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This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SINKING HOMES-NEVADA

Homeowners: Former landfill rips apart houses

MESQUITE, Nev. (AP) — Homeowners in a Nevada community say their floors are shaking and their walls cracking as the weight of a former landfill tears them apart.

Some residents of the Highland Hills neighborhood in Mesquite say about half the homes there went up inside a supposed 200-foot buffer zone surrounding the former municipal landfill.

City Manager Andy Barton tells the Spectum of St. George the city is reviewing residents' complaints.

RFMS Inc. project manager Rick Hawes says the company built the homes about a decade ago but had no idea the former landfill's edges stretched that far.

He says the company is willing to cooperate with homeowners and the city to resolve the problem.

An outside consulting company found that up to eight homes sit atop the former landfill.

ASSISTANT SHERIFF ARRESTED-NEVADA

Sheriff hopeful accused of campaign sign theft

(Information in the following story is from: KLAS-TV, http://www.klas-tv.com)

PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) — Authorities in Nevada say a candidate for sheriff in rural Nye County was arrested in a campaign sign theft case.

An arrest report made public Wednesday by the Nye County sheriff's office says Assistant Sheriff Rick Marshall was arrested about 7 p.m. Tuesday in Pahrump after a complaint by an official with a rival "Anybody but Rick Marshall" campaign.

Marshall didn't immediately respond Wednesday to messages.

Deputies reported stopping Marshall and another man in a pickup truck towing a trailer containing Marshall campaign signs and at least one uprooted sign from the rival group.

Marshall was arrested on possession of stolen property, conspiracy to commit a crime and resisting arrest charges.

Deputies say he held tightly to a metal bar on the truck in an attempt to prevent being handcuffed.

RECREATIONAL POT-NEVADA

Initiative seeks to legalize pot in Nevada

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A group hoping to ride the wave of growing marijuana acceptance has filed an initiative seeking to legalize recreational use in Nevada.

The measure filed Wednesday with the secretary of state's office would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. It also sets up a regulatory structure for cultivation and dispensaries similar to what's currently being implemented for medical marijuana in the state.

Efforts to legalize small amounts of marijuana for recreational use were rejected by Nevada voters in 2002 and 2006.

Backers of the latest effort will need to collect about 102,000 signatures to send the matter to the 2015 Legislature. If lawmakers reject it or take no action, it would go to voters the following year.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA-CLARK COUNTY

County receives 206 medical marijuana applications

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Clark County officials are considering 206 applications from people seeking to start medical marijuana-related businesses in the Las Vegas area.

County spokesman Dan Kulin reports that 109 different entities submitted documents to the Business License Department before a 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline.

They include 70 applications related to cultivation, 90 in the dispensary category, one in the laboratory category and 45 in production.

Clark County became the first jurisdiction in southern Nevada to accept applications for marijuana-related businesses after approving regulations last month.

Nevada voters approved medical marijuana in 2000, but that law provided no legal way for patients to obtain the drug except to grow it themselves.

The Legislature passed a law last year setting up a county-by-county framework for distributing medical marijuana.

PUBLIC LAND-NEVADA

Draft report sees benefit in state taking US land

(Information in the following story is from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com)

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A report being prepared for Nevada lawmakers says the state could benefit by taking over millions of acres of rangeland currently controlled by federal agencies.

The preliminary Nevada Public Land Management Task Force report prepared with the help of a consultant is due for review Thursday in Tonopah by the Legislative Committee on Public Lands.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that it says the transfer of 4 million acres of Bureau of Land Management property could bring in $31 million to $114 million a year to the state.

The estimate is based on a review of four Western states with significant trust lands under their control.

Talk about public land transfers is getting attention due to an ongoing cattle grazing dispute between Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy and the BLM.

SHORT SALES-NEVADA

Nevada to review short sale practices

(Information in the following story is from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com)

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada agency will review practices in the real estate industry following an investigation by a Reno newspaper that showed dual-agency short sales involving a prearranged cash buyer accounted for more than 10 percent of home sales last year.

Such transactions are when the same real estate agent or entity represents both the buyer and seller and collects commissions from both.

An investigation by the Reno Gazette-Journal found that many of the properties were sold below market value, allowing investors to see a larger appreciation when the properties were resold.

Nevada Department of Business and Industry Director Bruce Breslow tells the Gazette-Journal that his agency will look into the practice to see if real estate firms are taking advantage of distressed homeowners for their own gain.

BANK ROBBERY REWARD

FBI: Bank offering reward in Las Vegas heist

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The FBI in Las Vegas says a bank is offering up to $10,000 for information in an attempted takeover robbery that left an employee injured last weekend at a Wells Fargo branch office in northwest Las Vegas.

Investigators say a man believed to be in his mid-20s wielded a gun and forced his way into the bank at Cheyenne Avenue and Jones Boulevard as employees were opening about 8:15 a.m. Saturday.

The gunman demanded money and struck one employee on the head with a handgun before leaving with a brown bank bag, an employee's purse and cell phone.

The employee was treated for a cut on the head.

The robber was wearing a black and gray knit cap, a black zip-up jacket with an argyle pattern, and gray pants.

DAYTON ACCIDENT

Passenger in Dayton car crash dies

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Highway Patrol says the passenger in a car involved in a crash with a tractor-trailer in Dayton has died.

Officers say 18-year-old David Arroyo Lamas of Dayton died Tuesday night at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno.

Lamas was a passenger in a black 2004 Audi driven by 18-year-old Ana Laura Munoz of Carson City.

Troopers say a preliminary investigation indicates Munoz was making a left turn from Ambrose Lane onto U.S. 50 and failed to yield at a stop sign just before noon Tuesday.

The car pulled in front of a 2012 Volvo tractor-trailer rig driven by 61-year-old Gary Alan Williams of St. George, Utah.

Munoz remained hospitalized Wednesday in critical condition. The patrol says Williams was treated at the hospital and released.

INDIAN COLONY SHOOTING

Man gets 30 years for Nevada Indian colony killing

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A man convicted of killing another man on the Battle Mountain Indian Colony has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutors say 48-year-old Daniel James Draper was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Robert Jones in Reno for the December 2011 death of Linford Dick.

Authorities say Draper shot and killed Dick after smashing a front window and entering the home around 1 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2011. Prosecutors say Draper also used the shotgun to beat the victim in the head.

Draper was convicted by a jury in January of voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm during a crime of violence causing death.

Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden says Draper's sentence is the maximum allowed under federal law.

PEDESTRIAN STRUCK-VEGAS

Police: Man struck on Vegas street was jaywalking

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police say a 57-year-old man wasn't in a crosswalk when he was struck by a vehicle and badly hurt on a busy boulevard several blocks west of the Las Vegas Strip.

Jiahong Wang was taken to University Medical Center with what police called life-threatening injuries after the crash a little before 9 p.m. Tuesday on Jones Boulevard near Flamingo Road.

Police say Wang was crossing Jones near Fairbanks Road when he was hit by a 2005 Lexus driven by 47-year-old Gabriel Petrescue of Las Vegas.

Police say Petrescue received minor injuries.

No summonses were issued. The accident is still under investigation.

EARNS-INTERNATIONAL GAME TECHNOLOGY

IGT 2Q profit falls 67 percent as slot sales slow

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Gambling equipment maker International Game Technology says its second-quarter net income fell 67 percent as sales of slot machines declined and the company faced competition from smaller vendors.

The Las Vegas-based maker of slot machines and online gaming systems on Tuesday reported net income of $25.7 million, or 10 cents per share, for the quarter that ended on March 31. That's compared with $78.2 million, or 29 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

IGT earned 20 cents per share when excluding special items such as acquisition costs. That beat analysts' projection by a penny, according to FactSet.

Revenue dropped 15 percent to $512.8 million. Wall Street anticipated $498.8 million.

IGT says its U.S. gambling revenue has declined more than expected.

Shares fell 10 percent in Wednesday trading.

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