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CASINO WEBSITES DOWN
Sands: Some customer data was stolen in hacking
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas Sands says hackers stole some customers' Social Security and driver's license numbers during a data breach earlier this month.
The casino company confirmed in a statement Friday that the information about some patrons at its Bethlehem, Pa., hotel-casino was compromised during the Feb. 10 attack.
Sands says it's still working to determine whether information about customers at other properties was breached.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. is the world's largest casino company by revenue. It runs the Italian-themed Venetian and Palazzo casino-resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and several casinos in China and Singapore.
In the statement, Sands notes that the number of patron accounts that were compromised make up less than 1 percent of all visitors to the Pennsylvania casino since its 2009 opening.
The company says it's notifying affected customers and providing them with credit monitoring and identity theft protection.
PUPPIES-SAVED-ARSON-CHARGES
Vegas DA seeking freedom for puppies in arson case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The district attorney in Las Vegas is filing a legal challenge to free for adoption the 27 puppies rescued from a pet shop arson fire.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson made public a letter Friday giving Prince and Princess pet store owners until Sunday to invoke an ownership claim over the dogs.
The letter says that if they want the dogs, store owners Gloria Eun Hye Lee and Donald Thompson are on the hook for more than $10,000 in boarding fees and medical costs for the animals.
Lawyers for Lee and the store didn't immediately respond to messages about the letter.
The Lied (LEED) Animal Shelter in Las Vegas has been taking care of the puppies since the Jan. 27 fire.
OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST-RENO
Reno's 1st Olympic gold medalist greeted home
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Reno's first Olympic gold medalist was greeted home by hundreds of people at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.
David Wise received a hero's welcome Thursday night after winning the men's halfpipe freestyle skiing event in Sochi on Feb. 18.
He held up his gold medal to the cheering crowd and thanked those who believed him while he was a student at Wooster High School in Reno.
The school's band played the Olympic theme song as well as the Wooster fight song at the rally.
Gov. Brian Sandoval presented Wise with a couple of Nevada license plates with the word "GOLD" on them and declared Friday as "David Wise Day" in Nevada.
Reno Mayor Bob Cashell also praised him.
The 23-year-old Wise was accompanied by his wife, Alexandra, and 2-year-old daughter, Nayeli.
EXPELLED ASSEMBLYMAN-CHARGES
Hearing reset in Calif. for ex-Nevada lawmaker
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A pretrial hearing was again reset for a former Las Vegas-area lawmaker jailed in California for nearly a year since his arrest in a freeway scuffle with police the day he was expelled from the Nevada Legislature.
Prosecutor Shannon Faherty said Steven Brooks' attorney didn't appear Friday in San Bernardino County Superior Court in Victorville, Calif., due to heavy rains the area.
Brooks' lawyer, Sean O'Connor, didn't immediately respond to messages.
Faherty says the pretrial hearing was rescheduled March 21.
Trial is scheduled April 7.
Brooks is being held in San Bernardino on $100,000 bail. He pleaded not guilty in August to felony evasion and obstruction charges, and misdemeanor harming a police animal.
The former North Las Vegas Democrat was expelled from the Legislature March 28 as a security threat.
RENO MAYOR-BERKBIGLER
Washoe County commissioner to run for Reno mayor
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Washoe County Commissioner Marsha Berkbigler says a recent court ruling on term limits is prompting her to run for Reno mayor.
The first-term Republican commissioner, in a news release issued Friday, says she'll formally file for the office on Monday morning.
Berkbigler says she was urged to run for mayor by some citizens after the Nevada Supreme Court earlier this month disqualified termed-out council members from running for mayor.
Its decision nixed the announced candidacy of the two front-runners, former Councilwoman Jessica Sferrazza and current Councilman Dwight Dortch.
Berkbigler, whose commission District stretches 1 from Reno to Incline Village, says she'll be a strong advocate for regional economic development.
George "Eddie" Lorton, who sought the high court's ruling, and Chuck Reno also have announced their candidacies for mayor.
SHOOTING-VEGAS STRIP CLUB
Hearing set for Vegas strip club slaying defendant
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A judge in Las Vegas scheduled a Monday hearing to appoint an attorney to represent a 27-year-old ex-convict facing murder and other charges in the shooting death of a man in a vehicle outside a strip club.
Christopher Mallett made an initial court appearance Friday on murder, robbery, burglary and weapon charges in the Jan. 11 shooting of 28-year-old Antonio Darrnell Logan outside the Crazy Horse III nightclub.
A public defender, Christy Craig, says her office needs time to check whether it can be assigned to Mallett's case.
Mallett hasn't been asked to enter a plea.
Las Vegas police say he's a gang member who had a prior dispute with Logan.
Records show that Mallett served time in state prison on a December 2008 theft conviction in Las Vegas.
PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS-OVERFLOWING ERS
Fixes sought as ERs flooded with mental patients
(Information in the following story is from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A governor-appointed mental health council is asking state officials to find solutions for southern Nevada emergency rooms overflowing with psychiatric patients.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the directive Thursday came two days after four Las Vegas-area hospitals declared internal disasters and starting turned away ambulances because their emergency rooms were too full.
Emergency rooms throughout the area are sometimes holding up to 200 mentally ill patients, far more than the 120 they were regularly holding in 2004 when Clark County declared a state of emergency over the issue.
State health and human services director Mike Willden says it's not clear what will be done to fix the problem. Some options include opening more triage centers that divert psychiatric patients away from the ER, or enlisting help from private hospitals.
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