IN BRIEF

BILL ON WAY TO BUSH

Senate OKs money for maglev train to L.A.

The U.S. Senate has approved $45 million in funding for a proposed magnetic levitation train linking Southern California and Las Vegas.

The bill passed Thursday is the largest cash infusion in the project's nearly 20-year history. The money will be used to fund environmental studies for the first leg of the project.

Total cost estimates have reached $12 billion.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid said the train is needed to ease traffic congestion on Interstate 15. Critics called the project wasteful spending.

The measure now moves to President Bush for approval.

ROBBERY ENDS IN DEATH

One person dead after shooting at Reno bar

One person is dead after a robbery and shooting at a Reno bar.

Police said the killing happened around 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Good Times Bar on Wells Avenue.

According to authorities, two gunman entered the bar through a back door. They were robbing patrons when the victim was shot multiple times. The suspects then fled on foot.

The victim was taken to Renown Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. His name was withheld until relatives are notified.

HOMELESS MURDER TRIAL

75-year-old woman convicted on one count

A 75-year-old woman was convicted Thursday of murdering a homeless man to collect life insurance, but the jury said it was deadlocked on another murder charge and a conspiracy count.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Wesley ordered jurors to return Monday to try to decide the remaining counts.

Olga Rutterschmidt was convicted of the first-degree murder of Kenneth McDavid, 50, a day after she was found guilty of conspiring to murder him for financial gain, and her 77-year-old co-defendant, Helen Golay, was convicted of murdering him and Paul Vados, 73, and counts of conspiracy in both killings.

The verdicts so far carry life prison terms without possibility of parole for both.