IN BRIEF

HENDERSON TRAFFIC STOP

Police identify man who shot himself to death in car

The man who shot himself during a traffic stop in Henderson Monday night has been identified as 44-year-old Allen Jensen.

Jensen was a Las Vegas Review-Journal employee who worked in the company's packaging department. He was hired last year.

He was pulled over by Henderson police about 9:30 p.m. on suspicion of drunken driving. He was stopped on Marks Street, near Sunset Road. When an officer approached the white Ford Mustang Jensen was driving, police said, Jensen shot himself.

Police said Jensen was shouting at officers and thrashing in the vehicle after the shot was fired. Officers surrounded the car and tried to talk him out of the vehicle. Jensen fired a second time. When police approached the car, they found Jensen dead inside.

The Clark County coroner's office said he died from a gunshot wound to the head. His death was ruled a suicide.

NORTHERN ARIZONA SLAYINGS

Man gets life in prison in killings of wife, mother-in-law

A Bullhead City, Ariz., man who killed his wife and her wheelchair-bound mother nearly two years ago was sentenced Tuesday to consecutive life prison terms after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder.

In rejecting prosecutors' push for a death sentence, Visiting Judge Thomas O'Toole ruled in Kingman that there was sufficient cause for leniency in the case against Ari Benjamin Feinner, 46.

Prosecutor Ken Skousen said Veronica Feinner, 27, and her mother, Marie Zavala, 67, were both stabbed or cut more than two dozen times in the April, 2007 attack. He said Feinner killed the women and two pet dogs when he became upset that his wife intended to seek a divorce.

O'Toole said the violence was, in part, a product of Feinner's lifelong affliction with Asperger's syndrome.

"This is a pervasive developmental disorder, characterized by a significant impairment of a person's social and emotional processing of events, inability to control impulses and aggressive behavior in stressful situations," O'Toole said. He also said leniency is appropriate given Feinner's remorse.

$33.4 MILLION MUST BE TRIMMED

Fourth session planned as NLV officials look for budget cuts

North Las Vegas on Thursday will hold the fourth in a series of town hall meetings to discuss the city's ongoing budget problems.

Councilman Robert Eliason will host the 6 p.m. meeting at Squires Elementary, 1312 E. Tonopah Ave.

The city, which has undergone five rounds of budget cuts since December 2008, must trim a $33.4 million to make it through fiscal year 2011. Officials have said 273 people might get laid off because of plummeting revenues.

The city has eliminated or frozen dozens of positions, cut departmental budgets, reduced overtime, and offered voluntary buyouts and furlough days. It also has been negotiating with its employee unions, hoping for contract concessions to decrease the number of impending layoffs.

The fifth and final town hall meeting on the issue will be at 6 p.m. March 18 at the Sun City Aliante multipurpose room, 7390 Aliante Parkway.

BOARD OF EXAMINERS

Miller questions contracts with unregistered firms

Secretary of State Ross Miller on Tuesday questioned dozens of state contracts with companies that have not registered with his office.

Miller raised the issue during a meeting of the state Board of Examiners. Sixty-three agreements were on the agenda, and Miller said a quick review found about one-third of the companies seeking contracts did not have a state business license or other necessary corporate registrations.

The contracts were approved with a condition that firms in question provide proof of good standing within 30 days or the approval will be rescinded.

RECOGNIZED FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE

Gibbons honors crew for rescue efforts during fire

Gov. Jim Gibbons has recognized a crew for their rescue efforts in August after an air tanker crashed during the Hoyt Fire in central Nevada.

Gibbons presented members of the crew with a statement of recognition for meritorious service. The 10,670-acre fire in remote Churchill County claimed the life of a firefighter pilot after his air tanker crashed in late August.

After being told of the crash of the air tanker, personnel with the U.S. Forest Service and the Nevada Division of Forestry were taken to the crash site where Bureau of Land Management personnel were attending to the pilot, who later died. Honored were Nick Lopes, Lee Stewart, Dave Corbit, Mark Blonquist and Isaac Walden.