Northern Nevada Briefly

NV Energy seeks tips on vandals

RENO (AP) " NV Energy officials are asking for the public's help in identifying vandals who have shot up power lines and equipment in remote areas of Northern Nevada.

Officials say over the past year, target shooters have seriously damaged electric lines and equipment between the Tracy Generating Station east of Reno and Fernley.

Most recently, company officials say vandals have damaged separate 60,000-volt and 120,000-volt lines that supply electricity to the Fernley area.

Besides being costly to repair, officials say such acts could be deadly.

Anyone who witnesses power line vandalism or finds damaged equipment is asked to call NV Energy's 24-hour emergency line at 775-834-4100.

Seat belt leads to big-rig pot bust

ELKO (AP) " The Nevada Highway Patrol says a big-rig driver's dangling seat belt led to a traffic stop that netted 115 pounds of marijuana.

NHP spokesman Jim Stewart says a trooper noticed the commercial driver was not wearing his seat belt while traveling Friday on Interstate 80 and stopped the truck east of Wells.

Imer J. Xhaferi, 58, of Paramus, N.J., and co-driver Adnant Hoxha, 26, of Carol Stream, Ill., were questioned and the trooper noticed the seal on the trailer had been broken and reattached.

The two allowed officers to check the load to ensure it was secure and noticed two barrels labeled as cherries. Stewart says one had come loose from a strap and fallen over.

Suspicious of the containers' weight, the troopers opened the barrels and found marijuana.

Washoe sheriff: Fight not hate crime

RENO (AP) " The Washoe county sheriff's office says there's no evidence a fight between two Spanish Springs high school students amounts to a hate crime.

Some gay rights advocates protested in downtown Reno over the weekend, saying the fight was a hate crime against an openly gay student.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Brooke Keast says the two boys agreed to meet last Thursday night to fight at Spanish Springs Elementary School.

Keast says the case is being treated as a misdemeanor battery, with each participant on "equal ground."

Worker dead from airport accident

LAS VEGAS (AP) " Authorities say a worker is dead after a construction accident at the new international terminal project at McCarran International Airport.

Airport and fire officials say the Las Vegas Paving Corp. employee was fatally injured a little after 11 a.m. Monday in an incident involving a compact motorized earth-moving shovel.

Clark County fire spokesman Scott Allison says paramedics took the man to a Las Vegas hospital where he died a short time later. His identity wasn't immediately made public.

Allison says state Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials are investigating.

Airport director Randall Walker issued a statement offering condolences to the dead man's friends and family.

Walker called it the first work-related construction fatality in more than 16 years at the Las Vegas airport.

The $2.4 billion terminal is expected to open in 2012.