LOOKING IN ON: CARSON CITY

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

CARSON CITY - The state has sold a $15.3 million bond to finance 180 affordable apartments in Las Vegas.

This is the first time the state Housing Division has joined the Bureau of Land Management and Clark County in financing such a project.

Fore Arbey Limited Partnership is developing the project, which features two- and three-bedroom apartments, near Arbey and Riley streets. The two-bedroom units will rent for $711 a month and the three-bedroom apartments will go for $824 a month.

Lon DeWeese, chief financial officer of the housing division, said officials expect to break ground by the end of the year on the 10 acres of BLM land.

The tax-exempt bond, sold Tuesday, will have a floating interest rate and will be paid off by the Arbey Limited Partnership.

A Las Vegas doctor who conceded he has a long-standing addiction to opiates admitted and treated patients at two Las Vegas hospitals after being ordered to stop practicing medicine.

As a result, the state Board of Medical Examiners has suspended the license of Dr. Kent A. Swaine, saying he "poses an imminent threat to the health and safety of patients."

In May, Swaine tested positive for drugs on three occasions after being in a diversion program for nearly two years. Though ordered to stop practicing medicine, Swaine continued to admit patients to Spring Valley Hospital.

In early July, state investigators ordered another drug test for Swaine, and he again tested positive. Five days later he was admitted to an out-of-state drug treatment center. In August, however, he was given a leave to return to Las Vegas because of difficulties with his wife's pregnancy. Although their child was born in September, Swaine remained in Las Vegas and resumed practicing medicine.

On Oct. 16, he was tested again and the results once more were positive. Records at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals showed that four days before that test, he had participated in surgery or treatment involving three patients.