Nevada Briefly 8/01

Koble named head of USDA Farm agency

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Obama administration has named a Nevada state executive director for the Farm Service Agency at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Clinton Koble was most recently the executive director of the Nevada Rural Development Council in Carson City. He also served as the western region representative for the Rural Nevada Development Corporation.

USDA's Farm Services Agency works to improve the quality of life for rural Americans. The agency helps with income support, disaster assistance and conservation programs and provides operating loans for farm equipment, seed and fertilizer.

Federal officials reviewing oversight

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A federal official says a U.S. Labor Department task force is investigating workplace oversight by Nevada's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Acting assistant secretary of labor Jordan Barab said federal OSHA officials are looking at accident investigations and workplace safety.

State OSHA officials say they are cooperating.

The task force plans to issue a report in about a month.

Nevada workplace safety has drawn attention since a string of 12 worker deaths during an 18-month period of rapid Las Vegas Strip resort construction.

In June 2008, federal OSHA inspectors took the unusual step of joining Nevada inspectors in looking at safety practices at large Strip construction sites, including CityCenter, Cosmopolitan and Planet Hollywood.

Vegas police: Officer shoots self in knee

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Las Vegas police say an officer has accidentally shot himself in the knee while at the department's gun range.

Police spokesman Jacinto Rivera says the bullet grazed the officer's knee on Friday morning. He was taken to University Medical Center for treatment and suffered only minor injuries.