Las Vegas news briefs

Metro Police have arrested a 30-year-old Las Vegas man in connection with the death of a man killed in an apartment complex early Wednesday during an apparent robbery.

Edward Dale Moore, 30, has been charged with murder and robbery, investigators said.

The identity of the 54-year-old victim is being withheld until family members can be notified.

Investigators said the victim died during a struggle trying to prevent his apartment from being robbed.

His body was found in the complex around 4:30 a.m.

Two women file against animal park

Two lawsuits have been filed in District Court by women who claim they were injured in attacks by a pair of wolves at Keepers of the Wild, a nonprofit sanctuary for exotic animals.

Katherine Kuehl and Susan Leanne Lyon filed the legal actions late Tuesday alleging Keepers of the Wild failed in their "duty to exercise reasonable care in keeping, controlling and supervising wild, vicious and exotic animals."

The lawsuits, however, do not explain how the women were injured on March 10, 1998, or what injuries they suffered. Their attorney, William Ebert, declined to give details Wednesday.

The lawsuits only allege the women suffered "painful, permanent and debilitating injuries" as a result of an attack by a male and female wolf.

Kuehl lives in Las Vegas while Lyon is a former Clark County resident now living in Tennessee.

The legal actions seek unspecified damages.

Sprint service halted during Y2K debugging

About 20,000 local Sprint voice mail subscribers have had their systems turned off since Tuesday as part of Y2K remediation efforts, Sprint officials said today.

The shutdown affected customers in the downtown area and east of downtown Las Vegas. Sprint officials said all customers were notified on their voice mails that the system would go down Tuesday and be would be back up late Wednesday.

However, Sprint officials said the test took a little longer than planned and that all customers' voice mails were back in service by 9 a.m. today.

The test of the voice mail system was part of Sprint's efforts to prevent a systemwide shutdown of services on Jan. 1, 2000, as has been projected for computers with date-sensitive software.

Del Papa uses poll to back fraud fight

Trying to bolster her attempt for more staff and power to combat insurance fraud, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa Wednesday released a public opinion poll that says 74 percent of those contacted in Nevada think insurance fraud is a serious problem.

The poll of 631 registered voters was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. of Washington, D.C., last month. It found that 78 percent of those polled want state officials to do more in the fight against insurance fraud.

Del Papa is pushing two bills in the Legislature to strengthen the law. Senate Bill 224 would raise the amount paid by insurance companies to finance an increase in her staff in the insurance fraud unit. Senate Bill 225 would provide subpoena power during the investigative stage of an insurance fraud case.

She said her office has received 880 complaints of fraud since January 1996 and in the last nine months, 23 people have been convicted. The cases have resulted in the courts ordering more than $2 million in restitution to insurance companies.

Reid to be honored by national foundation

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention will present the 1999 Public Service Award to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., for his efforts in passing Senate Resolution 84 in 1997. The resolution makes suicide prevention a national priority.

Reid, who's father killed himself in 1972, said suicide claims more lives than homicide. "The public health challenge affects the lives of over 200,000 family members and friends a year. As a survivor of suicide, I am grateful that I have been able to focus national attention on this tragic and preventable problem."

Reid will be recognized at the foundation's Lifesavers Dinner on Tuesday.

Nevada's suicide rate, 24 suicides per 100,000 people, is twice the national rate.

Free long distance on Mother's Day

Sprint PCS and the Susan G. Korman Breast Cancer Foundation is offering Las Vegans the chance to call their mothers for free on Mother's Day.

On Friday and Saturday the phone company will offer free local and long-distance calls on wireless phones at two Sprint retail outlets.

On Friday calls can be made from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 3960 Howard Hughes Parkway, and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 2090 N. Rainbow Blvd.

FOR THE RECORD

Larry Joe Mason, 31, who escaped from house arrest in August while awaiting trial on multiple counts of lewdness and sexual assault with a minor under 14, was arrested Tuesday in Pennsylvania. Mason was discovered missing when police responded to an alarm that went off when Mason cut off his electronic ankle monitor.Kathleen Carter, 28, was found incompetent to stand trial on murder charges that allege she stabbed her boyfriend, Robert Prince Wiley, 43, to death with a piece of glass in October. District Judge Sally Loehrer on Wednesday ordered Carter sent to the state mental facility at Lake's Crossing, near Sparks.John McGarry, 76, of Las Vegas died Saturday, two days after an auto accident in Spokane Valley, Wash., killed his wife, Helen, and left him burned over 50 percent of his body, said a spokesman for the King County coroner's office . The McGarrys were eastbound when their vehicle drove off Interstate 90, through a fence and about 300 yards across a field before it wedged itself between some trees, witnesses said. The car then burst into flames. Rescuers suffered burns as they pulled McGarry out.

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