nationally recognized cancer center.

"I have a deep respect for the Nevada Cancer Institute and the remarkable vision it has displayed in helping to advance Nevada's health care," Ameristar CEO Neilsen said.

Ameristar no longer owns any local casinos since selling The Reserve, which is now Fiesta Henderson. The company operates casinos in Colorado, Iowa, Mississippi and Missouri.

The cancer institute hopes to open its 140,000-square-foot facility in Summerlin in July. Earlier this month, the institute opened a suite of offices in Sparks.