IN BRIEF
SOME EVACUATED
No one hurt in small fire at Hard Rock
An electrical fire at the Hard Rock Hotel prompted some evacuations Sunday afternoon, the Clark County Fire Department said.
Firefighters were alerted to the fire at the hotel, on Paradise Road east of the Strip, about 3:52 p.m. They discovered a fire inside an air-conditioning unit in an electrical room on the second floor, fire department spokesman Scott Allison said.
The fire was contained to the air-conditioning unit.
People within the immediate area of the fire were evacuated. Allison didn't know how many.
The blaze caused a lot of smoke but no heavy flames, he said. Firefighters put out the fire within 35 minutes.
Allison said one security officer was treated for a heat-related ailment.
FAMILY OUTING
California man drowns in Lake Mohave waters
A California man drowned on the Nevada side of Lake Mohave on Sunday morning after jumping into the water without wearing a life jacket to swim after his daughter, who was floating away on a raft.
The National Park Service identified the man as 45-year-old Derek Au. Au's city of residence was unknown, but he is from Southern California, officials said.
Au was with his family on a beached houseboat in Mesa Cove while his 11-year-old daughter was in the water on an inflatable raft. Witnesses told authorities that Au jumped in the water without a life jacket to swim after his daughter after wind started carrying the raft away from the boat.
Au swam about 50 feet to 60 feet from the boat when he went under and didn't resurface, the park service said.
The drowning was reported to the park service about 11:33 a.m. by Cottonwood Cove Resort staff who overheard a distress call made on marine band radio.
Divers with Las Vegas police found the body in water 35 feet deep about 5:30 p.m.
The park service said another family member was able to reach the raft and bring Au's daughter back to the boat.
Au's drowning marks the 11th drowning at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area this year. All but two of the victims were not wearing life jackets.
MOST ARE CONTAINED
Lightning strikes ignite California wildfires
State fire officials say that more than 1,500 lightning strikes ignited 81 fires in northern and central California over the weekend, but most are contained.
Department of Fire and Forestry Protection officials said Sunday that more fires are likely because of the lack of rain and possible future lightning strikes.
Spokesman Daniel Berlant said that the agency's Santa Clara unit is fighting 20 fires covering 200 acres and that they are 35 percent contained.
COLORADO DIOCESE CASE
Men settle lawsuits over alleged abuse
Two Colorado men who filed lawsuits alleging they were sexually abused by a former priest have reached settlements with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pueblo, a diocese official said Sunday.
Monsignor Mark Plewka confirmed the settlements with a man and his nephew.
The man alleged that Andrew Burke abused him in the 1970s.
The lawsuits accused Burke of establishing a similar relationship with the man's nephew.
The man had sought $1.8 million from the diocese and the release of Burke's personnel file. Terms of the settlements weren't disclosed, but Burke's file was not released.
Burke left the priesthood in 1973. He committed suicide in September 2005 at age 62.
CALIFORNIA SEARCH
Foster dad says shirt is not from missing boy
The foster father of a 5-year-old boy missing for more than a month says a sweat shirt found by volunteer searchers does not belong to the boy.
Louis Ross had said that his foster son Hasanni Campbell was wearing a gray sweat shirt when he went missing on Aug. 10.
On Sunday, the volunteers found a similar shirt buried at the end of a road in the Oakland hills, and police began searching the area. But when Ross saw the shirt, he said it did not belong to Hasanni.
