IN BRIEF

FOUR-YEAR TERM

New state public defender named

Diane Crow was named Thursday by Gov. Jim Gibbons to a four-year term as Nevada's state public defender.

Crow replaces Steven McGuire who retired. She has had the post on an interim basis the past month and had served as the office's chief deputy since 1996. She has been in the defender's office more than 18 years.

The state public defender is charged with representing indigents charged with crimes in counties that don't have their own public defenders. The job pays $113,612 a year.

NEVADA-IDAHO LINE

Wildfire closure in Jarbidge area lifted

The U.S. Forest Service has reopened part of a wilderness area in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest that had been closed because of a wildfire near the Nevada-Idaho line.

The agency closed off part of the Jarbidge Wilderness on Sept. 2 as a safety precaution.

An agency official said the fire that burned 85 square miles still smolders but its perimeter has not grown in the past three weeks.

Firefighters have contained the sections that had the potential to spread toward the small town of Jarbidge and other residential areas.

About 10 people are still working the fire and officials continue to monitor it from the air each day. To date, the firefighting effort has cost an estimated $8 million.