News

Pipe fitter convicted in rape, slaying of college coed

May 27, 2010 - 11:00 pm

Jurors convicted a Nevada man Thursday of raping and strangling a college coed during a string of attacks that had the city of Reno on edge two years ago and now will decide whether to sentence him to death.

A Washoe County District Court jury found James Biela, 28, a pipe fitter from Sparks, guilty of all five counts tied to the murder of Brianna Denison, 19, and sexual assault of two other women.

The sentencing hearing was to continue this morning.

The sexual assaults began in the fall of 2007 around the University of Nevada, Reno campus just north of the downtown casino district and included Denison's strangulation in January 2008.

Sam Brown speaks during a Building America’s Future roundtable event featuring Hispanic Nevad ...

US Senate confirms Sam Brown to VA role

By Jessica Hill / RJ

July 31, 2025 - 10:53 am

Nevada’s Senators Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto were the lone Democrats to vote to confirm Brown.

Whisper Owen and 8-month-old Sandra McCarty (Fresno County Sheriff’s Office/TNS)

2 weeks ago, she left a doctor’s appointment with her baby. They haven’t been found since

Annie Goodykoontz, Los Angeles Times

July 31, 2025 - 9:26 am

The search continues for a California woman and her 8-month-old daughter who vanished while on their way home after a doctor’s appointment, authorities and family said.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies during a House Energy a ...

A Las Vegas festival promised ways to cheat death. Two attendees left fighting for their lives

By Anjeanette Damon ProPublica

July 31, 2025 - 9:41 am

Authorities are investigating why two women fell ill at the Revolution Against Aging and Death Festival. They both received peptide injections as a way to fight aging.

Deputy General Manager Doa Ross was among the highest paid employees of the Southern Nevada Wat ...

SNWA employees cash out millions of dollars in sick, vacation days

By Mary Hynes / RJ

July 31, 2025 - 6:30 am

Employees with the Southern Nevada Water Authority benefit from a generous leave-accrual policy.

This image from surveillance video obtained by The Associated Press shows Shane Tamura outside ...

How did NYC shooter, with past mental-health holds, legally buy gun in Nevada?

By Katelyn Newberg and Mary Hynes / RJ

July 31, 2025 - 12:47 pm

Under Nevada law, being placed on an emergency mental health crisis hold in a psychiatric hospital is not enough to prevent you from being able to purchase a gun in the future.

Alex Lasala serves a customer lunch from Fast Eddie’s Burgers food truck parked in front ...

Food truck operators may have easier time in Las Vegas Valley under plan

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez / RJ

July 30, 2025 - 7:15 pm

Cities in Clark County are working to roll out a multi-jurisdictional business license that will help streamline the process for food truck operators.

Former Washington Wizards player Gilbert Arenas takes part in a ceremony during the half-time o ...

Former NBA star, 5 others charged with running illegal high-stakes poker games

Associated Press

July 30, 2025 - 1:13 pm

Gilbert Arenas was arrested Wednesday along with five other people, including a suspected member of an Israeli organized crime group, on suspicion of hosting illegal high-stakes poker games, federal prosecutors said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell listens as President Donald Trump visits the Federal Res ...

Fed leaves interest rates unchanged even as Trump demands cuts

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

July 30, 2025 - 12:55 pm

The Federal Reserve left its key short-term interest rate unchanged for the fifth time this year, brushing off repeated calls from President Donald Trump for a cut.

The site of the proposed Southern Nevada supplemental airport in the Ivanpah Valley, left, is s ...

New proposed Vegas airport faces organized opposition

By Richard N. Velotta / RJ

July 30, 2025 - 10:56 am

Few comments were received at Tuesday’s virtual scoping meeting, but environmentalists could make their voices heard at Wednesday’s Las Vegas meeting.

This shows an empty beach in Shirahama, Wakayama prefecture, western Japan Wednesday, July 30, ...

Worst tsunami risk passes for Hawaii, US after 8.8 Russia quake

By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Audrey McAvoy The Associated Press

July 30, 2025 - 4:46 pm

The dire warnings following the massive quake off Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula evoked memories of catastrophic damage caused by tsunamis over the last quarter-century.