in brief

ONLY ONE

Lawmaker taking pay cut in sympathy with state workers

One Nevada legislator is taking a pay cut in sympathy with state workers who are being forced to take unpaid furloughs and teachers whose salaries are being cut this year.

The Reno Gazette-Journal says Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, wrote a check to the state for $526.65, representing a 6 percent pay cut.

The newspaper says no other legislators are following suit.

Most of the state's constitutional officers, including Gov. Jim Gibbons, are voluntarily reducing their pay this year.

EXTRADITED FROM FLORIDA

Former tribal security officer held in three slayings in 1981

A former tribal security official-turned-preacher accused of killing a Cabazon tribal leader and two friends in 1981 has been extradited and is behind bars in California's Riverside County.

Sheriff's Detective John Powers says James "Jimmy" Hughes was booked Saturday and jailed in Riverside.

Hughes faces three counts of murder and a count of conspiracy in connection with the slaying of Fred Alvarez. Authorities said Alvarez was going to expose illegal reservation activities.

Hughes was arrested in September in Miami as he sat on a Honduras-bound plane. Earlier this month, a Florida judge ordered his extradition to California.

He is scheduled to appear Thursday in Superior Court.

WEEKEND STORM

Helicopter rescues four hikers trapped by 'torrent of water'

Three men and an 11-year-old boy have been rescued by helicopter after being stranded overnight in a Pasadena-area Canyon when what authorities called a "torrent of water and debris flow" brought by the weekend's storm left them trapped.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Phil Barth said in a statement the four hikers rescued from Eaton Canyon on Sunday and were "cold and shaken, but otherwise unharmed."

Barth said the group became trapped at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and called for help on a cell phone, but the group was in such a dangerous position that rescuers had to wait until the rain subsided to get them out and supplied them with waterproof clothes and partial shelter.

Barth said that when the sun rose, a helicopter was able to get close and hoist them out.