IN BRIEF

FORECLOSURES IN SOUTHERN NEVADA

Pilot program offers legal help for homeowners in mediation

The nonprofit Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada has begun a new pilot program that provides free legal representation to homeowners going through foreclosure mediation.

Starting this week, anyone who attends foreclosure mediation classes offered by the center and UNLV's Boyd Law School will be screened for the new program, which will continue through the end of April.

The free classes are held at 5:30 p.m. every Thursday at the law school. Those who wish to attend can sign up by calling 386-1070, extension 155.

Qualified homeowners chosen by Legal Aid Center will be matched with attorneys to represent them.

NORTH LAS VEGAS GOVERNMENT

Town hall meeting to focus on new round of budget cuts

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

Councilman Richard Cherchio will host the 6 p.m. meeting at the Sun City Aliante multipurpose room, 7390 Aliante Parkway.

The city, which has undergone five rounds of budget cuts since December 2008, must trim an additional $33.4 million to get 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, offered voluntary buyouts and furlough days, and negotiated with its employee unions in hopes of contract concessions .

FALLON NAVAL AIR STATION

Pilots survive when warplanes collide in Northern Nevada

Two fighter jets on a training mission collided over the Northern Nevada desert, but both pilots survived.

The crash east of Fallon Naval Air Station occurred around 10 p.m. Monday

Navy officials said one pilot was able to land his jet at the base. The other pilot ejected safely before his jet crashed in a remote area of the base. He was picked up by a helicopter rescue team and taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released.

Both jets are based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif.