IN BRIEF

FATAL CRASH

Woman dies after truck crashes into vehicle

An 83-year-old woman was killed when a pickup slammed into the side of her car in Boulder City Saturday evening.

Boulder City police said the woman, Frances Johnson of Boulder City, was the passenger in a 2002 Honda Civic driven by her husband, 88-year-old Andrew Jacobson.

The car was heading south on U.S. Highway 93 when it began to make a left turn onto Lake Mountain Drive at 5:06 p.m. A 1994 Ford pickup that was traveling north on the highway struck the passenger side of the Honda, according to police.

Jacobson was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center with critical injuries. His wife was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the truck, 35-year-old Jesus Romero of Las Vegas, and his passengers were not injured. Romero was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of drugs, police said.

RENO HIGHWAY BRIDGE

Officials probing road construction allegations

State transportation officials are investigating claims by a construction worker who says a new highway bridge south of Reno is unsafe because he was ordered to use substandard concrete to save money building it. David Lee says he did the shoddy work earlier this year at the direction of his foremen at C.C. Myers, a California-based subcontractor on one of five major bridges that are part of a $600 million highway project connecting Carson City and Reno.

Lee says he took his concerns to the Nevada Department of Transportation after he was among several workers laid off in October.

NEVADA WILD HORSES

Group protests roundup at Red Rock entrance

Wild horse advocates held placards and waved down motorists Sunday to protest a federal roundup of horses from private and public lands in Nevada.

The hastily scheduled event drew more than 30 protesters at an entrance to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, said Makendra Silverman of the Cloud Foundation.

Another group, California-based In Defense of Animals, scheduled a demonstration Wednesday outside the San Francisco office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

BLM officials have said they plan to place the 2,500 horses for adoption or send them to long-term holding facilities in the Midwest. They say the population in the five Calico herd management areas is three times what the range can handle, and the roundup is needed to protect the horses, wildlife and the range itself.