In Brief

ANIMAL SANCTUARY

BLM: Pickens' proposal for wild horses flawed

An offer from the wife of a Texas oil tycoon to establish a sanctuary for 30,000 wild horses is "problematic" and not viable as proposed, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management official said Monday.

But Nevada BLM State Director Ron Wenker said the agency is willing to continue talks with Madeleine Pickens, the wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens. She proposed taking the horses for a price to save them from possible slaughter.

Pickens proposed last fall establishing a wild horse sanctuary after the BLM said it was considering euthanasia as a way to stem escalating costs of keeping animals gathered from the open range in long-term holding facilities, where they can live for decades.

She said she was looking for about 1 million acres, or 1,500 square miles, for the refuge.

Wenker said there are two problems with Pickens' offer.

One is the $500 per head, per year -- or $15 million annually for 30,000 horses -- she was asking to take the animals in holding facilities off the government's hands.

The other problem, he said, involves use of public lands. He said government land Pickens has considered for the refuge is ineligible because federal law restricts horses to areas where they existed when the Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act was enacted four decades ago.

DRIVER WAS KILLED AT SCENE

Man dies days after car crashes into house

The passenger critically injured Thursday when a 2004 Nissan Maxima crashed into a Las Vegas house died Saturday.

The Clark County coroner's office identified the man as 22-year-old Brandon Rowley.

He sustained blunt force trauma in the accident and was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

The driver, Donald "Ross" Acker-White, lost control of the car about 2:40 a.m. while traveling east on Wyoming Avenue near U.S. Highway 95.

The vehicle skidded over a block wall, rolled and hit the back of a house at 1823 Dartmouth Court.

Acker-White died at the scene.